Title: The Highlands of Ethiopia
Author: Harris, William Cornwallis, 1807-1848
Language: English
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The Highlands of Ethiopia
By Sir William Cornwallis Harris
Published by Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London.
This edition dated 1844.

Introduction to the Second Edition.

In putting forward a second edition of my "Highlands of Ethiopia," I
have two very different duties to perform: first, to thank the press for
the extremely liberal and generous manner in which it has received my
work; secondly, to reply to certain objections which have been made by
one or two periodicals, happily not of the first eminence, against both
me and my travels.  So numerous, however, are the publications that have
evinced a favourable, I might almost say a friendly, disposition towards
me, that I am unable to specify them.  They will, therefore, I trust,
accept in general terms my thanks to them one and all.

Their very flattering testimonies have induced me to revise carefully
what I have written, in order, if possible, to render it worthy of their
warm praise, and to justify their predilection in my behalf.  On the
other hand, _fas est et ab hoste doceri_.  I have consequently turned to
account even the animadversions of my enemies--for enemies unhappily I
have, and those, too, of the most implacable and malignant character--
mean persons to whom I have shown kindness, which they have apparently
no means of repaying but by inveterate aversion.  This circumstance I
ought not perhaps to regret, except on their account.  The parts we play
are suitable to our respective characters; and I should even now abstain
from prejudicing them in the estimation of the public, if I did not
apprehend that my forbearance might be misconstrued.

The points of attack selected by my adversaries are not many in number.
Ultimately, indeed, they resolve themselves into three: first, my style
of composition, which they say is gorgeous and inflated, and therefore
obscure; second, the inaccuracy of several of my details; and third, the
absence of much new information, which it seems the public had a right
to expect from me.  On the subject of the first accusation it will not
perhaps be requisite that I should say much.  To any one who cannot
understand what I write I must necessarily appear obscure; but it may
sometimes, I think, be a question with which of us the fault lies.  That
my composition is generally intelligible may not unfairly, I think, be
inferred from the number of persons who have understood and praised it;
since it can scarcely be imagined that the majority of reviewers would
warmly recommend to the public that in which they could discern no
meaning.  Besides, on the subject of style there is a great diversity of
opinion, some thinking that very extraordinary scenes and objects should
be delineated in forcible language, while others advocate a tame and
formal phraseology which they would see employed on all occasions
whatsoever.  I may observe, moreover, that "style," as Gibbon remarks,
"is the image of character," and it is quite possible that my fancy may
have a natural aptitude to take fire at the prospect of unusual scenes
and strange manners.  Still I am far from defending obstinately my own
idiosyncracies, and yet farther from setting them up as a rule to
others.  In describing what I saw, and endeavouring to explain what I
felt, I may very possibly have used expressions too poetical and ornate;
but the public will, I am convinced, do me the justice to believe that,
in acting thus, my object was exactly to delineate, and not to delude.
I called in to my aid the language which seemed to me best calculated to
reflect upon the minds of others, those grand and stupendous objects of
nature which had made so deep and lasting an impression on my own.  At
all events, I am not conscious of having had in this any sinister
purpose to serve.

It is a far more serious charge, that I have presented the public with a
false account of the Embassy to Shoa; that I have altered or suppressed
facts; that I have been unjust to my predecessors and companions; and
that I have at once misrepresented the country and its inhabitants.  It
has been already observed, that my accusers are few in number.  Probably
they do not exceed three individuals, two who affect to speak from their
own knowledge, and one whom they have taken under their patronage as
their cat's-paw.  It may seem somewhat humiliating to answer such
persons at all.  I feel that it is so.  But if dirt be cast at me, I
must endeavour to shield myself from it, without enquiring whether the
hands of the throwers be naturally filthy or not.  That is their own
affair.  Mine is to avoid the pollution aimed at me.  This must be my
apology for entering into the explanations I am about to give.

When I undertook to lay before the public an account of my travels in
Abyssinia, I had to choose between the inartificial and somewhat tedious
form of a journal, and that of a more elaborate history, in which the
exact order of dates should not be observed.  I preferred the latter;
whether wisely or unwisely remains to be seen, though hitherto public
opinion seems to declare itself in favour of my choice.  Having come to
this determination, it was necessary that I should act in all things
consistently with it.  As I had abandoned the journal, it was no way
incumbent on me to observe the laws which govern that form of
composition.  My business, as it appeared to me, was to produce a work
with some pretensions to a literary character; that is, one in which the
order of time is not regarded as a primary element, the principal object
being the grouping of events and circumstances so as to produce a
complete picture.  I perfectly understood that I was to add nothing and
to invent nothing, but that I was at liberty to throw aside all trivial
details, and dwell only on such points as seemed calculated to place in
their proper light the labours of the mission, with the institutions,
customs, and type of civilisation found among the people to whom we had
been sent.  In conformity with this theory I wrote.  One of the first
consequences, however, of the view I had taken of my subject, was the
sacrifice of all minute personal adventures, which scarcely appeared in
any way compatible with my plan.  I abandoned likewise the use of the
first personal pronoun, and always spoke of myself and my companions
collectively, thereby perhaps doing some little injustice to my own
exertions, but certainly not arrogating to myself any credit properly
due to others.  Among my friends there are those who object to this
manner of writing, and I submit my judgment to theirs.  In this Second
Edition, therefore, I have reconstructed the narrative so far as was
necessary in order to convert the third person into the first.  To the
charge that I have not observed the strict chronology of a journal, I
have already pleaded guilty.  It seemed to me far better to arrange
together under one head whatever belonged properly to one topic.  For
example, when recording the medical services rendered to the people of
Shoa, high or low, I have not inserted in my work each individual
instance as it occurred, but have placed the whole before the reader in
a separate chapter.  So likewise in other cases, that which appeared to
elucidate the matter in hand, was introduced into what I thought its
proper place, because there it might both receive and reflect light,
whereas in any other part, perhaps, of the work, it might have been
without significance, if not altogether absurd.  Not being infallible, I
may possibly have misinterpreted the laws of rhetoric which I adopted as
my guide: of this let the public be judge.  I have aimed, at all events,
at drawing a correct outline of Shoa and the surrounding countries, as
far as my materials would permit, and should I have sometimes fallen
into error, I claim that indulgence which is always readily extended to
authors similarly circumstanced.  While in Abyssinia, my official
position very greatly interfered with my predilections as a traveller.
I could not move hither and thither freely.  To enlarge the circle of
science was not the principal object of my mission; but at the same time
it must not be forgotten that I enjoyed some advantages which a
traveller visiting the country under other auspices would scarcely have
commanded.  In drawing up my work, however, the character in which I
travelled was of considerable disservice to me.  Much of the information
that I collected, it was not permitted me to impart, which I say, not by
way of complaint against the regulations of the service in which I have
the honour to be engaged,--on the contrary, I think it most just and
proper that such should be the case--but that the reader, when he feels
a deficiency in political or commercial information, may know that it
has not been withheld through any negligence or disrespect of the public
on my part.

I now come to consider more in detail the objections which have been
urged against my travels.  Some of these, it will at once be perceived,
are so loose and indefinite as to be wholly incapable of being answered.
For example, it is said, I have made no addition to the information
already existing respecting the southern provinces of Abyssinia.  How
can I reply to this?  Must I reprint all the works which had been
previously published, and point out the additions I have made?  The
process, it will be acknowledged, is an unusual one.  Besides, the
scientific world has not hitherto been averse to look at several views
of the same country, to compare them for itself, and to derive from the
very comparison both pleasure and information.  Some additions,
moreover, to geographical science I undoubtedly have made, and there are
those who have not been ashamed to borrow them.  I have ascertained, for
example, that the Gochob does not flow into the Nile, as it is made to
do in a map which I have seen, constructed by one of the reviewer's
greatest authorities.  The inquiries I instituted render it probable
that the Gochob is the same river with the Juba.  And, above all, the
longitude of Ankober was, under my directions, and by a laborious series
of operations, correctly determined.  The importance of this to
travellers who may not possess the ability or the means of resolving it
themselves, I need scarcely point out.  Previously, every position in
the maps of Southern Abyssinia was calculated from a false position, and
therefore of necessity wrong.  But I shall not here enter upon an
inventory of my humble services to science.  I could wish they were more
numerous, but such as they are I trust they will be found not wholly
without their value.

In "ethnography," or rather perhaps "ethnology," the critic discovers my
ideas to be all wrong; and he accounts for the circumstance by supposing
in me some innate aversion to the "savage."  I certainly dislike that
particular variety of our species whether at home or abroad, but it does
not necessarily follow that I have been therefore guilty of
misrepresentation.  These things, nevertheless, I leave to be determined
by public opinion, which, so far as I can perceive, is little, if at
all, influenced by the bitter and self-interested censures of my
enemies.

When I determined on making some reply to the "slashing" Aristarchus who
has assailed my work--I would say publicly, but that the thing is so
obscure that few persons have even heard of it--my design was to attempt
something like order, that I might not by a multiplicity of disjointed
remarks confound the memory of my readers.  But the impossibility of
following any rational plan soon became apparent.  The reviewer with
whom I have to deal is a man who scorns all order and regularity.  His
only rule is that of _hysteron proteron_, or putting the cart before the
horse.  Not possibly that he considers such a method of writing best in
itself, but that by introducing perfect anarchy into his critique, and
returning a dozen times to each objection urged, my faults might in
appearance be so multiplied that they would suffice to fill a whole
encyclopaedia.  Now if in my reply I followed any other than his
fragmentary system, I might perhaps seem to many not to answer all his
objections, whereas my intention is to demolish every one of them.  I
resolved therefore to begin _ab ovo_, and giving quarter to no
impertinence or absurdity by the way, to clear the ground completely,
and leave a perfect _rase campagne_ behind me.  That in so doing I shall
not prove tedious, is more than I can hope.  My adversary is insipidity
personified.  But if the controversy be unamusing, it shall, at least as
far as I can render it so, be brief.

The critic whose vagaries I have undertaken to expose, though affecting
not to be hypercritical, first dwells with a puerile pertinacity on the
title of my book, which he pronounces to be a misnomer, because,
forsooth, the territories of Shoa are not high lands, but a high land!
Possibly he figures to himself the whole of Abyssinia as one single vast
plateau, whose surface presents neither elevation nor depression,
otherwise the reader will see no reason why it should be spoken of in
the singular.

In describing the contents of the second volume, my reviewer speaks of
"a slaving expedition among the Galla, _in which the Embassy_," he
affirms, "_took part_."  The assertion, however, is incorrect, not to
apply to it a harsher epithet; for the spectator who looks on a play can
with no propriety be said to take part in the acting of it.  The mission
was sent to Sahela Selassie, not to the city of Ankober.  It was
consequently my business to attend the king, to watch his movements, and
study his character, just as the Embassy under Sir John McNeil attended
the Shah of Persia to Herat, though instead of taking part in the siege,
he laboured earnestly to put a stop to it.

The contents of the third volume are next wilfully misrepresented, the
critic desiring to make it appear that a very small portion indeed has
reference to the country or people of Abyssinia, though at least
two-thirds treat expressly of those subjects, whilst the remainder is
strictly connected with them.

But it is not merely in the third volume that the critic is unable to
discover any information respecting Shoa.  He takes courage as he
proceeds, advances from particulars to generals, and contends that the
book contains no information at all in any part of it, that no account
is given of the geography of the country, no sketch of its history, in
short no account of it in any way whatsoever.  Afterwards, indeed, an
exception is made in favour of religion.  Taking no interest in this,
however, he treats it as a twice-told tale with which he was previously
familiar.  Considering the modes of thinking prevalent in the quarter,
it may, without much uncharitableness, be permitted one to doubt this.
Not to insist, however, on a point which may be disagreeable to the
reviewer, I hasten to compliment him on his sagacity, which, through the
table of contents, has made the discovery, that the political history of
Abyssinia for the last thirty years is not given.  I acknowledge the
omission, and may perhaps have been to blame for suffering any
consideration connected with the size of the volumes to weigh with me in
such a matter.  The historical sketch in question, however, was actually
written, though the critic would probably not have derived from it any
more satisfaction than from the rest of the book.  He objected to its
absence because it was not there.  Had I introduced it, he would have
said it was a twice-told tale, and absolutely good for nothing.

My adversary now and then qualifies, as he proceeds, his absolute
affirmations.  Having again and again maintained that there is no
account, "historical or otherwise," given of the country, he afterwards
admits his error, but says the account is "confused and unintelligible."
I think it was Mr Coleridge who made the remark, when persons
complained that they could not understand his work, that it was their
fault, since all he had to do was to bring the book, and that it was
their duty to bring the understanding.  I make the same reply to the
critic.  Other people understand my account of Abyssinia; and if he
really does not, I am sorry for him, but can offer him no assistance.
However, there is an old proverb, I believe, which says, "There are none
so blind as those who won't see."

The argument by which I am proved to have read Mr Salt, though I make
no allusion to him, is curious; but I either profited by my reading, or
I did not.  If I profited, the consequences must be visible in my work;
if I derived nothing from Mr Salt, then my work can contain no proof
that I did.  But it does, according to the critic, contain such proof;
_ergo_, I have profited by Mr Salt's labours.  It would have been well,
however, if the critic had pointed out where and how much; for until he
does so, my word will probably be thought as good as his, especially as
he is anonymous, and I am not.  One proof of my careless reading of Mr
Salt is, I own, very remarkable.  It seems, had I been well versed in
his production, I should have known that Oubie is "still alive and ruler
of Tigre;" Mr Salt having, of course, been careful to relate that
circumstance.  It so happens, however, that at the period I was engaged
in writing my work, Oubie was a prisoner, and another prince seated on
his throne--a fact, I believe, not preserved in Salt.

Next comes on the tapis the orthography of Ethiopia; _apropos_ of which,
the critic takes occasion to call in question my classical acquirements.
I was not, however, aware that, by preferring one orthography to
another, I was laying claim to profound erudition, or setting myself up
for "an authority among scholars."  On the contrary, I followed those
who appeared to me very sufficient guides.  Gibbon and Dr Johnson,--
authors who may perhaps, even by the reviewer himself, be permitted to
claim a humble niche among our classics.  But they wrote, it may be
said, in the last century.  I therefore refer to a perfectly new
publication, on a classical subject, if not the work of a classic,--I
mean Mr Saint John's "History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient
Greece," in which the orthography I have adopted is likewise made use
of.  If then I have been affected, I have at all events indulged my
affectation in very good company.  But the reviewer does not stop here.
He thinks the orthography involves a mystery, and he goes about the
unveiling of it in a very mysterious way.  It is a proof he thinks that
I am indebted to Mr Krapf for what little proficiency I may have made
in the art of spelling; nay more, that I have derived from that
gentleman all my knowledge of Abyssinia of every kind!

Before I make any other remark on this part of the subject, I will take
occasion to compliment myself on my simplicity; for if I had desired to
conceal my obligations to Dr Krapf, and have been conscious of any
which I have not frankly stated, I should have been careful to spell
Ethiopia _classically_, that is, as the reviewer does, in order to
conceal the source from which I had drawn.  I should thus clearly have
put him on a very wrong scent, since a single letter suffices to lead
him by the nose.  But the most curious view of this question remains yet
to be taken.  Dr Krapf, he says, possesses the most complete knowledge
of Abyssinia, its geography, language, and literature.  He then goes on
to maintain that Dr Krapf imparted his knowledge to me, and I that same
knowledge to the public.  But, no! the reviewer stops short here, and
affirms that I envied the public the possession of Dr Krapf's
knowledge, and withheld it all; since he everywhere asserts that there
is no information whatever in my book.  Verily, I have been taking a
lesson from that ancient Briton who is represented as having plundered a
naked Scotchman:

  "A painted vest Prince Vortigern had on,
  Which from a naked Pict his grandsire won!"

Because, if I tell nothing new, and owe all I do tell to Dr Krapf, who
also imparted to me all he knew, his knowledge must clearly have been
very limited.  I have acknowledged, however, and I repeat the
acknowledgment, that Dr Krapf was of essential service to me in various
ways; that he freely imparted to me the valuable information he
possessed, and gave me to understand that I was at liberty to make use
of it.  I did make use of it, having previously however been careful to
publish my obligations to him.  In fact, there is no man who would be
more ready than Dr Krapf, were he now in England, to express his
perfect satisfaction with what I have done.  He has, indeed, expressed
it publicly in his "Journal," where he acknowledges himself to be under
obligations to me; and the Church Missionary Society, in its preface,
makes the same admission.

I am next blamed for not giving a connected history of the mission; the
proper answer to which is, that I never undertook to give it.  I have
not entitled my book "the History of an Eighteen Months' Residence in
Shoa," but have said that my observations were collected _during_ an
eighteen months' residence there.  They are not all my observations, nor
have I arranged them chronologically; therefore, though the reviewer
feels disappointed, he has no right to quarrel with me.  He expected one
thing--I published another; simply because I did not write for him, or
such as he, but for the public.  As it is, however, I am not sorry that
he is "tantalised," which he would not be if he possessed one-tenth of
the knowledge to which he obliquely lays claim.  On most points he is
profoundly ignorant, and it suits my purpose to leave him so.  Any
information that I can impart, without prejudice to the public service,
it is doubtless my duty to give; and accordingly, in this second
edition, I have stated some facts not recorded in the first.  In most
cases, indeed, men publish a first edition as an _experiment_, to
ascertain how far their views of what information the public needs are
correct, that they may afterwards diligently, and to the best of their
power, supply it.

The Mission, it is said, has been "a complete failure."  But how is this
proved?  By a scrap extracted from some anonymous correspondent to a
newspaper, who writes, not from Angollala or Ankober, but from Cairo,
which is nearly as though a person residing in Saint Petersburgh were to
write authoritatively to China respecting what is going on in Lisbon.
But it does not follow that the Mission has been a failure, because some
Cairo gossip chooses to say so, or because all the fruits of it have not
yet been reaped.  A treaty has been concluded, friendly relations have
been established, and upon this basis commerce will proceed, slowly
perhaps, but surely, to erect its structure.  It will be for the next
generation to determine whether or not the mission was "a complete
failure."  A reviewer residing in the purlieus of High Holborn is not
competent to do it.

On the subject of "German crowns," the critic may, for aught I know, be
a great authority; or, as he says on another matter, may know somebody
that is.  But the quarrel which he seeks to pick with me is so utterly
puerile, that I will not engage in it.  His positiveness, however, is as
usual proportioned to his ignorance, for even on so infinitesimal a
point as this he contrives to be wrong, since the marks are not _three_,
as he supposes, but _seventeen_, on the coronet and shoulder-clasp.
However, supposing I had here been wrong, would it therefore have been
fair to infer that on every other point I must be wrong also?  An usurer
would be a better authority on the aspect of a gold coin than the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, yet in finance the Jew might not be a match
for the Chancellor.  Let it not, however, be supposed that I desire to
compare myself with Mr Goulburn, or the critic to a Jew; I merely
mention these things by way of illustration.  At any rate, my censor's
blunder must be obvious to every one who has seen a German dollar, and
to adopt his own phrase, "_Ex pede Herculem_."

On the practice observed by the Mohammadans in slaughtering animals, the
reviewer displays a vast deal of erudition, and quotes the treatise of
Mr Lane, on the "Manners of the Modern Egyptians."  It happens,
however, that there are variations in the practices of the Moslems; and
he might as well have argued, that because there are pyramids in Egypt,
there must also be pyramids in Abyssinia, as that because the Egyptians
do not make use of certain words on particular occasions, therefore, the
Danakil and the Somauli cannot possibly employ them.  My narrative does
not touch on the customs of Egypt, on which Mr Lane writes but on those
of a different part of Africa, in which, so far as I can discover, that
author has never been.  What I relate, however, is matter of fact, and
the critic only exhibits his profound ignorance of human nature by
supposing that Mohammadanism is stereotyped in any part of the world,
since there are as many differences in the customs of the Mohammadan
nations, as in those of Christendom.  For example,--the practice of
"bundling," so common in Wales, does not, I believe, prevail in Egypt;
but if our critic were to infer that it is, therefore, altogether
anti-Islamite, he would be as completely wrong as he is in the present
instance; for that which the Egyptian Mussulman detests, is the
established custom in certain parts of Afghanistan.  So, likewise, is
the invocation of the name of God during the slaughter of animals.  The
Egyptians, it seems, invoke the sacred name without coupling with it
"the Compassionate, the Merciful," which they think would sound like
mockery; but what proof is the reviewer prepared to advance in his
wisdom, that this rule is observed in India and every other part of the
East?

The Mohammadans, again, he says, never drink blood; and why? because it
is forbidden them by the Koran.  But stealing is no less peremptorily
prohibited.  Will he, therefore, argue, that there is no such thing as a
Mohammadan thief?  The question is not as to what is forbidden or
ordained, but as to a simple matter of fact.  I state what I saw with my
own eyes.  The critic, who was never in the country, who cannot possibly
know what I saw or did not see, contradicts me.  I leave it to the
public to judge between us; asserting, however, that he is fully as
ignorant of the people whose customs he so glibly writes about, as he is
of the rules of common decency.

For verbal criticism I entertain no contempt, though I think that a
strict application of its rules to a book of travels, is scarcely called
for.  However, let us see how the critic succeeds in his task.  I relate
that the Arabs call the cove _Mirsa good Ali_, the "source of the sea;"
from which he immediately infers my utter ignorance of Arabic.  The only
thing, however, that is really clear from the remark he has made is,
that he does not understand English when it happens to be in the
slightest degree inverted.  A Biblical critic.  Dr Parr, if I remember
rightly, objected to a passage in the English version of the Bible upon
much the same grounds.  "Thus," says the Scripture, "he giveth his
beloved sleep."  Now the doctor maintains "beloved" to be an epithet
bestowed on sleep, although the real sense is, that sleep is given to
the "beloved."  Still, in my opinion, the meaning is so obvious, that it
required some ingenuity to mistake it.  In my own case, the meaning I
think is equally obvious; at least, what I intended to say was, that the
Adaiel bestow on Mirsa good Ali cove, the additional name of "the source
of the sea."

Upon the remarks on "mafeesh," I scarcely know what to say; but if he
were to ask me,--is there any point or sense in them?  I should reply
"_mafeesh_, there is none"--an idiom well understood in English.  Let
the critic try again at Richardson's dictionary, and if he really can
make out the Arabic characters, I think he will be able to discover a
meaning which would come in very properly where I have placed it.  "It
is of no consequence," exclaimed the young assassin, "none," which is
precisely the answer sometimes given to the insatiate "beggars" that we
are told "surround the traveller" in certain countries, "there is no
money in my pocket--none."  Nevertheless, as I have passed public
examinations, and obtained certificates of superior proficiency in no
more than four oriental tongues, I cannot be deemed so competent to
offer an opinion on this subject as the reviewer and his accomplices.

With regard to the critiques on the Amharic expressions found in my
work, it may be sufficient to say, that by his own confession "the
reviewer does not understand one syllable of the language," but hazards
his remarks on the strength of knowing somebody who does.  This appears
to me a very poor qualification.  It is as though I should set up as a
critic in Sanscrit because I have shaken hands with Professor Wilson.
However, let us examine the notions of this man who is so learned by
proxy.  One of the greatest triumphs of his erudition is his explanation
of the Amharic word "Shoolada," which, strengthened by Salt, and others,
he determines to signify exclusively a "rump-steak."  That it has this
signification there can be no doubt, but if the critic be disposed to
defer on this, as on other occasions, to Dr Krapf's Amharic
scholarship, he may yet, as he expresses it, "live and learn."  In a
copy of manuscript notes in Dr Krapf's handwriting, still in my
possession, occurs the following passage, which I quote _verbatim et
literatim_:--"In one point the Abyssinian practices agree remarkably
with those of the Jews, we mean the practice mentioned in Genesis
chapter xxxii, where we find that the Israelites did not eat the nerve,
since Jacob had been lamed in consequence of his earnest supplication to
the Almighty, before he met his brother Esau.  This nerve is called in
Amharic `Shoolada.'  I cannot determine how far the abstinence from this
kind of meat is kept in the other parts of Abyssinia, but it is a fact
in Shoa, that many people, particularly those of royal blood (called
Negassian), do not eat it, as they believe that by eating it they would
lose their teeth, the Shoolada being prohibited and unlawful food.
Therefore, if anybody has lost his teeth, he is abused with the reproach
of having eaten prohibited meat, as that of vultures, dogs, mules,
donkeys, horses, and particularly of man, the meat of whom is said to
prove particularly destructive for the teeth."

From the above passage, if the reviewer be disposed to accept Dr Krapf
for his teacher, he may clearly learn one or two particulars not
hitherto comprehended within the wide circle of his knowledge.  For
example, he will perceive that the idea of eating man's flesh is not yet
entirely exploded from that part of Africa.  On the contrary, the
forbidden luxury would appear sometimes to be indulged in even by those
who are one step at least, advanced before the polite Danakil, whom, at
the sacrifice of my reputation for charity, I have denominated
"vagabonds and savages."

The critic's observations on the pronunciation of Amharic and Galla
words are so elaborate a specie men of trifling, that it would be wholly
lost labour to wade through them.  Of the Galla language he knows
nothing, and had the case been different, still I might be permitted to
judge by my own ear in the case of a tongue absolutely unwritten.  Those
acquainted with the works of travellers in the East are aware that
almost every one has adopted a peculiar system of orthography.  All,
therefore, but one, might, by a disingenuous critic, be accused of
ignorance.  But the reviewer goes on to inform the public that "the
_vulgar_ mistakes of English pronunciation--which are not participated
in by Germans--are the wrong insertion or omission of the aspirate."
This is designed as a death-blow to me for writing _Etagainya_ without
an initial A, which highly culpable omission he presently afterwards
takes occasion to rectify.  Under this charge of vulgarity it is some
consolation to me to quote as my authority Isenberg's Amharic
Dictionary, more especially since that gentleman _is_ a German; but had
he even been otherwise, I think his views on this subject of the
aspirate might perhaps be preferred to those of any cockney.

The elaborate disquisition on _larva_ and _boudak_ [For _boudak_ read
_boudah_.  It ought to have been translated _sorcerer_, but all
artisans, blacksmiths especially, are regarded as _boudahs_.  Vide
Isenberg's Amharic Dictionary.  For _larva_ read _lava_.] proves the
critic to be qualified for the reading of proof-sheets, which appears to
be the highest praise he can justly lay claim to.  He can detect a
misprint in other men's works, and when his passions are unexcited, may
possibly be able to correct it.  But in the matters of ear or style, I
would just as soon defer to the judgment of the great "Arqueem Nobba,"
whoever that may be, [Vide Anti-Slavery Reporter, November 29th, 1843,
page 222.  For the information of my readers, it may be proper to
explain that "Arqueem nobba" is believed to be doing duty for "Hakim
nabaroo," "You were the doctor"] from whom he seems to have obtained so
much of his Oriental learning.  He well knows to whom I allude, if no
one else does.  I shall turn his weapons against himself, and take
occasion to question the classical attainments of a reviewer who
translates "_suum cuique_"--"be it for good or ill;" and shall direct
the public indignation to the fact of his having aroused curiosity
"without gratifying it," by the statement that I "studiously laboured to
keep out of sight _a very_ special service performed by the members of
the Embassy."  What was it?  He must surely be thinking of _his
reporters_, not of _my assistants_.  Be this as it may, he will not
attempt to screen himself behind the printer's devil, it being clear
that no typical errors can be admissible in his forty pages of
letter-press, if two are to be held inexcusable in my twelve hundred!

It will by this time, I think, be apparent that an extremely peculiar
system of criticism has been adopted in reviewing my book.  Here the
diction is attacked, there the want of information; now we have
complaints that information is given, but that it was obtained through
the instrumentality of Dr Krapf; then the reviewer wanders into
political and other considerations, and attacks my conduct as leader of
the Mission.  Occasionally he appears to be overwhelmed by a painful
sympathy, an intense philanthropy, extreme sorrow for the dead, which
betrays him into persevering rancour towards the living.  In discussing,
for example, the melancholy catastrophe at Goongoonteh, which, if credit
be given me for the smallest particle of human feeling, I must be
supposed to have regretted as much as any man, especially since Sergeant
Walpole and Corporal Wilson were under my command, and both highly
useful to me as soldiers and artisans, the critic suffers his compassion
so powerfully to disturb his intellect, that he literally knows not what
he says.  He may, therefore, if such be his object, be thought extremely
amiable by some people, but, upon the whole, I apprehend, he will appear
to be infinitely more absurd: because, to obtain credit for a generous
and expansive humanity, it is necessary, at least, to bear the semblance
of an unwillingness to wound men's reputations, living or dead.  A
genuine sympathy is always most active in proportion to the capacity of
feeling possessed by the object of it.  Thus we sympathise with our
contemporaries more than with generations passed away; with Christians
more than with Turks and Pagans; with Englishmen more than with Chinese;
with our relations and friends more than with persons whom we never saw.
But my critic reverses this order of things.  His benevolence clings to
individuals whose names he never heard, and urges him to inflict injury
at all events, and pain if he can, upon persons whose sensibilities, he
supposes, lay them open to his attacks.  In one publication it seems to
be intimated that I killed the men myself, whilst in the other I am
conjectured to have been standing sentry, and to have dropped asleep at
my post.  The former charge I shall leave the Government of my country
to answer; for if I be guilty and still at large.  Government has made
itself my accomplice.  Shall I on the second point enlighten the critic,
or shall I not?  The fact is, I was not asleep, though with the greatest
propriety I might have been, but at the very moment of the perpetration
of the murder, I was leaning in bed upon my elbow, conversing with
Captain Graham.  Nevertheless, from the form of the _wady_, I could not
command a view of every part of the encampment, or discern in the dark
the approach of the assassins, at the distant point which they selected
for their noiseless attack.

As to the manner in which I have related the circumstance, that is
another affair, and the critic is at liberty to judge of it as he
pleases.  I claim, however, the same liberty for myself, and will
venture to observe, that this part of his review is more lumbering,
heavy, and absurd than ordinary; that in attempting to display feeling,
he is only betrayed into lugubrious affectation; and that however I may
be able to wield our mother tongue, he manages it so unskilfully that he
wounds no one but himself.

The next charge is based, like the former, on the critic's sympathy.  I
relate that at the village of Farri the gentleman entrusted with the
command of the watch, "worn out by incessant vigils," fell asleep.  The
apology, it will be perceived, precedes the statement of the fact.  But
this new knight of La Mancha is not satisfied.  Putting his redoubtable
quill in rest, he tilts most chivalrously at my narrative; and, the
operation over, chuckles with delight at my supposed discomfiture.  He
may, perhaps, have learned from some prying visitor to what particular
officer I allude in the above passage.  But most assuredly the public
has not, and therefore no evil consequence can arise from what I say.
All our critic's ideas, however, are peculiar.  He considers it criminal
to hint indistinctly in a published work at a "breach of discipline,"
but thinks I might with propriety have reported the circumstance
officially to Government!  My theory of propriety is different.  I made
no report to Government; but when there were so many broad shoulders to
share the blame between them, I thought it quite safe to touch upon it
in my volumes.

Having waded through the above tedious list of charges, we arrive, so
the reader may be tempted to imagine, at something new.  But that is not
the critic's plan.  On the contrary, we find Monsieur Tonson on the
stage again.  Well might Dr Krapf exclaim, "Deliver me from my
friends!" if the reviewer in question be really one among the number.
Secretly, however, it is not the Missionary that is aggrieved, but
another individual whose name I will not be provoked to print in my
pages.  This person, we are told, came down to Dinomali, in company with
Mr Krapf, "to welcome the Embassy."  What he came down to do is not,
however, the question.  Come he certainly did; and I should have made
honourable mention of him had I, during my stay in Shoa, found no reason
to be dissatisfied with his conduct.  The reverse was the case; and as I
did not choose to be at the trouble of writing in his dispraise, I
thought it better to say nothing.  Let the reviewer be satisfied with
that, for, if I should say anything further, I am sure his satisfaction
would not be augmented.  He is perfectly right in supposing, that I have
not imparted to the public all the knowledge I acquired in Shoa, and
that I have not related all the piquant comic anecdotes which were often
at my pen's point, struggling to see the light.  But who knows?  The
time for telling them with effect is not yet passed, and it is quite
possible that, under certain combinations of circumstances, I may yet
return to this part of my subject, especially if the anonymous system be
persevered in, and attempts be made to wound me from behind the friendly
figure of the Missionary.

I may here, however, mention by the way, that, besides the learned
Theban alluded to, the critic has two other authorities.  Dr Krapf and
M. Rochet D'Hericourt.  Upon them he relies with equal and entire
confidence.  But I would beg to suggest, that there exist some slight
discrepancies between the statements of those two writers, and that
weight can be laid on the testimony of the one only in proportion as you
mistrust the other.  Yet the critic appears to discover nothing of this,
never perceives that their testimonies are inter-destructive, but is
perfectly satisfied to play off each in his turn against me.  These
authorities, in fact, are the legs on which his whole accusation appears
to stand, though there be in reality an anonymous authority, which, like
the third leg in the riddle, helps to support the tottering figure.  To
Mr Krapf, it is said, the Embassy owed whatever influence it possessed
in Shoa.  The officers of the Mission were nothing; the presents were
nothing; the expectation of assistance and support from the Indian
Government, in which Sahela Selassie indulged, were nothing:--the
reverend missionary was the "life and soul of the Embassy."  I know not
whether, as Dr Krapf is a minister of the Gospel, this be meant as a
compliment or as a sneer; but so it is.  I am said to have had no
influence with the king, save through him who was literally all-powerful
at court.  This being borne in mind, turn we now to the critic's other
authority, M. Rochet D'Hericourt, who is said to have been equally
influential.  But here comes the difficulty, which the critic either
perceived or did not perceive.  In the latter case he is criminally
ignorant of what he ought to have known before he ventured to attack me;
and if he did perceive it, then he is still more criminal for having
suppressed the truth, and made that suppression serve the purpose of its
contrary.  It will be seen that I abstain from harsh language, and
rather extenuate than otherwise the unworthiness of my adversary.  The
circumstance, however, to which I allude, is this: the critic maintains
that Dr Krapf was all-powerful with Sahela Selassie; M. Rochet
D'Hericourt, on the other hand, asserts that Dr Krapf possessed so
little influence, that it was only through _his_ special interference,
and at _his_ earnest entreaty, that the king suffered him to proceed
towards the Galla frontier with the army.  Nay, not only had the
missionary, according to this traveller, [Rochet D'Hericourt, Voyage
dans le Pays D'Adel, et le Royaume de Choa, pages 224-233.] no
influence, but the king displayed the strongest possible repugnance for
him, and made him feel the effects of his dislike throughout the whole
campaign.  Consult the "Journal" [Journal of the Rev  Messrs. Isenberg
and Krapf, page 187] of the worthy missionary himself; and we find that
both he and M. Rochet D'Hericourt were, without solicitation or
entreaty, on his part at least, "ordered to accompany the king."  I am
not pretending to dictate to the public as to which of these authorities
it shall prefer.  I only state facts, and leave others to draw the
proper inference.  The authority of Dr Krapf, however, at the court of
Shoa to me seems to be strangely and wilfully exaggerated.  It was a
reflected authority, if I may so speak, that he exercised during the
residence of the Mission in the country; an authority based upon the
influence of the British Government, represented there for the time by
me.  The amount of his personal influence was such that the slightest
accident sufficed to overthrow it.  Had it been greater, his application
to return would have been listened to.  It may no doubt be observed in
reply, that neither could my influence, which was fully exerted in his
behalf, have been very considerable.  But the caprices of despotism are
not always to be accounted for, and they will serve to explain both the
missionary's want of success, and my own.

This subject has been artfully connected with the return of the Mission
from Shoa.  It is said, that had we not retired, we should have been
forcibly expelled.  I can certainly offer no proof that we should not;
but the probability is, that the king of Shoa would have been in no
hurry to dry up a constant source of profit to himself.  It may, in
fact, be laid down as a general rule, that no Oriental despot ever
expels the giver of presents.  It is the receiver of presents that he
regards as an eyesore, the man who is dependent on him for his daily
bread.  The critic, however, has been "assured," that had we not
retired, we should "probably ere long" have been expelled.  But to this
I reply, that probably we should not; and I call on him to state his
proofs of the "disrepute" into which he asserts we had fallen.  I have
been "assured," that "probably" he has none to give, and "probably" this
assurance is correct; otherwise, I think he would have been too glad to
offer them.  Be this as it may, the fact is, that we were not expelled,
but recalled by our own government, when it considered that the duties
for which I had been deputed, were fully accomplished.

The next attack upon me is based on certain "strange stories," which the
critic says he has heard.  For myself, considering the strange people
with whom he associates, I entertain not the slightest doubt in the
world that he has been crammed with "strange stories," and that he
firmly believes them.  In fact, he reminds me strongly of an anecdote
related by Vossius, who, as Charles the Second observed, would believe
anything but the Gospel.  So this critic, who has no appetite whatever
for plain truth, will swallow "strange stories" by the bushel.  For
example, with an earnestness which does great credit to his simplicity,
he believes that the British officers in Shoa, with the few rank and
file under their command, assisted the king in making prisoners among
the Gallas.  He believes, too, of course, that the field-piece, which
had been presented to the king, and was therefore no longer under the
control of the embassy, was employed to batter down villages, and, in
one word, to effect the triumph of Sahela Selassie over his refractory
subjects and heathen neighbours.  I feel for the distress his humanity
must have suffered, and all through the "strange stories" to which he
lends so greedy an ear!  But let him be re-assured.  The slaughter was
not perpetrated by means of the galloper gun, which went not on the
expedition at all, but was left by the king at his palace newly erected
near Yeolo, the place of rendezvous.  (N.B. This is not meant as a
translation.)  There were no "rounds of _artillery_" in the case, and
the escort of British soldiers was taken with us, not to join in the
foray, but to protect our own tents.  Neither is this "memorable
circumstance." "omitted in my volumes," as asserted by the veracious
critic.  It is distinctly stated for the information of those who are
able to read, and the conduct of one of the privates stands specially
recorded, who was urged by the Amhara to destroy a Galla.

[As a military man, and an Engineer officer to boot, I may perhaps be
permitted to suggest, although with the utmost deference to the reviewer
and his anonymous authorities, that the term "ammunition" might here
have been employed with advantage.  But perhaps he may consider "rounds
of _artillery_" to be a more _classical_ expression!]

The critic's persevering patronage of Dr Krapf is so chivalrous, that I
almost regret to show that it has been exerted in vain.  Truth, however,
requires that I should do so.  Perhaps, indeed, the reviewer's purpose
may be less benevolent than it appears at first sight.  His object may
not be so much to exalt the clergyman, as to depress me, by creating, as
far as he is able, in the public mind, the belief of what he asserts so
positively, namely, that the Embassy fell into utter "disrepute" after
the departure of the missionary, that so far from being able to exercise
any influence, it would have been forcibly expelled, had it not beaten a
hasty retreat.  My opponent is a man of dates, and parades them in a
manner truly pathetic.  But how on these points did he happen to remain
so much in the dark?  Had he not all the great Abyssinian authorities at
his elbow?  Was he not acquainted with those who knew everything about
the country--Arabic and Amharic scholars, who, by the help of Isenberg's
Dictionary, could translate _boudah_, and with the aid of Richardson,
plunge into the mysteries of _mafeesh_?  Where was the erudite
individual who weighed my classical attainments in the balance, and
found them wanting?  Where was his _fidus Achates_, the "Arqueem Nobba?"
How happens it that his oracles grew suddenly dumb when he consulted
them on the subject of dates?  The reader will scarcely credit the
reason of all this when it is stated; but the fact is, that the reviewer
had no other object in view than to misrepresent and injure me, though
of course aware that it was in my power fully to refute him.  I shall do
so now, and, as I think, so satisfactorily, that he will not return to
the charge.

I state in my travels, that through the interference of the British
Embassy, four thousand seven hundred persons, reduced by an arbitrary
edict of the king to bondage, were liberated; upon which the critic,
full of the "strange stories" which his strange associates had related
to him, immediately concludes that Dr Krapf might have had some hand in
that transaction.  At all events he must contrive to make it appear so,
otherwise what would become of his primary thesis, that the Embassy
"fell into such disrepute?"  Montaigne, the reader will doubtless
remember, observes somewhere in his essays, that in order to catch his
critics napping, he often put forth the opinions of the greatest writers
of antiquity, without making the least allusion to the author, in order
that, if these should be turned into ridicule, as was not unlikely, he
might show that it was not himself that they had attacked, but Seneca,
or Cicero, or Plato.  Without having any such intention, I have caught
my critic in a similar trap.  Believing he could attribute the honour to
Dr Krapf, he does not call in question the issuing of the edict or the
liberation of the slaves, but inquires knowingly, "had _he_, the
missionary, nothing to do with their deliverance?"  Next, with a skill
which does him much credit, he connects the liberation of the princes
with this other transaction, so that if the reader believes his
unfounded assertion that it was Dr Krapf, not the Embassy, whose
influence prevailed with the king in the one case, he may be led to
suppose that it was so in the other.  This, it must be acknowledged, is
a very ingenious piece of workmanship, and has, I doubt not, earned its
author much credit.  Nevertheless, it will not bear the touch of
examination.  The simplest statement of facts in the world will suffice
to destroy it, together with the critic's main theory on the subject of
my loss of influence at the court of Shoa.  Dr Krapf quitted Angollala
on the 12th of March, 1842, and during May of the same year, left
Massowah for Aden.  His active influence, it may fairly be inferred,
terminated at this date.  The forlorn Embassy was now abandoned to its
own resources.  There was no one to interest the king in its behalf; no
one to perform great and benevolent actions, in order that I might
obtain the credit of them.  While we were in this state of torpor, the
proclamation in question was published by the herald.  Before Dr Krapf
quitted Massowah?  Alas! no.  For that event took place in May, whereas
the royal edict was only promulgated on the 3rd of August.  It was by
me, therefore, and not by Dr Krapf, that the remonstrance was forwarded
to Sahela Selassie, which produced the liberation of the slaves.  This
fact is known to every member of the Mission, and it ought to have been
within the recollection of some of those infallible authorities who at
once supplied the critic with facts and with learning, who remembered
for him, understood languages for him, and when need was, invented for
him.

The statement that the parents of the four thousand seven hundred
individuals liberated, were slaves, is not true.  I have said that their
fathers were bondsmen, and their mothers free women, and this position I
maintain.  To the question who delivered the petition, I reply, "my
dragoman of course."  Upon his boasted maxim of "giving honour to whom
honour is due," the conscientious reviewer will doubtless award the sole
credit of the success attending this remonstrance, not to myself, but to
the party who presented it, and his doing so will be quite as reasonable
as the decision that I collected no geographical information, because my
assistant.  Dr Kirk, was entrusted by me with the department of survey.
In equity he ought surely to have taken the case of Dollond into
consideration, since _he_ made the satellite glass and the sextant used
in determining the longitude of Ankober, upon which every recent
addition to the geography of southern Abyssinia is indebted for whatever
value it does possess.

Next comes the deliverance of the princes, which took place little more
than three months before my return to India.  These facts, known to
every person in Abyssinia, the correctness of which will be vouched for
by every member of the Mission, and the whole particulars of which were
laid at the time before the Indian and British governments, may,
perhaps, suffice to show in what spirit I have been criticised, and how
totally unscrupulous my assailants have been.  The gross misstatements
disseminated anonymously through some of the public journals, and
repeated by the candid reviewer, I have already publicly contradicted
with my name.  I here also contradict the assertion, that the king
remained silent during my sojourn on the frontier.  What object the sage
reviewer would propose by my going back to take _a second_ leave of His
Majesty, when such is the etiquette of no country in the whole world,
and my public duties imperatively required my presence at Farri, the
reader will be, as I am, at some loss to comprehend.

The treaty concluded with the king of Shoa having now been placed by
Parliament before the country, I should have thought it unnecessary to
notice the remarks which have been made on that subject, but for one or
two considerations connected with it.  First, it is said, that the
ancient practice of detaining strangers had in usage been previously
abolished, and it seems that, notwithstanding the treaty, it was
afterwards, in one particular case, revived.  Clearly the critic does
not perceive the force of his own statements; for if, in spite of the
most solemn engagements that a prince can enter into, Sahela Selassie
denied a British subject ingress to his country, does it not follow that
distinct stipulations on this point were necessary?  What does it
signify, that practically Sahela Selassie had in many instances
permitted Europeans to enter his country?  Were they not all, whilst
there, legally subject to his caprice, and was it not prudent to
endeavour to emancipate them from that caprice?  But Sahela Selassie, it
is said, shortly violated the treaty, and his act is made the subject of
accusation against me.  Had I broken it myself, the circumstance would
have been somewhat more germane to the matter.  At present, all that can
be said is, that Sahela Selassie is a novice in European diplomacy.

The case of hardship alluded to, is that of Dr Krapf, who, having
quitted Shoa on urgent private business, was denied re-admission.  On
this subject I might enter into a long explanation, which, because of
the peculiarity of my position, could never be complete.  I therefore
judge it more satisfactory to refer to the testimony of the Church
Missionary Society, which, as well as Dr Krapf himself, has put on
record its entire satisfaction with my proceedings.  If, therefore, the
parties most deeply concerned be content because they understand the
whole state of the case, I may safely despise the reproaches of a critic
who neither knows nor cares any thing about the matter, further than as
it may enable him to prejudice me in public opinion.

In every page of the criticism the sophisms and fallacies of which I
have undertaken to expose, there is some fresh proof that the reviewer
does not see his own way, and that he is perpetually at contradiction
with himself.  For example, he insists on nothing more incessantly than
the all-powerful influence of Dr Krapf over the king of Shoa, to which,
he says, the Embassy owed whatever success it met with.  No sooner,
however, does the missionary quit the precincts of the court, than he is
arrested and plundered, evidently, the reviewer insinuates, with the
knowledge and connivance of his fast friend Sahela Selassie.  What then
becomes of his prodigious influence, since it did not suffice for his
own protection?  But if Dr Krapf was powerless, so likewise, argues the
critic, was the Embassy; "for we read of no remonstrances, no
applications made to the king on behalf of the missionary, and surely
there are no political considerations to restrain communicativeness upon
a subject like this."  He is perfectly mistaken.  For although it may,
without compromising any one, be stated that remonstrances were made,
there are reasons, and those public ones too, which forbid me to explain
why those remonstrances were ineffectual.  Had the critic, or his
Amharic philosopher, possessed one atom of sagacity, they would have
divined those reasons; but as the case is otherwise, I leave them in the
darkness which encompasses the whole coterie.

As to my having no right to use information expressly collected for me
by the Political Agent at Aden, and by Lieutenant Christopher, in
reference to the Eastern Coast, that is really a point upon which the
reviewer can hardly be reckoned a competent judge.  Lieutenant Barker,
like Dr Kirk and the rest of my assistants, was under my orders, and
sent with me for the express purpose of taking share, as I might see
fit, in the duties allotted to me.  The authorities quoted by the
reviewer, as having been first in the field with every particular
respecting slavery and the slave-trade in Shoa, do not bear out his
assertion.  Not to go any farther, where does he find the fact, which is
rather an important one, that the king claims one out of every ten
slaves that pass through his dominions?  Like most other points which
bear materially upon the subject, this is omitted in the "reports" which
are so confidently advanced, in order to throw dust in the eyes of those
who will take the Reviewer's word for whatever he has the effrontery to
assert.

Next comes the question of the royal arms of Shoa, which I have stated
to be the Holy Trinity.  Here the critic, as he thinks, has me clearly
at disadvantage.  He denounces me, accordingly, to be in the wrong, by
showing, not what the arms of Shoa are, but what are the arms of the
Ethiopic empire; which is exactly the same as if a traveller in
Flanders, having described the royal arms of that country, were to be
taken to task because the arms of the Austrian Emperor were different.
I make a statement on one subject, and he refutes me by making a
different statement on a different subject, which is somewhat comic, to
say the least of it.  But the arms of Abyssinia are, it seems, the "Lion
of the Tribe of Judah," to which the Catholic missionaries have added a
cross.  M. le Grand, in speaking of Abyssinian coronations, says: "The
escutcheon is a lion holding a cross, with this motto: _Vicit leo de
tribu Judah_."  But all this has nothing to do with the king of Shoa,
who employs a device of his own, and that device is exactly what I have
represented.

The ignorance of the reviewer and his anonymous authorities is again
conspicuous in the remarks offered relative to the signet.  Why has he
not followed the rule he has laid down for my guidance, and "said
openly," who these mysterious informants are, in order that, by their
calibre, the public might have been enabled to judge whether on any, and
on what subject, their opinion or their assertion is likely to be better
than my own?  As it is, the reader might really be tempted to believe
that there existed a penny post in the kingdom of Shoa, and that every
subject was in the daily habit of corresponding through it with all his
acquaintance.  But with exception of a few letters indited by His
Majesty, or by the Queen, there are, perhaps, not half a dozen penned
during the year, and those are upon scraps of parchment the size of a
visiting card, and have neither signature nor superscription, much less
device to adorn them.  More than ignorance is displayed in the sneers
cast upon my ability to use the pencil and the rifle.  These
qualifications, however incompatible their exercise may be with the
dignity to which the critic has been pleased to elevate me, are far from
being lightly estimated in Abyssinia; and that foreigner who can neither
draw portraits, nor ride, nor slay wild beasts, is not likely to hold a
very high place in the estimation of Sahela Selassie, whatever may be
thought of him by a learned reviewer.

The speculations indulged in as to the success or failure of my Embassy,
are artfully spread over the whole article, a little here and a little
there; so that the reader, should a reader be found, must always of
necessity have doubts unanswered in his mind.  There is some skill in
this, and I give the writer credit for it; but though he manages his
matter well, the matter itself is good for nothing.  He puts himself in
the place of the public, and demands certain explanations which I am not
permitted to give.  Parliament alone has it in its power to satisfy my
critic, and to Parliament I refer him.  Everybody else will feel that an
imperfect explanation would be worse than none at all; a complete one I
cannot furnish, though it may hereafter be permitted me to clear up the
whole matter, which I am fully able to do.

It appears to me that I have now answered every objection worthy of
notice that has been made against my work on Shoa.  Not improbably, I
shall be thought by some to have been too minute and circumstantial in
my reply--to have exposed too seriously misrepresentations originating
in ignorance or wanton malice--to have expended argument on that which
deserved only contempt.  But, respecting the public as I do, I judged it
to be incumbent on me completely to disprove the assertion that I had
imposed upon it.  I trust I have established my own veracity, which I
have been far more solicitous to do than to defend the plan adopted in
the composition of my narrative.  Much more might have been said, to
show that the truth is neither in the reviewer, nor his "private
informants," but it is not worth my while to trouble myself further with
such people.  The public, I am convinced, will agree with me in thinking
that I have left no just cause for cavil, and if, therefore, the system
of abuse should be persevered in, it can only be because I happen to
have enemies who will make a point of pursuing me as long as I am above
ground, and perhaps much longer.  I wish they could discover some better
and more profitable employment, and with that wish I leave them.

W.C. Harris.

_London, March_ 31, 1844.

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 Honourable 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 about four
hundred miles inland from the port of Tajura on the African coast.

The Mission will be conveyed to Aden in the Honourable Company's steam
frigate Auckland, now under orders to leave Bombay on the 27th instant;
and it has been arranged that one of the Honourable Company's vessels of
war, at present in the Red Sea, shall be in readiness to convey the
Mission thence to Tajura, 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 Tajura.

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, amidst manifold interruptions and
disadvantages, the following pages will, in many respects, be found
imperfect.  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, towards the establishment of a more
intimate connexion with a Christian people, who know even less of the
world than the world knows of them,--towards the extension of the bounds
of geographical and scientific knowledge, the advancement of the best
interests of commerce, and the amelioration of the lot of some of the
least favoured 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 exertions 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
unfavourable climate, carried through a series of magnetic and
astronomical observations of the highest importance to Abyssinian
geography.

An indefatigable devotion to the cause of science, added to the
experience gained during previous wanderings in Palestine, eminently
adapted the learned Dr Roth to discharge the arduous functions of
natural historian to the Mission; and the splendid collection realised,
together with the researches embodied in the various appendices to these
volumes, will afford the fullest evidence of his industry and success.

To all who were associated with himself, in view to the better
attainment of the objects contemplated, the Author here offers his warm
acknowledgments 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 fortune permitted.

To the Reverend Dr Krapf the thanks of Government have already been
conveyed, for the valuable co-operation 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, whose kindness from the first arrival of the Embassy on the
frontiers of Shoa, to the date of his own departure for Cairo, was
unremitting.

By no tribute of his own could the writer of these volumes extend the
well-deserved reputation of McQueen'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 conclusions founded upon years of patient and honest
investigation; and this the 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 honour to conduct.

_Ankober, 1st January_, 1843.

POSTSCRIPTUM.

The length of time that has unavoidably elapsed between the preparation
and the appearance of these volumes, needs no apology, neither is it
proposed to offer any for their termination in the country of which they
treat, and wherein they were written.  But the work must not now be
suffered to go forth without the expression of the Author's gratitude
for the assistance derived during its progress through the press, from
the talents and literary taste of his friend Major Franklin Lushington,
C.B.

Volume One, 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 harbour of Bombay, proclaimed the
necessity of a hurried adieu to a concourse of friends who still
thronged the deck; and scarcely was the last wish for success expressed
to the parties that had embarked, before the paddles performed their
first revolution, and the Honourable East India Company's steam frigate
"Auckland," bound upon her maiden voyage, shot through the still blue
water.

A turbaned multitude of manifold religions 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
officers and gentlemen composing an Embassy organised under instructions
by the government of India.  More than a fortnight had been diligently
passed in the equipment of this mission; but its objects, no less than
the destination of its innumerable 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 fabric 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 creaking of yards has given place to the coughing
and sobbing of machinery, as it heaves in convulsive throes.  Tacking
and wearing 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
proclaim the advent of the English mails.  The deep blue sea was glassy
smooth.  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 odours,--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 inaccessible 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, hollow as well as hill is
destitute of even the semblance of vegetation.

  "How hideously
  Its shapes are heap'd around, rude, bare, and high.
  Ghastly, and scarr'd, and riven!  Is this the scene
  Where the old earthquake's demon taught her young
  Ruin?  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 isolated
denizens of British Arabia, the unexpected 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 barbarous
interior, there is nothing to alleviate a positive imprisonment, save
the periodical flying visits of the packets that pass and repass betwixt
Suez and Bombay.  In the dead of night the sudden glare of a blue light
in the offing is answered by the illumination of the blockship,
heretofore veiled behind a curtain of darkness.  The double thunder of
artillery next peals from her decks; and as the labouring of
paddle-wheels, at first faint and distant, and heard only at broken
intervals, comes booming more heavily over the still waters, the
spectral lantern at the mast-head is followed by a red glow under the
stem, 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, towards her anchorage.  Warped
alongside the blockship, the dingy hulls 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? 'tis 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 thighbone of a calf, their labour has already commenced.
Increasing the vehemence of their savage dance, they heave the ponderous
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 vehemence of the frantic musician, they pursue their task,
night as well as day, amid clamour 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 escape 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 copious 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.

Volume One, Chapter II.

DISEMBARKATION AT CAPE ADEN.

Quitting the boisterous deck of the steamer, and pulling towards 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
appearance very far from inviting or prepossessing.  They are little
relieved by a few straggling cadjan buildings, temporarily occupied by
those whose avocations enable them, 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 honourable and responsible post of
Political Agent, there awaited the embassy, on its landing, a
hospitality of no ordinary stamp.  It literally knew no bounds, and
could not fail to obliterate at once any unfavourable first impression
arising out of the desolate aspect bestowed by Dame Nature upon "Steamer
Point."

A volunteer escort of European artillerymen 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 government
treasury of many thousand star-dollars of the reign of Maria Theresa,
displaying, 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 exceeding
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 labour employed, are
wont to assume a strangely excited appearance ere the journey be at an
end.

Along the entire coast of Southern Arabia, 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 [Masudi] 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 Nasafan and Hadramaut, in the country of Shaher.  "Its
sound, like the rumbling of thunder, might then be heard many miles, and
from its entrails were vomited forth red-hot stones with a flood of
liquid fire."  The skeleton of the long-exhausted crater, 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, presents 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 harbour, 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 a broad 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 cliff's assume the similitude
of massive wads and battlements, every where pierced with loopholes and
embrasures.  A gradual ascent leads through a craggy portal, bristling
with cannon, and guarded by the pacing 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 Tangiers, "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 ranges,
once in connection, but obviously rent asunder, heaved outwards, 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 prospect, no shrub relieves the eye, not even a flower
lends its aid to enliven the wild and gloomy hollow, the fittest refuge
that the imagination could picture for the lawless and the desperate.
Fortifications are to be traced on every point either liable to assault
or eligible for defence: ruined castles 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 occasionally be seen, is partially screened by
a triangular rock, which frowns like a great spectre over the inner
harbour.  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 difficult to devise a more
appropriate exile for the banished fratricide.  Hurled into the sea by a
convulsive shock, it is surrounded by pumice and by currents of
obsidian, the products of volcanic emission, strewed among vast
undulating waves of cavernous lava, or mingled with black masses of
porous rock, which bear evidence 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 leafless Besham, the _Balsamodendron Opobalsamum_, 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 regions 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 mountain-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 upwards of one hundred
wells; many dilapidated and choked up, but others yielding an abundant
and unfailing supply.  Whence or in what manner they are fed it is
extremely difficult to conjecture.  All near the beach are bad, and more
or less brackish; some are sensibly affected by the tides, and very
saline; whilst of those which afford sweet water, one only is visibly
acted upon by some lower spring.  It is excavated at the entrance of a
dark gorge rent by some violent 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 deficiency in the
animal creation.  In perhaps no other quarter of the universe are the
sparrow 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 superstitions, and an Aden tradition, extant throughout
Southern Arabia, would exalt 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 defiance of the prophet Hud, to create
unto himself a garden which should rival the Celestial Paradise.  The
Bostan el Irem, with its gorgeous palaces and shining domes, the
similitude whereof had never been constructed on the regions of the
earth, is said to be yet standing in the solitary deserts of Aden,
although miraculously concealed from mortal ken.  Within the silent
walls of its lofty towers did Abdallah 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 imperishable, but rarely revealed monument of Divine
retribution.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1.  Lieutenant J.C. Cruttenden, assistant to the Political Agent at
Aden, heard the same version repeated at Saana, the capital of Yemen,
which far-famed city he has been the first European to visit, since the
days of Niebuhr.

Volume One, Chapter III.

A STROLL THROUGH THE INFANT METROPOLIS OF BRITISH ARABIA.

A uniform system of architecture pervades the houses of Aden, nearly all
of which would appear to have arisen out of the ruins of former more
extensive edifices, now buried far below the surface of the accumulated
soil.  Tiers of loose undressed stone are interlaid, instead of mortar,
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
ornament.  This is now restricted to the decayed 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 encrusted, 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 sherbet of large oriental towns; and piles of fruit, drugs, dates,
molasses, and other abominations, present the same amount of flies, and
no abatement of the compound of villainous smells, by which the booth of
the shrewd and avaricious Gentoo is so invariably distinguished.

In the suburbs, the frail cadjan wigwam of the Arab and Somauli
population impart the undeviating aspect of the portable 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 blasts of the fiery Shimal.

During his diurnal reign, the sun has shone fiercely over the extinct
crater of Aden, and the relentless shower of dust and pebbles has kept
the inhabitants within their rude dwellings.  But as the declining 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 population 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 energetic gait and manner, proclaim the
untameable 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 slender costume.
His arms have been deposited 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 of hair, stamps him the
roving tenant of the desert.

The Arab has changed neither his character nor his habits since the days
of the patriarchs, and he affords a standing evidence of the truth of
the scriptural prophecy.  He regards with disdain and with proud
indifference every other portion of mankind, for who can produce so
ancient monuments of liberty as he who, with little intermission, has
preserved it from the very Deluge?  Is the land of his ancestors
invaded?  A branch torn by the priest from the venerated _Nebek_ [A tree
bearing a fruit like the Siberian crab], 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 crimson tide, the emblem is solemnly
delivered to the nearest warrior, who hies him forth with this his
summons for the gathering of the wild dans.  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 thirsting for the blood of
the foe, have mustered around the unfurled standard of their prophet.

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,
composing 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 army, to seek safety in precipitate flight to Hodeida.

In yonder fat and sensual money-changer 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 patiently 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
turban, 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 population 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, although some have disguised their hair under a thick plaster of
quick-lime, and others are rendered hideous by a wig of fiery red curls;
whilst 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.  [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.]  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, baskets, and fans, of the pliant date-leaf; and
their laughing daughters, yon tall, slim, and erect damsels with the
earthen pitchers above their plaited tresses, present, on their way up
from the well, some of the comeliest specimens of the ebon race.

"Honesty," saith the Arab proverb, "is found only amongst poor fools."
The Bedouin has for ages been celebrated for his ingenuity and daring,
and the African offset 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, naught 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 proprietor 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-cheeked
urchins, are seated numerous dark-eyed and well-dressed Jewesses.
Rachel, although discreet, and preserving the strictest decorum, is
unveiled.  Were it possible to prevail upon her to have recourse to
daily ablution, in lieu of the hebdomadal immersion which celebrates her
sabbath eve, her complexion would not be less fair than that of the
native of Southern Europe; and in the well-chiselled features and
aquiline profile of the brunette, are preserved all those marked
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 labour should excite the cupidity of a rapacious master.
Now their prospect has brightened, and the remnant of a mighty though
fallen and dispersed people, no longer exists here in poverty and
oppression, insulted and despised as they have always been in every part
of the Eastern world; but in uninterrupted security ply their
industrious occupation, and under British protection fearlessly practise
those rites which have been religiously preserved from the time that
their priests bore aloft the ark of the covenant.  Stone slabs with
Hebrew inscriptions mark the resting-place of the departed; schools
witness the education of the rising generation; and men and women,
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 wilderness of the Red Sea" their fathers "went up harnessed
out of the land of Egypt."

Volume One, Chapter IV.

THE GIBRALTAR OF THE EAST.

Aden, in its history and reverses, presents the type of many a mighty
nation,--it flourished and has fallen.  As it once stood, it was the
maritime bulwark of Arabia Felix.  So early as the reign of Constantine
the Great, it was celebrated for its impregnable fortifications, its
extended traffic, and its attractive ports.  Here the camels of the
Koreishites were laden with a precious cargo of aromatics.  Here
commerce 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 decline is only dated from the close of the
illustrious reign of Suleiman the Magnificent; 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 is hallowed by the tradition
that it was honoured 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 subjugation 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
period that Constantinople fell into the hands of Mahomet the Second.
Aden frequently cast off its allegiance; and when the Turks, by means of
their fleet built at Suez, rendered themselves masters of the northern
coast of the Red Sea, they found the peninsula independent, under the
Sultan 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 masters.

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 adjacent 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 magnificence it could
formerly boast in works of public utility.  The chief buildings are
believed to have been situated ten miles inland, and to have been
swallowed up by the ever rising, never ebbing, tide of the desert.  The
red brick conduit of Abd el Wahab can still be traced from the Durab el
Horaibi, whence it stretches to Bir Omheit, upwards 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 conspicuous 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, formed by excavations in the limestone rock.  These
are lined with flights of steps, and supported by lofty buttresses of
imperishable masonry, forming deep reservoirs of semi-elliptical form,
which still blockade every channel in the mountain side, and 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 countless tombs in the
Turkish cemetery were of white marble, and bore on jasper tablets
elaborately-sculptured inscriptions surmounted by the cap and turban;
but the greater number of these pillared monuments have either
disappeared or been overthrown.  Of the evidences of Mohammadanism that
once graced the city, nearly all lie buried from sight beneath heaps of
accumulated rubbish and debris, the removal of portions of which has
disclosed many curious coins of remote date.  The minaret 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, invested with a pall of crimson silk, and enshrined in the
odour of sanctity, repose the venerated remains of Sheikh Hydroos.

An excellent zig-zagged road, imperfectly 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 for a sixty-eight pound shot, and covered with Turkish
inscriptions, were the chief symbols of the former strength of this
eastern 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 dissimilar from the volcanic islands
in the Grecian Archipelago, and viewed from a 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 accumulating, 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 annihilated, her
ports will long remain as nature formed them, excellent, capacious, and
secure.

Important commercial advantages cannot fail to accrue from the
occupation of so secure an entrepot, which at any season of the year may
be entered and quitted with equal facility.  The readiest access is
afforded to the rich provinces of Hadramaut 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 produce 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, whilst the valleys in
the interior pour forth for export, sheep, ghee, drugs, dry hides, gold
dust, civet, ivory, rhinoceros horns, peltries, and ostrich feathers,
besides coffee of the choicest growth.  A wide field is open for
mercantile speculation, and it is not a little pleasant to contemplate
the approaching improvement of Christian Abyssinia, and the civilisation
of portions of Africa even more benighted and remote, through the medium
of intercourse with British Arabia.

Under the flag of old England, Aden has enjoyed a degree of happiness
and security never previously experienced, even in the days of her
greatest glory, when she ranked among the foremost of commercial marts
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
grinding oppression, and to free themselves from the galling burthen
beneath which they have long groaned at the hand of insatiate native
despots.  The amazing increase of population and the crowded state of
the bazaars form subject for high admiration.  In the short space of
three years 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 merchants do but await the
erection of permanent 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 to revert to its
former channel.  Blessed by a mild but firm government, the decayed
mart, rescued from Arab tyranny and misrule, will doubtless shortly
attain a pinnacle far eclipsing even its ancient opulence and renown;
and Aden, as a free port, whilst she pours wealth into a now
impoverished land, must ere long become the queen of the adjacent seas,
and take rank among the most useful dependencies of the British crown.

Volume One, 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
minutes the Honourable Company's Brig-of-war "Euphrates," having the
Embassy on board, and commanded by one of its members [Lieutenant
Barker, Indian Navy], set her white sails, and, followed by three large
native crafts freighted with horses and baggage, stood across the
Arabian Gulf.  A favourable breeze pressed her steadily through the
yielding bosom of the ocean.  The salt spray flew under her gallant
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 destined 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 civilised shores--an event not unreasonably conjectured to be
far distant for all, and for some destined never to be realised.

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, notwithstanding a delay of some hours, caused by an
accident to the mainyard of 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 remainder of
the fleet having parted company during the night, were now perceived
standing directly for Mushahh, the nearest of these islets, situated at
the mouth of the Gulf of Tajura, and divided from the Danakil coast by a
fathomless channel of seven miles.  An iron messenger despatched to
bring the convoy to, ricochetted over the blue water, kicking up a
column of white spray at every bound, and before the smoke of the gun
had cleared the bulwarks, a bald pate protruded between the rigging, was
followed by the swarthy person of Aboo Bekr, of the Somauli tribe Aboo
Salaam, and commonly styled Durabili, or "the Liar."  Nakhuda of a small
trading craft which had been employed as a pilot boat during the recent
trigonometrical survey of the coast, he was well-known to the officers
of the "Euphrates," and was ascertained to be at this moment charged
with despatches for 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 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 accommodated 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 affairs 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 Tajura.  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 neighbours--or his ancient rival,
Mohammad Ali, is to have the honour of forwarding 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 misbehave, and I'll 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 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 starboard 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
Tajura; but darkness overtaking her, it was resolved to lay to until
daybreak; and a gun fired in intimation of approach was presently
answered by a display of rockets and blue lights from the Honourable
Company's schooner "Constance," riding at anchor in the harbour.

The Arabs lay claim to the invention of the compass; and Aboo Bekr, who
believed himself in truth a second Anson, was provided 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 decayed 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 observer.  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 subtended 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 desired haven is known to be
to the southward--if below, to the northward, and the course is shaped
accordingly.

"I'll take you in this very night, Capitan Bashi, if you so please,"
resumed the pilot, whose packet had by this time escaped his
recollection altogether.  "Only give me the order, and, praise be unto
Allah! there is nothing that Aboo Bekr cannot 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 youngest 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 nothing 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; `All'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?'  `Subhan 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 bloodthirsty Adaiel, were in that moment forgotten.  Pleasure
sparkled in every eye, and each heart bounded with exultation at the
near prospect of fulfilling the benevolent schemes in design, and of
adding one mite to the amelioration of Afric's swart sons.

Those who are conversant with Burchell's admirable illustration of an
encampment of Cape farmers, with their gigantic waggons scattered about
in picturesque confusion, will best understand the appearance of the
group of primitive habitations 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
grey 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 numerous 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 believer to matin prayer; and a belt of green
_makanni_, 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 last rested.

As the ship sailed into the harbour, 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 almost 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 Jebel 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 protruding from his jaws; and
before he had time to think where he was to find stowage 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 Kilkenny 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 don't choose to
believe _me_, there are a dozen persons of unblemished veracity now in
Tajura, who are ready to vouch for its correctness."

Volume One, Chapter VI.

CAST ANCHOR AT TAJURA ON THE AFRICAN COAST.

A scraggy, misshapen lad, claimed by Aboo Bekr as his own most dutiful
nephew, 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 cruise of the "Euphrates," 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 master 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 don't you grow taller as well as sharper?" enquired the party upon
whom the precocious 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
consideration 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 journey of the Embassy; and he now
represented 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 pieced, 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.
Deserted 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, populated by not fewer than fifty thousand souls, springing
into existence as if by the magic aid of Aladdin's lamp, and
disappearing 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 exported
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 of Amin and
Ogaden, a nomade band, laden 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 hand 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.  All other trade,
however, is engrossed by the subtle Banian, who divides the _adductor
pollicis_ of the right thumb, in order to increase the span by which his
wares are to be measured; and he, during many years, has enjoyed,
silently and unobserved, the enormous profits accruing from the riches
annually poured out from the hidden regions of Africa.  No form of
government regulates the commerce; and, in the absence of imposts,
barter is conducted solely through the medium of a native broker styled
Aban, who, receiving a regulated percentage upon purchases and sales, is
bound, at the risk of his own life, to protect his constituent from
injury or outrage.

A vessel standing towards the coast proves a signal to all who gain
their livelihood by this system, to swim off, and contest first arrival
on board; the winner of the aquatic race, in accordance with ancient
usage, being invariably received as her Aban.  Thus it was that Ali
Shermarki became agent to the "Mary Anne," a small English merchantman
from Mauritius, whose captain, imprudently landing with the greater
portion of his crew, afforded 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 plunderers 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
rabble next beleaguered his dwelling, and imperiously demanded the
persons of the officers and crew, in order to put them to death; but,
true to his charge, Ali Shermarki stoutly resisted, and being severely
wounded, succeeded with his blood in securing honourable terms, and
preserving the lives for which he had made himself responsible.  His
zealous integrity was duly rewarded by the British Government, and a
sword was presented in token of his gallantry, the display of the
brilliant setting of which led to the narration of the foregoing
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 feu into their places betwixt herself and the shore, she fired
a salute of five guns; and, after considerable delay, a negro was
perceived timidly advancing with a lighted brand from among a knot of
grey-bearded elders, seated in deep consultation beneath the scanty
foliage of an ancient date tree.  A superannuated 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 reply to the compliment
paid, and for some minutes afterwards, 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
temporarily suspended, having long enjoyed the honour 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-starred "Mary Anne," tastily erected, keel
uppermost, in the middle of the town, to serve as an attic story.
Letters of introduction from the political authorities at Aden, with
many complimentary speeches, duly delivered, permission to land was
solicited; and although the formidable array of shipping, whose guns,
not two hundred yards distant, sullenly overlooked the royal lodge, had
given birth to certain misgivings, the Sultan finally overcame his
fears, and acquiesced in the arrangement.  A spot of waste land, forming
a common near the mosque, was pointed out as the site upon which to
encamp, but the favour 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 saving 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, bounded by a bold coast, and extending, in a
south-westerly direction, about forty-five miles, when the Eesah and
Danakil shores suddenly converge so as to form a straitened 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 inner 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
aspect; 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 inaccessible, being thickly encrusted with earth and
vegetable matter, whilst the sides of its nearest neighbour.  Hood Ali,
are bare, and present unequivocal traces of more recent 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 enclosed 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 presented one of those
strange phenomena which are not to be satisfactorily explained.  Always
ebbing, there is an underflow during even the flood tide; and usually
glassy smooth, they become occasionally agitated by sudden ebullition,
boiling up in whirlpools, which pour impetuously over the bar; whence
the natives, persuaded that there exists a subterranean passage
connected 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."

Volume One, Chapter VII.

RECEPTION 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
honoured since its foundation, raised its head on the afternoon of the
18th of May; when the Embassy, accompanied by the officers of both ships
of war in the harbour, landed under a salute of seventeen guns from the
"Euphrates," [commanded by Lieutenant J. Young, I.N.,] and in a spacious
crimson pavilion, erected as a hall of audience, received a visit of
ceremony from the Sultan and his principal chiefs.  A more unprincely
object can scarcely be conceived than was presented in the imbecile,
attenuated, and ghastly form of this most meagre potentate, who, as he
tottered into the marquee, supported by a long witch-like wand, tendered
his hideous bony claws to each of the party in succession, with all the
repulsive coldness that characterises a Dankali shake of the hand.  An
encourager of the staple manufactures of his own country, 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 keeping with the harmony
of dirt that pervaded the attire of his privy council and attendants.
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 illustrious person was further defended against evil
influence by a zone and bandolier 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 corners of his toothless mouth, the lines of cruelty, cunning,
and sordid avarice.

His Highness's haggard form was supported 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 unison with the pomposity of his carriage.
One Saleh Shehem, too, occupied a prominent seat in the upper ranks--a
wealthy slave-merchant, whose frightful deformities have ennobled him
with the title of "Ashrem," 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,
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
odour whereof was far from enhancing the _agremens_ of the interview.
Izhak and Hajji Kasim, two elders of the blood-royal, with whom a much
closer acquaintance was in store, were perfectly bald,--their
patriarchal bearing and goodly presence affording no bad imitation of
the scriptural illustrations by the old masters of the apostles Saint
Peter and Saint Paul.  True to his word, the wag Aboo Bekr, as full of
pleasantries as ever, had donned a preposterous tawny wig, quaintly
manufactured 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-favoured rabble, dripping with tallow, and redolent
of abominable 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 favour 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 assistance the most specious were
lavished by the authorities, in grateful acknowledgment whereof,
Cachemire shawls, and Delhi embroidered scarfs of exquisite workmanship,
were liberally distributed, and as greedily tucked under the dirty cloth
of the avaricious recipients; and although, in accordance with the
unpolished custom of the country, no sort of salutation was offered when
the conference broke up, the filthy guests departed with a semblance of
good humour, 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 Mohammad Ali,
whilst, trembling with jealousy and rage, he demanded the reason of
having been so insultingly omitted in the distribution 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 decorated 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 Adaiel of Danakil
nation, whereof Tajura 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, whilst 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 petty
chiefs of all the surrounding clans, who, to the number of eight or ten,
claim an equal voice in the senate, and with about an 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 necessity of propitiating at one time, and in the
same place, two rival savages, possessing equally the means of
annoyance, whilst neither is sufficiently strong to afford protection
against the interference of the other, rendered the negotiation one of
considerable difficulty and delicacy; nor was it without a vast
expenditure of honied words, that the ruffled temper of the malcontent
was finally soothed, and he was persuaded to waive the assertion of his
recognised claim, until a more suitable opportunity.

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 something 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
befitting salute from the Brig of war.  The lounging population were
altogether lost in amazement at the sight of such magnificence--old and
young, of both sexes, thronging the wayside, with features indicative 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 unpretending couch
whereon he quailed, as the procession 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 yesterday's
compliments, and of yesterday's promises mode only to be broken, was
followed by a general sipping of coffee, prepared, not in the royal
kitchen, but in the _cuisine_ of the Embassy; and after being
scrutinised during ten minutes of suffocating heat by numerous female
eyes glistening through an infinity of chinks and perforations 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 matter of heartfelt
congratulation, that the regal custom was dispensed with, of investing
the honoured 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 beldame, embedded in spells,
beads, amulets, and grease, forcibly reminding the spectator of the
witch of Endor, and rendering her in very truth, a right seemly partner
for her wrinkled lord.

Volume One, Chapter VIII.

TAJURA, "THE CITY OF THE SLAVE-MERCHANT."

In the heart of the peninsula of Arabia, environed on every side by
rocky mountains, 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 hallowed 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 angels 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 Mecca, 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 period held in occupation the adjacent provinces of Arabia Felix,
and Abrahah, the vicegerent of Yemen, conceiving the idea of diverting
the channel to his own advantage, erected in the country of the
Homerites a splendid Christian church, which, under the title of
Keleisa, he endowed with the same privileges, immunities, and
emoluments, that had pertained, from all antiquity, to the shrine of
Sabaean 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 ensure 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,
surnamed El Ashrem, placing himself at the head of a vast army,
proceeded to take revenge on the idolaters; but, misled by intelligence
artfully given by Aboo Taleb, grandfather to the Apostle of God, he
destroyed, instead of the Kaaba, a temple of Osiris at Taief, and the
first recorded appearance of the small-pox, shortly afterwards
annihilated the Christian forces.

The wars that distracted all Arabia, between the Greeks and Persians in
the first instance, and subsequently between Mahomet 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 partisans, and merchants as well as trade gradually
departed south of the Arabian Gulf, to sea-ports which in earlier times
had been the emporia of commerce with the East.  Raheita, Zeyla, Tajura,
and a number 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.
Little districts now grew into great consideration.  Mara, Hadea, Aussa,
and Adel, amongst other petty states, assumed unto themselves the title
of kingdoms, and shortly acquired power and wealth eclipsing many of the
more ancient monarchies.

The miserable town of Tajura, "the city of the slave-merchant," as it
exists at the present day, demands no further description.  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 ruins, on
the sea-beach near the palace.  But no consistent chronicle, either of
the capture or evacuation, is to be expected where every man is
notorious equally as a boaster and a liar, and making himself the
individual hero in every passage of arms, never foils to extol his own
clan as immeasurably superior in valour 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 Tajura 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 threshold;
sedulously attentive to the outward forms of their creed, though few
have sufficient energy to undertake a pilgrimage to the Kaaba, and
content, like other hypocrites, 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 occasion 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 monopolising chairs and tables with the insolent
independence which forms one of their most prominent features.
Supported by a long staff, the ruffians gazed for hours together at the
novel splendour 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 outside of the door, with
ample space at command.  But although thieves by profession on a grand
scale, they fortunately contrived to keep their hands from picking and
stealing; and notwithstanding that the tents were thus thronged from
morning till night, and the sea-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 leathern belt, which supports a most
formidable creese, and a pair of rude undressed sandals to protect the
feet of such as can afford the luxury.  The plain round buckler and the
broad-headed spear, without which few ever cross their threshold,
renders the naturally graceful and manly figure 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 thick,
frosts a bushy wig of cauliflower growth, which harbours myriads of
vermin.  Under the melting rays of a tropical sun, the grease pours
copiously over the skin; and the use of water, except as a beverage,
being a thing absolutely unheard-of, a Dankali pollutes the atmosphere
with an 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
favour is shown for other outward ornament; and the miserly disposition
which pervades the breast both of young and old, inducing an effort
towards the concealment of property possessed, 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 total 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
quick-lime towards the conversion of the naturally jet black peruke to a
most atrocious foxy red--when judicious frizzing, and the insertion of
the wooden skewer, used for scratching, completes the resemblance to a
carriage mop.  But this novel process of dyeing, so contrary to that
employed by civilised 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 periwig
from derangement.

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
were 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 possess 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 perfection to which the dentist's art has attained at
Tajura, 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 encampment.
Applications were nevertheless frequent for European aid--a venerable
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 Tajura, 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 endite a scraggy Arabic
letter, which, when completed with infinite labour, the writer is often
puzzled to decipher.  To the immortal honour of the Sultan be it here
recorded, that although the oldest male inhabitant of Tajura, he is a
solitary instance of non-acquaintance with the alphabet.  The swarthy
cheek of every urchin who distinguishes himself by diligence or
quickness, 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 residue of this oriental custom--the stuffing
the mouths of the well-behaved with sugar-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 football; the residue of their time being
spent in angling, when the juvenile Walton stands up to the chin in the
salt sea, and employing his head as a substitute for the reel, spins out
a dozen yards of line in a truly fisherman-like manner.  Numbers spent
the period of their relaxation from study in gaping with the adults at
the door of the pavilion, whilst the magic effect of the magnet was
exhibited, or fire produced from the human mouth by means of a
promethean, here emphatically denominated "the devil."

The softer sex of Tajura, whilst 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
petticoat, or a cloth reaching to the ankles, and a liberal coat of lard
over extravagantly braided ringlets, which are knotted with white beads,
form the toilet of maid, wife, and widow.  An occasional necklace of
coloured 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
ornaments are by no means general.  Mohammadan jealousy tends to the
seclusion of the better order of females to a certain extent; but a
marriage in high life, when the procession passed close to the
encampment, 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 Arabian market, in order that the funds accruing 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 import from
other climes the produce he requires.  An extensive traffic is carried
on with Aussa and Abyssinia, in which nearly 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 sandal soles, as fractionals,
form the currency of the sea-port; beads, buttons, mirrors, trinkets,
empty bottles, snuff, and tobacco, for which latter there is an
universal craving, being also received in exchange for the necessaries
of life.

Avarice is the ruling passion--the salient point in the character of the
Dankali.  His whole soul is engrossed in amassing wealth, whilst he is
by nature indolent and lazy, and would fain acquire riches without
treading the laborious uphill path towards their attainment.  Miserly in
disposition, there is not an individual of the whole community, from the
Sultan downwards, who would not infinitely prefer the present receipt of
two pieces of silver, to a promissory note for twenty at the expiration
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 accumulated 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."

Volume One, 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 independence.  It is
not, therefore, surprising 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 greater or less extent;
but the presence of so many interested parties tended not a little to
increase the difficulties inseparable from dealings with so listless 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
feelingly alive.  The ashes of ancient feuds were still smoking on the
arrival of the British; and notwithstanding that it was matter of
notoriety that the amount disbursed 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, affairs looked prosperous enough
towards the speedy completion of carriage, there was ever an adverse
under-current setting; and the apathy 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
bursting of a thunder-storm over the peak of Jebel Goodah, and to be
perpetually deceived 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 after
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 season, waxed daily
more irksome and insupportable, and even threatened to arrest the
journey altogether, the most conflicting accounts were received from
various interested 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 prerogatives, based upon ancient usage; but although
nothing is done or undertaken, without his concurrence duly obtained, he
possesses no discretion to punish disobedience of his will, and is
precluded from acting 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
better than a laughing-stock.

Faithless and rapacious, his insatiable avarice induced him to take
every extortionate advantage of the helpless party at his mercy, whilst
his tottering sway debarred him the power of reserving to himself the
exclusive right of pillage.  Private as well as public _kalams_ were
daily held for hours at the sacred threshold of the mosque, during which
new schemes of villainy and plunder were devised; and date leaves were
indolently plaited by a host of apathetic legislators, as the propriety
of permitting the departure inland of the Christian Kafirs was fully
discussed and deliberated over with all the vicious bigotry of the
Moslem zealot.

In order to ascertain how far fraud and impertinence might be carried
with impunity, a deputation of the artful elders beleaguered the
pavilion during the dead of night, to complain, in no measured terms,
that certain of the followers, regardless of orders, had been seen
endeavouring, with beads and trinkets, to betray the virtue of females
who drew water at the well--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
purchased from a schoolboy under the disbursement of a silver _fuloos_,
value four sterling shillings; and a courier, who had, at three times
the established charge, been furnished on the security of the high and
mighty Sultan, to convey to Ankober a letter advising the King of Shoa
of the advent of the Embassy, was, after being three entire days and
nights in possession of his ill-gotten wealth, discovered to be still
snug within 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
hourly developing, and to demonstrate to the Danakil capacity, that,
whether camels were forthcoming or not, the journey would positively be
undertaken; and the nefarious detention of the document, after the
receipt of such exorbitant hire, being perfectly in keeping with the
outrageously unprincipled and underhand treatment experienced 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 defiance of opposition, with ten camels
that had been brought by sea from Zeyla, by the nephews of Sheikh
Shermarki.  Mohammad Ali, too, was now heart and hand in the cause, and
his jealous rival, on receipt 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 passing rapidly
away.

The royal salute, fired alternately from the decks of the brig and the
schooner, each tricked out in all her colours, with gay signal flags in
honour of the natal day of her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen,
enveloped the town during forty minutes in a dense white smoke,
accompanied by a most unpleasant smell of gunpowder; and during the
entire day the beach in front of the British encampment wore the
semblance of a disturbed ant-hill.  European and native--master and
servant--the latter from every nation under the sun, Arab, Persian,
Nubian, Armenian, Egyptian, Syrian, Greek, and Portuguese,--all in a
state of most active bustle, were selecting light baggage for the
approaching departure; whilst 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 British officers
subsequently sate down to dinner 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 32 pound stern chaser of the "Constance," which
pointed directly towards 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 horoscope, 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 meetings convened for the purpose of taking the affair into full
consideration, Abdool Rahman, the Kazi, in his capacity of lawgiver, had
risen from his seat in the assembly, and ably demonstrated to his
mat-weaving audience, why all animosities and heart-burnings must be
sunk in the general object of making money, and getting rid as
expeditiously as possible of a party of Kafirs, whose guns, unshotted,
threatened the destruction of the mosque of the true believer, and the
total demolition of Tajura.  The Fatheh, being the first chapter of the
holy Koran, was duly read, and the Danakil conclave with one voice
vociferated a loud Ameen, even so let it be!

Volume One, Chapter X.

LONG ADIEU TO THE UNPRINCIPLED SULTAN.

From this eventful epoch each sultry day did indeed bring a numerical
accession to the beasts of burthen collected in the town; but they were
owned of many and self-willed proprietors; were, generally speaking, of
the most feeble description, 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 fortunately a simple contrivance; a mat composed 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 provoking 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 obsequies of the deceased--
and the almost nightly abstraction of one or more hired camels by the
lurking Bedouin, all contributed their mite.  At length however no
further pretext could be devised, and nine loads being actually in
motion towards Ambabo, the first halting ground on the road to the
kingdom of Shoa, the schooner "Constance," getting under weigh, stood up
the bay of Tajura, and cast anchor off the incipient camp, of which the
position was denoted by a tall cluster of palms.

Endless objections being now provokingly raised to the shape, size, and
weight of the boxes to be transported, it next became requisite to
reduce the dimensions of the greater number, in the progress of which
operation it was discovered that the hurry of transhipment at Aden had
resulted 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 labour and
difficulty; and, after all, its completion proved insufficient to
satisfy the parties.  One blockhead complained that his load was heavier
than his neighbour'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 torment 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 condition of their
being transversely divided with a saw to suit the backs of his wretched
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 contents of these cases, you offspring of an ass," retorted
the old pilot, "if you divide them."

The almost insurmountable difficulties thus 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 fiery and unwholesome blast which, during the months of June and
July, sweeps over that waterless tract from the south-west; 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
weeks 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 already 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 consecutive 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; whilst, neither grass nor green food remaining near the sea-shore,
the hundred and seventy camels now forming the caravan, had been
individually 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 with mules for the
conveyance of the European 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
continued to exist in regard to followers.  The services of neither
Dankali, Bedouin, nor Somauli, were obtainable at whatever wages; and
the whole of the long train of live stock was consequently to be
attended by a few worthless horse-keepers, enlisted at Aden, aided by a
very limited number of volunteers from the shipping, whose indifferent
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 remote manner been so fortunate as to render assistance
during the protracted sojourn of the Kafirs.  Many, whose claims were
far from being apparent, after confessing themselves satisfied _in
propriis personis_, modestly urged demands on behalf of their still more
worthless neighbours; 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 hosts of locusts,
before entering upon their lawless country.

With a feeling of pleasure akin to that experienced by Gil Blas, 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 inhabit
the terrestrial globe, the half-civilised savages peopling this
sea-port, are perhaps the most thoroughly odious and detestable.  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
neighbours, 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 Mohammad, stands
pre-eminently in relief; and the old miser's rapacity continuing unsated
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 already
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 stubborn noses were pierced.  But mule harness 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 towards Ambabo--forgetting the vile errand upon
which he had come, he involuntarily exclaimed, "In the name of Allah and
the holy Prophet, whither are those fellows going?" "_Raheen el
Habesh_," "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 departing cavalcade, as it
disappeared under a cloud of dust from before his leaden gaze.

Volume One, Chapter XI.

INIQUITOUS PROCEEDINGS AT AMBABO, AND UNDERSTANDING WITH THE RAS EL
KAFILAH.

The tall masts of the schooner of war, raking above the belt of dwarf
jungle that skirts the tortuous coast, served as a beacon to the new
camp, the distance of which from the town of Tajura was less than four
miles.  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_, harboured swine, pigmy antelope, and guinea-fowl in
abundance.  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 soiled through the tossing surf,
and files of Bedouin damsels, in greasy leathern petticoats, bending
beneath a load of fuel from the adjacent hamlets, traversed the sultry
strand; whilst 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, towards the sea-port,
whence they were to be sold into foreign bondage.

An avenue through the trees presently revealed the white tent, occupying
a sequestered nook on the course of a mountain stream near its junction
with the shore.  Here horses and mules were doing their utmost, by
diligently cropping the scanty tufts of sun-burnt grass, to repair their
recent long abstinence from forage, whilst 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-coloured fruit, still screened from view the village of
Ambabo, the straggling Gothic roofed wigwams composing which have the
same waggon-like appearance as the huts of Tajura,--a similar style of
architecture extending even to the unostentatious mosque, alone
distinguishable from the surrounding edifices, by uncarved minarets of
wood.

Greasy ragamuffins still intruding, here continued their teasing
persecutions, and Mohammad Mohammad, the son, though not the heir to the
throne of the Sultan, having been specially appointed by his
disreputable sire to the important post of reporter 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 buggalows 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 afterwards in deadly conflict, the insulted 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 Ambabo, 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 proverbially
unhealthy, and scourged during the rains by insupportable clouds of
musquitoes, the miserable hamlet is but thinly peopled, and the Sheikh
being on far from amicable terms with the authorities of Tajura, it is
likely soon to be abandoned in favour of some more eligible location.

A red savage, falsely representing himself to be one of the household of
his Christian Majesty of Shoa, arrived during the afternoon from
Ankober, with letters for 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, conceiving the arrival of this courier to afford an opening
for the exercise of his talents which ought on no account to be
neglected, 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 compatriots, did possess
some redeeming qualities, though they were by no means so conspicuous as
his scars.  The insuperable aversion 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 connect with a
deep gash over the temple, which distorted his vision; and if not
received in a less honourable _rencontre_ than he pretended, affords
another to the ten thousand instances on record of the savage rancour
with which blood feuds are prosecuted.  "My maternal uncle, and a native
of Zeyla," said Deeni, "becoming embroiled, mutually unsheathed their
creeses 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 the grave, I closed, stabbed the Somauli
villain to the heart with this good creese, and, glory be to God I
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, resolved to put his chum
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
satisfied with the success of his nefarious schemes, he did not possess
sufficient gratitude to prevent the commission of a robbery 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
Mohammad Ali on the 31st, with a welcome accession of camels for the
carriage of water, which rendered certain the prospect of departure on
the morrow, it having been distinctly promised by the Sultan, in return
for a handsome pecuniary consideration, that his brother Izhak, who had
been unanimously 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 Embassy on the 1st of June, and
that the reward of their services should be paid, _ad valorem_, upon
safe arrival within the kingdom 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 towards 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 nauseous 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 insolently
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
attendance of his brother with the promised escort, and modestly
requesting that the amount might forthwith be disbursed, or the bargain
must be considered null and void!

In this awkward dilemma, one of the party was immediately despatched to
create a diversion among the Philistines, and to remonstrate against so
gross a breach of good faith; whilst 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 elders, 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 demeanour 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 favoured 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 dishonest and most provoking behaviour
demanded; a silence of several minutes affording 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.
Distant 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 bluster concerning the movement of the
Kafilah from Ambabo without the presence, order, or consent of the Ras,
who, after sneering at the attempt as a most unprecedented proceeding,
and indulging in a very gratuitous _tirade_ against Mohammad Ali, whom
he styled in derision "the supplier 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 caravan had started upon express orders
given in consequence of a distinct understanding and pledge, purchased
the preceding day of the Sultan and himself.  He was reminded that every
hire and remuneration for camels, guides, and escort, exorbitant though
they were, had been paid in full at Tajura; and was distinctly informed
that if the terms of the agreement were not fully complied with, ere the
night fell, the property of the British Government would be left on the
ground, where it then lay, whilst 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 further added, that as the consequences of this step would rest
upon the head of those who had entered into an express engagement, upon
receipt of whatever terms they had demanded as the price of their
services, it should be borne in mind that further offensive and
unprincipled demonstrations might terminate in unpleasant results.

As the interpreter proceeded to unfold this high-toned remonstrance,
Izhak was seen to fidget uneasily upon his hams, whilst 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 swaggering air which he had assumed had now
entirely disappeared, and, after a hurried whispering consultation with
his confederates, he declared that he had been toiling day and night in
the service of the English; that he was perfectly ready to perform every
thing 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 trustworthy
colleagues; that he would be responsible for all the property left at
Ambabo, and only petition for two days' grace to put his house in order
before repairing to Dullool.  This point being tardily accorded, 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
stipulations of the covenant, set out on his return to Tajura.

Volume One, Chapter XII.

DULLOOL--THE RAS UNPLEASANTLY REMINDED 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 remaining 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 undermined 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 diminishes 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 element,
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 a 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 diligent 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 midnight.  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 opposed by the Ras el
Kafilah, whose brow again darkened as he declared his resolution not to
stir from Dullool until three of his camels, which were said to have
strayed, should be recovered; and deaf alike to remonstrance or
entreaty, he finally 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
another moment's delay, minute guns would be fired as a signal to bring
up the brig from Tajura, when the promise made yesterday 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.  Bedouin goat-herds
occupied many wells of fresh water, which were denoted by clumps of date
trees entwined by flowering 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 small
reliance that can be placed on information derived from the Danakil,
who, even when disinterested, can rarely indeed be induced to utter a
word of truth.

The strong party feeling entertained towards Mohammad Ali by the
magnates of Tajura, 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 conclave, that as not a drop of water could be
procured for three stages in advance, the entire of the next day should
be devoted to filling up the skins, which done, the caravan should
resume its march by night--a manoeuvre that savoured strongly of a
design to favour the clandestine return 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 contrast to the proceedings of his backbiters.  Whilst 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 services, and had
altogether assumed a bullying tone, coupled with a most impertinent and
overbearing demeanour, 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 maintenance 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 prudent grounds,
the honesty of the intentions by which it had been dictated, seeming at
best, extremely questionable, and no one feeling disposed to trust the
faithless 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 "Constance," proclaiming the midnight hour, sounded to
boot and saddle.  The Babel-like clamour 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-footed camels, which
formed an interminable 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 ascent 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 unscrupulously by the wayside.  Galeylafeo, a
singular and fearful chasm which was navigated in the first twilight,
did not exceed sixty feet in width; its gloomy, perpendicular walls of
columnar lava, towering 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 amplification, had represented this
frightful pass to be entered through a trap-door, in order to clear
which it was necessary for a loaded camel to forget its staid demeanour,
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 the most
dismal of the many dark recesses; and the belief was fully confirmed 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 wretched plight from their
fatiguing night's labour, 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 uninteresting volcanic appearance
characterised the entire country to the table-land of Warelissan, 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 cindery rock,
which could not be touched with impunity.  The sand soil of the desert
reflecting the powerful beams of the sun, lent a fearful intensity to
the heat, whilst 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 Tajura, now visible in all its shining glory, from this, its
western boundary.  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-dreaded 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.

Volume One, Chapter XIII.

GLOOMY PASSAGE OF RAH EESAH, THE DESCENSUS AD INFEROS.

Although Warelissan proved nearly seventeen hundred feet above the level
of the blue water, a suffocating south-westerly wind, which blew
throughout the tedious 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 circumference, on the shoulder of
Jebel Goodah--its barren surface strewed with shining lava, and bleached
animal bones; sickly acacias of most puny growth, sparingly invested
with sun-burnt leaves, here and there struggling through the fissures,
as if to prove the utter sterility of the soil; whilst 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,
completed 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 adjacent wild mountains, were collecting in the
neighbourhood with the design of making a sudden swoop upon the kafilah,
for which reason the European escort must be prepared for battle, and
muskets be discharged forthwith, to intimidate the lurking foe.  They
were informed, in reply, that all slept upon their arms, and were in
readiness; but Mohammad Ali came shortly afterwards to announce that
matters 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 practicable.

The aid of her pale beams was indispensable, in consequence of the
existence of the yawning pass of Rah Eesah, not one hundred yards
distant from the encampment just abandoned, but till now unperceived.
It derives its appellation, as "the road of the Eesahs," from the fact
of this being the path usually chosen by that hostile portion of the
Somauli nation, on the occasions of their frequent forays into the
country of the Danakil, with whom, singularly enough, an outward
understanding subsists.  Its depths have proved the arena of many a
sanguinary contest, and are said, after each downpouring of the heavens,
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 impede all progress.  The labour 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 division of a bale of blue cotton calico, a
manufacture here esteemed beyond all price.

A deep zig-zagged rent in the plateaux, produced originally by some
grand convulsion of nature, and for ages the channel of escape to the
sea of the gathered waters from Jebel Goodah, winds like a mythological
dragon through the bowels of the earth, upwards of three miles to the
southward.  Masses of basalt of a dark burnt brown colour, are piled
perpendicularly on either side, like the solid walls of the impregnable
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 overhead to the height of five or six hundred feet.  One
perilous path affords barely sufficient 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 an impenetrable gloom over the greater portion 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 infinite 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 themselves with
reconnoitring 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 cliffs, 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 to 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 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 valley of Marmoriso, a remnant of volcanic
action, rent and seamed with gaping fissures, the road turned over 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, covered 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
afterwards the far-famed Lake Assal, surrounded by dancing mirage, was
seen sparkling at its base.

The first glimpse of the strange phenomenon, although curious, was far
from pleasing.  An elliptical basin, seven miles in its transverse axis,
half filled with smooth water of the deepest caerulean blue, and half
with a solid sheet of glittering snow-white salt, the offspring of
evaporation--girded on three sides by huge hot-looking mountains, which
dip their bases into the very bowl, and on the fourth by crude
half-formed rocks of lava, broken and divided 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 wilderness of land and stagnant water, over
which a gloomy silence prevailed, and which seemed a temple for ages
consecrated 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 fainting 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 crystallised efflorescence.

As the tedious road wound on over basalt, basaltic lava, and amygdaloid,
the sun, waxing momentarily more intensely powerful, was reflected with
destructive and stifling fervour 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 appearance of the lower
crater of a volcano, situated on the high basaltic range above, whence
the lava stream had been disgorged 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 halt.
Another most severe and trying declivity had therefore to be overcome,
ere the long and sultry march was at an end.  It descended by craggy
precipices many hundred feet below the level of the sea, to the small
close sandy plain of Mooya, on the borders of the Lake--a positive
_Jehannam_, where the gallant captain of the "Constance" [Lieutenant
Wilmot Christopher, I N] had already 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 refulgent orb overhead.

Adyli, a deep mysterious cavern at the further extremity of the plain,
is believed by the credulous to be the shaft leading to a subterranean
gallery which extends to the head of Goobut 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 throughout the
night, and who carry off the unwary traveller to devour him without
remorse.  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 untouched.  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
afforded by the Adrusi, an outcast clan of the Debeni, acknowledging no
chief, though recognising in some respects the authority of the Sultan
of Tajura, and who wander over the country for evil, from Sagallo to the
Great Salt Lake.

Foul-mouthed vampires and ghouls were alone wanting to complete the
horrors of this accursed spot, which, from its desolate position, might
have been believed the last stage in 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-westerly wind, which blew
without any intermission during the entire day.  The air was inflamed,
the sky sparkled, and columns of burning sand, which at quick 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, flocked 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 several 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 fairly 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 water to drink."

Volume One, Chapter XIV.

FEARFUL SUFFERINGS IN THE PANDEMONIUM OF BAHR ASSAL.

In this unventilated and diabolical hollow, 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 human
precaution had been taken to secure a supply, by means of skins carried
upon camels, the very great extent of most impracticable country to be
traversed, which had unavoidably led to the detention of nearly all,
added to the difficulty of restraining a multitude maddened by the
tortures of burning thirst, rendered the provision quite insufficient;
and during the whole of this appalling day, with the mercury in the
thermometer standing at 126 degrees 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 vapour exhaled, 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
tedious hours, to supply to each of the party two quarts of the most
mephitic brick-dust-coloured fluid, which the direst necessity 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 towards a disregard of dirty water--a
circumstance of rather fortunate occurrence.  On board a ship of any
description the fluid is seldom very clean, or very plentiful.  At Cape
Aden there was little perceptible difference betwixt the sea-water 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 detestable mixture that was at long intervals most
parsimoniously produced, was the very acme of abomination.  Fresh hides
stripped from the rank he-goat, besmeared inside 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 intervening days under a strong
distilling heat--poured out an amalgamation of pottage of which the
individual ingredients of goat's hair, rancid mutton fat, astringent
bark, and putrid water, were not to be distinguished.  It might be smelt
at the distance 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 cracked lips during two entire days,
crowding around the bush, thrust their hot noses into the faces of their
masters, in reproachful intimation of their desire to participate in the
filthy but tantalising decoction; and deterred with difficulty from
draining the last dregs, they ran frantically with open mouths to seek
mitigation of their sufferings at the deceptive waters of the briny
lake, which, like those of Goobut el Kharab, 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 alleviation, 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 despotic dominion on the meridian, appeared to know no
termination.  At four o'clock, when the heat was nothing abated,
distressing intelligence was received that one of the seamen, who during
the preceding night had accompanied the captain of the schooner-of-war
from Goobut el Kharab, and had unfortunately lost his way, could nowhere
be found--the gunner, with six men, having long painfully searched the
country side for their lost messmate, but to no purpose; Abroo, the son
of whom old Aboo Bekr was justly proud, and who was indeed the flower of
his tribe, immediately volunteered 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
for shelter into a fissure of the heated lava, where he had soon sunk
into a state of insensibility.  Water, and the use of a lancet, with
which the young midshipman who heroically accompanied the exploring
party had been provided, restored suspended animation sufficiently to
admit of his patient being conveyed on board the "Constance" alive; but,
alas! he never reached Tajura; 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 without feeling, in after
severe illness, the unwholesome influence upon the human constitution of
that waste and howling wilderness.

But the longest day must close at last, and the great luminary had at
length run his fiery and tyrannical course.  String after 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 required, 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 despatches from the Embassy, after
bidding its members a final farewell; and in order to obtain water, any
further deprivation of which must have involved the dissolution of the
whole party, no less than to escape from the pestilential 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 human frame--it was resolved as an unavoidable alternative, to leave
the baggage to its fate, and to the tender mercies of guides and
camel-drivers, pushing forward as expeditiously as possible to
Goongoonteh, a cleft in the mountains that bound the opposite shore,
wherein water was known to be abundant.  Pursuant to this determination,
the European escort, with the servants, followers, horses, and mules,
were held in readiness to march so soon as the moon should rise above
the gloomy lava hills, sufficiently 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 deeply interesting in a geological
point of view, its overwhelming and paralysing heat precluded all
possibility of minute examination, and thus researches were of necessity
confined to the general character of the place.  Latitude, longitude,
and level were however accurately determined [These will be found in the
Appendix, Number One], and many were the theories ventured, to account
for 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 repelled far from its former boundaries.  The oviform figure
of the bowl, hemmed in on 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 subterranean abyss,
had given rise to the singular 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 subterranean action, and now forming a
barrier, which, from its point of greatest elevation, where the traces
of many craters still exist, gradually slopes eastward towards the deep
waters of the bay, and westward into the basin of the Salt Lake.  Whilst
no soundings are found in the estuary of Tajura, 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 correspondent
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 concentrated, and evinced by the saline
incrustation on the surface no less than by a horizontal efflorescence,
in strata, at a considerable height on the face of the circumjacent
rocks.

In the lapse of years, should the present order of things continue
undisturbed from below, the water win probably disappear altogether,
leaving a field of rock salt, which, when covered in by the debris
washed 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 occasionally felt in the neighbourhood, 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 dissimilar from the Bahr Assal--
another worthy type of the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Volume One, Chapter XV.

DISMAL NIGHT-MARCH ALONG THE INHOSPITABLE SHORES OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE.

Scarcely had the moon dipped her first flickering beam into the
unruffled surface of the oval lake, and lighted the bluff cliffs for
some hours previously shrouded in gloomy obscurity, than a loud war-cry
from the adjacent heights echoed the assembly to arms, and the shrill
blast of the Adaiel conch summoned all to the rescue.  Abandoning his
occupation, each stalwart warrior seized spear and buckler, which had
been laid aside whilst he aided in the task of reloading the camels for
the approaching night-march, and with respondent yells rushed towards
the spot whence the alarm proceeded.  The Europeans, springing from
their broken slumbers on the parched sands, stood to their arms.  A long
interval of silence and suspense succeeded, which was at last relieved
by the return of Mohammad Ali, one of whose beasts had unfortunately
slidden with its burden over a steep precipice, when the water-skins
bursting incontinently, had scattered the filthy but precious contents
over the thirsty soil--an irreparable catastrophe 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 Goongoonteh from the shores of the dreary
Bahr Assal, one skirts the margin of the lake by a route utterly
destitute of fresh water; whilst the other, although somewhat 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 scraggy boughs of the dwarf acacia, where
the tedious and most trying day had been endured--which each of the
half-stifled party did with an inward prayer that it might never fall to
his lot to seek their treacherous shelter more--a fierce dispute arose
amongst the leaders of the caravan as to which path should be adopted.
"What matters it," urged the intolerant Mohammadan from Shoa, who had
accidentally been found starving at Ambabo, and been since duly 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 heart of the "red man."  With his
hand upon the hilt of his creese, he swore aloud upon the sacred Koran
to take the upper path, and stoutly led the way, in defiance of all,
after Izhak and the ruthless bigots in his train had actually entered
upon a route, which the event proved must have involved the destruction
of all less inured than the savage to the hardships of the waste
wilderness.

'Twas 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 north-east wind had scarcely 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 stillness that
foretells a tropical hurricane--an absolute absence even of the smallest
ruffling of the close atmosphere.  Around, the prospect was wild,
gloomy, and unearthly, 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 labour, had
produced the phenomenon below; and they shot their dilapidated spires
into the molten vault of heaven, in a fantastic medley, which, under so
uncertain a light, bewildered and perplexed the heated brain.  The path,
winding 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 in 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 unlimited supply of water in prospect, at the distance of
only sixteen miles, had for the brief moment buoyed up the drooping
spirit which tenanted each way-worn frame; and when an exhausted mule
was unable to totter further, his rider contrived manfully to breast the
steep hill on foot.  But owing to the long fasting and privation endured
by all, the limbs of the weaker soon refused the task, and after the
first two miles, they dropped fast in the rear.

Fanned by the fiery blast of the midnight 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 burning 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 exhaustion
to rally, were reluctantly abandoned to their fate; whilst the
lion-hearted soldier, who had braved death at the cannon'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.

Whilst many of the escort and followers were thus unavoidably left
stretched with open mouths along the road, in a state of utter
insensibility, and apparently yielding 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 difficulty.  As another day
dawned, and the round red sun again rose in wrath over the Lake of Salt,
towards the hateful shores of which the tortuous path was fast tending,
the courage of all who had hitherto home up against fatigue and anxiety
began to flag.  A dimness came before the drowsy eyes, giddiness seized
the brain, and the prospect ever held out by the guides, of quenching
thirst immediately in advance, seeming like the tantalising 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 delivering 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 parched throat, to revive every
prostrate and 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 into a camp, which, but for the
foresight and firmness of the son of Ali Abi, few individuals indeed of
the whole party would have reached alive.

A low range of limestone hillocks, interspersed with strange masses of
coral, and marked by a pillar like that of Lot, encloses 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
incrustation, which extends about two miles to the opposite brink.
Soiled and mossy near the margin, the dull crystallised salt appears to
rest upon an earthy bottom; but it soon becomes lustrous and of a purer
colour, and floating 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
refrozen, but which still, as here, with a crisp sound, receives the
impress of the foot.  A well trodden path extends through the prismatic
colours of the rainbow, by the longitudinal 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 ethereal blue water.

At some distance from the beach was a caravan of Bedouin salt-diggers,
busily loading their camels for the markets of Aussa and Abyssinia,
where it forms on article of extensive traffic and barter.  Two other
basins of a similar stamp, but inferior 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
Mudaito tribes, from whose capital Aussa, it is not more remote than
Doba, as they term the Bahr Assal, the right to frequent which is
asserted as an exclusive privilege by the Danakil, who for centuries
have actually held the monopoly undisputed.  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 possesses 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
overstrewed 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 disembogue
into the extremity of the lake, although its waters seldom arrive so
far, save during the rainy season.  The high basaltic cliffs that hem in
the pebbly channel, approximating in the upper course as they increase
rapidly in altitude, form a narrow waist, where the first running stream
that had greeted the eye of the pilgrims since leaving the shores of
Asia, trickled onwards, leaving bright limpid pools, surrounded by
brilliant sward.

Bowers, for ever green, enlivened by the melodious warbling of the
feathered creation, 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 moment to escape from the horrors
of purgatory to the gates of Paradise; and under 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 quantity 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 overwhelming 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, everywhere beset with the
huge jagged blocks of lava, and intersected by perilous acclivities 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 region may be derived from the fact of fifty pounds of well
packed spermaceti candles, having, during the short journey from Tajura,
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 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."

Volume One, Chapter XVI.

AFFLICTING CATASTROPHE AT GOONGOONTEH.

Goongoonteh, a deep gloomy zig-zagged fissure, of very straitened
dimensions, is hemmed in by craggy lava and basaltic walls, intersected
by dykes of porphyry, augitic greenstone and pistacite, with decomposed
sulphate of iron, all combining to impart a strangely variegated
appearance.  Scattered and inclined in various directions, although
towering almost perpendicularly, they terminate abruptly in a rude pile
of rocks and lulls, 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 degrees.

Huge prostrate blocks of porphyry and basalt, which have been launched
from 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
re-assembled 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, darting 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 stations, 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 neighbourhood 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
exhaustion of many of the party, to halt a day in the hot unhealthy
gully; and this delay afforded to the treacherous creese of the lurking
Bedouin an opportunity of accomplishing that which had only been
threatened 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 enclosed the camp in a deep gloom.

The straitened figure of the bivouac rendered it impossible to make
arrangements with much regularity in view to defence.  The horses were
picketted in the centre of the 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 various 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, evidently in a state of
considerable trepidation, solaced himself until a late hour by
recounting bloody tales of murder and assassination, perpetrated, within
his knowledge, by the mountain _Buddoos_ haunting the ravine of
Goongoonteh, 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 oppressive from the heat exhaled from
the baked ground, and the absence of even the smallest 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, with a calm, still as the sleep of death.  The moon rose
shortly afterwards, and about two o'clock a wild Irish yell, which
startled the whole party from their fitful slumbers, was followed by a
rush of men, and a clatter of hoofs, towards the beds of the Embassy.
Every man sprang instinctively on his feet, seized a gun, of which two
or three lay loaded beside 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 realisation of
the murderous tales of midnight assassination which had been poured into
their ears, that the flying soldiery, who in the battle field had seen
comrades fell thick around them, and witnessed death in a thousand
terrific forms, were rallied with difficulty.  But a panic is of short
duration 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; whilst speechless beside their mangled bodies
was stretched a Portuguese follower, with a frightful gash across the
abdomen, whence the intestines were protruding.  Aroused in all
probability during this act of cold-blooded murder, 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, whilst the back of the sentinel was turned, had been
dealt with mortal and unerring precision.

Two human figures being perceived at the moment the alarm was first
raised, crossing the lower gorge of the ravine, and absconding towards
the hills which bounded the further extremity of the camp, were promptly
pursued by Mohammad Ali and his band of followers, who had seized spear
and shield with the utmost alacrity; but although the moon shone bright,
and the stars twinkled in the clear 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 unnatural feeling of distrust towards 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 become aware of the
existing peril, defend their own lives, yet such an alternative,
involving the abandonment of all the government 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 amongst the native kafilahs _en route_,
that a party of the Eesah Somauli, inhabitants 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 country
of the Danakil, had seized the opportunity afforded by the absence of
the sentry at the further extremity of his beat, to steal unperceived
down the inumbrated bank of the hollow, and perpetrate the dastardly 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 display 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 amongst his clansmen in
proportion to the atrocity of the attendant circumstances.  At perpetual
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 hostility
creating a new blood feud, and each life taken on either side, being
revenged two-fold, _ad infinitum_.

Ere the day dawned the mangled bodies of the dead, now stiff and stark,
were consigned by their sorrowing comrades to rude but compact
receptacles of boulder stones--untimely tombs constructed by the native
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 tribute, 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 occurrences 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 sleep so long as
danger was to be apprehended from the dreaded Eesah, whose only honour
and wealth consists in the number of foul butcheries with which their
consciences are stained, and whom even savages concur in representing as
sanguinary and ferocious monsters, "fearing neither God nor Devil."

Volume One, 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 Goongoonteh; 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, with the single exception of Mohammad Ali, all
had been cold, unfriendly, or insulting; but from the moment of the late
catastrophe their manner was visibly changed, and the anxiety evinced
for the safety of the survivors under their charge was unremitting.
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 Portuguese 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 circumstances would permit, the attempt was
made to convey him to the next ground, but the rough motion of the camel
doubtless hastened the termination of his sufferings; 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
formerly facilitated the ascent of the difficult and dangerous passage
leading from Goongoonteh into the Wady Kelloo--as the upper 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-legged dromedary swung its unwieldy carcass
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; whilst 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 consisted of a treacherous pile of loose rubbish.

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 mountain
torrent whose course is short and precipitous.  Flanked by perpendicular
sheets of basalt and porphyry, of unwholesome sulphury 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 estranged.  Nine miles of gradual ascent brought the caravan safely
to the encamping ground at the head of the stream--a swamp surrounded by
waving palms and verdant rushes, occupying high table-land, and
affording 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
Tajura claims the sovereignty of the entire waste, only acknowledge his
impotent authority during their occasional temporary 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 members 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 Goongoonteh 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 depredations on every passer-by, until Loheita, the
present 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 parties 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 corpse.

"See how the cowardly scoundrels marked me," exclaimed the fiery old
warrior 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 behoves 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
Adaiel 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 involve their family or tribe in a mortal feud, nor would any
warrior, incurring the almost inevitable consequences of a two-fold
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 civilised 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 capabilities
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 consequences of a blood feud, a musket was discharged
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 neighbourhood, 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 10th.
Allooli stands two hundred and twenty-eight feet above the sea, and
although intensely hot, and its waters saline, it proved a paradise when
compared with every preceding station.  Here animal life was once more
abundant.  A horde of pastoral savages, who from time to time appeared
on the adjacent heights, were made acquainted with the effect of rifle
bullets, by the slaughter from the tent door of sundry gazelles that
visited the swamp; and the venison afforded a most seasonable accession
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
succession 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 Gurguddee, there stood by the wayside a vast pile of
loose stones, half concealed among the tall jaundice-looking flowers of
the senna plant.  Towards this spot ensued a general race on the part of
escort and camel-drivers, who each added a pebble whilst repeating the
Arabic auguration, "_Nauzu billahi mina 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 incestuous intercourse with his own daughter, was arraigned before a
tribunal of his assembled 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 dishonour, 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 commemorated.

Gurguddee, eight miles in length, and stretching on either hand to the
far horizon, 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 caravan.  As the day
dawned, the steeple necks of a troop of ostriches were perceived nodding
in the landscape, as the gigantic birds kicked the dust behind their
heavy heels; and a herd of graceful gazelles were seen scouring towards
a belt of stony hillocks 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 detected skulking behind some thick green tamarisks by which
they were overshadowed.  But on being perseveringly hunted 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 appearance 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 Kurroof, 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
description; 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 journey,
lay down to rest his weary limbs beneath 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 wayfarer, 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
comrades, 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 speared to death upon the principle of two
drops of blood for one; and the remaining miscreants, four in number,
having been stripped of their clothes and arms, were kicked forth out of
the place.

"The Eesah of these lulls," 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, cutting 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 monsters 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 from fatigue.  _Allahu
akbar_! but they are devils incarnate!"

"Who has seen the Eesah, who has heard the Eesah?" wildly challenged
Mohammad 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 dozen
voices in various quarters of the extended camp.  "Uncover your shields,
uncover 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!"

Volume One, Chapter XVIII.

TERRITORIES OF THE DANAKIL DEBENI--SUGGADERA, MURRAH, DUDDEE, AND
GOBAAD.

Some hours before dawn on the 12th, the kafilah 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 entire
borders were flanked by dwarf palms and drooping tamarisk, bounded by
low hills with cliffs of conglomerate and sandstone, which disclosed
dykes of porphyry at an acute angle.  Flocks of goats, diligently
browsing on the fat pods which fall at this season from the acacia, were
tended by ancient Bedouin crones in greasy leathern petticoats, who
plaited mats of the split date-leaf; whilst 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 Assal to the Mudaito town of Aussa, where it
is bartered for grain.  Architecture affords no term applicable to a
structure of any kind inferior to a hut or hovel, 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 something
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 intervening
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 degrees, 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 2 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 diminishing 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 distance of two
miles from a puddle of dirty rain-water, in defiance of the impotent Ras
el Kafilah, the camel-drivers, who studiously 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 reminded the traveller of more favoured climes.
But most completely was the illusion 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
during a violent eruption of some neighbouring 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, 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 unfavourable
position for warlike operations, no little difficulty was experienced in
making defensive dispositions.  A gloomy black hill threw its
impenetrable shadow immediately in front; and on the flank, a pile of
half-ruined sheepfolds, constructed of blocks of lava, afforded
extensive concealment.  The night however passed away without any alarm,
and the intense heat of the day giving place to a somewhat cooler
atmosphere, admitted of sleep by turns in some comfort--parties of the
Danakil escort contriving by chanting their wild war-chorus, to keep
their heavy eyes longer open than usual.

An hour after midnight the loading commenced, and the steep rocky hill
having been surmounted by a path strewed with loose stones, a terrace of
slow ascent, presenting 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 Gulamo, the bare sterile
land, strewed with 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, saving in the wadys, no tree had been seen except small
stunted leafless acacias, few and far between, 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 whilst 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 obtained.

Heaps of loose stones thrown carelessly together, mark in almost every
direction the spot where the victim lies who has been cut off by some
cold-blooded miscreant--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 memorial, such as were raised over Absalom,
and over Achan the king of Ai, each surrounded by a circular cordon
which bears the stamp of high antiquity, and has evidently 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 shepherds.  "Hai," the designation of
the spot itself, is applied also to the entire surrounding district,
which is stated to have been formerly peopled by the Gittereza, 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 Sagulli, where ostriches cropped the grass around numerous
deserted sheep-pens, the caravan finally halted at Duddee, no great
distance from Ramudele.  For days together 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 bewildered in the desert, was duly hailed as
an event.  The general character is that of a stern wilderness, parched
by the intolerable heat of a vertical sun blazing in fierce refulgence
over the naked landscape, of which the chief varieties consist in
immense plains of dry cracked mud, or in barren rocks towering towards
an unclouded and burning sky.  The utter sterility of the soil is rather
marked than alleviated by occasional sickly plants of most puny growth,
and by the scanty verdure of the few valleys wherein water is to be
found, generally in a state of stagnation.  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 degrees, was infinitely 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 succession of grassy plains, untenanted
by man or beast, but presenting the first cone of the termites that had
been seen, brought the party on the 15th to the enclosed valley of
Gobaad, a thousand and fifty-seven feet above the ocean.  Volcanic
ashes, jasper, chalcedony, and quartz, strewed the sandy route, low
volcanic ridges, of comparatively recent formation, intersecting 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 of 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 leaving Duddee, donned his folio
Koran, in the place of a duodecimo edition which previously graced his
shoulder.  This was a not-to-be-mistaken sign of "_khouf fee_" [i.e.
There is danger to be apprehended] and with a terror-stricken face he
now came to intimate, that the presence of a band of these lawless
ruffians in the opposite hills, together with a gathering of the Mudaito
at the neighbouring 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 Tajura was somewhat
disturbed at the assurance in reply to this exhortation, 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 favourable; and that the hired
escort, whose business it was to prevent this malappropriation of the
property of the Embassy, far from assisting to keep watch, left the duty
to be performed by the Europeans, and invariably 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 diminished as the night closed
in; and when the ten o'clock sentry was relieved, Izhak was snoring
aloud, according to his wont, whilst 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 from the relaxed grasp of
the slumberer.

Volume One, Chapter XIX.

INTERVIEW WITH THE OGRE.

Loheita ibn Ibrahim, Makobunto, Akil, or chief of the Debeni and a
section of the Eesah, asserting supremacy over Gobaad, as a portion of
his princely dominions, which extend from the Great Salt Lake to
Ramudele, a messenger had, immediately upon the arrival of the caravan,
been despatched to his encampment in the neighbourhood, to invite the
hero to the tent; and the peaceful night passed, having inspired the
leader of the alarmist party with new confidence, the non-arrival of the
expected visitor was made an excuse for halting the following day.

Attended by a numerous and disreputable retinue, dragging as a gift an
obstinate old he-goat, the potent savage, whose exploit of clearing the
high road of the restless marauders, who long obstructed the passage of
kafilahs, has already been noticed in terms of commendation, sauntered
carelessly in during the early hours of the forenoon.  Not one whit
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
glittering blade with rings of brass and copper, whilst the hilt and
scabbard of a truly formidable creese were embellished in like
ostentatious fashion.  The wearer's aristocratic 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 eagle'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
innocents, and was cut short in his career of cannibalism by Jack the
Giant-killer.  A mighty man of valour, and presiding over a numerous
clan of fierce and savage warriors, he is feared and respected by all
the country round, and seemed to be right well aware of his consequence
upon the road.

For some reason of his own, which he did not think proper to divulge,
the audience 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, 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 nostrils with a becoming
modicum of Regent's mixture, he deigned to lay aside a portion of his
reserve, and in slow, measured language, vouchsafed a brief detail of
the energetic measures that had been adopted at his behest, towards the
recovery of certain horses sent by his ally, the King of Shoa, to Her
Britannic Majesty, and which had, by some unfortunate chance, 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 favour of his countenance a few stages in
advance.

Izhak with his compeers sate in gloomy silence during the entire
conference, evidently annoyed at the good understanding that subsisted
betwixt his rival Mohammad Ali, and the illustrious guest.  The presents
designed for the propitiation of the Ogre having been duly transferred,
were eagerly clutched and hastily conveyed beneath 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
taciturn dignity, the prince of savages rose deliberately from his
chair, and, loaded with broad-cloth 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 dictated by a desire to conceal from the covetous gaze of the wild
spirits around him, the tribute which he had reasonably calculated 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 betray that
primitive simplicity so lauded and extolled by Rousseau.  Rude
barbarians they are, saturated with Moslem intolerance 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 community, who would hesitate to cut a throat
for the sake of the last remaining button on a waistcoat.

Betwixt savage and civilised existence there yawns a wide gulf.  The
savage man and the civilised man, although descended from a common
parent, can scarcely be said to belong to the same stock of humanity,
and he who has been pronounced the only true man, the lordly lord of the
wilderness, might here more appropriately be designated a devil
incarnate.  An interesting trait in the children of nature was witnessed
on the occasion of the slaughter of the rank buck goat presented to the
Embassy by Loheita ibn Ibrahim.  No sooner had the razor-like creese
been drawn across the throat, with the concomitant ejaculation,
"_Bismillahi rahmani rahim_,"--"in the name of God, the compassionate,
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 residue, and wiped
them on the still quivering 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 possession 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 furnished, that the animal is said to be capable of subsisting
an entire year upon the absorption of its own fat, without tasting
water.  It was truly delightful to witness the process of greasing the
poll at the hands of the Danakil barber.  The fat having been melted
down in a wooden bowl, the operator, removing his quid, and placing it
in a secure position behind the left ear, proceeded to suck up copious
mouthfuls of the liquid, which were then sputtered over the frizzled wig
of a comrade, who, with mantle 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 carefully collects the
suet that has so creamed around his chaps as to render him inarticulate;
and having duly smeared the same over the filthy garment of him to whom
it in equity belongs, proceeds, with a skewer, to put the last finishing
touch to his work, which, as the lard congealed, has gradually assumed
the desired aspect of a fine full-blown cauliflower.

The Dankali who has prevailed over his foe, adorns his cranium with a
perfect frost of tallow, dons a leopard-skin decorated with monkey tails
three times in excess of the highest bashaw in the Ottoman empire, 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 enquiries on the part of each member of the kafilah,
were responded to in the same cold monotonous drawl, and then bandied
back by the new arrival--apathy and indifference pervading the features
of both parties throughout the endless mechanical repetitions of
"_Wogerri_?" and "_Wogerri maani_?"

To Gobaad, from the shores of Lake Abhibbab, which is formed by the
waters drained from Abyssinia, it is said to be one easy day's journey
for the pedestrian.  Amongst other Mudaito visitors from its borders,
there came one of the Galeyla, an outcast from his clan, who bore
amongst his fellows the reputation of being a _veritable_ 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 calculated 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 occasionally subsisting between the Mudaito and the Danakil
are not more singularly anomalous than those that bind the Danakil and
the Eesah, over a portion of which latter Loheita ibn Ibrahim exercises
nominal supremacy.  Making common cause, and assisting each other
against the Mudaito, international hostilities are nevertheless almost
unceasing; and mutual interest, 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 principal is Ougass Robiley,
who resides with the Gidderboosi, south of Zeyla.  Hoossain ibn Fara,
the next in order, is related by marriage to the Makobunto of the
Debeni, and asserts influence from the Reahmoosa tribe of Somauli,
bordering on Goobut 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 north-west to Killulloo.  Here it
is bounded by Errur, the residence of the old sheikh of the Woema, and
by the independent Mohammadan principality of Hurrur, whose Ameer
annually confers upon each Eesah chief a conical skull cap and turban,
in recognition of his alliance.

Not a cloud blotted the sparkling vault overhead, which now blazed out
in a perfect galaxy of light, engirdled by the luminous zone of the
milky way.  Attention was early directed to its beauties by the shower
of meteors that in rapid succession shot through the innumerable host of
heaven, and temporarily eclipsed their brilliancy.  The night was
already somewhat advanced when Loheita sent to demand a private audience
upon two points of vital importance; and Mohammad Ali being the agent
employed, no time was lost in arranging 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
desirable."  A first-rate Savigny was immediately 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, every thing in fact
has been offered, and equally loathed.  Now I am desirous of trying
whether she might not fancy a bag of dates."

Volume One, Chapter XX.

SHOWING HOW THE OGRE ACQUITTED HIMSELF 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 recounted 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 grey-bearded elders had sate for many nights in deep consultation,
and the chicken-hearted of the Debeni had exhausted all the usual
epithets upon the countless number of the foe, and the consequences of
rash and fool-hardy adventure, when 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 Loheita, hearken to the voice of your leader!  Has
the spirit of the foul hare entered into the breast of the warrior?  Is
the shield no longer to clash, nor the broad spear to glitter in the
valley of Gobaad?  Are the Debeni tamely to suffer 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 struggle 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 single 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, Loheita 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 master hand.  A
low murmur of voices was quickly followed by the deep hum of approbation
accompanying the confused clatter 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 amongst the surrounding cliffs.

For some days after this harangue, the Debeni maintained a peaceable
demeanour: but it was now the still, treacherous calm which precedes the
hurricane.  The Galeyla Mudaito, who had already possessed themselves of
all the choicest grazing grounds in the neighbourhood, and completely
closed the caravan route from Abyssinia to the sea-coast, meanwhile
continued their depredations with impunity; one subdivision of the tribe
settling in the small valley of Gootabella, where they erected permanent
habitations, and boasted of their unmolested vicinity to the graves of
the ancestors of Loheita.

The Galeyla subdivision of the great nation of Mudaito had rendered
itself more particularly obnoxious by its aggressions.  Many were the
young men of Gobaad who had fallen under their sharp knives.  Scornful
taunts were ever rife upon the tips of their insulting tongues; and few
indeed of the huts in the valley had not at some period sent forth the
voice of wailing and lamentation for captive maids or for harried
flocks.  But the day of dire retribution was fast speeding on.  The wane
of the moon was the appointed signal of rendezvous to the heretofore
slothful tribe; and as the 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 experienced at the hand
of the sanguinary invader, mustered around their youthful chief.

Silently, like the descending wreath of snow, the files of warriors
poured in from every quarter of his extensive though distracted domain.
The nation had responded to the call of its leader; and the wrinkled
brow, and the full oily cheek: the thin sinewy shank of the veteran, and
the graceful form of the untried but aspiring stripling, were soon
mingled together.  The sun set upon a busy scene in the lone valley of
Gobaad.  Two thousand savages, enjoying the rude feast that had been
amply provided for their wants, were engaged 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 determination,
whilst he whetted his sharp weapon to the keenest edge upon the nearest
stone.

As the fire blazed brightly upon shield, and spear, and stalwart frame,
Loheita moved forth in front of his enclosure, buckled for the fray.
His active form was fully revealed by the fitful flame; and a dark smile
played for the moment over his stern visage, as his followers, rising
with one accord, unsheathed their murderous creeses, and, bursting into
a loud murmur of applause, swore by the Sacred volume that the steel
should that night reek in the hot blood of the accursed Mudaito.

Placing himself at the head of his animated retainers, the chief now led
the advancing 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 gazelle 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 impenetrable gloom pervaded the
scene.  The very stars were hid under a partial mist, and naught 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 muttered 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 devoted hamlet, it
was encompassed on every side.  Infuriate warriors in appalling silence
beleaguered the narrow aperture of each matted wigwam.  The recollection
of captive and murdered relatives, of burning 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 enjoy 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
slumberers; 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 element, 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
mountain 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 wilderness.  Scorched and mangled bodies thickly strewed the ground,
or lay half consumed among the smouldering embers of the pile.  The
groans of the dying mingled with the bitter wailing of captive females
bereft of husband and offspring; and the chief surrounded by his
exulting host sat in grim triumph beside the dense column of smoke,
which with an eddying flame ascended high into the vault of heaven from
the black and burning monument to Debeni 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 discovering the 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.  Desperation nerved the limbs of the
surviving Galeyla, who, well knowing that no quarter 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 return 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 bodies of thirteen braves, borne by
their comrades 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 rose shrill and high in the
noontide heat from the assembled population, was succeeded by a solemn
pause as the dread tidings were imparted to the relatives of the fallen.
A path was cleared through the now hushed and silent phalanx, whilst
muffled females, beating their bare breasts, passed towards the biers
between the open ranks.  The boldest and the bravest had been untimely
cut off; 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 chaunt 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, according 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 amidst the funereal 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 massacre of
Gootabella.

Volume One, Chapter XXI.

SANKUL, AND SUGGAGEDAN.  DAWAYLAKA 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
surrounding steep black cliffs of basalt, passing 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 an
ox-hide stretched between 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 water-skins; and sad presage was afforded of a coming day
of drought, which the exhausted and sinking cattle of the caravan were
hourly waxing less able to endure.

The next march led over the high table-land of Hood Ali, 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 medicinal
plant, termed 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 pre-occupied by a nomade
tribe of Bedouin goat-herds, who monopolised 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; whilst 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 deposit, and
studded with extensive tracts of coarse dry grass in tufts, among which,
as the almost interminable string of camels crossed the following
morning, both ostriches and gazelles were descried.  It is bounded by a
bold mountain range, and the further extremity of the plain, towards 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 resemblance;
and the sun, which had now attained 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 vain-glorious
talking upon this head, but it ended, like every Danakil boast, in
nothing.  The hawk-eye of the Ogre detected an out-lying mare among 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; but once on the broad desert, and she tossed her arched neck,
kicked up her wanton heels, and laughed at the absurd efforts of her
impotent pursuers.

Loose stones again strewed the approach to the Marie range, which is of
trap formation, 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, formed a steep sloping ridge of
lava rocks, containing quantities of carbonate of lime, disposed 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 refreshing
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 so early an hour, they would drink but little, the
skins were again replenished, and the caravan pursued its march to
Oomergooloof, 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 the delusion of mirage was complete.  Covering the
valley far as the eye could reach, to the foot of the hills which rise
abruptly on all sides, it imparted the appearance of an extensive bay,
shut in by projecting headlands--a still calm lake, so unmoved by the
wind that every cliff was most distinctly reflected on the mirror of its
glassy bosom.

Approaching from a higher level, a ripple played upon the surface of the
visionary water; and the vapour being too subtle to screen
irregularities of the ground, the aqueous expanse soon became gradually
disunited, until it ultimately vanished altogether.  The scene, cool and
pleasant whilst 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 embodied 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,
together 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 neighbourhoods, 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 southern-most is denominated Wady
Arfa.  The Marie range here towers overhead, 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 gentler portion of the Libyan creation to resort to
regions more blest with water; and not even a desert-loving gazelle was
espied during the march of twelve miles.

Ibrahim Shehem Abli had long viewed with the eye of bigoted disapproval,
the attentions 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 boulders
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 extricating his wire-haired charge from the
panniers wherein they travelled, when the irascible little warrior
approached, and, drawing his trenchant blade, 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
again defilest thy fingers with those accursed curs, or by the beard of
the Prophet I will sever thy gullet as one who has brought foul
discredit upon the faith."  Then relaxing his grasp, and sheathing his
creese with a horizontal flourish, he threw himself into the 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 neighbourhood; and these were said to derive their supply of water
from pools formed by a cluster of hot sulphureous springs at the further
extremity of the plain, which, with a loud noise, rise bubbling from the
earth at a boiling temperature.  Possessing marvellous medicinal
properties, they are believed 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 troublesome during the night, he strictly
interdicted all wandering beyond camp limits, and insisted upon the
discharge of several volleys of musketry in addition to the cartridge
expended at guard-mounting, and at every relief of sentries.

The sky having become gradually overcast towards 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 followed 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 hills, 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 latter the
caravan halted on the 21st, about a mile from a large pool of
rain-water, occupying 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 homed cattle, asses, goats, and sheep, the
property of the Galeyla Mudaito, who were encamped in great force in the
neighbourhood, 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 lowered heads proclaimed their
dislike of the white intruders; flocks of Somauli sheep, with
incommodiously overgrown tails, swam about like otters to cool their
heated skins; numbers of Bedouin damsels, after laving their own greasy
persons, replenished their dirty water-skins; and one wrinkled old hag,
in direct breach of the Moslem prejudice against "man's friend," was
absolutely detected in the act of cleansing the rough coat of her own
pet-dog.

This pastoral scene of savage life, where the peaceful occupation of the
shepherd contrasted strangely with the presence of spear and buckler,
was about mid-day exchanged for the tent.  A crowd of listless, tattooed
savages, bearing very indifferent characters for honesty, soon swaggered
in to see what they could pick up, and presently 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 decamping, 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 Danakil; and the very severe chastisement
it received at the hands of Loheita ibn Ibrahim 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
he had pledged himself to accompany the party to the borders of the
territory occupied 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 camels, 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
desolate tract, in most parts obviously unfitted for human location, his
own immediate retainers did not now conceal that Mirsa Dukhan, and the
Gollo mountains near the Salt Lake, bound even his nominal jurisdiction.
He is in fact Sultan of the sultry strand whereon his frail tenement is
erected; for the few lawless wanderers beyond, over whom he would assert
supremacy, are universally thieves and murderers, who disdain all fixed
abode, disclaim all mortal control, and acknowledge their own unbridled
inclinations as their only master.

Volume One, Chapter XXII.

RED HOUSE OF MUDAITO--CHRONICLE OF THE CONQUEST OF AUSSA.

Distinguished like the houses of York and Lancaster by their respective
colours, "the white house" of Debenik-Woema, composed of various Adaiel
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 bitter
feud and animosity which spread desolation through the fair domains of
England, and poured out the best blood of her heroic 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
only in the open field of honourable 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 unsuspecting 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 Mudaito, 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 sultan, whose armoury boasted of many matchlocks, and
of several small pieces of cannon, it long flourished in powerful
independence--a bright spot of beauty in a waste of barrenness.  But the
sun of its prosperity at length set; and the predatory hostilities long
exercised towards the various united tribes of Adaiel, 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 fertilised in all 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 collateral 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 com,
pepper, and tobacco, in quantities sufficient for the supply of the
entire coast.

The Hawash may be conjectured to have experienced interruption in its
course to the Bahr Assal 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 evaporation, again recede, the
soil is covered with a fertilising sediment--a fat alluvial deposit,
which with little labour yields an ample return.  Even the lazy and
listless Danakil, who neither sows nor reaps elsewhere, is here induced
to turn agriculturist; but not a single acre of ground in any direction
is to be found under the plough from the sea even to the mountains of
Abyssinia--a distance exceeding three hundred and fifty miles.

Pastoral as well as agricultural pursuits engage the population of
Aussa; but whilst 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 termination of the fast of Ramzan, when the
waters have again subsided, and the herdsman, descending from the
mountains, returns to his occupation in the valley.  An extensive
commercial intercourse is moreover carried on with Tajura.  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 pursuing their journey along the
western bank to Dowwe, on the frontier of the Wollo Galla, in order to
purchase slaves; or striking into the main road at Amadoo, and so
prosecuting their way to Shoa for a similar purpose.

Mudaito 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 descendant 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, under Daamer Ibrahim; south are the Dar, who own allegiance to
Akil Digger Myargi; 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 Adaiel tribes
Hurruk Bodaito, over whom presides Gobuz Elincha, 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 distinct 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
Adaiel, who claim the same descent.

Aussa is still the abode of all the Uleemas, 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 shadow
of authority, which is in truth vested in Mohammad Ali, the vicegerent
of the Debenik-Woema, appointed by general suffrage from Tajura.
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, according to
the immemorial observance in blood feuds.

Ameer Sulaam, the Wuzir of the Mudaito, 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
amongst the Ado-himera or Mudaito; and even the Sultan of Tajura 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 enforcing.  Yet a transit duty of fifty per cent, is levied by
Mohammad ibn Mohammad 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," observed 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 Mudaito hordes; and
overtures of capitulation having 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 Tunkoma, where they rested safely enough.  But the
blockheads of Arabs choosing to sleep in the plain, the garrison took
advantage 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 attack; and the whole of
the Adaiel tribes who rally under the standard of "the white house,"
making common cause, the Mudaito 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 hereditary foe.

A long term of years elapsed, but the hearts of the scions of the "red
house" still rankled under this disaster; and, bent upon retaliation,
the assembled clans, designing 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.  Unprepared, the tribe fled before the
host in dismay, 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 Mudaito alive to tell the issue of the
disastrous 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 Mudaito," continued the old warrior, playing
carelessly with the hilt of his creese, which was seldom suffered to
repose quietly in his girdle; "but they are not to be compared with us.
_Hamdu-lillah_, `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 reconcile this character with the issue
of the great battle just recounted, wherein the despised tribe had so
signalised itself.  "That," quoth he of Tajura, "was a dastardly
surprise; and _Wullah_, had I been the invader with a handful of Danakil
spearmen, there would have been another tale to tell."

Bas Ali, late sheikh of the cultivating portion of the Aussa population,
some years since made an attempt to restore the exclusive rule to the
Mudaito, 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 hyaenas.  He was however waylaid and assassinated by Ibrahim
Shehem Abli, who received a wound in the cheek.  The numerous scars
which adorned the diminutive person of this hero proclaimed him to have
made one in many an affray; and, if his own account might be believed,
all were honourably gained.  Nevertheless the singular aversion that he
displayed to passing certain watering-places in brood daylight, and his
skulking port at Amadoo more especially, had tended not a little to
confirm the disparaging anecdotes maliciously narrated by his
compatriots, relative 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 conversation, 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 statements of this vain-glorious scorner, I will even
recount the misfortunes of a campaign fraught with sad disaster to my
kindred."

Uttering these words, he led the way to his enclosure, 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 ensuing chapters shall be presented in the
form that would appear best calculated to afford a picture of warfare in
the Desert.

Volume One, 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 assembled to admire
the pride and pomp of war.  Women were running to and fro with more than
usual briskness, to deliver some forgotten 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 Hindoo 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 mercenaries.  Every colour of the rainbow
had been appropriated to their full varied vestments.  Red, and yellow,
and green, surmounted 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 gaily 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 cavalry, but Arab
troops are somewhat self-willed as to their tactics and style of
movement, and at no time relish interference in any of those little
private arrangements which they can afford for their personal comfort.

The grey 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 current of female attention set towards
the spot where the youth were collected, hammering the hard bullets down
their rusty matchlocks.

"God is great!"--ejaculated a gaily-bedecked stripling, as he added an
extra pinch of powder, for good luck, to the handful already poured into
his long culverin.  "Bring me alien, that he may feel the hands of the
mighty, and _Inshallah_! 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 _Jehannam_ upon earth."

This speech was received with considerable applause, for the Reis Amru
was well liked by his comrades in arms.  Jokes passed freely among the
youth, who were all in high good humour at being released from the dull
stupidity of a hot garrison; and each talked gaily 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 remaining
locks upon his wrinkled head, was employed in grinding a notch from his
long sweeping sword, whilst 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 gambler.  "The
skulking sons of the Debeni 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
striplings, crimson as the cloth which flaunts above their head-gear.
Aye, and the dream of the last night can be now easily interpreted.
Listen to me," he muttered, in lower accents: "I dreamt of the pleasant
lands of Saba, and saw the sparkling waters flowing over the bright
green turf.  The tribe of my fathers had assembled together, and the
`hail, welcome, may your arrival be happy,' came soothingly to my
wearied ear; but an impassable gulf yawned at my feet, and the cold
touch of the dread Azrail startled me from my slumbers.  Nevertheless if
we be fated to perish by the hand of the savage, it shall never be said
that old Kasim Ali was the man to oppose his destiny."

In good sooth the authorities had been sued for assistance by their
friends the Woema; and as immunities, and privileges, and certain
percentage upon all slave caravans, were the inducements artfully held
out by the sagacious tribe, the proffered alliance had been eagerly
accepted.  The Woema deputation departed at sunset, after the
ratification of the treaty; and a few of their scouts were alone left to
serve as guides through a country hitherto untraversed by any Arab
inhabitant of Zeyla.

Three quarters of the entire garrison were ordered for immediate duty.
Gunpowder, 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 headdress sparkled in
the beams of the pale orb, as he placed himself 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 command, but his proud and reserved bearing had gained neither
the respect nor the good-will of his inferiors.  Stories were whispered
about that an evil star presided over his destiny, and that the settled
gloom on his swarthy brow was caused by the continued tissue of ill luck
which had hitherto blasted his every aspiration after fame.

His quick ear had caught the murmurings 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.  Defile 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, "_Seero_," 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 commencement of a march, as in the beginning of life, even the most
down-hearted feel a spark of hope as to the happy result.  But after the
first burst of enthusiasm was expended, 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 Wady of Takoosha; and many a "_wullah_" was poured
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 prognostics: 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 succession, 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 furnace.  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 Woema had assembled to cooperate in the attack, no
bounds were set upon the extravagant bravadoes 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; whilst
the grumbling old Kasim and his compeers, cheering up for the moment,
commenced a calculation 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 established with his followers; no word of
encouragement 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 barrenness, and where
the image of utter desolation 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 _Buddoo_ 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 atmosphere.

The camp of the Woema was pitched at Ramudele, and fer on either hand as
the eye could compass, stretched along the low belt of bushes which mark
the course of the river Chekaito.  A confused 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 applause.  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 prowess in the fight.

In barbarous profusion an ample entertainment 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 sheiks of the tribe to their temporary
domicile, leaving the Arab host to resign themselves to enjoyment, and
to rest after their long and weary march over the frightful Tehama.

Volume One, 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 towards 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 invaders.  Nothing could exceed the beauty of this oasis in
the desert, so strangely expanded between two gigantic mountains; the
crest of the one frowning black, broken, and abrupt, whilst 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 lulls.  Hemmed in by fantastic ranges, the river Hawash 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 situated on the upper extremity of the
lake, and its low, conical, thatched roofs were half concealed among the
towering verdure 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 inhabitants 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 responded from the silent town of the Mudaito,
and no weapon glittered in its defence.  Already had the Woema formed in
serried lines, and already were the eyes and the shields of the warriors
agitated 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 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 prejudice of
the savage was aroused, and the presence of men acknowledged, to whom
every dispute among the tribes had hitherto 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
forgotten, and every spear sank to the ground as sheikhs and akils
advanced to the front to receive the message from the beleaguered city.

Assuming the posture of earnest entreaty, the elders of the Mudaito were
not sparing of their oily words:--"All ancient differences should be
fully adjusted, 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 sons 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 punishment, 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 discussion.  The fiery
Arab urged an immediate attack, now that the enemy were unprepared and
fully given into the hand of the spoiler; but the words of mercy at
length prevailed, and the terms having been acceded 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 coward, with which Osman had
taunted the Adel conclave.  Swords and creeses were drawn, and stout
adherents were not wanting 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 _he_ was not to be forgotten in
the forthcoming division of the spoil.  Finally the parties separated in
sullen 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 various 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.  Onwards over
hill and dale sped the untiring scout.  At his warning 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 joined its quota to the fast
swelling host, now streaming towards the valley of the deep waters; and
long ere the moon raised her pale disk above the hills, full
communication had been held with the city, and every arrangement was
thoroughly matured for the attack.

Blinded by the feint of abject submission, the doomed body of Arabs had
encamped 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 distant 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 ungraciously 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 veteran, who predicted coming evil, the first orders were given.
Guards having collected under arms, matches were lit, and some
preparation attempted for defence.  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 requisite
distance for the onset; and as if starting from the very bowels of the
earth, a countless array showed suddenly a bristling front, not one
hundred yards from the encampment.

Short was the time allowed to awaken the drowsy soldiery.  A hurried
exclamation 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, whilst their black
ferocious eyes gleamed at the thoughts of blood, like the fiery orbs of
the basilisk.  A volley from the matchlocks only checked their progress
for a moment; and as the firing ceased, there arose to heaven a wild
unearthly 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 enclosures 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 encampment, 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 respite was allowed.  The
assailants withdrew from the murderous onslaught, and the fainting
hearts of the survivors again bounded with hopes of life.  But transient
indeed were their expectations of succour and assistance.  The wary eye
of the Woema had scanned, even in that uncertain light, the overpowering
masses of the foe that crowded the plain; and suddenly wheeling round
the shoulder of the hill, they disappeared like a wreath of the morning
mist.

The Mudaito 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
Gurmah, they resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible.  Osman,
wounded and bleeding, was still alive; himself, with Kasim Ali and about
fifty men, being all that survived of the gallant five hundred 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 solemn 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 savage 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 Mudaito
band, a ferocious savage was about to drive a spear-blade through his
unflinching breast, when the son of the Sheikh bounded suddenly to his
side, and warding off the descending 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 Yemen, and gratitude, rarely found in the savage,
now paid her outstanding debt.

The veteran's overtures of surrender having been received, he turned
again towards 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 comrades to the coming storm; he was seized and pinioned
in the iron grasp of a multitude, and the succeeding rush was as the
burst of the overcharged thunder-cloud.

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 remained 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 clutched 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 this conflict.  Although of the same persuasion as the
invaders, the men of Aussa could neither forgive their most unprovoked
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 the
character of the sturdy children of Yemen.  Taken by surprise and at
every disadvantage, 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 returned not from the valley of the deep waters of
Aussa.

Volume One, Chapter XXV.

FIALU, A DEN OF THIEVES IN THE WOEMA TERRITORIES.  BARURUDDA AND
KILLULLOO.

After a march of three miles on the 22nd, over a stony table-land
thickly strewed 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 hollow 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 abundant, and tenanted by goat-herds, whose
numerous flocks were being driven forth to graze by the Bedouin females.
Their supply of water is derived from a sequestered pool, occupying a
deep narrow precipitous ravine, which abounds in the Hyrax, and boasts
of a few trees not dissimilar from the Casuarina.  Bearing the euphonous
title of Korandudda, this gully wound at the foot of the high terrace
selected for the encampment--another right dreary plain, covered with
volcanic pebbles, among which the dry yellow grass peeped out in scanty
tufts.

No traveller through the bleak barren country of the Adaiel 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 studiously shunned, upon the same principle that
induces the savage to eschew the immediate 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 glorying 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 greasy skin bag, proved nevertheless an
extraordinary luxury.

One of the retainers of Mohammad Ali was now despatched to acquaint Ali
Abi of the arrival of the kafilah.  It had all along been promised that
after entering the territories of the old Sheikh, every danger was to
cease, but the goal now gained, the country 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 rag-a-muffins were collecting from all
quarters, preparatory to a "_goom_."  From morning till night the camp
and tent were unceasingly thronged with scowling knaves, amongst whom
were several of the Eesah--their heads decorated with white ostrich
plumes in token of having recently slain an antagonist in single combat,
or more probably murdered some sleeping victim.

Towards 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 affections; but
the rogues were fortunately observed 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
perforated 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.  Revolving 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 violence 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 humour," or, in other words, to save
them the trouble of stealing it; and the musket announcing relief of
sentries was discontinued by request of the same authority, lest the
smell of gunpowder might have a prejudicial effect upon the voracious
appetites of the savages.

Before dawn the chief of the nomade tribe Hy Somauli arriving with a
hungry and dissatisfied retinue, a halt was proclaimed, to the end that
they also might be fed, pacified, and propitiated.  The potentate 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 honour 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 continued to be objects of undiminished
curiosity during the whole also of this sultry day; a greasy disorderly
rabble, which occupied 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 further
elicited by every occurrence that did not exactly coincide with his nice
ideas of propriety, such as eating with a fork, keeping the head cool
under a hat instead of under a pound of sheeps' tail fat, or blowing the
nose with a handkerchief in lieu of with the fingers.  Paws were
nevertheless incessantly thrust in at every door, accompanied 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 senators.  Izhak
was seen curling his scanty side locks in token of victory.  The chief
had become satisfied of the temporary nature of the tenement inhabited
by the "Christian dogs," after one or two of the savages had thrust a
spear-blade through the canvass; 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 exchanged 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 sixteen miles over a vast alluvial flat
conducted past the Bedouin station of Ulwulli 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 bounded 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 grey of the
morning, a solitary Bedouin horseman ambled past with some message to
the savages at Amadoo, and from him was obtained the disagreeable
intelligence, which subsequently proved too true, that not a drop of
water existed over the whole of the 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 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 persecutions 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 eventually recovered by the sagacity of a female
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 of 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 moist brilliant 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 head--ponderous wooden ear-rings,
fashioned on the model of Chubb'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 monstrous eccentricities
in Europe, must infallibly have ensured a fortune to the showman.

The road continued to skirt the low Eesah range for several miles [see
Note 1] to the termination of the plain, which becomes gradually shut in
by rounded hills enclosing a dell choked with low thorns, and tenanted
by the _galla-fiela_ [i.e. camel-goat], a strange species of antelope,
having a long raking neck, which imparted the appearance of a lama in
miniature.  As the day broke, flocks and herds were observed advancing
from every quarter towards a common focus, and on gaining 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, whilst
the mountain sides were streaked with numberless white lines of cattle
and goats descending towards the water.

Arriving at the Wady Killulloo, a most busy scene presented itself.
Owing to the general want of water elsewhere throughout the country,
vast numbers of flocks and herds had assembled from far and wide, and
they were tended by picturesque members of all the principal tribes of
Danakil composing the Debenik-Woema, as well as from the Eesah, the
Mudaito, and their subordinate subdivisions.  Dogs lay basking on the
grassy bank beside their lounging 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 undergoing separation
by their respective owners, before being driven to pasture; and, with
the long files that ascended and descended the mountain side in every
direction, 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
south-westward of this important wady, which occupies a rugged rocky
chasm opening upon the Kellali plain, and, receiving the drainage of all
the southern portion of the Oobnoo range, disembogues during the rainy
season into the lake at Aussa.  Even during this, the hottest portion 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 surrounded, could not exist.

To it the horses and mules of the Embassy 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 hyaenas, in addition to the
animal feloniously abstracted by the Hy Somauli, of the recovery of
which Mohammad Ali affected to be sanguine.  But although the pleasure
of another meeting with the robber chief, whereupon he rested his
delusive hopes, was shortly realised, 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 despotism which controls
the turbulent spirits of the more powerful African nations, and, bad as
absolute power must ever be acknowledged, often tends to their ultimate
improvement.  The influence of a chieftain 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
common danger, no component member of his clan works for other than
individual advantage, the wild and lawless community over whom he
affects to preside, might in all respects be appropriately designated a
republic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1.  The reader who may not feel thoroughly satiated with miles and
furlongs, as embodied in this narrative, is referred to the Appendix,
where they will be found detailed in a tabular form.

Volume One, Chapter XXVI.

OMINOUS DEBATES AND INTOLERABLE DELAYS AT THE HALF-WAY STAGE.

The second knot in the string of the tedious journey had been unloosed
by arrival 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, amidst 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,
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 establishment of a misunderstanding, upon the frivolous
grounds of Mohammad Ali having been suffered to distribute a small
quantity of tobacco, in order to get rid of some passing unpleasant
visitors.  "Who gave _that man_ tobacco?" he captiously vociferated,
bouncing 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 explanation afforded not proving at all to his
satisfaction, he roundly declared his determination of resenting the
insult by throwing 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, whilst his venerable
rival had been idle, seemed resolved to assert his claim to a share in
the conduct of the caravan.  Izhak as unflinchingly maintained his
resolution, as brother to the Sultan of Tajura--a point whereon he
greatly piqued himself--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 extends from Ramudele to
Suggagedan; and the uncle and father of Mohammad Ali--to wit, Wayess ibn
Hagaio, who divides with his brother Hagaio Lad the government of the
Dermela, the Woema, the Rookhba, and the Midgan, collectively extending
from Suggagedan to Waramilli--and Hajji Ali Mohammad, a hoary patriarch
of most venerable appearance, commonly 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, signifying an intention of discussing certain topics of
importance which had yet to be adjusted, abruptly departed after the
polished 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
assembled, had in the meantime convened immediately on the outskirts of
the camp, where they continued during the whole night in a violent
altercation, which periodical supplies of dates and tobacco proved quite
inadequate to allay.  The discussion was shared by Izhak and by Mohammad
Ali, with their respective partisans and retainers, 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 amongst themselves which led to the
drawing of creeses in the very centre of the encampment.

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 breaking into
small parties, to hold private _kalams_, and after much mysterious
whispering, again resuming their seats in the general assembly.  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
compelled 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 arranged, and all disputes
and quarrels of a private nature fully dilated upon and digested.
Hundreds of ruffians thus sate from the rising up of the sun to the
going down of the same, and throughout the livelong 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 discussion of each 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 Bedouin tribes and the
passing caravans, 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 exacting chiefs to be propitiated,
with a fresh train of thieving followers to be fed and kept in good
humour.  Every greasy scoundrel possessed a vote in the congress,
together with the inclination to render himself obnoxious, and the
ability to add his humble mite towards the irksome detention; and it
therefore became requisite to court popularity, and to canvass public
favour as sedulously as at a general election for a seat in parliament.

Ever and anon, a great noise and clamour, 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 recognised among the crowd by an
injured husband.  But no sooner had the cold steel fleshed from the
scabbard, than the bullies were secured by the bystanders, and being
perfectly _au fait_ 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 engaged 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 occurrence 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 considerable exhaustion and
owlish stupefaction.  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 possession of the inconstant lady, and publicly 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 further to the assembly in
the persons of several 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 formidable road.

"Have all my children arrived in safety?" inquired a corpulent old
slave-merchant 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 beautiful Christian from
Gurague, with long raven tresses, and a very pensive expression, who had
been compelled to profess Islamism.  Honoured with the caresses of her
flit and bigoted purchaser, the poor girl had been made responsible for
a drove consisting 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 letters 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 conversation
quietly interrogated touching the cause of the Ras el Kafilah's
continued irritation, he turned at once to his companion, and solemnly
adjured him by the beard of the Prophet to answer conscientiously the
following questions.  "A head is ahead, is it not, all the world over?"

"Of course," responded the descendant of the chief justice, "there can
be no disputing that fact."

"A tail, too, is a tail, or I am much mistaken," continued the logician,
pursuing his thesis,--and this axiom was also unhesitatingly admitted as
beyond all controversy.  "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 dispute, 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
owners over their own wares; but that as to any interference in the
quarrel for the Ras el Kafilah-ship, 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 restoration to good humour being immediately afforded in the
extension of his right hand, not to perform the usual ceremony of
reconciliation, but in view to the palm being filled with a sufficiency
of Dr Ruddiman's Irish blackguard, to admit of indulgence in his
favourite 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 caravan
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 Sultan of
Tajura to the charge of all his European 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 Hawash, rendered every hour one of the utmost importance, not the
slightest prospect of departure could be discovered, beyond the
oft-repeated assurance, as often followed by disappointment--"_Bad bokra
Inshallah_," "If it please God, the day after to-morrow."

Volume One, Chapter XXVII.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE GATHERED CLANS--PARTING INTERVIEW WITH THE
AVARICIOUS CHIEFTAINS.

Throughout this period of irksome detention, the thermometer stood daily
at 112 degrees, and the temperature of the small tent, already
sufficiently oppressive, was rendered doubly unbearable by the unceasing
obtrusions of the wild, dirty, unmannerly rabble who filled the ravine.
Imperiously 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 denominated,
had not been each day re-erected solely for his individual use and
accommodation.  Many attempted with their creeses to curtail the much
coveted blue calico with which it was lined, and one lank ruffian, 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 civilly 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, composing themselves to sleep in groups upon the beds or on the
table; and, whilst 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 swallowed the coffee of the "Christian dogs."

The despotic arrangements enforced by the Ras el Kafilah, although
doubtless materially conducive to his own personal convenience, and to
that of his unaccommodating followers, were moreover far from enhancing
the comfort of the Embassy.  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 component heap consisting of three sides of a square, which, with
the addition of a few mats thrown over the top, formed a habitation
fully as commodious as a Dankali is ever accustomed to.  Any attempt to
disturb the economy of these tenements, by 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 Tajura, every self-willed
driver had suited his individual inclinations, and as no persuasion
could now induce him to deposit 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 indispensable throughout
the journey; and in such a nest of robbers as Killulloo, the precaution
was more than ever requisite.  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 re-trodden
ground, to keep the heavy eyelids on the stretch, in order to prevent
the prowling Bedouin from pilfering a bag of dates, or to detect the
lurking assassin, who in the dark creeps like a wild beast to perpetrate
his dastardly deed, is but a sorry business; and it was rendered 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 Somauli, armed with light lance and diminutive
wrinkled buckler, scarcely larger than a biscuit--and his much-dreaded
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 neighbours, were thrown more gracefully over the brawny shoulder;
their picturesque weapons were borne with an ease that habit can alone
impart; and, notwithstanding that 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 delightful 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 upwards of one hundred Somauli archers, originally prisoners of
war, who, although naturalised 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 cadence of which is believed to charm the ostrich.  Their
hair, with the aid of suet, is often dressed in the figure of the
"pudding" 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 ferocious subjects of ibn Fara may
be styled a nation of hunters, many being proprietors of trained
ostriches, which graze during 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 _euphorbia 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 obtained 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 feathers are also principally obtained
from the Eesah; the unsullied plumes, when stripped from the
fleet-footed bird, being deposited 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
Kitchener, can, at all events, claim ingenuity.  From some superstitious
motive, the feet are chopped off with the creese, and the carcase,
undivested of the entrails, having been incased in wet clay, is thrust
into a hot fire; on removal whence the feathers are left adhering to the
paste, and in culinary phraseology, "the bird is done."

Crowds of Bedouin shepherdesses, and females belonging to all the
various nomade tribes, were likewise assembled in the Killulloo ravine,
and the cry of "_wurkut, wurkut_!" "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 Mohammadan countries, were
unremitting in their attendance and flirtations, without exciting the
jealousy of their lords.  From the lips of these damsels, "_Mahisse,
Mahisseni!"  "Manina teni_?"  "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.

Amongst 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
door of the tent, where numbers were usually lounging in careless
attitudes, they one day demanded that the palm of beauty might be
awarded.  Unwilling 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 involuntarily 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 favour of the virgin daughter of the venerable old
sheikh.

Although the majority of the slaves imported 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 fat 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 romping; and although many wore an air of
melancholy, which forms a national characteristic, 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 native 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 Arabia.
Kidnapping has consequently been there carried to an extent so frightful
as to impart the name of the unhappy province as a designation for
slaves generally.  Nearly all of both sexes, however, had already become
passive converts to the Mohammadan faith, and under the encouraging 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 coloured thread, to which was suspended a distinguishing cluster of
cowrie 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 transferred to some victim hereafter to
be purchased.

Each slave was provided with a cruse of water, and had walked the entire
distance accomplished from the heart of Africa, with an endurance that
in children especially of such tender years was truly surprising.  A
very few only, who had become weary or footsore, had been mounted on
mules or camels, or provided with ox-hide sandals, which in some measure
protected their tender feet against the sharp lava boulders.  The males,
chiefly boys, had been entrusted with the charge of camels, and required
no compulsion to render themselves useful; and of the females, some, who
boasted personal charms, occupied the position of temporary mistresses.
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
whip to the more gentle persuasion of words; but in the trifling
punishment inflicted there was nothing 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 at least 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 Abyssinia, 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 neighbouring Wurboro 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 Kazi'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 _kalams_ 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
towards final adjustment, and "_Bokra, Inshallah_!"  "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 Kafilah that every
point at issue had _bona fide_ been satisfactorily arranged--that the
water-skins were to be filled in the evening before the flocks and herds
should return 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 broad-cloth, as rewards of their villainy.  A most difficult
point of etiquette had now to be overcome.  The Akil of the Hy Somauli,
whose liege subjects had abstracted the mule from Fialoo, was the bosom
friend and partisan of Izhak, whilst the illustrious personages who sat
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 construed into favour or partiality, would infallibly have
fired at any preference shown in the presentation of these enviable
distinctions from the British Government.  The presents were therefore
placed on a table immediately opposite to the respective parties, and
thence simultaneously launched with the same arm into the laps of the
confronted recipients; when each bundle, even to the envelope, being
found the exact counterpart of the others, no grounds for jealousy or
heart-burning could be devised.

Misfortune had during this interim overtaken the "Sahib el bayzah," the
imp whose acquaintance was formed in the harbour of Tajura.  Detected in
the mischievous dissemination of evil tales respecting his clansmen, and
in circulating others of an equally discreditable tendency, purely the
fruit of his own fertile invention, affecting the throng at Killulloo,
he had been taken to task by Abroo ibn Aboo Bekr, upon whom he drew his
creese without further ado.  The bloodthirsty little savage, who had not
numbered 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 interview now happily terminated, and no
sooner was he taken down than he came blubbering to lodge his complaint.
No satisfactory reply being elicited, the precocious 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, "'Tis of no consequence, `_maphish_,' no importance
whatever; but by the grace of God I shall cut the throat of that cousin
of mine, before I am many days older!"

Volume One, Chapter XXVIII.

RENEWAL OF DEBATES BY IBRAHIM SHEHEM ABLI, SURNAMED "THE DEVIL"--FINAL
ESCAPE TO WARAMILLI.

Affairs nevertheless began now to assume a more desperate appearance
than ever.  The night of this day of good 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.  Amongst 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
sentries on duty, who paced the same weary ground for the ten thousandth
time, as against the position occupied by 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 prospect of the march being
resumed in accordance with the solemn promise of the Ras el Kafilah; and
that feeling longer unable to answer for the lives of the party amongst
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 seemed every
reason to apprehend, the son of Ali Abi was clearly the staff whereon to
rely, his intercourse with Europeans having rendered his manners more
frank and ingenuous than those of his selfish and shuffling rivals; but
although _kalams_ 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 precedence put in by Ibrahim Shehem, the litigious member of
the tribe 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 formality that all matters at issue were
peaceably and satisfactorily arranged, and several bales of blue calico,
with quantities of snuff, tobacco, and dates, having been distributed
among the weary disputants, they were finally induced to disperse, each
carrying 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.
Ibrahim ibn Hameido, Akil of the Hy Somauli, left at his departure a
clump of twenty bold spearmen to escort the Embassy to the banks of the
Hawash; and, after shaking hands with each of the European party, to the
benediction "_Fee aman illah_," bade the whole "_Tarik is sulama_" God
speed upon the road.

Ibrahim Shehem Abli, appropriately surnamed by his compatriots
"Shaytan," or "The Evil One," carried a great soul under a very
diminutive person; and being a perfect Roostum in his own estimation,
was one of those who honoured 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 position that could have been selected to the lawful
proprietors of the interior.  By virtue of a claim which it had
heretofore been difficult to understand, he considered himself entitled
to the receipt of rations in addition to the handsome pecuniary
remuneration extorted at Tajura, 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 defiance, which his contemptible presence rendered
truly diverting, exclaimed with the most exaggerated want of courtesy,
"You Franks don't know who I am, or you would treat me with more
respect.  I am Ibrahim Shehem Abli, who slew the chief of the Mudaito 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 upon that occasion.
Do you conceive that I can always consent 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 ancestor 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 deferentially as a
spirit.  Revealing himself under the character of a great Arabian
warrior, who had shun his thousands in the battle, the man of valour 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 recognise 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.  'Tis well for his posterity that the
experiment had not been made in a later day, or the cotton robe would
have been stripped from the shoulder of the warrior, and a lifeless
trunk been left beneath the tree to mark the interview.

Throughout the sojourn of the Embassy at Killulloo, Izhak had
peremptorily insisted upon the tent being struck at sunset, lest the
display of so much white and blue cloth might excite the cupidity of the
Bedouins, 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 any thing like a habitable structure being well understood,
the unhoused party amused itself at his expense, 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 fabric with the pointed toe of
the very sandal 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 you
people persist in this folly: there will be no rain to-night!"

But the rain did fall in torrents, notwithstanding the assurance of the
Ras; and although the ravine was now comparatively clear of ragamuffins,
stones continued to rattle at intervals against the awning erected for
the shelter of the European sentries.  That portion of the party off
duty, steamed, after an hour's drenching, under thick heavy tarpaulins,
whilst the fluid glided unheeded 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 nearly a week's tedious detention in
an insalubrious 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 unceasing, the Embassy was
again permitted to resume its march.  Every hour had seemed an age, and
"_Galla gassetoi_," 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 believe 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 interesting sight was presented in the line of march
of a tribe proceeding in quest of water to the northward--a long line of
dromedaries, homed cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats, interspersed 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.  Whilst 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 dismantled cabin, the lazy lords sauntered
ungallantly along, encumbered with naught save the equipment of spear
and buckler, the ferocious aspect of all giving ample presage of the
intentions entertained towards 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 deliberation, to adopt the
lower and shorter road, which, in consequence of the frequent forays 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 circumstances, 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
discussions, which did not fail to follow this influx of savages,
together with the artful assurances given of the danger to be
apprehended on the road selected, had nearly prevailed upon the unstable
Izhak to take the kafilah back to Killulloo, for the purpose of
proceeding by the upper road; but Ibrahim Shehem Abli, stepping forward
in his new capacity, drew his creese, and performing sundry
not-to-be-mistaken gestures, swore vehemently upon the sacred Koran to
rip up the belly 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
Adaiel, but their place was fortunately empty.  Completely environed by
low hills, it proved insufferably 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 detention in
this spot by the arrival from Tajura of a special messenger, bringing
letters which bore very recent dates.  Nevertheless 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 the 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 immediate
neighbourhood.  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, whilst 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-drivers and hired
escort; and this was by no means the first exhibition of his own
knavery.  But it was some consolation to perceive that, although the
Franks were of course the principal sufferers, depredations were not
altogether restricted to their property.  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 proclamation went
forth through Ibrahim Burhanto, the common camp-crier, that Wayess ibn
Hagaio, Akil of the Woema, having lost his spear, all parties possessing
knowledge of the nefarious transaction were required to give information
of the same to the proprietor, as they hoped to prosper!

Volume One, Chapter XXIX.

NAGA KOOMI--MEINHA-TOLLI--MADERA-DUBBA, AND SULTELLI.

Two windy nights, during which it blew a perfect hurricane, were passed
in unabated 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
themselves; 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 imprecations, and by the merciless
dismantling 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 abundantly, the aromatic
branches famishing every savage in the caravan with a new tooth-brush,
to be carried in the scabbard of the creese.  The encampment occupied a
wide, dreary plain, bounded by the high mountain range of Jebel Feeoh;
and although water was said to exist in the neighbourhood, it proved too
distant to be accessible.

The Ras el Kafilah, at whose hands the Franks experienced about the same
amount of respect and tolerance as a rich Jew in the days of Coeur de
Lion, here imperiously 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 unreasonable 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 Abyssinia, his
brow became suddenly overcast, he relapsed into his wonted ill-humour,
rejected 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 participation in the pleasures of the nocturnal bath, the
effect upon his temper was but too manifest.  "Don't whistle, don'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 illallah, wo Mohammad rasul illah_;'" "there is no God but
God, and Mohammad is the Prophet of God."

"_Fein tero_?  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 henna_!'  `Come back, will
you!'  _Wullah_! you'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 another with ashes
and cinders.  At the outset the road led over the usual basaltic ground,
strewed with fragments of obsidian, but after crossing Arnoot, a deep
ravine 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
intersected by low ranges of hills.

One wide level expanse, termed Azoroo, stretching at the foot of the
peaked mountain Aiulloo, was pointed out in the distance as the scene of
a signal victory gained about six years since by the Woema over their
predatory foes the Mudaito.  The bones of upwards 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 commenced in a night attack, to have raged, spear to
spear, and shield to shield, throughout the entire of the following day,
towards the close of which the "red house" was routed.

As usual, in the evening we sent for a sheep from our flock, but the Ras
el Kafilah stoutly asserted that the whole had been transferred to
himself for consumption by the escort of Hy Somauli, and although
eventually compelled to relinquish one, he did so with an extremely bad
grace.  Thunder and lightning, with severe squalls and heavy rain, again
closed the day--and great confusion and discomfort was occasioned by a
sudden 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 succeeded.  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
whistling," 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, was meanwhile rolled betwixt his hands, and sundry
cabalistic words having been muttered whilst the Devil was dislodged by
the process of spitting 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 despatched from Tajura with
an Arabic letter for Sahela Selassie, requesting 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 courier 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
entirely to its own resources, as in the absence of His Majesty, no
assistance whatever could be rendered.

The rainy season having now fairly set in, it was believed that the
pools on the upper road would furnish a sufficient supply of water, and
the course was accordingly shaped towards 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 varying in height from six hundred to a thousand feet.
Wayess, the chief of the Woema, formerly held his head-quarters in this
neighbourhood, at Hagaio-dera-dubba; but the Eesah Somauli making
frequent inroads, and at last sweeping off all 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 generally it is covered with a
fine light-coloured soil, strewn with volcanic ashes and small fragments
of obsidian--the grass, improved by the recent showers, having partially
acquired a greenish tint.  A singular detached hill composed of
fresh-water limestone, contained a few impressions of small spiral
shells, whilst 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 populous.  Saving the
labours of the termites, exhibited in endless mounds of vast dimensions,
no monument of industry redeems the inhospitable landscape; yet these
measureless 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
sixteenth 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.  Whatever may have been the virtues and
endowments 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 promised a copious supply of
water; but every pool proved dry, and the march was therefore 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; whilst, owing to the wear and tear of skins, added to the too
confident anticipations indulged, barely a sufficient supply for even
one day accompanied the kafilah.

It had been determined under these untoward circumstances, to move on at
midnight; 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 tarpaulins, which, with all available
utensils, were placed for the reception of the precious 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 summit of a tumulus of
black lava, marking the point where the undulations of the Bundoora
hills trend towards the mountains of the Ittoo Galla, an extensive view
was obtained with the dawning day, over a country bearing the most
extraordinary volcanic character--huge craters on the one hand towering
to the clouds, whilst 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 sinking 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 gazelles 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 north-eastward, which would seem at no very remote period
to have discontinued its eruption, it is surrounded by a broad belt of
lava, some three miles in diameter.  This has formed towards the plain a
black scarped wall, rising from fifteen to twenty feet, of which the
wooded crevices teemed with quail, partridges, and guinea-fowl, and were
said to be so many great dens of lions.

The sultry afternoon was already far advanced, when the weary eye was
refreshed by a glimpse of the verdant plain of Sultelli, a perfectly
level expanse, so ingeniously overgrown with pale green vegetation as to
furnish an exact representation of a wide lake covered with floating
duckweed, 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 gazelle was presently seen bounding over the delusive
surface, and although clothed throughout with the most tantalising
verdure, it yet proved perfectly dry.  The camels were milch females,
capable of subsisting for days, and even for weeks together, without
drinking, whilst their milk serves to quench the thirst of their
unwashed Bedouin attendants.  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 encamp 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 amongst 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 towards midnight the beneficent flood-gates of Heaven were
providentially opened, and a violent storm bursting over the camp, in
less than half an hour filled every ravine and hollow to overflowing,
and afforded a plentiful and truly seasonable, although transient,
supply.  Tearing up their pickets from the saturated soil, the dying
animals thrust into the turbid stream that rolled through the encampment
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 European,
Danakil, and camp-follower--Christian, 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.

Volume One, Chapter XXX.

FIELD OF EXTINCT VOLCANOES.  OASIS OF YOOR ERAIN MAROO.

Singular and interesting indeed is the wild scenery in the vicinity of
the treacherous 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 Abida, three thousand feet in height, whose yawning cup, enveloped
in clouds, stretches some two and 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 distance, the great blue
Abyssinian range towards 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,
reversing the order of things, has again and again altered the former
appearance, the face of 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 immediate neighbourhood 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 surface, the south-eastern side of
the field terminating in much older formation of wacke.  Neither would
any one of the craters appear to have very lately poured out the fiery
stream.  Ibrahim Shehem Abli indeed 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 channels left by
the torrent, with here and there a muddy pool, around which the
guinea-fowl were still rallying in clamorous 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 larger growth than had heretofore been seen.  They
occupied a hollow styled Ras Mittur, which is the point of union of the
two roads from Killulloo, 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 suddenly 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 hollow in the very
centre lay the attraction--the oasis of Yoor Erain 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 waterfowl of various plumage
sailed over its glassy surface.  Birds chattered amongst the autumnal
branches of the numerous trees, whose tall stems, half immersed, rose
thickly in the centre, and the cool waters of the basin afforded to the
weary and travel-stained pilgrims the first unlimited supply of pure
liquid that had been revelled in since bidding adieu 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 decompositions 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; whilst flocks
and herds, corrupting the element in a still more offensive manner, not
only impart a fetid taste and smell, but stir up the deposited mud,
which emits a volume of sulphuretted hydrogen.  Yoor Erain Maroo was
free from all these impurities, and its reservoir affords a
never-failing supply; but the surrounding country is said during the wet
season to be extremely unhealthy, violent storms and incessant rain
compelling the shepherds to abandon the plains and wadies, and retreat
with their flocks to the neighbouring mountains.

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
under a friendly garb; but the lion-hearted guides and escort, with
Izhak at their head, had, from the first moment of leaving Killulloo,
been doing their utmost to impress upon the minds of their audience the
extreme 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 Mudaito, although nominally Moslems,
they have little more religion than their infidel neighbours.  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 figure
of disembowelment, "only wait until I find an opportunity, and,
_Inshallah_, we shall square accounts."

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 surmounted 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 towards the goal.  Perpetual strife is waged betwixt the Galla and
Mudaito, 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 heathen, watching like hawks from the
tops of trees and 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 hysterics by the sudden desertion of one of his charge, who,
in defiance of the 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
antelope that, with white discs on their cruppers, bounded in all
directions before the advancing string of camels.  Repeated
interrogatories of "_Fein toro_?" "whither are you going?" were launched
in a commanding tone of voice after the truant, without eliciting the
smallest attention or reply.  A shot was fired--a fat buck fell--and the
successful Nimrod, dismounting, proceeded to secure the spoils; an
operation which brought from their occupation in the adjacent pasture,
two ancient Bedouin crones in wrinkles and leathern aprons, to be
spectators of the dissection.

Izhak was old and captious, and not seeing 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 towards the spot;
"merciful Providence, what childish folly is this?  Is the commander a
babe that he thus trifles with the safety of the caravan?  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, involving the lives of half
a dozen Danakil."

Despite of all the twaddling old blockhead could do to prevent it, the
haunch was nevertheless brought in, and its appearance 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 prosecution of his kennel duties,
peremptorily refused to convert the venison into _kababs_, upon the
grounds that the knife of the true believer had not passed across the
throat of the victim.

"Whose dog is Hajji Abdallah Kurmani?" he exclaimed in tones that might
have been believed to issue from a dilapidated bagpipe; "whose dog is
he, I repeat," 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
arbitrary measures were adopted, which resulted 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 better part of valour.
Since the melancholy disaster at Goongoonteh, he had encumbered himself
with a musket and a modicum of cartridges; but even by his warmest
admirers it must be confessed that there had never in his demeanour been
observed the slightest 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 Hajji Abdallah save in
the respectful third person singular.  The words of Ibrahim Shehem 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,
apostrophise the folly and the 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 be many greater
blockheads in this sublunary world than his servant the 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
pilaos, 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
_kabab_ unhallowed meat which died without the knife or the Bismillah;
and, worse still, in the way of having his own throat divided every
minute of each day and night by these bloodthirsty infidels?  `_La houl
willah koowut illah billah ali ul-azeem_,' `there is no power nor virtue
save in God.'  What true believer in the fair province of Kurman would
ever have suspected Hajji Abdallah of bringing his beard to so vile a
market?"

Volume One, Chapter XXXI.

MENACE OF THE DAR MUDAITO.  MOOLU ZUGHIR, AND BURDUDDA.

Boo Bekr Sumbhool and Datah Mohammad, co-chiefs of that section of the
Debeni styled Sidi Habroo, shortly sneaked into the camp at the head of
an appropriate retinue of ruffians, and having been duly propitiated
with tobacco and blue calico, deputed a son of the latter to represent
the tribe, as an earnest of the black mail having been levied.  Mohammad
Ali proposed under these circumstances to halt a day, both in order to
profit by the first opportunity 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 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 anathematising Moolu as the most dangerous 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 furniture had become dry.

But the event proved that there were on this occasion some grounds for
uneasiness.  During the process of loading, three mounted 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 observed 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 neighbouring 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
formed ten deep to admit of the whole line being enfiladed by rifle
balls; whilst the Danakil and Hy Somauli escort, with loins girded for
the fight, brought up the rear.  Scarcely had these arrangements been
completed, when a band of fifty warriors were descried advancing in a
compact body over the brow of an adjacent eminence.  Carrying their
round bucklers on the left arm, and bristling their bright spears, they
pressed rapidly towards 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 caravan 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
phalanx, than they lowered their spears to demand 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 enemies, the Alla 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 afterwards
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
reconnoitred the country round from the summits of trees and termite
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; whilst fine cedar-like camel-thorns stretched
their long arms over troops of pintadoes, coveys of partridges, and
spur-fowl.  Not a trigger was suffered to be drawn, lest the report
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
demonstration; and the country becoming gradually more and more open,
the view extended 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 powers 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 smouldering in various
directions, although the columns of smoke had ceased to ascend.

Neither fuel nor water could be discovered 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 gaping cracks and crevices on its progress towards
the lower ground.  This strange phenomenon arose from the wady at Moolu
Zughir, near Afrubba, some miles to the southward, having been filled to
overflowing by the recent heavy rain.  Moolu Tani, or "the other Moolu,"
afforded a most alluring spot of bright green vegetation just sprouting
from the rich soil which here abounds, and among it the cattle
luxuriated until dark.  Sundry invocations were now performed with
horrid yells, to enable one of the savages to divine 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, or Mudaito.

Betimes in the morning the march was resumed across an alluvial plain,
which a few days later in the season would probably have presented a
swamp impassable to camels; but no difficulties were now experienced,
and the caravan passed merrily on towards 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, a
celebrated Tukhaiel sheikh of days long gone.  Amidst prayers and
ejaculations in honour 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
mistletoe, adorned 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 camel-thorns of ancient growth here
studded 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 Danakil
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
kuroon_," "the father of horns," ranged in considerable numbers; the
half-devoured carcase of one which had been slain the preceding night,
attesting the presence also of the "king of beasts."

The agility of the Adaiel in reclaiming a refractory camel, although
often witnessed with admiration, had never been more prominently
exhibited than during this march.  One of the most skittish and
unmanageable animals of the whole hundred 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 preliminary 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 headlong career across the stony plain.  Phials and bottles were
undergoing a most destructive 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 sudden twitch of the nose-rope, which brought
owner, dromedary, and medicine-chest simultaneously 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 encamp, and again led to a
violent altercation between the authorities.  Apprehensive of
misunderstandings with the Bedouin shepherds in the vicinity, Izhak had
sapiently resolved to proceed some miles further to a waterless station,
whilst 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 stratagem 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 Abyssinia, 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,
Farsa, and Azboti Galla, where coffee grows wild in abundance.  An
intermediate 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 sheikh Hajji Ali Mohammad, and
the head-quarters of the Debeni, who take hereditary share in the waters
of the valley 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
inclination to assert his privilege of erecting a temporary cabin; and
thus the recurrence of each season of drought, compelling the
abandonment of less favoured 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 lawless hordes.

Volume One, 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 sparkling eye, fringed with long silken lashes, in
brilliancy eclipsed the pet gazelle that ever bounded by her side; and
the graceful gambols of the sportive fawn would seem to have been
inspired by the fairy footstep of its blooming mistress.  Luxuriant 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 drapery that belongs to the Bedouin
shepherdess.

[Note 1.  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
better picture of life in the desert than could be painted in a less
connected form.]

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 to the appropriation of other men's
chattels; and throughout all the nomade Adel hordes, whose tents were
erected during the more sultry months, the feud and the desultory
skirmish favoured the inroads of the foe.  Amongst 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 existence 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 roving sire coursed
through her young veins, and she pursued her Arcadian occupation beneath
the spreading boughs of the venerable acacia, chanting to her gazelle
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 favourite 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 expanding attractions of his daughter as a certain
source of increase to his ill-gotten and idolised wealth.  None,
however, had yet been able to produce the price set upon the damsel's
charms, neither had any possessed 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 bestow.

Ambeesa it was who had silently gained this ascendancy 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 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 uncultivated 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 Ambeesa 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
shoulder 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
always floated above his raven locks.  But his father having been
treacherously murdered 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 stain!  A
skulker amongst 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 retribution 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 cloths, 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 existence
crieth aloud to thee 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 consumed him.
Then whetting his brass-mounted creese to the keenest edge upon a
smooth stone, he muttered a dread oath betwixt his clenched teeth, and
strode moodily across the sandy plain.

The great annual fair had already assembled 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 drags to be exchanged; and the
clamour of haggling and barter was hourly increased by the arrival of
some new caravan of toil-worn pedlars from the more remote depths of the
interior, each laden with an accession of rich merchandise to be
converted into baubles and blue calico at a clear net profit to the
specious Hindoo of two hundred 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 erection of new edifices; and
more and more camels were ever pouring towards the scene of primitive
commerce, loaded with the long elastic ribs, and the coarse date matting
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 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 gypsey votaries
of Diana advanced swearing and blaspheming towards the Eesah quarter of
the straggling 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, in the person of one
whose matted locks were decorated with a dirty ostrich plume, he fancied
he could recognise 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 Berbera rams encrusted 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
inflamed balls were revealed by turns according 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
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 _Inshallah_, we'll turn out these lazy wenches to unload the asses."

The name had not been lost upon Ambeesa, 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 interference of destiny in his favour, 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, wogerri maani_" repeated the Woema
coldly, as he extended his open hand towards the doomed victim in token
of amity.  "_Wogerri, wogerri, wogerri_," carelessly returned the savage
thus accosted, at the same time passing his greasy fingers mechanically
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 towards the Woema, for his garment had fallen from his
brawny shoulder.  It was enough.  Muttering through his closed teeth an
inaudible invocation to Allah, Ambeesa 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,
spumed the prostrate carcase with his foot, spat upon the unseemly
features now distorted in the agonies of death, and fled into the
wilderness.

Months had elapsed, and the festive season had now returned at which the
Bedouins annually celebrate their weddings.  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.  Eight wrinkled matrons led, brandishing swords and
creeses with truly Amazonian gestures, whilst they danced to a wild song
in which all joined chorus to the dissonant thumping of a kettle-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, home by a party of the village belles, splendid with porcelain
jewellery and grease--their arms, like those of the sister Graces,
entwining each other's waists; whilst 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 amongst the treasures, and
the much-prized, though far from becoming 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.  Happiness 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.

'Twas mid-day 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
manufacturing town with its huge steam-engines 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 pervaded 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 distance, the well-known tocsin for
the assembly 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 Alla 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 dismembered 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
perceived flitting fast over the sultry desert.  Unattached tails danced
in the quivering vapour, 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 having 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 shoulders 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 senseless at the threshold.  Roused again to
life, the bereaved girl filled the hut with her doleful cries, and
shriek succeeded shriek as she bewailed her fallen condition.  Death
would indeed have been almost preferable to the lot accorded 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 avaricious parent, there
to lead a life of drudgery 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 radiant 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.

Volume One, 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 deserts of Aden, is renowned for the possession of two thumbs upon
the dexter hand--a proud distinction by which his ancestors have been
recognised from time immemorial.  Sheikh Oomer Buttoo ibn Ali, akil of
the Tukhaiel, who occupy the country from the oasis of Yoor Erain Maroo
to Hao, a few miles eastward of the Hawash, glories in the loss of the
sinister eye; and he 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 illustrious 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 receiving each a piece of blue calico in
the clandestine manner which these savages prefer to a more orthodox
public presentation, 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 tobacco, the produce of
their own high lulls; and their abrupt departure as the evening shades
drew on, had led to suspicions anent the object of their visit.  At the
going down of the sun therefore a caution was promulgated by the Ras,
enjoining a vigilant look out for Galla and wild beasts; and his
earnestness might almost have led to the anticipation of a rush of wild
equestrians 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
although 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 the other, beneath the
mats--an example which was speedily followed by all the Europeans off
duty, as the rain began again to tumble in torrents,

"Et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam."

The fear of attracting the "Buddoo," as the much-dreaded marauders of
every class were generically designated, still invariably brought an
order which there was no gainsaying, to strike and pack the tent before
sunset, however threatening the aspect of the weather.  But the
despotism of the Ras was light in comparison with the tyranny exercised
by his unaccommodating train.  At whatever hour of the night the
arbitrary mandate to load might be promulgated, it was required that the
bedding of the whole party should forthwith be delivered at the quarters
of the arrogant driver to whom it pertained, since he declined 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 often occupied two hours, which 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 Halik-diggi 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 enlivened by herds of
the elegant _mhorr_, amongst which the secretary bird occasionally
strutted in native dignity.  Baezas and zebras, too, were descried on
the hills which bound the flat; and a luckless leopard being detected in
the act of stealing across the expanse, the savage group pursued 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
occupied 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, whilst he who by dint of superior wind and
fleetness had drawn the first blood, was by his comrades publicly
invested with the spotted spoils that he had won.  The appearance of the
party on their return, accompanied by a stray horseman who had
fortuitously 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 Adaiel the Great Hawash--its
breadth being about two and a half miles, and the bed a perfect level,
covered with fine grass, on which grazed a troop of wild asses.  Bounded
throughout the serpentine progress by parallel banks of corresponding
height and appearance, the hollow would seem to extend 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 Hawash perhaps, which river may not improbably 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
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 [Balsamodendron Myrrha], 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; whereas 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 milky juice, possessing a perceptible acidity, which
either evaporates or becomes chemically changed when the gum forms.
Left ungathered, it becomes hard with the loss of the volatile oil, and
thus crumbles away; but if the wound be cleared frequently, a very large
quantity may be collected during 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 one 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 formation of an ever-filling cavity, and

"The mirrhe sweete bleeding in the bitter wounde,"

is transferred by each passer-by to the hollow 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 recommended it for those of the
horses that were unable to proceed from heat and exhaustion.

It has been seen that from Yoor Erain Maroo, an accession to the escort
was received in the person of the hopeful son of Datah Mohammad,
co-chief of the Sidi Habroo.  This insatiable vagabond, a worthy 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 a tangled web
of grease-clotted hair, like a drowsy owl out of an ivy bush.  He
presented 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 passionate admirer; and it
was his undeviating rule never to pass a white face without repeating in
an authoritative tone the trisyllable "_Irreboot_" in token of his
determination to add still farther to his stock in hand of yam-needles,
which already outnumbered the quills of the porcupine.

Firmly persuaded that every mule with the party had been purchased for
his especial 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 dismount 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,--"_Tuwwaddee_!  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 considerable numbers, were abandoned
before the termination of this tedious and sultry march--fatigue, want
of water, and 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 neighbouring
Galla--

  "For, with hot rapine fir'd, ensuiguin'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, hurrying in advance of the
main body, were cut off by a band of Galla horsemen, who had lain
concealed behind the rocks immediately 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 previously 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 vultures and hyaenas.
Every hill and valley in this direction could, in fact, tell its
individual tale of bloodshed and slaughter.  The wild barbarians keep a
constant look out to pounce upon any wanderers weaker than themselves,
and few are the natives to be seen who bear not on their persons some
indelible mark of hand to hand combat.

Fatigued by the long march, the Danakil were all fast asleep within
their temporary 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 assemble at arms, and inconceivable was the
confusion that ensued.  Many of the escort, only half awake, in rushing
forth overthrew 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 obtained an exhilarating prospect over
the dark lone valley of the long-looked-for Hawash.  The course of the
shining river was marked by a dense belt of trees and verdure, which
stretches towards the base of the great mountain range, whereof the
cloud-capped cone that frowns over the capital of Shoa forms the most
conspicuous 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 finally 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.

Volume One, Chapter XXXIV.

PASSAGE OF THE HAWASH.

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 conjectured to
be swollen by the recent rains.  Second of the rivers of Abyssinia, and
rising 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 tributaries 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 verdant 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 luxuriance, 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, whereon lay traces
of recent inundation; and the noble trees which towered above them from
the banks of the Hawash, gave evidence in their shattered branches of
the presence of the most ponderous of terrestrial mammalia.

Vegetation having here assumed a luxuriance 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 persevering struggle, further progress was at
length arrested by a deep volume of turbid 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, interlaced
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 scattered 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 Hawash, here upwards of two thousand two hundred feet above the
ocean, forms in this direction the nominal boundary of the dominions of
the King of Shoa.  Izhak was therefore strongly urged to despatch a
courier in advance, who might apprise His Majesty of the near approach
of the British Embassy.  But from some latent and sinister motive of his
own, the proposal was again negatived, as 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 single messenger
to venture on so rash an undertaking, notwithstanding that Ahmed
Mohammad, the Dankali who had been the bearer of the letter despatched
to Shoa from Tajura, and who was still with the caravan, had so recently
passed twice in safety over this identical route.

As a measure of precaution against inundation, the camp was formed upon
the summit of a small stony eminence, considerably 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.  "Those fellows call themselves 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 decampment.  The smell of gunpowder is intolerable 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
discharge, 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 Adaiel conch sounded to arms, and
the shrill war-whoop again summoned all to the rescue.  Great was the
confusion 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 consequence 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 sun-down 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 extreme discomfort, owing to a deluge of
rain which commenced early, and fell incessantly 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 intervals,
for a moment only disclosed the savage loneliness of the wild spot,
which was the next instant shrouded in pitchy darkness.

With the dawning day, preparations were commenced for crossing the river
on ten frail rafts which had already been launched--transverse layers of
drift-wood rudely-lashed together, being rendered sufficiently buoyant
by the addition of numerous inflated hides and water-skins, to support
two camel loads.  The sharp creeses of the Danakil had removed many of
the overtopping boughs, interlaced with creepers, which impeded transit
towards the point selected for the passage, and in the course of a few
hours every portion of the baggage had been deposited at the water's
edge.

Casting off his garments, Mohammad Ali, always the foremost in cases of
difficulty 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 principle of the flying bridge, to an
overhanging 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 upwards 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 evening, and
the utmost exertions only succeeded in accomplishing the transfer of the
endless train to the western bank before nightfall, with the loss of
three beasts of burden drowned, and sundry firelocks sunk to the bottom.

This latter disaster arose from the spontaneous going to pieces of one
of the rudely-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 amongst 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 surface, 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 display
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 felt 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 that same party,
I should soon have settled the difficulty by cutting the throats of the
two jealous rascals, and taking all their women to myself."

The stream of the Hawash being exceedingly thick and troubled, from the
distance it had rolled betwixt clayey banks, it was with much
satisfaction that a pond of wholesome water, styled _Dubbelli_, was
discovered, 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 appeared 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 whilst 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
carcase to the surface amid floating crocodiles--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 befallen
him, he had temporarily disappeared; and by the incredulous Danakil the
assurance 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 below 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 Hindostan,
loving Neddy as the apple of his eye, in the simplicity of his old
heart, adopted the prescription of some wag who had facetiously
recommended suspension by the heels, in order to try the ancient
discipline 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 disconsolate 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 kindled to avert the
visits of the monarch of the wilderness, commenced their revels with the
demoniacal laugh indicative of a right happy mood.  Whilst the rain
descended 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 midnight carnival; the violent snapping of branches in the adjacent
forest proclaimed the nocturnal foray of the elephant and hippopotamus;
the loud roar and the startling snort were neither wanting to complete
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 hyaena."

Volume One, Chapter XXXV.

WADI AZBOTI.  ARRIVAL OF A SPY FROM THE ABYSSINIAN MOUNTAINS.

"The Robi is _not_ dead," was the first falsehood that greeted the ear
when daylight 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 character 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 carcase is, there shall the eagles be gathered together."  A
formidable band of "Bones" were already squatted 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 vigour of a South African horde.  Donkeys and women were
laden with incredible despatch, 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 sulphuric 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 investigation 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 Mulku-kuyu in the Dofah
district, to a fourth pond bearing the euphonous title of Ailabello.
Prettily situated in a secluded green hollow, and presenting about the
same circumference as its neighbour, below which it is considerably
depressed, this pool resembles a circular walled cistern, and is
obviously the basin of an old crater.  Its waters, alkaline, bitter, and
strongly sulphureous even to the smell, receive constant accessions from
a hot mineral well at the brink, and possessing the singular detergent
property of bleaching the filthiest cloth, many of the Danakil 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 individual zone--whilst the
circumjacent country, embracing a diameter of eight miles, exhibited
through the superincumbent 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 Ado, "the White Water," 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 literally covered
with aquatic fowls.  Geese, mallard, whistling teal, herons, and
flamingoes, 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 numerous prints of their
colossal feet remaining in testimony, sunk fresh and heavy on the moist
sands.

Prior to crossing the Hawash, the only sheep observed were the _Ovis
aries laticaudata_, or Hejaz lamb, with sable head and neck, thick fatty
tail, and fleece composed 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-coloured goats, armed with long wrinkled horns, still diversified
the flocks, which were uniformly attended by small dogs with foxlike
heads, spotted yellow and white, and evidently high in favour with their
dark mistresses.

Several of these females wore around the neck large tinkling brazen
bells, borrowed from the collar of an Abyssinian mule, and forming a
very suitable accompaniment 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 comers 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 enclosures by the wayside were surmounted by poles, from which
dangled the heads of as many lions, dilapidated 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 themselves with
water only, not a vestige of grass or green herb remaining in the
vicinity.  It had, in feet, 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 desolation in their
progress, were shaping their destructive course towards Abyssinia.  They
quite darkened the air at the moment that the caravan halted; and a host
of voracious 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 the mhorr, and pigmy
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 fashioned 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 cabinet specimens,
when the old oddity advanced to see what was going on; and as the bodies
of beetles and locusts were subjected 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 head of his men he
was presently in hot pursuit of a band of ruffians, who had cleverly
contrived to drive off a camel pertaining to the kafilah.  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
stomped _vis-a-vis_, and howled with the utmost fury.  Then rising with
one accord, they brandished their spears aloft, and vaulted frantically
in the air through a maze of intricate figures.  Next arrayed in line, a
brave sprung ever and anon to the front, and striding up and down with
mincing gait, went through strange gesticulations and contortions, as he
recited the prowess of the dan, and urged it to future deeds of valour--
the clash of spear and shield responding at every pause, whilst the wild
chorus pealed along the ranks.  Confusion now ensued: the band was
engaged in a pantomimic conflict.  Savage after savage, rolling his
eyeballs, sprang panther-like across the loins of his nearest neighbour,
and clinging fast with his beds, 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 birooah! awey birooah_!"  "I have slain my
foe!  I have slain my foe!"

Towards the close of the day, which was hot and muggy under the steam
that arose from the saturated soil, a Bedouin rode consequentially into
camp, and, after making his observations, departed even as he had come,
without deigning an explanation of any sort.  Attention was particularly
attracted to this prying stranger, from the circumstance of his grey
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 _custos_ of the frontier of
Efat, whose post was now not distant more than twenty miles, the
mysterious demeanour of this spy did not fail to strengthen a report,
which had long been in circulation among the mischievous Danakil that at
the court of Shoa, the British were far from being regarded in the light
of welcome visitors, and further, that an armed party was in readiness
to oppose entrance into the kingdom--a rumour which, however improbable,
was unfortunately further supported by the extraordinary and
unaccountable 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 domed head ever canopied 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 lulls of Sullala
reared their fantastic spires on the verge of the monotonous expanse;
and high among the more venerable witnesses to the history of 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, whilst 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 mantle
across the scene, and veiled the monsters from sight.

The departure of the silent spy was followed by 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 tore 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 impetuously 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, hissing and spluttering through the heavy fog, or
darting like fiery serpents along the surface 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 continued without a moment's
intermission, the prolonged growl of each startling clap varying ever as
it receded in a fitful change of intonation; whilst the walling 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 quarter of the flooded bivouac; and the heavy tarpaulins, which
had afforded some temporary 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 unappeasable
hurricane.

Volume One, Chapter XXXVI.

VALLEY OF KOKAI--HOSTILITIES OF WULASMA MOHAMMAD.

A cool cloudy morning succeeding to this dreary, boisterous and
uncomfortable night, the caravan was in motion before sunrise across the
uninteresting plain of Azboti, in parts completely swamped, and covered
towards its borders with one interminable sheet of the aloe and
_lilium_, growing beneath spreading acacias upon a gravelly soil.  Then
commenced a belt of hummocks, formed by prominences abutting 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 threaded their way.  The
road soon entered the pebbly bed of a mountain stream, running easterly
between precipitous basaltic cliffs towards 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
pilgrimage, the tent was erected under the shade of a wide-spreading
tamarind, which, among many other trees of noble growth, graced the
sequestered spot.  Above the surrounding foliage the long white roofs of
many of the royal magazines were visible, perched high on the blue
mountain side.  In the forked branches overhead were piled
haystack-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 basaltic knoll, which was ascended
towards the close of day, there burst upon the delighted gaze a prospect
more than ever alluring of the Abyssinian Alps.  Hill rose above hill,
clothed in the most luxuriant and vigorous vegetation.  Mountain towered
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 evergreens were grouped in Arcadian repose.
Rich fields of every hue chequered the deep lone valley; and the sun,
bidding a diurnal farewell to his much-loved plains of the east, shot a
last stream of golden light, varied as the hues of the Iris, over the
mingled beauties of wild woodland scenery, and the labours of the
Christian husbandman.

No delegate with greetings from the Negoos 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 volunteered to be the bearer.  In
signifying gracious acquiescence to this arrangement, the Ras el Kafilah
gravely intimated that the escort of Hy Somauli spearmen, famished at
Killulloo by Ibrahim ibn Hameido, declined permitting the departure of
the son of Ali Abi, until they should have received the sum at which
they were pleased to estimate their services.  Little reason existing 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, compliance 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 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 that a 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 Hawash by an
escort of honour.  Under the commander-in-chief of the body-guard, three
hundred matchlock-men 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 ridiculous pretext
of being unable to obtain any tidings of the expected Franks.

This important functionary, in addition to his office of state-gaoler,
is the hereditary Abogaz of the Mohammadan population of Argobba on the
east of Shoa, and the nature 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
amicable relations with the Adaiel occupying the plain of the Hawash,
and to protect kafilahs and merchants arriving from the independent
principality of Hurrur, or from the coast of Tajura.  His functions as
keeper of the state prison secure for him the respect 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 detached 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 arrangement involves not only trouble,
but considerable 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 honoured 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 strangers
with disrespect.  The imperial order that an escort of matchlock-men
should for the first time cross the hill frontier, and proceed into the
plain of the Hawash, to do honour to the Christian guests, not only
rankled in his Moslem breast, but was calculated to interfere with his
resolution to preserve inviolate the avenues to the sea-coast.  His
intrigues had rendered abortive all attempts to communicate with the
Court; and whilst the approach of the Embassy was not reported until its
actual arrival at Dathara, his non-compliance with the order given had
resulted most prejudicially, the Danakil guides being now more than ever
unwilling to persuade themselves that the party would be welcome.

Preparations were making the following morning to continue the march to
Farri, when the burly functionary was seen pompously 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 customary manner, he remained seated in
portentous dignity, beneath the shade of a venerable tamarind by the
road-side, until, every camel having been loaded, the caravan was moving
off the ground.  A peremptory message was then received through one of
his myrmidons, to the effect that he stood strictly charged with the
king's commands to suffer not one of the party to advance 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
afterwards 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 Majesty, timidly declined any
infringement, and again threw down the loads.

Condescending at length in moody sullenness to approach with his host of
retainers, 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 that had attended his scheme of opposition.
A debauched, ill-favoured, 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 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 murmuring 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 unbending interview, a brawny retainer
stood behind the chair, denuded to the waist.  In his right hand he
ostentatiously displayed the chief gaoler's sword of state--a short
heavy blade upon the model of the old Roman falchion, enclosed in a
scabbard 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 prepossessing aspect of the Wulasma Suleiman
Moosa, who occupied a second seat, offered a striking contrast to the
repulsive arrogance of his scowling colleague.  On his right side,
protruding upwards with the curve of a scorpion's tail, he wore a
semicircular 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 conferred on the occasion of his first
installation in office, but which ludicrously interfered with comfort in
an armchair.

During the residue of the day, the conduct of the state-gaoler was
perfectly in unison with his character and previous hostile proceedings.
He brought the white visitors neither presents nor supplies, according
to the rules of Abyssinian hospitality; and although made fully aware
that the camp was drained of provisions, prevented purchases by the
undue exercise 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," whispered the nephew of Ali Shermarki, as
he passed the haughty Abogaz, "and you had better take care to treat
them civilly.  _Wullahi_! one of their ships of war would carry this
kafilah over the water, and you and all your host of followers into the
bargain."

Volume One, Chapter XXXVII.

DINOMALI.  GREETINGS FROM THE NEGOOS 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 mountain scenery; and
at on early hour, after the first signs of cultivation had been afforded
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
Wulasma took seat below a tree in the centre, whilst his myrmidons,
beleaguering every load the moment it was removed from the camel,
prevented all access on the part of the owner until scrutinising 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 moveable 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 inspecting the wares they contained, Debtera Tekla Zion and
his brother scribes were tempted to attribute the opposition offered to
the truth of a vague report already current, that a foreign king was
being smuggled 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 unprecedented
interference exercised, when a message was received expressive of the
compliments and best wishes of Sahela Selassie.  Still at a distance
from Ankober, His Majesty had resolved, in order to hasten the interview
with his guests, to proceed at once to the capital, whither the English
were invited to repair with all possible expedition.

The arrival of this unlooked-for salutation, 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 subjected 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
fresh source of delay and annoyance forthwith 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 gaoler 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, exclaiming as he mounted his mule in a towering passion,
for the avowed purpose of laying his complaint at the footstool of the
throne, "Am not I the brother of the Sultan 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 music and a solemn vocal chorus.  These served to
announce the advent of Ayto Katama, commander-in-chief of the imperial
body-guard, with the escort of honour consisting of three hundred
matchlock-men, who were to have received the Embassy on the banks of the
Hawash.  The arrival of this important personage, whose schoolboyish
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 congratulations.  His
presence had the effect of recalling the irritated Ras to a sense of
duty; and no efficient carriage having been provided by the Abogaz, it
was finally arranged, after many difficulties, objections, and disputes,
that the baggage should be transported to Farri, other two miles in
advance, where Mohammadan porters could be obtained in sufficient
numbers to convey it to its final destination--the mountains in every
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 vouchsafed, rendered it
impossible to carry the measure into effect until the following day.
The governor of Ankober meanwhile politely 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 garrulous protestations, and the presence of so
large a body of the royal troops, everything was finally left
unprotected; and, before his negligence was discovered, four of the
remaining mules had been stolen from their pickets by the marauders who
infest the neighbourhood.

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 deposited, here presented the
first permanent habitations 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 rugged mountains of Abyssinia, which
towered 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 crossed, 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 amongst others, two of the finest had sung 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 gaping
wounds, without causing perceptible annoyance to the sufferer, became so
engrossed in the removal of ticks and maggots with their crimson bills,
that several were made prisoner with the hand.

Boxes and bales as they arrived were deposited within a stone enclosure
in the centre of the area; and the bloated Wulasma, 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 ink-horns 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, clamour, 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 during this interim obligingly undertaken to solve certain
puzzling geographical questions proposed, and with a staff was
methodically 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 laboured under the effect of
sundry wounds received in youth, had unfortunately become violently
excited by too copious libations in honour of the safe arrival of his
clansmen.  To the annoyance of every one, he had been bawling
incessantly for many hours, and he presently staggered up to ascertain
if he could throw light upon the subject under discussion.

"What do you know about the Hawash?" 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 belligerent Hajji was held to prevent his committing 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 Hawash 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 colours which in Shoa pertain solely to
Majesty.  The bridles and breastplates glittered with studs and bosses
of polished metal; gay embroidery in coloured worsted covered the
saddle-cloth of the mule, and a collection of silver chains, jingles,
and bells, encircled her neck.  At sight hereof women 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 clamour.
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 respectively quartered on the dung-heaps of the twin
hills, and suffer no intrusion into each other's domains, rushed to the
neutral ground, and forthwith commenced an indiscriminate engagement
over the garbage; and whilst 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, tumult, and intolerable uproar which continued 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 weather, 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 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 reception of an unseen
foe, whose approach was announced by the blast of some hideous war-horn.
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 artifice 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 being at length restored, those who
were entitled 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 midnight 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!

Volume One, Chapter XXXVIII.

A PARTING TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE INSCRIBED TO THE PEOPLE OF ADEL.

Tradition asserts that prior to the invasion of Graan, "the mighty Adel
monarch," who overran and dismembered once-powerful Ethiopia, the
eastern limit of the empire was Jebel Aiulloo, known to the Abyssinians
as Mount Azulo.  But although frequently invaded, no portion of the wide
plain of the Hawash has been reconquered, whether by Sahela Selassie, or
by his ancestors.  The relatives of certain of those in authority have
been made prisoners by treachery, and as hostages are held in close
durance by the king, but the boasted influence of the Abogaz is
principally supported by conciliation, and by the annual presentation of
cloths and specie to the various chiefs and elders--a measure having for
its object to preserve the avenues to the sea-coast and to the Bahr
Assal, whereon Shoa and Efat are almost entirely dependant for foreign
wares, and for salt, which the country does not produce.

The powerful independent chieftain of the principal section of Gibdosa,
who occupy the detached hill of Rasa, across the Robi river, northward
of Dinomali, is one of those in nominal alliance with the Negoos; but
his wild Moslems make constant predatory inroads upon the frontier of
Argobba, slaying Christians and Mohammadans of either sex, without any
compunction; 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 Mohammad Abogaz, is in
occupation of a mixed nomade population, not remarkable for their
honesty, and composed from numerous subdivisions of the Danakil, but
principally from the Burhanto or Adali, under ibn Hamed deen Hassan.
This latter, which takes Adaiel in the plural, is the clan of the
reigning Sultan of Tajura; and being in days of yore the most powerful
and important 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 invasions of the Mudaito, the tribes westward of
the Hawash assemble with the Tukhaiel, the Debeni, the Dermela, the
Rookhba, the Woema, and the Hy Somauli, the extent of whose respective
territories has already been defined.  These, with the Abli or Dinserra,
under Mohammad Ali, surnamed Jeroa, or "the Thief," which is the tribe
of Hamed Bunaito, present wuzir and heir-apparent to the throne of
Tajura--the Adaneito and Nakur, under Shehem Mulakoo--the Dondametta,
the Duttagoora, and the Hassoba, led respectively by Ahmed Kamil, 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 unites with the Debenik-Woema 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 Fantali, southward of Dinomali, where
reside also the united Adaiel clans Uluaito, Muffa, and Eyrolasso, under
the great "brave" Lamullifan.

These tribes occupy the whole extent of country between Abyssinia and
Mirsa Raheita, 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
Kharab, between the parallels, bounded on the south by the Eesah and
other Somauli tribes, and flanked on the north by the Mudaito.

The Adaiel 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 colonised the low tract which forms a zone between the Abyssinian
Alps and the coast of the Red Sea.  To a certain extent the northern
tribes are subject to the Nayib of Arkeeko, whose authority is
recognised in much the same proportion as that of the feeble Sultan of
Tajura by the southern clans; but although speaking the same language,
they can hardly be said to constitute a nation, being so widely
dispersed, that for many days together not a trace of man is to be
discovered over the joyless deserts which form the lot of his
inheritance, scorched by an ardent sun, and alive only with "moving
pillars of sand."

From time immemorial every individual has been his own king.  Each
marauding community is marked by a wild independence; and the free
spirit of the whole is to be traced in the rapine, discord, and
bloodshed which universally prevails.  Theirs is "an iron sky, and a
soil of brass," where the clouds drop little rain, and the earth yields
no vegetation.  It is no "land of rivers of water," nor have the "lines
fallen in pleasant places."  The desert stretches far on every side,
strewed with black boulders of heated lava, and enveloped 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 portrayed 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 African misery at large, so is it
with the Danakil in particular.  They possess that "conceit in their
misery" which induces them to despise the labours of the cultivator; and
such is the characteristic want of water, 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 civilisation 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
neighbours, each lawless member of the straggling community inherits the
untameable spirit of the descendants of Ishmael; and it is made
subservient to all the worst vices and passions 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
favour claims his gratitude--nothing demands a thought beyond the
present moment.  Unlike the Arab Bedouin, 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 listless 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 Adaiel are extensive owners 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 passions, according 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 labour, whether agricultural or handicraft, pass the
day in drowsiness, or in the enjoyment of a quiet seat before the
hamlet, where the scandal of the community is retailed.  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 invariably deposited behind the left ear.  No
race of men in the world stink more offensively; but whilst polluting
the atmosphere with rancid tallow and putrid animal intestines, they
never condescend to approach a Christian without holding their own
noses!

Amongst the Danakil are to be found some of the most scowling,
ill-favoured, and hideous-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 intellectual.  All are muscular and active, but
singularly scraggy and loosely knit, and to an easy shuffling gait is
added a national addiction to standing cross-legged.  Young as well as
old take infinite pains to disfigure the person, and thus to render it
ferocious in appearance.  Scars obtained in brawls and conflicts from
stones and cold steel are esteemed the highest ornaments, and the breast
and stomach are usually seamed with a mystic maze of rhombs and
reticulated triangles, produced by scarification with a sharp fragment
of obsidian, so as to resemble the plan of a fortified town of days gone
by.

The upper lip is denuded with the creese, and the scanty beard suffered
to flourish in curls along the cheeks and over the chin; whilst 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 constitutes the first great pride of the
proprietor.  The picking it out into a due spherical form affords
employment during his ample leisure, and the contemplation of its wild
perfection is the predominant object when the mirror is placed within
his grasp.  Baldness commences at an early age, and many of the ancient
dandies seek protection 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 a comb, and is often fancifully carved and provided with
two or even three prongs.

The operation of greasing this wig without 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 consistency, and then transferred _en masse_ to the crown.
Exposure to the fierce rays of a tropical sun soon conveys the desired
nourishment to the roots of the hair.  A number 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 odours.
All, however, cannot afford this luxury of the toilet, nor is it every
one who can resist the temptation of swallowing the dainty morsel when
once consigned to the mouth; and hence is seen many a poll of sun-burnt
hair, in colour and consistency resembling the housemaid's cobweb broom
which is quaintly denominated "the Pope's head."

The simple costume of the Bedouin consists of a piece of checked cloth
wrapped loosely about the loins, and descending to the knees so as to
resemble a kilt or short petticoat; whilst a cotton robe is thrown over
the shoulder after the manner of the Roman toga.  Miserly in
disposition, few outward ornaments grace his person, save an occasional
necklace of fat, and a few armlets and bracelets composed of potent
passages from the Koran either stitched in leather, or enveloped in
coloured 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, whilst the scabbard is ornamented
with an aromatic sprig, employed as a tooth-brush, and masticated for
hours together.

Three inches broad in the blade, and possessing a truly murderous crook
in the centre, the creese is doubtless a most formidable weapon at close
quarters.  With it the Danakil builds his house; with it he slays the
animal, and flays the carcase.  It is his sword in battle, his knife at
the table, his razor at the toilet, his hatchet, and his nail-parer.  A
savage desirous of illustrating 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, stabbing and
parrying to the right and to the left, until at length comes the last
grand touch of disembowelment, when a ripping 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 regarded
as an evil omen, and believed to destroy its power over the flesh and
blood of an enemy.  The spear of a chief only is mounted with bands of
brass and copper wire, but the points of all are graced alike with a
lump of sheep's-tail fat.  Although sometimes employed as a missive, the
pike exercise 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 of his foe.  "None but a woman would
retain the spear in the hour of battle," quoth one of the braves--"the
creese is the hand to hand weapon!"

The shield, fashioned out of the stiff 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 outwards, 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
hand strap, to admit of suspension to a tree.  Engaged, the warrior
keeps the shield in a continual revolving motion, in strict accordance
with the movement of the eyes, which in fierce and violent frenzy are
rolled in the sockets during the continuance of the conflict.

Cruel, bloodthirsty, and vindictive, the Danakil do not possess that
spirit of individual enterprise or chivalry, or that reckless disregard
of personal danger which, to certain races of men, imparts the stamp of
military habits; but a season of scarcity dooms every neighbouring tribe
whose pastures are more favoured than their own, to invasion, massacre,
and pillage.  A fiendish whoop is the signal for the gathering 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
amongst their fellows, bedecked with ostrich plumes, and other badges of
distinction, 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 bivouac 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
gestures 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
clamour, 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 unprovoked.

Superstitious to the last degree, the itinerant Bedouin takes the field
arrayed in a panoply of amulets, designed as a defence against
witchcraft, and to be thrown towards the enemy in the hour of battle.  A
verse from the Koran, sewn up in leather, and hung about the neck,
secures him against all incorporeal enemies.  No whirlwind ever sweeps
across the path without being pursued by a dozen savages with drawn
creeses, who stab into the centre of the dusty column in order to drive
away the evil spirit 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 necromancer than warrior,
confidently asserted his individual ability to raise seven hundred 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 Tajura, there
is here little external display of Islamism observable, save in the
bigoted detestation evinced towards those of every other than the
Mohammadan creed.  But although prostrations are wanting, and rosaries
are untold, the vagrants still preserve their knavish reputations
unblemished.  The white feather, which in Europe is the emblem of
cowardice, is appropriately placed in the head of these midnight
assassins, and the neighbouring 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."

Volume One, Chapter XXXIX.

THE GENTLE ADAIEL, 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 prefer the drudgery that falls to the lot of
the partner of the untaught savage, with all the manifold discomforts
attending precarious subsistence, to the immolation and seclusion, which
in civilised Mohammadan countries, is imposed upon the fairest of God's
works.  Taking no part with her lord in the concerns of this world--
taught to expect 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 created
the feeling.  The Dankali female has contrived to retain her natural
right of liberty; and so long as the wife performs the labour required
at her hands, she is at full liberty to flirt unreproved, to the full
extent of her coquettish inclinations.  Upon Baileela devolves the task
of leading the foremost 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, dismantles and erects his wigwam when
migrations are undertaken to distant pools and pastures; and, seated at
his feet, chases away the flies which disturb his repose beneath the
shade of the palm.  Here, however, the needle is monopolised by the
male, and he is sometimes to be seen industriously stitching a new
leathern petticoat 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, although degenerate, resemble those
of the Arabian mother, from whom she claims descent; 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 being
suffered to model her daughters according to her will, their figures
during a brief period are graceful; but feminine symmetry is soon
destroyed by the constant pressure 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 waddling gait.  A
short apron of bullock's hide, with frilled edges, is tied above the
hips with a broad band, the sport of every wanton whirlwind; but from
the waist upwards the person is unveiled.  A coif of blue calico covers
the head of those who have entered the conjugal state, whilst 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 petalled sprig, appearing to grow out of the waistband, ascends on
either side of the spine, in tattooed relief, resembling tambour 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 evenness of the smooth forehead, or
the arc of a circle to improve the dimple on the cheek, being favourite
devices.  From the ears of all who can afford personal ornament, depend
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 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, cowrie shells, jingles,
and amulets, strung in many rows upon a leathern collar embedded 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 inflamed 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 when occasion demands.

The Bedouin wigwam--a rectangle of eight feet in length by six broad,
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 consigned
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
dwellers in cities for eating birds or fowls, declaring that the flesh
must have travelled upon four legs during life to be at all palatable.
An ancient camel, a buck goat, or a bull calf, is occasionally
slaughtered with a _Bismillah_, and the flesh not immediately consumed
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 exertion.  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 advantage.  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 falsehoods the most
palpable; and to have sworn with the last solemnity is far from being
regarded in the light of a binding obligation.  A stone having been cast
upon the earth, fire is quenched in water, and the adjuration repeated:
"May this body become petrified, and may Allah thus extinguish me if I
utter that which is not true!"

In conversation a portion of every sentence is invariably taken up by
the person addressed--the last word being generally considered
sufficient, or even an abbreviation 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 fingers, 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 advantage, either sleeping or at a distance from succour--
the appetite for plunder, and the 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
cultivated, 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 descendants 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 barbarians, 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 by whom they were paid and entertained--there was never
throughout the long, tedious, and trying journey, either on the part of
elders, escort, or camel-drivers, the slightest wish or effort, either
to honour or oblige; and it was only on occasions when fire-arms, which
they could not gainsay, might prove of service to themselves, 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
perilous 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
desiring 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 inward
hope that it might never fall to his evil lot to see their scowling
faces more.

Volume One, Chapter XL.

ASCENT OF THE ABYSSINIAN ALPS.

Having thus happily shaken the Adel dust from off the feet, and taken
affectionate leave of the greasy Danakil, it is not a little pleasant to
bid adieu also to their scorching plains of unblessed sterility.  Every
change in the soil and climate of Africa is in extremes, and barrenness
and unbounded fertility border on each other with a suddenness whereof
the denizens of temperate climes can form no conception.  As if by the
touch of the magician's wand, the scene now passes in an instant from
parched and arid wastes to the green and lovely highlands of Abyssinia,
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 eglantine and jasmine, and the soft green turf,
spangled with clover, daisies, and buttercups, yields at every step the
aromatic fragrance of the mint and thyme.

The baggage having at length been consigned 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 line which
extended upwards 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 onwards over a rugged path which, in the toil-worn condition of
the majority, was not to be ascended without considerable 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 hearing 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 degrees removed
from the equator, flourished the vegetation of northern climes.  The
rough and stony road wound on by a steep ascent over hill and dale--now
skirting 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 wild rose, the fern, the lantana, and the honeysuckle, smiled around
a succession 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; whilst 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
_ziroleet_, 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 landscape reigned an air of peace
and plenty that could not fail to prove highly delightful after the
recent weary pilgrimage across the hot desert.

At various turns of the road the prospect was rugged, wild, and
beautiful.  Aigibbi, the first Christian village of Efat, was soon
revealed on the summit of a height, where, within an enclosure of
thorns, rest 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
succession, 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 position in a horse-shoe crescent of
mountains, still high above, which enclose a magnificent amphitheatre of
ten miles in diameter.  This is clothed throughout with a splendidly
varied and vigorous vegetation, and choked by minor abutments,
converging towards its gorge on the confines of the Adel plains.

Here the journey was for the present to terminate, and, thanks to
Abyssinian jealousy 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 Farri stands
the market-town of Alio Amba, upon the crest of a scarped prong formed
by the confluence of two mountain streams.  A Mohammadan 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 whilst crowds
of both sexes flocked to behold the white strangers, forming a double
line, they indulged in the performance of the war-dance.  Relieved
occasionally 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 between his teeth; and for the edification of the
bystanders the notes of a martial song were powerfully poured forth in
chorus from three hundred Christian throats.

The cone occupied by Alio Amba is only one of the thousand precipitous
eminences into which the entire mountain side is broken on its junction
with the plain.  Swollen and foaming, the intersecting torrents appeared
from the pinnacle 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
boundless prospect over the inhospitable tract beneath, countless
villages now met the eye upon the entire intervening mountain side, and
wherever the slope admitted of the plough being held, there cultivation
flourished.  Wheat, barley, Indian com, beans, peas, cotton, and oil
plant, throve luxuriantly around every hamlet--the regularly marked
fields mounting in terraces to the height of three or four thousand
feet, and becoming in their boundaries 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
re-establishment 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 monastery forming the temporary abode of Halloo
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.  Hereon stands the
stronghold of Goncho, the residence of Wulasma Mohammad, constructed
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 accession, 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 scrambling 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, but was now
in the occupation of a fat old Moslem dame and her three daughters,
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-humoured smiles; but owing to the length
and difficulty of the road, that portion of the baggage most in request
did not arrive until midnight--when, through the officious interference
of Ayto Wolda 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 elliptical 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 undressed 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 worst 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 indispensable 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, and used for grinding grain,
engrossed one corner, and in another were 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, assumed
that air of discomfort which a broken 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 bullocks' 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 judgment might be formed from the evil odours exhaled, were revelling
in the garbage of the shambles.  Constructed on the slope of a hill, the
floor of the edifice throughout was of the natural earth, and dipping at
least one foot below the level of the threshold, had never known the
presence of the housemaid's besom.  Equalling the filthiest 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 Shoa; and even 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,
consequent upon the great elevation attained, presently interfered with
repose upon the damp bare floor.  Rain then set in with extreme
violence.  The water came tumbling 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 almost have caused a sigh for
the execrated plains of the Adaiel, 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 disappeared.  As the rising
sun shone against the lofty and now cloudless peaks, preparations 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 with
unbending gravity to unfold 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, rendered imperative the adoption of the
latter alternative.  Aytos Wolda Hana and Katama, with the whole of the
escort, meanwhile 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 betwixt Izhak and Mohammad Ali, and the respective pretension of
the rivals to the honour of having conducted the British visitors into
Abyssinia.

One of those mysterious boxes, the lading of which, unviolated by the
scrutinising scribes, remained hermetically sealed to the inquisitive
gaze of officious spies, had, before leaving Farri, been broken open
with the design of obtaining access to an indispensable portion of the
contents.  To this unfortunate necessity may possibly be ascribed the
sudden and unlooked-for alteration in the royal intentions.  In lieu of
ingots of gold were revealed to the astounded 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 spectator.  "These," exclaimed fifty vain-glorious lips at
once, "be but a poor people.  What is their nation when compared with
the Amhara; for behold in this trash, specimens of the offerings brought
from their boasted land to the footstool of the mightiest of monarchs!"

Volume One, Chapter XLI.

PROBATION AT ALIO AMBA.

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 Ailabello could each morning be perceived sparkling with increased
lustre, as their fast-filling basins glittered like sheets of burnished
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 grey cold curtain before the hoary head of Mamrat,
proclaimed, amid prolonged peals of thunder, the commencement 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 stronghold of his
subterranean treasure.  Remonstrances, penned with infinite labour 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
conjecture became exhausted in devising the true cause of the mortifying
indifference displayed to the rich presents from "beyond the great sea."

A desire on the part, of the despot to preserve 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 disappointment, it afforded some
consolation to remember that embassies of old to Northern Abyssinia had
experienced similar treatment, 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 allowing rest to the way-worn traveller at the close
of a long and perilous journey, but perpetuated for less worthy
considerations.

At length there came a pressing invitation 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 appointed, and the following day brought a
pathetic billet from the palace--a tiny parchment scroll, enveloped in a
sheet of wax, breathing in its contents regret and disappointment.  "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 commanded Melkoo to wait 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
Wulasma and of Ayto Wolda Hana, to exercise 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 _bona fide_ proprietor.  Repeated orders on the subject,
obtained from the palace, were uniformly disregarded by the over-zealous
functionaries, and it was only by force of arms that the repositories
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 inconvenient.  Specially appointed to entertain
and provide for the wants of the guests, he supplied at the royal
expense provisions alike inferior in quality and deficient 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 prevented.
His conduct might be traced to the same jealous feelings that pervaded
the breast of his colleagues in office.  In the despotic kingdom of
Shoa, the sovereign can alone purchase coloured cloth or choice goods;
and Ayto Kalama Work, who is entitled to a certain percentage upon all
imports, having formed a tolerably shrewd estimate of the contents of
the bales and boxes, believed 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 discontent, he was pleased to
assign to the surviving horses and mules of the foreigners a tract
destitute of pasturage--one mulberry coloured steed only being pampered,
because from size, colour, 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 favoured
mountains of Abyssinia, the tails of one half were now presented as
evidences of their fate.

Among the very few incidents that occurred to break the monotony of the
probationary 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 dismay.  Burglary had been committed--divers
pieces of salt had been abstracted, and the appearance of the
police-officer was not one whit more agreeable to the innocent than to
the guilty.

A ring having been formed in the market-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 resignation.  An
intoxicating drug was, under many incantations, extracted from a
mysterious leathern scrip, and thrown into a horn filled with new milk;
and this potation, aided by several hurried inhalations of a certain
narcotic, had the instantaneous effect of rendering the recipient
stupidly frantic.  Springing upon his feet, he dashed, foaming at the
mouth, among the rabble, 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
house, and leaving unscrutinised no 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 arraigned 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
design of testing the skill of the magician, the Negoos once upon a time
commanded his confidential page to secrete certain articles of wearing
apparel pertaining to the royal wardrobe, and after an investigation of
four days, the proper individual being selected with becoming formality,
the professional reputation of "him who catches" acquired a lustre which
has since remained untarnished.

Many a weary hour was passed in listening to tales of real or
counterfeit maladies, which were daily recounted in the hovel at Alio
Amba.  Witchcraft and the influence of the evil eye have firm possession
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 foreigners.  A young Moslem damsel, whose fickle
swain had deserted her, could never gaze on the moon that her heart went
not pit-a-pat, whilst the tears streamed from her dark eyes; and a hoary
veteran with one foot in the grave sought the restoration 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
introduced the patient, "this was a powerful orator; and when he lifted
up his voice in the assembly, men marvelled as he spoke; but now,
although his heart is still eloquent, his tongue is niggard of words."

Equally hopeless was the case of an unfortunate slave-dealer, who
crawled in search of relief to the abode of the king's guests.  A Galla
of the Ittoo tribe had undertaken the removal of severe rheumatism,
contracted on the road from Hurrur; to which end he administered a
powerful narcotic, which rendered the patient insensible.  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 mutilated
victim awoke to a sense of his melancholy 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
scooped, 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 every thing: give me something to heal me,
for the love of Allah!"

Volume One, Chapter XLII.

THE WEEKLY MARKET.

Surrounded by the myrmidons who collect the royal dues, Ayto Kalama Work
was every Friday morning to be seen seated beneath the scanty shelter of
an 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 bustle 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 flocking to the stall of
the vendor, 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 beads, metals, coloured
thread, and glass ware.  The wild Galla squats beside the produce of his
flocks, and the Moslem trader from the interior displays ostrich
feathers, or some other article of curiosity from the distant tribe.
Bales of cotton cloth, and bags of coffee from Caffa and Enarea, are
strewed in every direction.  Horses and mules in numbers are shown off
among the crowd to increase the turmoil; nor is even the wandering
Hebrew wanting to complete the scene of traffic, haggling, and barter,
which continues, without intermission, until a late hour in the
afternoon, when the village 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, who sits in conscious dignity upon a stone; and prostrating
himself 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 labour.  No spark of
intelligence illumines his dull features; not a trace of independence
can be discovered in his slouching gait; and the cumbrous robe with
which he is invested would indeed seem far better adapted for the 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 character 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 Adaiel brushes past in insolent indifference to examine the
female slaves in the wicker hut of the rover from the south.  His
murderous creese ensures 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 mortal 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
silver, is the medium of exchange; but there is still room for the
exercise of his knavery.  The countenance both of buyer and seller
exhibits an anxious and business-like expression, and the same noise and
confusion prevails regarding an extra twopence-halfpenny, as if the
transaction involved 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-favoured 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 summers, to the decrepit and wrinkled hag who in
cracked notes proclaims ever and anon, "_amole alliche bir_," "salt to
sell for silver."

The free and stately mien of the oriental female, and the light graceful
garment of the east, are alike wanting.  The heavy load is tied as 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, under the control of the sinister
eye of the Wulasma, are followers of the false Prophet, 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
emblem of Christianity worn throughout Ethiopia.  The women, on the
other hand, are at once recognisable, no less by their Arab gypsy
features, than by their long braided tresses streaming ever the
shoulder, the ample smock of red cloth, dyed purple with accumulated
lard, and the nunlike hood of the same material, buttoned close under
the chin.

Fairer, more slender, and better favoured 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
proclaimed by the oft-repeated exclamation, "_Hamdu-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!"  Unrestricted 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 naked hands and
feet are alone exhibited, both rather misshapen from hard work and undue
exposure to the climate.

The crowd makes way for a great Christian 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.  The capacious stomach, and the bright silver
sword with tulip scabbard, betoken high honour 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
completely 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
apparel, and it is white in comparison with those of his unwashed
retinue.

The arrangement of his hair has occupied the entire morning, and the
steam of the fetid butter, which glistens among the minute curls,
pervades the entire atmosphere.  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 unwonted sight of the Gyptzi
strangers, the bloodshot eye betrays the midnight debauch, and the
wrinkles of his turned-up nose, the scorn of the savage at the
difference of costume and complexion.  Approaching the acacia his
shoulders are temporarily bared to the pompous dignitary presiding over
the fair, who rising to receive 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 garment 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
meadows of their own green land.

Dandies there are none, in aught of outward 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 difference 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, without 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 Amba in the hands of the Danakil, who are treated
by the monarch of Shoa with all deference and respect.  Caravans arrive
every month during the fair season from Aussa and Tajura, and the
traffic, considering the manifold drawbacks, may be said to be brisk and
profitable.  Numbers of foreign merchants, those of Hurrur especially,
whilst 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 purchased in the
adjacent slave mart of Abd el Russool.  These wretched victims are then
taken through the Amhara province of Giddem to the Wollo and Argobba
frontiers, some five days' journey to the north, and resold at a profit
of fifty per cent,--the sums realised being there invested in _amoles_,
or blocks of black salt, the size of a mower's whetstone.  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 profitable 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 Arabia--anon
to revisit Shoa with a fresh invoice of marketable wares.

Ever ravaged by war and violence, the unexplored regions of the interior
pour forth a continual supply of ill-starred victims 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 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 shamefaced and slenderly-clad maiden is subjected
to every indignity, whilst 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.

Volume One, Chapter XLIII.

THE PRINCIPALITY OF HURRUR.

Not many weeks had elapsed since certain 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 honours attaching to 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 broad-cloth,
with which the enterprising traders landed at the maritime town of
Tajura.  Proceeding thence to Efat, they embarked their gains in slaves,
mules, and cotton cloths; and designing to pass the residue of their
days in ease and affluence, set out by way of Hurrur for the great
annual fair at Berbera.

In advance of the time, however, these luckless individuals had ventured
to speculate 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
Hurrurhi, and letters were secretly despatched to his master the Ameer,
representing the wealthy hajjis to be men of turbulent and ambitious
views, who had devised dangerous innovations, and were plotting, with
the Adaiel, 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 preceded 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 matchlock-men and a few archers,
to maintain its integrity.  The Alla, the Nooli, the Geeri, the Tarsoo,
the Babili, the Bursoo, the Burteera, and the Gooti, compass it on every
side, and making sudden 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 continue, in spite of hostilities, to
carry on a very considerable traffic through the Ittoo and Aroosi
tribes, with Shoa and the Somauli 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 circumference, with five fortified gates,
affords security to the entire population, whose houses, many of them
two-storied, are constructed of stone, whitewashed, and terraced.
Mosques and minarets are conspicuous 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
triumphed thus long over the unbelievers," inquire the devout citizens,
"had Allah not extended his right arm to succour the followers 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 permanent inmates of subterranean dungeons, which for better
security are constructed immediately below the foundations of his own
palace.  Although cruel and vindictive, he is reputed a brave prince,
heading 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
aggression 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 disgraced member of the
blood-royal, who had fled thither for safety, laid siege to the town,
and assisted by guns of small calibre, 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
induced the attack by representing his countrymen 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 whilst the
Galla is compelled to relinquish his arms at the gate, every precaution
is taken to exclude from the land the foreigner 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 affinity 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 _dewani_
of Jiddah, is current in the realm.  Twenty-two of these go to a nominal
coin styled _ashrafi_, whereof forty are equivalent to the German crown.
It bears on the reverse the name of the reigning Prince, and on the
obverse the quotation from the Koran, "La _illah, illilah_!" "there is
none other God but Allah."

Around Hurrur the soil is rich, and extensively 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 cotton yam, silk thread, beads,
frankincense, copper wire, and zinc, are received in exchange, 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.

[The distance of Hurrur from Zeyla may be assumed at 150 miles
south-south-west and from Ankober, 190 miles East.]

Between Aboo Bekr and the Christian monarch the most friendly
intercourse subsists.  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,
possesses absolute power to punish all offences, and adjust all disputes
amongst his own countrymen, who are not less fond of drawing the creese
than their Adaiel brethren.  Tullah, an inferior description of beer,
being brewed and swallowed in alarming quantities, brawls and scuffles
too frequently terminate the debauch in blood.  Should a Christian
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 his person handed over to
the tender mercies of the Moslem savages.

The continual change of inhabitants, the excessive cheapness of
provisions, and the prevalent custom of hand-fasting for the visit, tend
little to improve the morality 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 sufficient to support
during the week the trader and his temporary mate.  One hundred pieces
of salt are considered a large dowry; the nuptials are celebrated by
feasting and routing alone, and whilst the utmost indifference prevails
on the part of the husband, he loosens the matrimonial knot at pleasure,
by carrying his partner before 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 Embassy from Tajura, the
majority continued to reside at Farri and Channoo for the convenience 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.
Gubaiyo, the deputy-governor of the town, had been specially appointed
to the service of the foreigners, and whilst discharging his office of
spy with the most creditable diligence, he exercised with strict
impartiality his functions as door-keeper, enforcing, greatly to the
amazement of the independent Adaiel, the Abyssinian usage, which
precludes 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 football down the steps leading from
the court-yard into the muddy lane, before the propulsive impetus of a
Christian toe, which presently sent the tyrannical Izhak bounding after
his colleague, with many a severe thwack from the wand of office,
ringing across his Moslem shoulders, as he vainly proclaimed himself own
brother to the reigning Sultan of Tajura.

Volume One, Chapter XLIV.

ESCAPE FROM THE MARKET-TOWN.

Abyssinian despots sully not their dignity by condescending to divulge
even the smallest design to the most confidential of their courtiers.
In elegant Amharic phraseology "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 tardily away, and the burning 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 Machal-wans, where preparations were
actually in progress towards the long-desired audience.

The reappearance of the commander-in-chief of the body-guard, with the
escort of honour, was the first welcome sign of approaching release from
the vile market-town of Alio Amba; and the most illustrious 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 endite letters when a verbal
communication will answer the purpose; and the visitors were accordingly
charged with abundant compliments, and with an invitation to behold the
royal person 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 disappointed."

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 interview should take place one day earlier.  His Majesty, however,
laboured under the effects of _cosso_, a drug resorted to by all who
revel in raw diet; and feeling yet unequal to appear in public, it was
finally arranged that audience should be deferred until the Monday
following.  A fresh inventory of boxes was immediately commenced; and,
after much opposition, those intended for presentation to the throne
were separated, and sent off to await arrival at a hamlet distant two
miles from Machal-wans.

The next labour was to dismantle the structure of bales and packages
which during 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, whilst others had slept in cabins formed below, or upon,
or underneath, the table.  But no sooner had the king's baggage departed
than the Wulasma came to announce that there were no more porters, and
that if any thing still remained it must be left behind.  Another battle
followed, and a war of words, which lasted a full hour and a half, was
again crowned with victory.

Ayto Kalama Work, who had been the chief instigator of this opposition,
is charged with 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 entrusted with the treasures lodged
in Ankober, Aramba, Debra Berhan, and Kondie, and is expected to be
present on all state occasions at the palace.  To assist in the
discharge of these onerous and multifarious duties, he has many stewards
and subordinates, of whom the chief, who superintends the _ghemdjia_
house, or royal wardrobe, wherein the most costly manufactures are
deposited, had already proceeded in advance to spread the carpets in the
great reception hall.  He was accompanied by Deftera Sena, the
secretary, whose business it is to receive and register all transfers to
the state revenues, and who had been for the last fortnight almost
incessantly 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 express
duty it was.  The few survivors of the late numerous drove were
mustered, but only one proved in a condition to proceed, 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 difficulties 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 towards the
market-place, and entered upon a circuitous path, winding, by abrupt
declivities and steep ascents, over three mountain torrents, towards the
village of Sallal Hoola, at which the night was to be passed.  Kind
nature had everywhere spread the ground with her gifts in inexhaustible
profusion and variety, supplying all the more immediate wants of
mankind, yet enforcing the doom of labour so wisely imposed upon her
lazy children.  Rich acres of com by the wayside were interspersed with
quiet hamlets, and with luxuriant meadows abounding in trefoil and a
vast variety of red and white clover.  Crystal brooks leapt in numerous
cascades, and hedge-rows gay with endless flowers, the dog-rose and the
fragrant jessamine, imparted 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, are
attracted to this region as well by the great elevation of the mountain
as by the highly 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 every
thing Mohammadan, 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 gaily-caparisoned mule.  Immediately behind
him rode a confidential henchman carrying the emblazoned shield and
decorated lances which denoted his position in society; and in the
height of Highland anarchy the tail of the McGregor 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 application regarding it 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.  To the surprise of every one, the charger,
prancing and neighing, was now led forth, in the best condition, by one
of the King's grooms.  So thoroughly had the worthy functionary been
impressed with the erroneous conviction, that it formed a part of the
present designed for his royal master, that the fortunate beast had been
turned into clover, and duly fed with the choicest barley, whereas all
its companions, although surrounded by plenty, 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, whilst 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 veranda were crowded with female
slaves, occupied in the various processes of preparing bread, which the
population had been called upon to supply in large quantities 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 rocking themselves to and fro over mills
fashioned 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 labour, 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 produced, 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 prospect 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 notice that the foreigners
partook of food which had been prepared by Mohammadans--a proceeding
which in Shoa is reckoned equivalent to a renunciation of Christianity.
Ideas the most extravagant were, moreover, in circulation relative to
the powers of the ordnance imported, the mere report of 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 was to serve these tremendous and terrible
engines; and in alarm for the safety of his palace, capital, and
treasures, the suspicious monarch still peremptorily insisted upon
withholding the desired licence, until he should have beheld the battery
"with his own eyes."

Volume One, Chapter XLV.

PRESENTATION AT COURT.

It rained incessantly with the greatest violence throughout the entire
night, and until the morning broke, when a great volume of white scud,
rising from the deep valleys, and drifting like a scene-curtain across
the stern summit of the giant Mamrat--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 comers
wherein the porters had deposited their loads, and no prospect of a
brighter sky being in store, the circumjacent morasses were waded to the
face of the hill which obscured Machal-wans.  Too steep and slippery 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
with 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 matchlocks over the rocks,
commenced an indiscriminate fire--the reports of their heavily-loaded
culverins, mingled with the answering 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 conical 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 banks of a roaring torrent.  A bright green meadow,
spangled with flowers, lay stretched at its foot: the rose, the
eglantine, and the humble violet, grew around in all the grace of native
wildness, to recall recollections of happier lands, whilst the great
Abyssinian range, which even here towered almost perpendicularly some
two thousand feet overhead, and whose peaks were veiled in wreaths of
white fog, formed a magnificent 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 thundering over the mountain side, in a
succession of foaming cascades.

Another hour's wading through deep ploughed fields of beans and peas and
standing corn, and across the rapid torrent brawling 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 assembled to witness
the long-looked-for arrival of the British Embassy, soon converting the
ground into a positive quagmire, ankle-deep in black mud, seemed to
render utterly hopeless any attempt at the exhibition of broad-cloth and
gold lace on the approaching presentation at the Court of Shoa.

The governors of Ankober and Alio Amba, whose special affair it was to
provide food, and otherwise to render assistance needed, left the
visitors to pitch their own tent, whilst they lounged in the palls, and
contented themselves with urging the instant 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
promote confusion and discomfort, now at the climax.  Sally after sally
was made by the uproused commander-in-chief of the body-guard, and many
were the long sticks broken to small fragments over the backs and
shoulders of the wild spectators in the course of his vigorous
applications.  But it was to no purpose.  The ring was no sooner formed
than broken, and the self-constituted clerk of the course, becoming at
length weary of his occupation, he joined his idle colleagues 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 favourite page, bearing 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,
elicited first permission to fire a single gun--then five--and lastly,
the desired salute.  With his assistance, moreover, the crowd 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
commenced for the interview, which, during the continuance of the tumult
and uproar, had been by a succession of messages repeatedly and
earnestly desired.

It was now noon, and the weather having temporarily cleared, the British
party, radiant with plumes and gold embroidery, succeeded, after much
fruitless opposition, in mounting their gaily-caparisoned steeds, and
escorted by the governors, the commander-in-chief of the body-guard, and
by a numerous and clamorous escort, proceeded in full uniform towards
the palace.  Many were the attempts made to enforce the etiquette which
denies ascent in equestrian 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, filling fast with a cloud of white smoke, began to
echo back the salute at the rate of six discharges in a minute, no
further interference was attempted, and an universal shout arose of
"_Malifia Ungliz, melcom! melcom_!"  "Wonderful English, well done! well
done!"

Noise, bustle, and confusion, which in Abyssinia are reckoned highly
honourable to the guest, were again at their climax on reaching the
outer cricket, where the form of obtaining the royal permission to pass
was to be observed ere entrance could be accorded by the state
door-keepers.  Further detention was experienced in the court-yard, at
the hands of sundry officers of the privy chamber, whose visages were
but ill-adapted to sustain the character of high official importance,
and whose assumption of dignity proved singularly ludicrous.  At length
came a message expressive of His Majesty's unqualified surprise and
satisfaction at the extraordinary celerity with which the guns were
being served, and his desire to see the Embassy forthwith; but
attempting to advance, 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 chamber glittered with a profusion of silver ornaments,
emblazoned shields, matchlocks, and double-barrelled guns.  Persian
carpets and rugs of all sizes, colours, and patterns, covered the floor,
and crowds of Alakas, governors, chiefs, and principal officers of the
court, arrayed in their holyday 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, whilst in the other, on a flowered satin ottoman, surrounded by
withered eunuchs and juvenile pages of honour, and supported by gay
velvet cushions, reclined in Ethiopic state His Most Christian Majesty
Sahela Selassie.  The _Dech Agafari_, or state door-keeper, as master of
the ceremonies, stood with a rod of green rushes to preserve the exact
distance of approach to royalty, and as the British guests entered 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 uneasy
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 considerably 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 obtained far and
wide--even the Danakil comparing him to "a fine balance of gold."

All those manifold salutations and inquiries which overwrought
politeness here enforces, duly concluded, the letters with which the
Embassy had been charged--enveloped in flowered muslin and rich gold
kimkhab--were presented in a sandal wood casket, minutely inlaid with
ivory; and the contents having been read and expounded, the costly
presents from the British government were introduced in succession, to
be spread out before the glistening eyes of the Court.  The rich
Brussels carpet which completely covered the hall, together with
Cachemire shawls and embroidered Delhi scarfs of resplendent hues,
attracted universal attention, and some of the choicest specimens were
from time to time handed to the alcove by the chief of the eunuchs.  On
the introduction of each new curiosity, the surprise of the King became
more and more unfeigned.  Bursts of merriment followed the magic
revolutions of a group of Chinese dancing figures; and when the European
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 amidst jewellery glittering on the rugs,
gay shawls and silver cloths which strewed the floor, ornamented clocks
chiming, and musical boxes playing "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 measure of the warlike monarch's satisfaction now
filled to overflowing, "God will reward 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, amidst the crumbling of the rock, and the rush of the filling
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 pealing echoes which rattled from hill to hill; and far
along the serrated chain was proclaimed the arrival of foreign guests,
and the royal acquisition through their means of potent engines of war.

Compliments from the throne, and personal congratulations from the
principal courtiers and officers of state, closed the evening of this
unwonted display; and the introduction, by the hands of the favourite
page, of a huge pepper pie, the produce of the royal kitchen, with a
command that "the King's children might feast," was accompanied by the
unheard-of honour of a visit from the dwarf father confessor, who might
without difficulty have concealed his most diminutive person beneath the
ample pastry.  Enveloped in robes and turbans, and armed with silver
cross and crosier, the deformed little priest, whose entire long life
has been passed in doing good to his fellow-creatures, 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, and of his son's son, who should sit next
upon the throne.  Praise be unto God that the dream and its
interpretation have now been fulfilled!  Our eyes, though they be old,
have never beheld wonders until this day, and during the reign over Shoa
of seven successive kings, no such miracles as these have been wrought
in Ethiopia."

Volume One, Chapter XLVI.

Appendix, Number I.

By the passage of the polar star over the meridian, the magnetic
variation at Ankober was observed, with the aid of a well-regulated
chronometer, to be 7 degrees westerly.

The longitude was determined both by a series of lunars, and by the
eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, the mean of upwards of 150
observations having been taken.

Appendix, Number II.

Remarks on the Natural 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 unfavourable 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 chrysalis, seemed drowsily to procrastinate their
existence until food for the new generation should be prepared by
nature.  Amphibia, Saurii, and Ophidii, which are generally not so
dependent on a supply of water, existed in small numbers in their
lurking-places, whilst birds and larger animals must at this season have
migrated to more favoured countries.

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
shelving.  The hills are in general rounded, and marked by broad veins
of similar composition, but containing more perfectly crystallised
felspar, 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 specimen of columnar basalt
presented itself in the ravine of Galeylafeo, which, for nearly half a
mile, runs through the heart of a huge mountain.  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, although at present the ravine presents the appearance of
a regular water-course.  The surrounding hills consist of the same rock,
but covered with loose boulders, which are much stained with oxide of
iron.

Amongst 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 Assai 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 formations
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 depression 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 volcanic action has produced the strange
phenomenon of the existence of shores so considerably below the level of
the ocean.  In the Dead Sea, the lake of Tiberias, and the valley of the
Jordan between them, it has apparently been a distortion and crushing of
immense masses which have subsided into subterranean caverns.  In the
Bahr Assai it has been produced 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 common
receptacle.  As high as the level of the Arabian Gulf are to be found,
in the basin of Bahr Assai, the salts and earthy (magnesian)
precipitates of the salt water, which in the course of time was reduced
to its present 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 mart.  The
latter, when clear of lava, presents a thin layer of gypsum, with
numerous shells of Melania, Limnaeus, Physa, Planorbis, Cyclostoma,
Unio, and Cycas, some of which are at present to be found in the distant
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
furnished from the waters beneath.  Being visited by almost every tribe
of the Adaiel and Somauli, and unhappily situated on the borders of the
most lawless and savage of them, this remarkable 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 Killulloo, 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 occasionally by
druses of zeolith.  Coarse quartz, sandstone, and conglomerates are
sometimes found towards the surface.  The country must have frequently
been agitated by violent earthquakes, detaching huge masses of rocks
from the hills; and, bereft alike of vegetation and animal life, it
presents altogether a most monotonous appearance.

The lower classes of animals, of ephemeral existence, are found on every
living or vegetating 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 Iulus, and several Scolopendra.

_Arachnida_ were in great numbers: Mygale, Epeira, Lycosa, and one small
Androctenus.

Of _Crustaceae_: near the sea-shore a Pagurus existed in astonishing
numbers, and in the sweet waters a Daphnia.

_Vertebrata_ 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.

Amongst the Birds--

Of _Rapaces_: Perenopterus and Falco are numerous.

Of _Gallinacea_: Numida meleagris, and various partridges.

Of _Cursorii_: Struthio-camelus and Otis.

Of _Ciconidae_: Ciconia Marabu.

Of _Cantores_: Corvus, Loxia, Sylvia, Vidua.

Of _Mammalia_, three species of Antelope, one of Hyrax, one of Equus
(Onager), one of Sus (Phacochaerus); and fresh holes in the sand
indicated the presence of animals most probably of the order Rodentia.

The sheep of the country are the Hejaz lamb (Ovis aries laticaudata);
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 colours, and surmounted with very
large horns.  The shepherd dogs are small, and spotted with yellow and
white; they have long pointed skulls like the fox.

With regard to the flora of this part of the country, the small quantity
found in flower, belongs, with few exceptions, to the family of the
_Leguminosae_, amongst which the order of _Mimoseae_ 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
several _Capparideae_; Cadaba, Sodada, Capparis.  Cadaba rotundifolia is
the most common.

The _Asclepiadeae_ are represented in the Stapelia pulvinata, which
however was seldom found in blossom, and in the Pergularia tomentosa,
with stately flowers and capsules.

The _Malvaceae_ existed in Ruitzia and Abutilon; and the other families
found by the wayside, Moringeae, Rutaceae, Tamariscineae, Chenopodeae,
Amaranthaceae, Cruciferae, presented only solitary specimens.

Of the _Euphorbiaceae_ there were but three; and of the Palm tribe there
only appeared to be two species, the Phoenix dactylifera and Hyphaene
crucifera, both of which gradually disappeared as the soil improved.

Nature has scattered the necessaries of existence 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 adulterated by the decomposition of organic and inorganic
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 quantity 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 altogether 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 conglomerates, or loose boulders.  Towards the middle,
as the ground rises, extinct 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 complete,
connected with each other, and environed by belts of their products.
The extensive plain of Eyroluf is a solid level of a dark, black,
undecayed lava.

The tract of land between Killulloo and Dathara especially has been
visited and overwhelmed by the action from below, which, having reversed
the original disposition, has covered the surface with the effects of
its violence.  There is little to be seen of the under parts, although
here and there some of the later formation, the residuum of the
calcareous waters, has spread like a thin coat over the low grounds; but
violent commotions have again and again altered and destroyed the first
appearance, 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
towards the base.

On the road to Moo stands a similar volcano; but the influence of these
craters does not seem to have extended far beyond the immediate
neighbourhood, although there is a connexion 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
overflowed 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 towards 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 numerous
rivulets, which after a course of scarcely one mile are absorbed by the
sands, and dry up altogether by the end of the rains, whilst the deep
hollows and clefts in the firmer rock preserve small quantities for the
dry months of the year.  The Hawash itself, although receiving all the
rivers of Efat, and of the eastern 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 evidently an old crater filled up, and
supplied by a hot mineral spring.  The water is much esteemed for
washing clothes; it possesses an hydrothionic smell and a bitter taste,
resembling that of the salt of magnesia; but the borders are verdant,
and a species of Cyperus grows luxuriantly in the water.

This portion of the country, though still sparingly supplied with the
means of subsistence, is more favourable 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
species of Cetonia (on the Aloe); one Silpha, Hister, Abax,
Graphipterus, Anthia, Staphylinus, Elater, Cantharis, Erodius, Moluria,
Pimelia, Mylabria, Chrysomela.

Of _Orthoptera_, large flights of Gryllus migratorius were observed near
Azboti.  Acrydium and Gryllotalpa very common throughout.  Also many
Neuroptera, and termite cone studding 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, Otis arabs, the partridge, ducks, adjutant,
Charadrius spinosus, Psittacus, Lampromis, 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 indispensable the protection of
a stout thorn fence.

Of the order _Rodentia_ the porcupine is common; also a variety of rats.

Of _Ruminantia_: a few antelopes.

Of _Fissungula_: Hyrax.

Of _Setigera_; Phacochaerus abyssinicus; and of _Lemures_: 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 favoured plain of Sultelli.  Four _Compositae_ (one Santolina),
three _Leguminosae_ (one Cassia, resembling Senna), one _Euphorbia_
(rotundifolia), one _Solanum_, one _Cucurbitacea_ (Cucumis africanus),
one _Crucifera_ (Farsetia linearis), three _Malvaceae_ (Hibiscus urens,
Althaea spec.), one _Tiliacea_ (Grewia spec.), one _Cistinea_
(Helianthemum spec.), one _Acanthacea_ (Acanthus carduifolius), four
_Gramineae_, 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
Waramilli and Naga Koomi the shrubs of the Balsamodendron myrrha were
first discovered, and 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 intervals interrupt the
uniform desert waste; but even the luxuriant vegetation which prevails
on the banks of the Hawash contains little besides 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 Dathara is
encumbered with the Aloe soccotrina.  There are also many fine forest
trees in the valley of Kokai, amongst which the Tamarindus indica stands
conspicuous; but no cultivation whatsoever is to be seen during the
entire progress of upwards of three hundred miles from the sea-coast to
the green hills of Abyssinia.

Appendix, Number III.

Description of the Frankincense Tree, as Found near Cape Guardufoi, on
the Somauli Coast, by Captain C.B. Kempthorne, Indian Navy, Commanding
the Hon. Company's Sloop of War "Clive."

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 source in the high land,
and, flowing to the southward and eastward, fall into the Indian Ocean,
4 degrees or 5 degrees north of the equator.

The chief town of the Miggertheyn Somauli is at Bunder Maryah, which
lies twenty miles south-west 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 frankincense 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 marble
rocks of which these bills 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 mixture of mortar and lime.  From the centre of the mass the
stem, having first taken a bend or curve outwards 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 urchins "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 outermost 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, perfectly transparent, and of a
beautiful amber colour.  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 unlike 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 colour and consistency of milk, but hardening into a mass by
exposure to the atmosphere.

The whole mountain range from Bunder Maryah to Cape Guardufoi is
composed of limestone and marble, and near the latter place especially
the marble is so white and pure that it approaches to alabaster.  Pink
and greyish black are also common colours, 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
carbonate of lime.  The young trees produce the best and most valuable
gum, the older merely yielding a clear glutinous fluid resembling copal
varnish, and exhaling a strong resinous odour.

During the south-west monsoon the pastoral tribes in the neighbourhood
of Ras Feeluk collect large quantities of frankincense, which they
barter to the Banians, of whom a few reside 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 Somauli.

End of the First Volume.

Volume Two, Chapter I.

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 revels amid the
foreign riches so unexpectedly heaped upon him.  Long tormented by
curiosity which he had been afraid to gratify, he now minutely examined
every novel article with all the greediness of the savage; and the royal
scribes having been duly assembled, elaborate inventories were penned
upon scrolls of parchment, to be deposited for the edification of
posterity in the archives of the 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, including the Chinese dancing girls,
were carefully immured in the mouldy magazines of Mamrat, Kondie, and
Aramba, with labels and tickets setting forth their respective
properties, and proclaiming to future occupants of the throne of Shoa
that these wonders were added to the state treasures by the red men
called Gyptzis, who came from beyond during the auspicious reign of
Sahela Selassie.

Ere day had dawned, the favourite page was deputed from the king to
inquire whether all had slumbered happily.  Etiquette demanded that our
reply should be in the affirmative, but if an estimate were formed from
the drenched and miserable aspect of the tent, the report made to the
palace must have been far from favourable.  In the 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 night
by the pelting storm, it had presently slidden down, and formed a
funnel, which completely put an end to sleep.

Hajji Kasim and Izhak, who, with some of their bigoted Moslem retainers,
had repaired to court to witness the reception of "the Christian dogs,"
had presented themselves at nightfall, wet, shivering, and famished, to
implore food and shelter, which had been denied by the officers of the
royal household.  Upon the principle of good for evil, we gave them
abundance to eat, and each of us contributed a share of his bedding, but
the untoward fall of the canvass proved equally disagreeable to
Christian and to Mohammadan.  Drenched to the skin, the true believers,
spite of their covering of lard, were fairly swamped where they lay; and
the Ras el Kafilah's pet Koran having been trampled under foot in the
confusion attendant upon repitching, he angrily left the tent in the
morning by one door, at the moment that the spoiled page entered by the
other, grumbling as he went, "Allah! how could the sacred volume
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 saturated 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 dismissal passing
unheeded, I with great difficulty succeeded in purchasing for them a
sufficient number of oxen, which were instantly slaughtered, and eaten
raw upon the spot.

The sceptic in Europe who still withholds his credence from Bruce's
account of an Abyssinian brind feast, would have been edified by the
sight now presented on the royal meadow.  Crowds swarmed around each
sturdy victim to the knife, and impetuously rushing in with a
simultaneous yell, seized horns, and legs, and tail.  A violent struggle
to escape followed the assault.  Each vigorous bound shook off and
scattered a portion of the assailants, but the stronger and more
athletic still retained their grasp, and resolutely grappling and
wrestling with the prize, finally prevailed.  With a loud groan of
despair the bull was thrown kicking to the earth.  Twenty crooked knives
flashed at once from the scabbard--a tide of crimson gore proclaimed the
work of death, and the hungry butchers remained seated on the quivering
carcass, until the last bubbling jet had welled from the widely-severed
throat.

Rapidly from that moment advanced the work of demolition.  The hide was
opened in fifty places, and collop after collop of warm flesh and
muscle--sliced and scooped from the bone--was borne off in triumph.
Groups of feasting savages might now be seen seated on the wet grass in
every direction, greedily munching and bolting the raw repast.  Entrails
and offal did not escape.  In a quarter of an hour nought remained of
the carcass save hoofs and horns, and the disappointed vultures of the
air assembling round the scene of slaughter with the village curs, found
little indeed to satisfy their hunger.

During this general carousal of the grateful host, the smooth-spoken
purveyor-general, who was completely at a loss to comprehend the meaning
of the liberality extended, advanced with a sleek and pampered band of
parasites.  The assistance of the unfeeling functionary had been craved
in vain, and he now, after casting a contemptuous glance towards the
sated serfs, in honied words inquired with obvious surprise, "whether
the party had not rested well, that they thus troubled their heads
unnecessarily about the worthless bondsmen of the Negoos?"

No suitable lodging being obtainable at Machalwans, I deemed it
advisable to adopt the king's proposal of proceeding at once into winter
quarters at the capital.  Preparatory to setting out thither we 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, according to that which my country
produces.  I cannot give you what I do not possess.  Be not afraid of
me.  Listen not to the evil insinuations of my people, for they are bad.
Look only unto Sahela Selassie.  May his father die, he will accomplish
whatsoever ye desire!"

The sun shone brightly through the fleecy white clouds, as our party
left the wet encampment in the valley, and under an escort of fusiliers
took the way to the capital without that regret which is usually felt on
quitting the precincts of royalty.  A green, swampy meadow led to the
foot of the mountains, over which numberless cascades foamed furiously
to the plain.  Supported from the base to the utmost summit by
artificial terraces, and clothed with the most luxuriant 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
neighbours.

From Machal-wans to Ankober the distance does not exceed six miles; but
the ascent is great and immediate, and the reduction in temperature
perceptible at every step.  Springs gushed out clear and sparkling on
either side of the rugged path, and beautiful plants luxuriated in the
moist atmosphere.  The prospect was altogether 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 the forest of Aferbeine.
Cedar-like junipers, dried up by the blast of centuries, rearing towards
the sky their tall skeleton forms, rocked to every breeze.  Younger
scions of the stock, clothed in a sombre cypress garb, flourished in
vigour among the drooping and silvery _woira_, of which the pensive
branches were hoary with ancient moss hanging in fanciful festoons; and
saving when the zephyr sighed through the foliage, or a bird whistled
from the topmost branch, silence reigned throughout the sylvan scene.

Whether in Europe or in half-civilised Abyssinia, monastic
establishments are invariably seated in spots the most romantic.  Deep
in the recesses of Aferbeine stands the church and monastery dedicated
to Tekla Haimanot, an ecclesiastic of extraordinary abilities, who
flourished during the thirteenth century, and rescuing the greater
portion of the empire from the yoke of usurpation, restored it to the
hands of Yekweno Amlak, the lineal descendant of the ancient Ethiopic
dynasty.  Subsequently canonised for his successful exertions in the
cause both of Church and State, the monk, whose history is obscured with
numberless superstitious traditions, is to the present day held in the
highest veneration.  Thrice during the year a festival is 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 bams and haystacks, with small green enclosures and splinter
palings, rising one above the other in very irregular tiers, adapt
themselves to all the inequalities of the rugged surface; some being
perched high on the abrupt verge of a cliff, and others so involved in
the bosom of a deep fissure as scarcely to reveal the red earthen pot
which crowns 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
extreme pinnacle--a lofty spire-like cone, detaching itself by a narrow
isthmus to form the sphynxs head.  Hereon stands the palace of the
Negoos, a most ungainly-looking edifice with staring gable ends, well
fortified by spiral lines of wooden palisades.  They extend from the
base to the summit, and are 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 cultivation 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 seemed ready to be launched at a moment's notice
upon the clustering habitations; whilst in the distance, the bronze
cross of the church of "our Lady," peeping above the dark foliage of the
juniper, touched the chord of feelings but little in unison with the
wild escort that surrounded us, above whose streaming locks floated
bloody emblems, that breathed aught save conformity to the mild tenets
of the Christian religion.

Ankober, literally translated, signifies the gate of Anko.  She was
queen over the Galla tribe, by which this mountain was peopled from the
invasion of Graan until its reconquest by the crown of Shoa, and has
bequeathed her name to the narrow winding path which forms the "_her_"
or gate to the suburbs.  Skirting the brink of a yawning abyss, and
scarcely wide enough for the foot of a mule, it is not traversed without
a feeling of insecurity, and the labour of a few hours would suffice to
render all approach to the capital impracticable, unless to the mountain
goat.  Loud cheers from the whole assembled population, female as well
as male, greeted our arrival, for the thunder of our 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 we made our way
through the dense crowd that whitened the entire hill-side, and lined
every valley.  At length we reached a newly erected building fronting
the palace, which had been set apart by His Majesty for our occupation,
and which was now completely thronged by porters, and beleaguered by
clamourous spectators.

Wistful looks were exchanged as we entered this barn-like and dreary
abode, which for months, if not for years, was to form our asylum.  A
decent new thatch, and a neat basket-work ceiling, did indeed form a
roof to the structure, but further, the crude and unfinished shell
whereon they rested, could hardly claim the denomination of "a house."

It rather resembled a den in Exeter 'change, or an aviary upon a
magnified scale; and the open hide-lashed ribs, being innocent
throughout of dab or plaster to choke the interstices, wind, rain, and
mountain fog considered themselves to be equally His Majesty's guests,
and 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 entire
tree, the edifice yet afforded an unusually favourable specimen of Shoan
architecture; and to account for its desolate and unfinished condition,
it may be proper to add, that the proprietor, who had been honoured with
the fair hand of a princess of the blood royal, having a few weeks
previously been so unfortunate as to incur the displeasure of his
despotic father-in-law, now occupied apartments in the state prison,
whilst the management of his estate was, _ad interim_, considerately
undertaken by the crown, without even the preliminary of a _fieri
facias_.

Inner walls divided the centre room from two narrow verandahs, intended
for the reception of mules, horses, and household lumber.  The floor was
precisely as nature made it, depressed rather than raised, and little
improved by the many recent inundations to which it had been subjected.
Torrents of muddy water filled the trench which environed the entire
structure, and occasionally bursting the banks of the dyke, oozed
copiously between the palisades, to cover the soil with artificial
lakes; whilst the small open area beyond, into which it disembogued--
hemmed in on all sides by rank vegetation, stinging nettles, and
half-ruined but noisily inhabited hovels--was, without any exaggeration,
eighteen inches deep in honest mire.

Although our pilgrimage had at last terminated, the prospect, both
within and without, was still far from encouraging.  The mercury in
Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 58 degrees, and it became necessary to
adopt immediate measures towards the exclusion of the cold driving mist
and the whistling wind, which the absence of a fire rendered far from
agreeable.  The union flag of old England, stretched across the hall,
lent the aid of its ample folds to enliven the interior.  Tent walls and
tarpaulins composed tolerably comfortable cabins in the verandah
closets.  Gun-cases, placed on end, and connected by the lid of a chest,
formed a temporary 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 reaching 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.

Volume Two, Chapter II.

RESIDENCE IN ANKOBER.

But darkness now reigned within our cheerless abode.  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 benighted a land; and strips of old cotton rag dipped in
unpurified bees' wax, forming, like most other good things in the
empire, a royal monopoly, are doled out by the purveyor-general to the
favoured few with but a niggard hand; whilst the absence of glass or
other transparent substance, and the continued presence of rain, sleet,
clouds, and fog thicker than the steam of a wash-house, 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 deface the king's walls, inserted therein from time
to time.  A chafing dish, raised upon a high mud pedestal, at length
cheered the long dreary evenings, although the wet sodden fuel yielded a
very feeble blaze, whilst its dense smoke, choking the chimneyless room,
covered walls and roof with soot.  Last, but not least among our
improvements, were tallow dips, which we manufactured of the fat tail of
the Ethiopian sheep, and these afforded us sufficient light by which to
retire to bed, where fleas, revived by the unwonted warmth of English
blankets, denied all rest.

The low moaning of the storm behind Mamrat, and the distant growl of the
thunder, usually ushered in the night.  There was a sound as of the surf
breaking over a rocky shore, and before many minutes the hurricane was
at its height.  Crashing reverberations of thunder rattled among the
serrated cliffs, whilst the gates of heaven poured forth a deluge, which
rendered every lane and footpath throughout the town, ankle deep in
running water.

Often after one of those falls of rain so common in tropical countries,
the face of the lowlands for fifty miles would be concealed under an
impenetrable fog.  The spectator rode upon a sea of billowy clouds which
rolled beneath his foot, lashing with their spray the dark islands
formed by the peaks of the higher mountains: and beyond, in the hot Adel
plain might be seen the Hawash winding through the distance, until
melted into the limits of the horizon.  As the great bank ascended, all
around became wet and clammy to the touch; and the mist, although
sluggish and slow to move, was of a nature so keenly searching, that in
defiance of all muffling, it seemed to penetrate to our very bones.

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, we
experienced the utmost difficulty in obtaining 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 the assistance of the monarch, can scarcely be converted
into the staff of life--the process entailing all the petty worry and
annoyance which in other lands are solely undertaken and performed by
menials.

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 long intervals; nor are they ever
so well supplied as to admit of the requisite weekly stock being
purchased at any individual place.  Hence much trouble and inconvenience
arose from the necessity of dispatching messengers simultaneously to the
various remote bazaars; and very great difficulty was experienced in
preserving even the small number of live stock required for consumption
in a country where all the surrounding meadows pertain alike to the
crown, and where labour is so difficult to be procured.

Whilst 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 heartburning of the
authorities if a larger bribe were offered, the badness of the roads,
and the steepness of the hills, all combine to render it a perplexing
matter to dispense with this species of service.  On the other hand, the
greatest difficulty is experienced in providing for a permanent
establishment of baggage-horses with their attendants, owing to the
existing 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 without infinite difficulty.

Every arrangement, however minute in detail, or trivial in importance,
here demands a sacrifice of time and temper in a tedious and lengthy
conference, which, in accordance with the custom of the country, must be
carried on by the principal persons engaged in the transaction.  No
article is readily to be purchased, nor can any thing, how trifling
soever, be accorded without the royal mandate, and when that is at last
obtained, the applicant would appear to be further than ever removed
from the realisation of his object.  "It is done," is the mode of
signifying that a request is granted, and the despot believes that to
will is to accomplish; but whilst his commands are usually obeyed more
to the letter than in the spirit in which they have been given, his
public officers embrace every opportunity of consulting the interests 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 journey through the inhospitable deserts of the Adaiel, than to
prolong a hateful sojourn in Abyssinia.  One half of the number were
murdered on the way down, and the places of all long remained empty.  In
any part of the world it would be difficult to find domestics inferior
to their Christian successors.  The consumption of _brundo_, or raw
beef, and the sleeping off a surfeit which, in its progress towards
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 nine-pence sterling, held himself
entitled to a permanent place before the drawingroom fire.

All stipulated for one day out of the thirty on which to drink _cosso_,
and during the other twenty-nine, few ever stirred without grumbling.
Honesty is not prominent among the Abyssinian virtues, and the lack of
it sometimes redounded to the discredit of the master.  A youth who was
entrusted with a 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 goat-herd had
not been defrauded with the cognisance of the _bala-beit_.  [Master of
the house.]

An _afero_, or janissary, had been specially appointed as a spy over the
actions of the foreigners, and he rendered himself 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
besides originating several ingenious falsehoods, was so indefatigable
in proclaiming us to be heretics, that he was shortly turned out of the
house in disgrace, with an order never to show his face again.

Ethiopia derived her faith from the fountain of Alexandria; but how is
her Christianity disfigured by folly and superstition!  The intolerance
of the bigoted clergy, who rule with the iron hand of religious
ascendancy, soon proclaimed the British worse than Pagans, for the
non-observance of absurd fasts, and blasphemous doctrines; and the
inhabitants, priest-ridden to a degree, received their cue of behaviour
principally from their most 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 the celebrated Origenes; and so much is he respected by
the monarch for his austerities and religious devotion, that His Majesty
invariably speaks of him as "the strong monk."  To him was traced a
report that the Embassy were to be summarily expelled the country, in
consequence of the non-observance of the fasts prescribed by the
Ethiopic creed, and because a Great Lady, whose spies they were, was on
her way from the sea-coast, with a large military force, to overturn the
true religion, put the king to death, and assume possession of all
Abyssinia.

On the festival of the Holy Virgin, the cemetery was thrown open,
wherein rest the remains of Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sahela Selassie.
It is a building adjoining the church of Saint Mary; and being anxious
to visit the mausoleum, I sent a message to the Lord Bishop, requesting
permission to do so.  An insolent reply was returned, that since the
English were in the habit of drinking coffee and smoking tobacco, both
of which Mohammadan abominations are interdicted in Shoa upon religious
grounds, we could not be admitted within the precincts of the hallowed
edifice, as it would be polluted by the foot of a Gyptzi.

Nevertheless, we were permitted to attend Divine service in the less
inimical of the five churches of the capital, and offerings were made
according to the custom of the country.  The cathedral of Saint Michael,
distinguished above all its compeers by a sort of Chinese lantern on the
apex, being invariably attended by the monarch, came first in order; and
after wading through the miry kennels that form the avenues of access,
our slippers were put off in accordance with Jewish prejudice, and
giving them in charge of a servant to prevent their being stolen, we
stepped over the threshold.  The scowling eye of the bigoted and
ignorant priest sparkled with a gleam of unrepressed satisfaction at the
sight of a rich altar-cloth, glowing with silk and gold, which was now
unfolded to his gaze; and a smile of delight played around the corners
of his mouth, as the hard dollars rung in his avaricious palm.

A strange, though degrading and humiliating sight, rewarded the
admittance we had thus gained to the circular interior of the sacred
building.  Coarse walls, only partially white-washed, rose in sombre
earth but a few feet overhead, and the suspended ostrich-egg--emblem of
heathenish idolatry--almost touched our heads as we were ushered in
succession to the seat of honour 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_; but beyond this group of turbaned
monks and hireling beggars there was no congregation present.

The high-priest having proclaimed the munificence of the strangers,
pronounced his solemn benediction.  Then arose a burst of praise the
most agonising and unearthly that ever resounded from dome dedicated to
Christian worship.  No deep mellow chant from the chorister--no
soul-inspiring anthem, lifted the heart towards 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 the socket, and every mutilated limb convulsed with disgusting
vehemence.  A certain revenue is attached to the performance of the
duty; and for one poor measure of black barley bread, the hired lungs
were taxed to extremity; but not the slightest attempt could be detected
at music or modulation; and the dissonant chink of the timbrel was ably
seconded by the cracked voice of the mercenary vocalist.

No liturgy followed the cessation of these hideous screams.  The service
was at an end, and the _Alaka_, beckoning us to follow, led the way
round the edifice.  The walls were adorned with a few shields, and with
miserable daubs representing the Madonna, the Holy Trinity _in caelo_,
the Father of Evil enveloped in flames, Saint Peter and Saint Paul,
Saint George and his green dragon, Saint Demetrius vanquishing the lion,
Saint Tekla Haimanot, Saint Balaam and his ass, the Patron Saint, and
every other saint in the Abyssinian calendar.  But they boasted of no
sculptured monument raised to departed worth or genius--no proud banner
or trophy of heroic deeds--and no marble tablet to mark the quiet rest
of the 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 mysterious emblem, there hung in triumph four sporting pictures,
from the pencil of Alken, which I had lately presented to His Majesty.
They represented the great Leicestershire steeple-chase; and Dick
Christian, with his head in a ditch, occupied by far the most prominent
niche in the boasted cathedral of Saint Michael!

Volume Two, Chapter III.

INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING.

Meanwhile, during the tedious fast observed by all classes in
commemoration of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, the king continued
his residence at Machal-wans.  On such occasions.  His Majesty seeks the
retirement of a country seat, and subsists upon raw fish, with vegetable
oil and pepper.  He is moreover averse to occupy the palace at Ankober
in the rainy season, when the elevated position of the isolated peak
whereon it stands becomes a fearful mark for lightning, by which it is
often struck; whilst huge masses of rock, loosened from the adjacent
heights, come thundering into the valley, to the annihilation of every
house that opposes their headlong course.  The greater part of the
court, however, continued to reside at the capital, and many were the
demands made for presents by public officers of the state, amongst whom
the Abyssinian habit of begging is sufficiently rife.

"There be pleasing things in my country 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 accepted for
what they coveted, many had recourse to a species of refinement in the
art of begging--the offer of block salt--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
accepted, are considered to establish a claim to ready acquiescence in
demands the most preposterous.  Broken decanters were exhibited four
times over by the domestics of the royal household, who, with tears in
their eyes, entreated the price of the vessel as the only means of
saving them from condign punishment.  A shield was never defaced, nor a
mule lost, that the delinquent did not refer himself to the Residency
for the amount of the fine imposed; and one of the imperial footmen
finally sought to place beyond all question his right to appropriate the
very cloth upon the table.  "I am the waiter in the great
banqueting-hall," quoth the modest applicant, "and therefore I require
this cloth as a dress."

Nor were even the royal family idle during this interval.
Belete-Shatchau, "superior to all," a notable shrew lately divorced by
the governor of Mans, and daughter of the queen by a former marriage--
first in order--and then Worka Ferri, "golden fruit," another of the
princesses royal--established their respective claims to articles of
British manufacture, beads, chintz, and tinsel, by the presentation of
potent hydromel in long-necked _barilles_, screened under wicker cases.
Their example was speedily followed by the illustrious Queen Besabesh,
"thou hast increased," who begged to be informed what "delighting
things" had been brought for _her_ acceptance.  But the report of this
fact being immediately conveyed to the despotic ears, His Majesty lost
not a moment in hinting "that it were desirable that all presents
intended for the palace, should pass through his own hands."

It is not permitted to any subject of the realm to receive the smallest
gift without submitting it forthwith to the Negoos, who either
appropriates it with an "_Egziher istikh_!"  "May the Lord reward thee!"
or accords permission to its retention; and concealment is sure to be
visited, on discovery, with the severest punishment.  Birroo, the son of
a defunct nobleman, and the especially favourite page of the king, had
been appointed _baldoraba_, or "introducer" to the Embassy, and in this
dignified capacity had occasion to pay me almost daily visits with
messages or commissions from the throne.  Dilapidated matchlocks and
swivels were to be restocked by the carpenters of the European escort,
musical boxes to be repaired, garments were 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
favourite never failed to beg for something, and, being a pet with all,
he never asked in vain; but it shortly became matter of public notoriety
that he had been disgraced, and thrown into durance, upon being detected
in the act of burying the dollars and other presents that he had
received.

The king commanded that a portion of the gifts which had led to this
disaster should be returned to me, and I entreated pardon for the
juvenile indiscretion of the page.  "Birroo has been degraded," replied
His Majesty, "but you must not be concerned thereat; for not only did he
conceal from me all that you had given him, but, on being detected,
swore falsely upon my own 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, however, released upon a second
representation, and restored to the possession of his gun, which had
been forfeited; and although not reinstated in the royal confidence, he
was subsequently appointed one of the _adrash adaree_, or "keepers of
the great room."

The first visit that we paid to Machal-wans was on the occasion of the
king's indisposition.  The high-priest, the chief eunuch, the
purveyor-general, Wulasma Mohammad, and ten or twelve other of the
courtiers, were in attendance; but they were dismissed after the
customary compliments had passed; and His Majesty, reclining as usual
upon the throne, thus proceeded, through the interpretation of the
Reverend Dr Krapf, to detail the long catalogue of his ailments.

"You may listen.  I am not now so hale as in my younger days.  Mine eyes
trouble me day and night.  I have pains in the neck.  My teeth have
grown long and become loose from fever, and my body has wasted away.
Draw nigh whilst I recount the particulars of my late illness.

"I was returning from the expedition against the rebel Galla.  I felt
suddenly unwell.  My head grew giddy.  The earth turned round.  It
became blue under my feet.  I fell from my mule.  I believed myself
dead.  I was no longer sensible.  My gun-men became afraid.  They ran
away to a man.  The enemy made a show of attack.  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 residence, or from projected military
expeditions, by their prophecies and pretended dreams, which are of
course modelled according 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 indisposition of which he still felt
the effects.

The royal swoon, thus amusingly narrated, had been followed by the
consignment to captivity for life in the dungeons of Goncho, of the
traitor who had so prematurely sought the elevation of his son, and who
was the proprietor of the Residency.  Medicines administered to the king
are invariably tasted by the physician in the presence of the patient,
and on a phial of goulard lotion being now sent to the palace for
external application to the despot's neck, it was returned in
consequence of its being labelled "Poison."  Of this he entertains the
most undisguised dread, and it 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 garments, or
unaccompanied by a numerous and trustworthy escort.  His Majesty's fears
did not extend to his British guests; and during our subsequent visits
to Machal-wans, he hesitated not to trust us all 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 or wars of extermination plotted
against colonies of baboons and monkeys, the only quadrupeds of which
the country can boast.  Magazines were exploded by means of detonating
shells--seven-barrelled pistols and stick-guns for the first time
introduced at court--and a liege subject of the realm was nearly shot
dead by the royal hand, when clumsily making trial of an air cane, from
which a wax bullet had previously been fired through the wicker table.

"My son," quoth the king, "I am old, and have but few years more to
live.  I have seen many strange things from your country, but none that
surpass this engine, which without the aid of gunpowder can destroy men.
Sorrow were it that I should have died and gone down to the grave
before beholding and understanding so wonderful an invention.  It is
truly the work of a wise people who employ strong medicines!"

Volume Two, Chapter IV.

SPECIAL SUMMONS TO MACHAL-WANS.

His Majesty had more than once intimated an intention of holding
consultation relative to his projected expedition on the termination of
winter, and early one morning an express courier arrived to desire our
immediate attendance at the palace.  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--saddles and warlike furniture were in course of repair--spears
were being burnished--gun-locks cleaned--and musket barrels engraved
with the despot's name; but the artificers were all summarily dismissed,
and the king, rising from his seat in the portico, beckoned us to follow
into the audience hall.

"_Gaita_," "master," he cautiously began, "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 expedition to
the great lake in Gurague.  In it be many islands which contain the
treasures of my ancestors.  There are jars filled with bracelets of
solid gold.  There are forty drums made of elephants' ears, and many
holy arks pertaining unto ancient churches, besides seven hundred choice
Ethiopic volumes, some of which have unfortunately been defaced by the
animals called _ashkoko_ [Hyrax Abyssinicus].  Elephants abound on the
borders.  In the trees are found black leopards of a most ferocious
nature, multiplying always among the branches, and never descending upon
the earth; and the waters of the lake, which are smooth as glass, and
without bottom, teem with monstrous _gomari_ [Hippopotamus amphibius],
and with fish of brilliant colours, red, yellow, green, and blue, such
as have never before been seen.

"Moreover there are specifics against small-pox and other dreadful
diseases.  No resistance is to be anticipated, for the inhabitants, who
are chiefly Christian monks, have often invited me.  I must no longer
delay to recover the lost wealth of my forefathers, and it is fitting
that you, with the British officers who have come hither from a far
country, should accompany me and construct boats.  Hereof my people are
ignorant, and your name as well as mine will therefore become great, and
will live in the annals of this kingdom.

"From the summit of a lofty hill near Aimellele, I have beheld through a
telescope the lake and its tall trees, but the elephants came in
numbers.  I feared that my people would be destroyed.  I ran, and they
all ran with me.  Now, what say you?  What is your advice in this
matter?  Are you able to build boats?"

In furtherance of His Majesty's intentions, I caused models of skin
punts, gun rafts, and a pontoon train, to be prepared upon the most
approved design, with crews and ordnance complete, and advised that
every requisite should be prepared at Ankober whilst leisure served, in
order that he might take the field with ample means at his disposal.
The king expressed himself above all things pleased both with models and
advice, which he declared to come from wise and expert soldiers; but he
was still obviously undecided, and the fear of wild beasts and of the
lone forest at length kicked the vibrating beam.  The castle visions of
glory mounted far out of reach, and his fickle ambition evaporated in a
bluster of empty words--

"My people will weep at the carriage of such ponderous engines."  "The
preparations must be made on the banks of the Hawash, or on the borders
of the Lake Zooai, where timber grows abundantly.  A man of rank, one of
the frontier governors, who resides near Aimellele, should be summoned
as guide to the expedition, and might then be consulted."  But the
presence of the great 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
proved more agreeable to the traders from Gondar and Tigre who reside in
Ankober, than to the narrow-minded governor of Alio Amba.  These men had
been in the habit of selling glass-ware, cloths, and fire-arms to the
king at a very considerable premium, and now did not fail to repeat and
to improve the absurdities circulated by the mischievous Danakil
regarding the foreign intruders.  The Gypzis were pronounced eaters of
serpents, mice, and other 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 our practice of toasting the wretched
half-baked dough which we 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
Abyssinia were derived from the fact of the foreigners employing
instruments which read the stars; and the despot was repeatedly 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 the fanatic clergy of Aramba, who had
declared the ban of the Church to be the just punishment due for the
admission into the empire "of red heretics, who ought carefully to be
shunned, since they practised witchcraft, and by burning the king's
bread threatened to bring a famine upon the land."

Taking their cue from the 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 northern 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; whilst in others it was believed
that an Alaka, or chief of the Gypts from Grand Cairo, had contrived to
smuggle himself into the capital, carrying his sovereign in a box, and
that after consulting the heavenly bodies until a favourable horoscope
was presented, he stamped his foot upon the ground, which opened, and
ten thousand red soldiers, with beards flowing to their girdles,
springing forth out of the chasm, placed the aforesaid monarch upon the
throne.  "Now," said the magicians, "will Theodorus arise according to
the tradition, that he will come in the latter days of -Ethiopia, and
create a kingdom of Peace."

Theodorus was one of the emperors who reigned during the fifteenth
century, and was canonised.  It is recorded, that during the observance
of his festival the queen-dowager had prepared a great entertainment,
and the guests being all assembled, the heavens rained down a shower of
fishes ready roasted.  In the Ethiopic liturgy, the miracle is thus
commemorated.  "Peace be upon thee.  King of the Agaazi nation,
Theodorus, Son of the Lion; thy memory shall this day be celebrated with
the slaughter of oxen and sheep, with which alone Zion Mogass, thy
mother, kept it not, for the clouds also dropped fishes."  It is
confidently believed that this saint will rise again from the dead, and
reign a thousand years, during which period neither war, famine, nor
discord, is to disturb the happiness of Abyssinia.

Volume Two, Chapter V.

TERMINATION OF WINTER.

In due process of time, spite of the denunciations of the fanatic
priesthood, the silver and beef of the foreigners attracted the denizens
of the adjacent villages, and we acquired a respectable retinue, such as
an Abyssinian deems indispensable on all excursions abroad.  A house
better adequate to our wants 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 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, it was handed over to
the domestics, and wading through the blood which flowed over the
threshold, we entered upon the premises in due form, and having hoisted
the Union Jack over the new Residency, we quaffed with the burly
landlord several horns of old hydromel for good luck.  "Have you a
better house than this in your country?" he inquired exultingly: "I
rather 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 equerry in waiting, and conservator of pastures and
meadows pertaining to the crown.  He is moreover the greatest gourmand
in the kingdom, and condescending to honour the denounced Christians
with his company at the house-warming, did ample justice to the novel
viands that were placed before him.  He even submitted to the innovation
of a silver fork, and politely partook of a salad, notwithstanding his
firm conviction that the undressed vegetable would cause a return of
ailments to which he had been a martyr in youth.  The circulation of
water for the ablution of fingers caused no little diversion on the
removal of the cloth; but the marasquino which followed was
unhesitatingly pronounced to be a nectar fit for princes alone.  "Were
but the Negoos aware with what good things the board of you English is
spread," he exclaimed, smacking his lips after the last glass, "His
Majesty would come and dine with you as often as you chose to invite
him."

"But let me give you a lesson in politeness," added the old man, when,
in reply to his abrupt intimation of intended departure, he was 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 Graham's 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 favourite place of
residence; and thither, in defiance of excessively heavy rain, he set
out on the day appointed by the household priests.  "My children," said
His Majesty at parting, "ye have travelled far on my account, and have
no kinsman saving myself.  My people are bad people, and I am sorry
thereat.  They bring me daily all manner of reports regarding yourselves
and your evil intentions.  The rumours have doubtless reached your ears,
but ye must not suppose that Sahela Selassie believes one of them.  Ye
are my friends, and I will deal with you accordingly.  I will that ye
come shortly to Debra Berhan and witness the great annual review at the
feast of Maskal.  Ayto Wolda Hana shall conduct you."

But the important functionary thus selected was of all others arrayed in
the most open hostility, and, unlike the majority of his avaricious
colleagues, his enmity had been proof against overtures and advances.
"I am a lone man," he invariably replied, "and have neither wife nor
child.  Grey hairs have come out on me.  I am the son of sixty years.  I
want nothing in this world but the favour of the king."  To judge from
appearances, the pinnacle of his loyal ambition had already been
attained.  Governor of Ankober, and president of the _madi beit_, or
kitchen, wherein are prepared hydromel, pepper soup, and sour beer--
comptroller of all the royal porters and of the household slaves, who
are the hewers of wood and the carriers of water, who grind, bake,
express oil, and manufacture candles--receiver-general into the imperial
magazines of all tribute in cotton, grain, thread, sheep, and poultry--
and charged with the superintendence, the erection, and the repair of
all public buildings throughout the realm, as well as with the
arrangement of the interior economy of the capital--Ayto Wolda Hana can
have little left to desire; and so conscientiously does he acquit
himself of these manifold onerous duties, that it is affirmed his royal
master could scarcely exist without him.

A visible diminution in the male population of 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 secret police and magisterial department, he adjusts all private
differences, watches over the public safety, and besides ministering
daily to the wants of all consigned to him, gives annually three great
entertainments at the expense of the crown.  He has been honoured with
the hand of Woizoro Askuala Work, sister to the queen-dowager, and as
the receipt of the promised invitation to Debra Berhan required an
intimation of intended departure, it afforded me a long sought
opportunity of making the acquaintance of this stately dame.  Seated in
the utmost of Abyssinian pomp, and surrounded by a goodly train of
slaves, pages, and handmaidens, she received us with the greatest
affability, and in the temporary absence of her lord, expressed the
highest gratification at the attention of our visit, although unable to
accept the presents that I offered, from an apprehension of the royal
displeasure.

But conversation during a morning call is here little more than a string
of the most earnest and pathetic inquiries respecting one's own health,
and that of one's wife, relatives, and children.  Even two old crones,
who are obviously tottering on the very brink of the grave, and who are
afflicted with every pain and with every sorrow entailed by the fall of
our first parents, never meet in the street without indulging in a
string of good wishes which are reiterated 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?  Are you quite well?  Are you
perfectly well?  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 unadulterated happiness and perfect
felicity that has been unremittingly experienced since the last meeting.

Should the encounter take place twenty or even a hundred times during
one and the same day, a repetition of the ceremony is enforced, and for
each progressive stage of morning, noon, evening, and night, there
exists a distinct set of phrases, which, from the never-ending
repetition, are grating and wearisome.  Passengers stand in the lane,
denude their shoulders, and roar out salutations intended for the
inmates of huts some hundred yards from the hedge.  The slumberer is
started from sleep by the dinning "How do ye do?" from some gentleman
passing ere the day has dawned to his country residence; and from
morning until even-tide, one's ears are assailed by a most harassing
tissue of polite inquiries from every individual of whatever rank, who
may think proper to pass himself off as an acquaintance.

Volume Two, Chapter VI.

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," as an
indispensable piece of etiquette, and the lounging townspeople, who have
at no time much business of their own, flock to assist the traveller by
filling the court-yard, choking the door-way, and amusing themselves by
canvassing the property packed.  Should rain be falling, which is too
frequently the case, the rabble take shelter inside the house, subject
every article within their reach to the pollution of greasy paws, leave
the carpet an inch thick in mire, and, unless by dint of shoving and
elbowing, debar all egress to the lawful proprietor.

It was in the midst of attentions such as these on the part of the
idlers of Ankober, on a raw, cold, foggy morning in September--the last
of the Ethiopic year--that we took the road to Debra Berhan.  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
beauties 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
constructed by an Albanian visitor; but the intolerant and ignorant
priesthood pronouncing the revolution of the wheel to be the work of
devils and genii, its use was interdicted after three days, and it has
since remained silent.

Beyond the ford of the foaming torrent the road becomes extremely rough,
steep, and difficult.  The first traveller had been unable to breast the
mountain side outright; and his zigzag route remains untouched by the
hand of the pioneer.  The craggy rock must be surmounted, and the narrow
and slippery channel be still threaded with the same risk as when the
first bold foot was planted on the serrated ridge; and the torrent of
centuries, whilst indenting the furrow yet deeper, has added the
impediment 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 Ankober being not less than two thousand feet, the
difference in temperature on the summit was fully perceptible.  Half an
hour was occupied in the scramble to a crumbling basaltic pillar styled
"_Room 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 thousand; 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 that old Father Nilus carries plenty into
"the land of marvels"--and rolling on to its mouths in solitary
grandeur, without receiving a single tributary in its long course of
thirteen hundred and fifty nautical miles below the junction of the
Tacazze, it may fairly be stated that Abyssinia holds in her Christian
hands the 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 instrument of vengeance for
overt acts of hostility--the Almighty having given into his hands its
fountains, its passage, and its increase, and thus entrusted 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 government in order to
retire to a cloister, he divided his countless wealth with his feet into
two parts, the one designed as an offering to the Church, the other to
be distributed in alms among the poor: and both heaps, although mountain
high, were, on being weighed, found exactly equal.  Lalibela, one of his
successors, is believed to have attempted the diversion to the Indian
Ocean and to the Lake Zooai, of 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 towards the Christians in
Egypt after the Saracen conquest, and the monarch was only induced to
relinquish his gigantic project by the earnest remonstrance of the
monks, who strongly urged the impolicy of fertilising the arid Moslem
countries that intervene betwixt the mountains and the sea.

On the summit of the Chaka commences an uninterrupted terrace,
stretching hundreds 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 coming fine weather, and a cold
bracing breeze from the eastward announced the termination of the
protracted season of rain.  The country had assumed the uninteresting
character inseparable from elevated downs--rich swampy meadows, clothed
with camomile, clover, and trefoil, and covered with oxen, horses, and
sheep, being intersected by gentle undulations of moor-land, with
occasional oviform 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; whilst 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 an inimical power.

Across the Toro Mesk, the principal streamlet that intersects the road,
and the sources of which are visible at a great distance to the
north-east, is a rude pile of stones bearing the dignified appellation
of "the King's Bridge."  Johannes, the Armenian architect, received the
hand of a high-born dame in reward of his skill, and by no foot save
that of the despot, is the barred entrance ever passed.  Two other
bridges, upon the same primitive principle, have since been constructed
over nameless but rapid rivulets, and if not very durable, they serve
greatly to facilitate the royal progress at periods when the country is
inundated.

During the reign of the sire and grandsire of the present monarch, the
entire tract between Ankober 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
recollection of the prowess in arms that he 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 witnesses of idolatrous
rites, mark the ancient site of villages now gone to decay.  Flourishing
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 melancholy 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 soaring 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
industrious occupation.

At length the monotonous view opened over a wide plateau sloping gently
to the west.  The blue peaks of Sallala Moogher, beyond which flows the
infant Nile, rose faintly in the distance, and the intervening country,
still destitute of wood, was traversed by broad, broken, precipitous
ravines.  On a hill to the northward 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 adjacent Galla tribes. and, when sold,
pay a heavy duty to the crown.  To account for the name of the place,
there is a tradition extant, that in days of yore, many holy arks with
vast quantities of the purest gold were deposited by the emperors of
Ethiopia in a certain deep cave having a bottomless lake 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
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, straggling beyond the walled palace
and the church of the Holy Trinity--long indistinctly visible--now rose
rapidly to view; and a small eminence having been ascended, the goal was
presently attained.  As we passed the royal lodge, a page mounted on one
of the king's horses rode forth to reconnoitre, and, taking a hasty
glance, galloped off to make his report.  The customary announcement
through an Afero, who has always access to the palace, elicited a pair
of monstrous Galla rams, which were thrust into observation while the
message which follows--one strictly in accordance with Abyssinian
etiquette--was delivered with shoulders bare by him to whom it had been
confided:--"Are you well?  Are you well?  Are you well?  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."

Awnings, wrought of goats' hair, and resembling the black tents of
Kedar, had meanwhile been erected for us on the green-sward, and we had
no sooner taken up our quarters than there came, by a succession of
maids of honour, bread in wicker baskets, old hydromel in coloured
decanters, pots of honey, and compliments in profusion from the queen.
Many of the courtiers visited us 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 that they bestowed,
being in the exact ratio of the potations swallowed during their revel.
Glimmering lights soon illumined the straggling hamlet--dancing and
singing occupied both sexes of the inhabitants--and with almost as much
pomp and ceremony as in more civilised lands, the departed year was
consigned to its last long resting-place in the relentless tomb of Time.

Volume Two, Chapter VII.

THE ROYAL SLAVE DEPOT.

No royal residence can be conceived more desolate and less princely than
the palace at Debra Berhan, "the Hill of Glory."  Crumbling walls of
loose uncemented 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 together in separate court-yards, without any regard to
appearance.  Six rude gateways on the southern side conduct through as
many miry enclosures, lined with troops, and crowded with herds, flocks,
and applicants for justice.  A paddock, covered with bright green turf,
extends in front of the chamber of audience.  Hoary junipers stretch
their moss-grown branches fantastically over the lawn; and at the
further extremity of the enclosure rise the mouldering remains of the
palace of Zara Yacoob.

This monarch, who was the founder of Debra Berhan, is reputed to have
been endowed with the wisdom of Solomon, his great ancestor: and the
vestiges that remain of his abode, certainly exhibit an 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 common with every other boasted edifice erected in the height of
Ethiopic splendour, it perished during the reign of Nebla Dengel, by the
hand of the destroyer Graan.  Hatze Zara Yacoob first attached capital
punishment to the continuance of idolatry.  He instituted an
inquisition, and persecuted every one who paid adoration to the cow and
serpent.  Amongst others who underwent execution were two of his own
sons-in-law; and he finally issued a proclamation, confiscating the
lands of those who should thenceforth neglect to carry on the right arm
an amulet inscribed with the words, "I have renounced the Devil and all
his works for Christ Jesus our Lord."

Tradition asserts that "the Hill of Glory," now barren of trees, was in
days of yore thickly covered with forest, through which ran a single
path.  In the beginning of the fifteenth century the founder, who was
also styled Constantine, fled into its depths before an invasion of the
Adaiel, and becoming bewildered in the intricacies, hurried hither and
thither, exclaiming in his dilemma, "_Ber eza, 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 adjacent swamps are to be seen the
ancient remains of decomposed timber, and a few venerable junipers still
survive within the palace enclosure; but beyond these monuments of
antiquity the truth of the legend rests solely on the name of the river
Bereza, a serpentine 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 commanding 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 practicable
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
hundred and fifty miles, involving so rapid a declination to the
westward, that nearly all have cataracts in some part, and are
consequently destitute of finny inhabitants.  The immediate environs of
Tegulet are intersected by the beds of rapid torrents, having 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 security during the inpourings of heathen and Mohammadan
hordes.  Tegulet-wat, "the devouring depths," a fathomless abyss yawning
on the banks of one of these streams, and described as the habitation of
demons, is believed by the superstitious to communicate with the "great
water."  It proved the grave of numerous Christian warriors, who, during
the bloody contest with the Adaiel, tumbled unexpectedly into its dark
bosom, and were heard of no more.

It was at the close of the fifteenth century that Mafoodi, the bigoted
king of Hurrur, unfurling the green banner of the Prophet, commenced
those devastating inroads upon the frontiers of Shoa, which finally led
to the dismemberment of the Ethiopic empire, and proved the greatest
calamity that has ever befallen the country.  Under a vow that he would
annually spend the forty days of Lent among the Abyssinian 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 children, sold some into foreign slavery, and presented others to
the Sheriffe of Mecca.  Alexander, the then reigning emperor, was
assassinated at Tegulet by Za Selassie, commander-in-chief of the royal
body-guard, who had been bought over by Mafoodi.  The eyeballs of the
regicide were seared with a red hot iron; his hands and feet were
chopped off; and he was stoned to death amid the curses and execrations
of the populace, after he had been paraded on an ass in this mutilated
condition throughout Shoa and Amhara.

Debra Berhan is one of the principal depots for the numerous royal
slaves, the possession of whom casts the foulest blot on the character
of the Christian monarch.  A strange clatter, and a Babel-like mixture
of tongues, greets the ear of the visitor, 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 blubber lip and bloodshot eye, is resting
for a moment against the broken wall, and stretching a brawny limb which
might have supported the bully Hercules himself.  Grinning from ear to
ear as his burly neighbour sports some savage joke in licence
unrestrained, he seizes with a three-horse power his bundle of split
wood, which two Amhara could with difficulty raise, and poising it like
a feather upon his woolly head, walks away in all the vigour of a young
giant.

With his own approving eye the monarch has selected this specimen from a
lot of powerful negroes captured beyond the Nile, and fifteen silver
crowns must not be lightly squandered even by the great sovereign of
Southern Abyssinia.  Rations are well supplied to support his sinewy
form, and unless on a cold raw day, when the soaking rain has penetrated
every thread of his black blanket, and his shivering frame brings
vividly to mind the difference of climate, the enslaved pagan, in his
present condition, as hewer in the royal forests, enjoys himself fully
as well as if ranging in savage liberty over his own free country of the
sun.

Not so the scowling Galla who follows in his rear.  The spirit of roving
independence is still unsubdued in his fiery eye; and the slender figure
and the bent leg proclaim the wild rider 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 his 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 savannahs of the Hawash.

Issuing from the gateway under the authority of a bloated eunuch, a
numerous flock of brown damsels take their way to the river.  Heavy
earthen jars are slung over their slender backs, and the light forms of
the unfortunates are 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.  Garlands of
the yellow buttercup deck the plaited raven locks of each captive maid,
and a plaintive song is chanted in soft mellow notes to beguile the
hours of toil.  But the lines of slavery have already found place among
their youthful features, which possess beauty unknown to those of their
oppressors.  The low chorus swelling mournful and piteous from the band,
has recalled thoughts of home and liberty to the joyless breast; and the
sad tear is brushed from the long dark eye-lash at the recollection of
happier hours spent in their own sweet land of spices.

Following close behind comes a group of favoured dames of a certain age,
from whose minds time has effaced all remembrance of country and of
kindred.  Exalted to the post of mistresses of the royal brewery, 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
perforated ears, and ponderous pewter bangles encircle each wrist and
ankle.  Their wigs, arranged according to the most becoming fashion, in
minute rows of tiny curls, glisten under a coat of butter, and their fat
cheeks, plastered with grease and red pigment, are calculated to strike
respect into the heart of the most indifferent beholder.  Their
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 strapped over the breast with the thong of slavery;
and the attending eunuch, with his long thin wand--an emblem of his own
withered person--proclaims the fact that the ladies cannot roam at
pleasure over the verdant mead, but must restrict themselves in the
beaten path according to the cracked voice of their driver.

Seated upon a gaily caparisoned mule, amidst the jingling of bells and
brass ornaments, the 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 followers attend his
every behest.  But he too is a slave, as was his father before him, and
as his son will be after him.  All the bones and sinews of his
attendants are the purchased 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 inhabitant 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 brittle decanter, or the unbidden attack upon some savoury dish,
involve a little wholesome correction.  Unlike the philosophical maid in
Rasselas, who had broken the porcelain cup, she needs pecuniary aid, and
thus is her request sobbed out: "Only one dollar to replace the queen's
looking-glass, and may God reward you!"  But the sob is evidently
assumed for the occasion, and a sly glance may be detected in the corner
of her cunning eye, to observe the effect of her false appeal.  The full
price of the fractured mirror has already been received from three
several individuals, and her mistress will assuredly confiscate the
profits; but the tenure of property during even one short half hour
possesses charms irresistible, and the poor girl falls prostrate on the
ground as the silver is dropped into her unwashed fingers.

A last group is straggling through the gateway.  The aged and the
infirm, who can still perform a light task, have just received their
daily dole from the royal storehouse at the niggard hand of the pampered
steward.  The vigour of their youth has been expended in the service of
the despot, and now, in the evening of life, their original scanty
pittance is yet further reduced.  A wistful glance is cast upon the
handful of raw barley, which must content them for the day.  Hunger and
destitution are painfully portrayed in the deep furrows of each withered
face, and the shrunken limb totters as the keen wind whistles through
the wet folds of the tattered goat-skin girdle, which reaches barely to
the knee.  No fostering hand awaits their return to the cheerless hut,
to minister in kindness to the necessities of age; and the last closing
scene will drop a welcome curtain of repose over sinews ground by
indigence and toil, during half a century of hopeless bondage.

Volume Two, Chapter VIII.

NEW YEAR'S DAY.

New Year's Day, which fell on the 10th of September, was, according to
the Abyssinian 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 throughout with newly-plucked rushes, and under a large iron
chafing-dish, with a cheerful wood-fire, basked a whole host of sleek
cats in couples--a portion of the dower received with the fair daughter
of the Galla Queen of Moolo Falada.

The king was particularly affable, and in the highest spirits.  His hand
having been extended to each of us in turn, with the usual inquiries
relative to our "safe entrance," the congratulations of the season were
offered to His Majesty, according to the customary form: "As the
departed year of Saint Matthew has closed happily upon your auspicious
reign, so also may the coming year of Saint 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
saddle and bridle, were next presented, and received with every
manifestation of delight, coupled with a prayer from the royal lips that
"God might glorify the donor."  A long and minute scrutiny led to an
infinity of questions, not easily answered, as to how the shield was to
be slung to the pommel, and why the entire foot, instead of the great
toe only, should be inserted in the stirrup?  "The sun in different
countries shines with more or less brilliancy," exclaimed His Majesty,
with truly royal eloquence, as he concluded the examination--"the birds
and the beasts are different, and so are the plants.  I am fond of new
inventions, if it be only to look at them, and although they should
prove on trial to be inferior to old ones."

Abd el Yonag, the chief of the Hurrur slave-merchants, was seated,
rosary in hand, during this conversation, and in his weather-beaten
countenance were displayed all the cunning lineaments of the petty
retailer in small wares, curiously contrasted with the sagacity of the
extensive dealer in politics, who had succeeded in obtaining an accurate
measure of the monarch's foot.  The knave too protested to have seen the
world, and gave out that with his own grey eyes he had beheld the
glories of Britain's eastern possessions.

To support his widely circulated character for universal knowledge, the
Moslem miscreant now seized between his bony fingers two handsome pieces
of sprigged muslin, fresh from the looms of Manchester, which I had
presented for Queen Besabesh, and throwing them contemptuously towards
the corner of the throne, muttered betwixt his lips the word "Bombay."

"What's that, what do you say?" cried the king, in his usual abrupt
manner.

"May it please your Majesty," returned the turbaned traveller, to our
great diversion, "'tis the name of this cloth--it is called Bombay."

But an opportunity presently occurred of laughing at the beard of the
irreverent pedlar, nor was it suffered to pass unheeded.  The despot
exhibited a silver sword scabbard, which had been curiously enamelled to
represent one of the scaly inhabitants of the deep, and it was
acknowledged _nemine 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
explanation was rendered.  "Fishes live in the great sea between
Abyssinia and Bombay, and he whose eyes have not suffered under Oubie's
searing irons, might behold numbers every day of the voyage."
"_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
enclosure.  Two umbrellas of crimson velvet, surmounted by silver globes
and crosses--his never-failing attendants on all occasions of state--
were supported by sturdy slaves, and twelve richly caparisoned steeds,
representing the months of the year, were led by the royal grooms.  A
numerous and motley retinue of dismounted cavaliers followed, and on
reaching the meadow, the brows both of monarch and subject were bound by
the monks with green fillets of a wiry grass, styled "_enkotatach_"
whence the festival takes its appellation.

Unlike the rugged mountains of Ankober, which can alone be traversed by
the sure-footed mule, the country around Debra Berhan is well adapted
for the equestrian, and the bright azure of the sky, mottled by fleecy
clouds, the fresh verdure of the turf, and the elasticity of the air,
all lent their aid to the coming tournament.  Armed with a slender
staff, the king mounted his charger, and bounding over the green-sward,
opened the sports of the day.  Groups of wild savages were instantly to
be seen scouring in every direction, engaged in the _gombeza_, or joust,
but His Majesty in flaunting striped robes shone conspicuous.  Well
mounted, a fearless horseman, and admirably skilled in the use of the
spear, he had on no previous occasion been seen to so great advantage as
during his participation in the warlike exercises of the new year--now
pursuing, and now in turn pursued by the warrior whom he had honoured by
selection as his antagonist in the tilt.

"Guebroo is sick," quoth the monarch, the moment this display was over;
"he has received a severe wound in the head during a skirmish with the
rebel Galla, and I am desirous that you should now visit him, taking
with you the medicine for putrid sores!"

Ayto Berkie, the governor of Bulga, volunteered his escort to Daluti,
the abode of his invalid brother.  Crossing the serpentine Bereza, the
road led through swampy meadows, and over little cultivated knolls
destitute of either tree or shrub, towards Angollala, which, after a
gallop of seven miles, opened in the distance.  On the summit of a
tabular eminence rose the king's two-storied palace, above churches and
conical houses; and five distinct knolls, forming an arc in the
intermediate and otherwise level landscape, were severally crowned by
the abodes of favourite courtiers--that on the extreme right, embowered
in luxuriant trees, pertaining to Ayto Guebroo, governor of Mentshar.

Ascending the tumulus by a steep and stony path, and passing through a
muddy court-yard, we reached to the abode of the great man.  Surrounded
by mournful attendants, he reclined on an _alga_ before a fierce fire,
his right eye screened by a shade of blue calico, and his comely partner
sobbing violently at his feet.  The Gille and Loomi Galla, bordering on
the ancient province of "Fatigar," 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 ostentatiously displayed.  The horse of his adversary fell under
a well-directed lance, and the dismounted pagan sued for quarter;
obtaining which, he treacherously launched his remaining shaft, which
had cleft the forehead, and passed through the corner of the eye,
although without destroying the vision.

The patient having pledged himself to submit to the prescribed
treatment, which few in Abyssinia will do, an operation was successfully
performed by Dr Kirk.  Drying her tears, the hostess had meanwhile
slaughtered a ram, and made extensive preparations for a repast.  Piles
of thin _teff_ cakes, which loaded the low wicker table, were flanked by
decanters of mawkish old honey wine; bowls of 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 submitted in the first
instance to the influence of the hot embers.  "Do all of your nation
thus burn their meat?" inquired the lady, after long and attentive
observation: "I was told that such was the case, and that you burnt the
king's bread too, but could never have believed it."

No small difficulty was experienced by the despot in comprehending how
an eye could be restored by the use of the knife; but His Majesty was at
a still greater loss to understand by what means a subject had been
cured, whilst himself remained in partial blindness.  Ayto Katama was
present at this observation, and turning to one of the party, he
whispered, "You must not suppose that the Negoos is blind of that eye:
may Sahela Selassie die, he sees better 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 he thus invariably followed the
advice given to Solon 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."

Volume Two, Chapter IX.

THE FALLS OF THE BEREZA.

Hunting expeditions filled up the leisure hours of the busy monarch.
Standing 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 diversion 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
Bereza, 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.  Whilst turning the corner
of the numerous abrupt eminences, his ears were ever saluted by loud
cries of "_Abiet!  Abiet_!" from the mouth of many a petitioner, and a
very respectable body of plaintiffs and defendants were continually in
attendance.

Judgment was calmly delivered until the arrival of some breathless
horseman with intelligence of the discovery of a colony of baboons,
would arrest the proceedings of the sylvan court.  "Sahela Selassie ye
moot?" inquired the sporting monarch on one of these occasions, adjuring
the informant by his 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 corn-field."
"Then by the death of Woosen Suggud they shall be slain," was the
rejoinder, as His Majesty galloped towards the spot, followed by a train
of attendants carrying every rifle and fowling-piece of which the
imperial armoury could boast.

On the verge of the deep valley we presently descried a countless
pig-faced army, laying waste the rising crops.  Lusty veterans, muffled
in long flowing manes, strutted consequentially among the ladies; and
others, squatted upon their hunkers, with many a ghastly grin displayed
their white teeth whilst hunting down the vermin that infested their
rough shaggy coats.  Casting aside his chequered robe, the king, with
all the ardour of a schoolboy, dashed into the middle of the amazed
group, and under a running fire from himself and courtiers, the field
was presently strewed with slain and wounded.  Mangled wretches were now
to be seen endeavouring to reach the precipitous chasm of the Bereza,
whose white foaming waters were thundering below, whilst the grimacing
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 an _erkoom_ waddling over the ploughed land,
again proved the signal for general pursuit.  This gigantic and deformed
bird is of the genus Hornbill, and an abrupt unmeaning excrescence above
his huge jagged forceps, imparts a fancied resemblance to the slaves of
the king, who carry water-jars upon their heads, which has dignified him
with the title of "Abba Gumbo," "the Father of the Pitcher."  It has
blue wattles, which, when the bird is worried, become inflamed like
those of the turkey-cock; and from the fact of its always constructing
the door of its nest to the eastward, the Abyssinians assert that it
will never build out of sight of a church.

The plumage throughout is to appearance 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 high-peaked saddles, scoured after
the devoted quarry.  Weary with its long flight, the heavy bird alighted
a dozen times, but no rest was ever allowed.  Again he was turned, and
again he distanced his pursuers, until beleaguered on all sides, he was
finally speared by the chief smith and body physician, who, as an
equestrian, shone _facile princeps_.  His skill rewarded the head of
each hero engaged with the coveted white plume, which is the Amharic
emblem of death.

"My children have never seen the `Devil's sheep,'" gravely observed His
Majesty, as he ascended towards 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 morning, and the pages shall show you the road.  Now you may eat."

Heavy dew covered the waving grass, as, accompanied by the promised
escort, we proceeded at an early hour to gratify the royal curiosity by
the destruction of the dreaded monster.  It proved on realisation to be
an inoffensive badger; and although the sport did not afford very much
diversion, the cataract amply repaid the ride across the meadow.
Leaving the terrace of table-land, the serpentine river, far hid from
sight, winds through a succession of rounded hills towards a precipitous
valley, down which the foaming torrent rushes over a descent of eight
rocky basins.  Hemmed in by fantastic pillars of basalt, composed of
irregular disjointed polygons, the dark craggy surface, laid bare by the
violence of ages, is at strange variance with the bright emerald turf
which creeps luxuriantly to the very verge of the frowning abyss; whilst
twelve hundred feet below, the sparry walls suddenly contract to the
breadth of fifteen yards, and the accumulated waters of the cascades,
discharging through this natural flood-gate, boil onwards in their wild
career.

At some distance from this point are the royal iron mines, and near them
a perpendicular crag, which rears its crumbling form from the very
bottom of the vale to the level of the upper stream, marks the
suddenness of the descent.  The entire lace of the verdant hills that
repose above the roaring cataract, were covered with thyme and other
aromatic herbs, yielding up their fragrance at every step; and new and
lovely flowers, sparkling under the morning dew, 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 foam and spray
which arose from the gloomy chasm, reflecting the prismatic colours of
the rainbow, completed a picture of singular wildness and magnificence.

How different, indeed, is the fate awaiting the waters of one and the
same shower discharged over the high ridge of the Abyssinian Alps!  A
drop, falling on the eastern slope of the shed, wends its short course
by the nearest streamlet towards the muddy Hawash; and, if not absorbed
by the thirsty plains of the Adaiel, 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 Bereza, and
taking the sudden 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 blue waves of the 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."

Volume Two, Chapter X.

THE ANNUAL REVIEW.

As the month rolled on, under a cold and pleasant sky, the governors of
the adjacent districts flocked with their quotas to Debra Berhan, to be
in readiness against the approaching anniversary of "Maskal."  On this
festival, which is held in commemoration of the discovery of the Holy
Cross by Saint Helena, the rabble militia composing the Amhara forces is
marshalled in order of review, and the grassy slope in front of the
palace became daily more and more thickly dotted with black booths and
mules and neighing steeds.  Honours, appointments, and rewards, are now
conferred upon the brave and the deserving; and this being also the
season of retribution, the forfeited property and the household chattels
of delinquent officers add to the fair-like confusion.  Herds of cattle,
and long files of confiscated slaves, wooden tables, rickety bedsteads,
and other paltry prizes of royal seizure, crowded the bustling parade;
whilst groups of shivering camels, transferred by writ of execution to
an uncongenial clime, took up their cold station on the bare 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_, followed by the repeated discharge of heavily-loaded
matchlocks, proclaimed the movement of the household troops towards the
palace portals, in order to guard the imperial person from any sudden
outbreak of the wild host encamped in the environs.  Halting in front of
the tents of the Embassy, they performed the war-dance in our honour by
the light of numerous torches.  Whilst the leaders solaced themselves
with a cup of our curacoa, their curvetting chargers, ridden by
confidential henchmen, bore gallantly among the dense mass; and the
bright metal stars and studs of their appointments gleamed amid the dark
ranks of the warriors, as they howled the Amhara death chorus.  Bidding
us good night, the Master of the Horse declared, amongst the affirmative
whoops of his followers, that next to the royal safety, the lives of his
much-esteemed foreign friends should be uppermost in his thoughts during
the coming vigil.

Most unkingly was the appearance presented by the palace at break of
day, for all was disorder and confusion among the court.  Dirt and filth
reigned paramount in every purlieu--mire to the ankle obstructed every
gateway--and the rods of the wearied door-keepers were broken to
splinters in their laudable endeavours to check the rush of the eager
and greasy mob.  The very houses themselves seemed more gloomy, and the
time-worn mud plaster of the ancient walls more sombre and dilapidated
than usual.

The despot was for some hours to be seen squatted in the porch of the
banqueting hall, surrounded by all the concomitant litter of a forge,
which, puffing away at the foot of his _alga_, under the personal
supervision of the chief smith, blew a cloud of dust and ashes into the
royal nostrils.  Decorum seemed to be laid aside for the day.
Chattering and noise resounded in every quarter.  Restraint was removed
from the tongues of all, and the uplifted voice of the monarch was at
times scarcely audible, amid the clatter of surrounding 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 governors, 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
had presumed to come before the king with a poor bundle of grass.  Of
him no notice whatever 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 vassal speedily out of sight,
unrewarded by the customary "God give thee more!" from the lips of his
puissant sovereign.

But a very different scene presented itself when, at a later hour, we
were ushered through the grassy lawn to make our bows to His Majesty.
Surrounded by 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
moveable throne, tricked out for the occasion in velvet and satin.  Rich
_kimkhabs_, gay silken vests, and a profusion of silver swords and
decorations for gallant conduct, sparkled on the persons of the
courtiers; and the 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 _Aferoch_, under the command of the
purveyor-general, entered the arena, elevating high above their heads
bundles of peeled wands, bound together with wisps of rushes, and decked
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 considerable time, waxing
louder and louder, as these lictors, with their fasces, approached 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, hurling their rods in a heap before the palace steps, the
whole crouched in a semicircle.  Their leader and his stewards, some on
horseback, others on foot, clothed in the spoils of wild beasts, then
displayed themselves individually in the dance, galloping or vaulting
between the open ranks, encouraging the men to fight, and demean
themselves as warriors in the day of battle--each ending his recitative
by a terrific howl, in which he was joined by the whole band.

This exhibition terminated, we were marshalled to a gay Turkish
pavilion, which had been purposely erected, below the royal inspection
tower.  A small, roofed building, resembling the judge's stand on a
country race-course, occupies a raised platform immediately within the
palace enclosure.  Gaudy cloth hangings enveloped this cage, and carpets
and rugs of all colours covered the top of the rude wall for some
distance on either side.  The Negoos was already seated when we cantered
past, and taking off our hats, received his condescending salutation.
The usual paraphernalia of silver-embossed velvet floated at his feet.
The chiefs of the churches, and the civil officers of state--a gorgeous
band--were arranged along the platform, whilst a motley crowd of many
thousand spectators stood closely packed over the plain below.

Dense masses of cavalry were in readiness at the further extremity of
the parade, to perform the pageant of the day.  At the distance of one
hundred yards from the imperial stand, a stack of tall leafless willow
staves had been erected on the bright green turf which extended far and
wide in front.  Around it were squatted files of warriors, ensconced
under their round shields like the tortoise beneath his shell--the
management of sundry huge culverins, of inordinate dimensions, being
divided betwixt every three.  The muzzle rested 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 fusiliers, three-fourths of whom were on this
occasion equipped with the muskets that I had recently presented.
Divided into four bodies, consisting each of about one hundred men, they
moved slowly forward, shouting the usual war-chorus, in imitation of the
voice of the lion, and were kept in line by the vigorous application of
the rattan.  Numerous bracelets, the reward of distinguished gallantry,
glittered throughout the band, and the fixed bayonets, heretofore
unknown in Southern Abyssinia, gleamed brightly in the sunshine.
Gaining the prescribed distance, the warriors crouched on the ground as
if to receive cavalry.  A grey-headed but energetic veteran sprang to
the front--danced during some time in a variety of uncouth capers--and
uttering a howl such as might be conjectured to issue from the demon in
the wolfs 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, went through similar
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 his favourite chintz, the flaring
pattern of which the kaleidoscope itself must have found difficulty in
devising, Ayto Katama, a bondsman from his youth, exhibited himself in
front of the phalanx of slaves, his head enveloped in a crimson
harlequin cap.  Tripping and mincing with the most unseemly capers and
gestures, he brandished his crooked blade in a fashion which could alone
have proved dangerous to himself.  An inveterate chronic sore throat had
rendered his voice husky; and his vapouring unmilitary motions, which
reminded us of the strut of a crippled peacock, shed a broad light of
caricature over this opening scene of the pantomime.

But the 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-coloured 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 displayed a profusion of silver crosses and
devices, and he looked a stately and martial warrior, curvetting at the
head of his troop of well-appointed 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, advanced in
front.  Whilst putting his charger through all the evolutions of
Abyssinian _manege_, he vaunted his prowess in arms, recited the
prodigies of valour performed in the service of his royal master, and
proclaimed his continued good faith, and future bold intentions--his
followers, at intervals, like the Romans of old, responding their assent
by the loud clatter of lance against shield.  The harangue concluded,
his spears were dashed upon the ground, and the chieftain, drawing his
broad two-edged falchion, brandished it in the air: "_Tockatoo, Loola,
Loola, Gummoo, Sik, Oooooh_," he vociferated, as he dashed his heels
into the flanks of his prancing steed.  An instantaneous howl, and
independent discharge of culverins, answered the signal, and the wild
troop swept past at a gallop to the further extremity of the parade.

At the royal request, I caused a salute of twenty-one guns to be fired
by the artillery escort, from the brass three-pounder, which had been
dragged by oxen below the willow-stack.  Great was the admiration of the
wild Galla multitude as they gazed on the appointments and embroidered
housings of the British officers now assembled on horseback in front of
the watch-tower; and sufficiently diverting were the remarks they passed
on our fluttering plumes of white and red feathers--their own emblems of
bloody though not chivalrous deeds.  When the cannonade opened upon ears
that had never before listened to the thunder of ordnance, and a cloud
of white smoke curled high above the heads of those who had hitherto
beheld such volumes arise only from their own burning hamlets, a buzz of
applause pealed from end to end of the extended fine.  Each echoing
report carried to the hearts of the disaffected a powerful argument for
future loyalty, and it needed little discrimination to unravel the royal
policy which had dictated the display.

Thirteen governors, clothed in spoils stripped from the lion and the
leopard, with other conspicuous trophies of the chase, next passed
successively in order of review.  Decked in emblems of blood--rings,
feathers, bracelets, and gauntlets--tokens all of individual prowess in
hand to hand combat with the king's foes--the leader of each glittering
cohort indulged in a long rambling harangue, ere shouting the signal for
the charge.  Many there were who wore the _akodama_--a massive
transverse beam of silver projecting across the brows, and hung with a
profusion of chains and pendants, 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 spectators of the martial
manoeuvres of the Amhara 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 dignitaries 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 several sides and
flaps of raw beef, which had been furnished by the king's munificence,
and were ostentatiously displayed by as many menials--nor, under the
well-directed and vigorous attacks 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 enclosure, had swelled the pageant by appearing a second time
on the stage.  Others, dismounting, performed various evolutions on
foot--ancient heroes, with falchions of truly portentous dimensions,
capering and striding before the line, until on a signal made by the
culverins, they vaulted again into the saddles, and dashed onward over
the green-sward, now fast fading under the tramp of hoofs.

Last of all came the tall martial figure of Abogaz Maretch, chief of all
the tributary Galla in the south, at the head of his Abitchu legion, who
closed the display of barbarian tactics.  Three thousand in number, the
sea of wild horsemen moved in advance to the music of the kettledrums,
their arms and decorations flashing in the sun-beam, and their ample
white robes and long braided hair streaming to the breeze.  At the
shrill whoop of their leader, with the rushing sound of a hurricane, the
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 until five in the
afternoon, was exceedingly wild and impressive.  Did the warriors who
this day recounted their valorous achievements before the monarch only
possess hearts of a measure with their good weapons and strong seats,
they could not fail to prove the means of extensive power and conquest
under the control of an aspiring chief; but such unfortunately is not
the case, and the speed of their stout hardy steeds is too frequently
exerted in the wrong direction.

As soon as it became dark, several rockets which we had brought with us
were discharged from our tents by the king's express desire.  With
fire-arms the Abyssinians were previously acquainted, and the brass
galloper which had echoed so recently, although viewed with wonderful
respect, was still only the engine on a colossal scale, to which they
were familiarised.  But these were the first rockets of which His
Majesty had viewed the flight, and the impression they 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 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 explosion from
the vicinity, ascribed the phenomenon to the use of potent medicines,
and declared that since the Gyptzis could at pleasure produce comets in
the sky, and rain fire from heaven, there was nought for them left, save
abject submission to the king's commands.

The ceremony of burning the stack of willow staves on the parade
commenced shortly after this exhibition, and, superintended by His
Majesty in person, terminated the proceedings of the busy day.  Shrouded
from the gaze of the populace, 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, displayed
bright and fresh in the morning, but now withered and faded, were with
savage shouts and yells cast simultaneously on the pyre, and a burst of
lurid glare, which revealed all that was passing, at once proclaimed
their ignition.  Thousands crowding to the spot added their tribute, and
joined in the din of voices.  Black crosses to repel the devil were by
many described on their foreheads with the charred wood, in the struggle
to obtain which hard blows were dealt lustily about, and some of the
competitors were even forced into the pile.  The legend asserts, that on
the discovery of the Holy Cross by the mother of Constantine the Great,
she caused beacon fires to be lighted on all the high hills of
Palestine, upon beholding which a general shout of joy was raised by the
people of Constantinople.  In imitation hereof, wild songs and yells of
triumph from the inebriated Christians of Shoa, now completed the
turmoil and confusion, and with the crackling red flames that curled up
the tall dry staves, ascended high towards the starry vault of heaven in
honour of Saint Helena.

Volume Two, Chapter XI.

THE GALLA CAPITAL.

Angollala, on the Galla frontier, founded ten years since by the
reigning monarch, is now the capital of the western portion of Shoa, and
during the greater part of the year it forms His Majesty's favourite
place of residence.  Thither he proceeded on the morning following the
festivities of Maskal.  Upwards of three thousand horsemen composed the
_cortege_, 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 accord 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
sallies, and the judicious exercise of a long stick, kept the crowd from
encroaching upon the royal person, during our 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
enclose an extensive quadrangle.  On the summit of the largest eminence,
near the church of Kidana Meherat, stands the palace, defended by six
rows of stout high palisades.  A clumsy stone edifice of two stories,
rising in the form of a dove-cot, 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 apprehension of
earthquake, which holds strong possession of the royal mind.
"Earthquakes are bad things," was His Majesty's remark, "for they
overthrow houses, and demolish my people."

The rugged ascent up the steep hill-side was thronged with spectators,
male and female, assembled to greet the arrival of their sovereign, and
to stare at the foreigners.  Paupers and mendicants crowded the first
enclosure; and the approach from the second gate through four
court-yards, to the King's quarters, was lined with matchlock-men and
fusiliers, who, as the Embassy passed between the ranks, made a
laughable attempt to present arms in imitation of the artillery escort
at the review.  Kitchens, magazines, and breweries were scattered in all
directions; and, with the long banqueting-hall, the chamber 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-humour, conducted us over the unswept premises,
and up a rude ladder to the attic story, which commands a pleasant
prospect over wide grassy meadows, intersected by serpentine streamlets,
and covered with the royal herds.  Upon a floor strewed with newly-cut
grass, blazed a wood fire in an 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 elephants
and soldiers, and with representations of all the buildings and strange
things in your country, which my eyes have not yet seen.  At present my
children may go."

Awnings had been pitched on the summit of Debra Maskal, [The Hill of the
Cross] the southern eminence.  The weather was now intensely cold, and a
fire during the evening hours could not be dispensed with.  As the
embers died away, and the smoke cleared from the interior of the flimsy
pall, our teeth chattered under the pinching exhalation from the ground.
Rifles became rusty in a single night from the heavy white dew that
saturated the cloth--watches stopped beneath the pillow--and heaps of
blankets proved of small avail to warm our cramped and shivering limbs,
which told full well of the hoar frost that was encrusting 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 noisome lees that
stream over the road from the adjacent royal breweries.  Packs of
half-wild dogs, the pest of Angollala, luxuriate hereon during the day,
and at night set forth on their reckless foray, dispelling sleep, and
destroying tents in their pilfering invasions.  Long before the dawn,
the shrill crowing of a thousand cocks first startles the slumberer from
his uneasy repose.  The wild whoop of the oppressed Galla, who demands
redress, then mingles with the "_Abiet!  Abiet_!" reiterated by the more
civilised Amhara from every hill-top; and the memory of those who have
ever witnessed the breaking of the glorious day amid nature's luxuriant
forests of the East, is forcibly carried back to the tangled thicket,
where the _campanero_ tolls her bell-like note from the branches of the
spreading tamarind, and the wild ape fills up the interval with his deep
voice of exultation, as he pounces upon the bitter apple of the wood.

Bands of mendicant monks next silently take post on the crest of a
crumbling wall, within spear's length of the slumberer's pillow, and by
a shrill recitative, followed by a chorus of independent voices, dispel
the morning dream, whilst they scream with a pertinacity that bribery
can alone quell.  Psalms and hymns never fail to usher in the morn; and
when the asperity of cracked and aged throats is somewhat mellowed by
distance, the chant of Christian praise--now rambling wildly through all
the varied shakes and intonations of a single voice--now swelling with
the choral unison of many--is not altogether unpleasant.  But greatly
more melodious would it fall upon the mortal ear, if a lesson in music
were taken from the larks, which rise in hundreds from the steaming
meadows, to lift their matin song--at intervals warbling far and faint
in the cool dewy air, and again approaching with one rich quaver of
delicious harmony, as they fearlessly alight upon the awning.

To the cry of "_Abiet_!" which now resounded so unceasingly, the
Abyssinians attach the opinion that, on the last day, Satan, taking up
his post before the gates of heaven, will continue thus to vociferate
until he gains admittance.  On presenting himself 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
acknowledging inability to specify the names of those who have robbed
him, the Father of Evil will receive a command to be gone, and never to
shew his face again.

Importunity is an attribute which stands prominently forth in the
character of a native of Southern Abyssinia.  For hours together the
numerous applicants for redress continue thus to call upon the "master"
from every eminence around the palace, until at length the door-keepers
appearing, beckon the petitioners to draw nigh.  Well aware, however, of
the existing understanding between these servitors and the very judges
against whose decision they would appeal, they give no heed to the
summons, but thrusting their fingers into their ears, do but lift up
their voices the louder, until the king commands one of his pages to
cause the whole to assemble in the court-yard, where, with shoulders
bared to the waist, the parties fearlessly bring their complaint before
the throne.

Opportunities were therefore daily afforded of witnessing the
dispensation of justice in this singular and anomalous land, where an
Ethiopic 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 unison with
his own despotic pleasure.  Disputes are first adjusted by the governors
of provinces, who, in the powers with which they are invested, resemble
the feudal barons of the middle ages, and often perpetrate the grossest
injustice.  But the injured party can always seek redress in the court
of the Four _Wamberoch_, or "the chairs," who are the judges civil and
criminal.  These dignitaries daily take their seat in the verandah of a
building allotted in one of the palace courts, where accuser and accused
delivered their conflicting statements in an equally elevated tone of
oratory, accompanied by much theatrical gesture.  The decision lies
again under appeal to the throne; and whensoever the king sees fit to
reverse it, the severest censure is invariably passed upon the
delinquent "chairs."  The lives and the lands of every subject of Shoa
belong _de jure_ 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 disposal of
the crown, and without the occurrence of either contingency, the mere
will and pleasure of the despot is alone requisite to their resumption.
Violent use, however, is not often 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, with imprisonment for life.  But if the
criminal shall have taken timely sanctuary in the monastery of Affaf
Woira, his person is held inviolate, even by the king, and the monks can
generally 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 being 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 dispensation, a life for a life is the
sentence passed upon the murderer; but, obtaining the consent of the
relatives of the deceased, he is authorised by law to purchase his
pardon, and to beg through the land until he shall have accumulated the
stipulated ransom.  His escape under any circumstances involves
forfeiture of property by all his relatives who may be residing north of
the river Airara, and unless he be produced, the attachment continues in
full force during three generations.  Robbery is usually investigated
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 cudgel.  If a Christian, 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, being in either case held responsible to the
crown for his safe custody during his term of hard labour.

In all the courts of judicature, interest for money lent is recognised
at the rate of one _amole_ per mensem upon each dollar.  No note of hand
is ever exchanged, but the security of a substantial house-keeper is
taken, who is termed "_was_."  Debtors are generally manacled, and
suffered to roam about, in order to beg the amount due among the
charitably disposed; and it is a fact, that in the absence of a "_was_"
either the creditor or one of his retainers is chained to the defaulter,
and the happy couple thus linked, wander through the country together,
crying "By Mary!  By Mary!" until the requisite sum 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 "_Abiet_!" salutes the royal ear from situations the most strange
and unexpected, and although the sceptre is despotic, appeals are almost
always promptly attended to.  The more boisterous petitioner, who will
not remain content with the promise of a future consideration of his
claim, is sometimes visited with the stick, but no available opportunity
is neglected of listening to those who present themselves.  The
halting-stone and the green turf are frequently transferred into seats
of justice; judgment is given whilst ambling over the fields and
meadows; and during five days of every week, many hours are patiently
devoted by the monarch to the unravelment of knotty points in
litigation.

Volume Two, Chapter XII.

CHASM OF THE CHACHA.

The King had oftentimes vaunted the extraordinary natural fortification
of Angollala by the river Chacha, which for two days' journey to the
north-westward rolls through a deep precipitous valley, opposing an
impassable barrier; and being then joined by the Bereza and by numerous
other streams, skirts the celebrated 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 "sirkosh ber," [i.e. The
secret gate or wicket] he sent a page to conduct us to the junction of
the tributary Facha, which tumbles its torrent over a perpendicular wall
seven hundred feet in height; and here His Majesty, surrounded by a
crowd of noisy applicants for justice, already occupied his favourite
seat on the brink of the giddy chasm.

A cloud had overcast the despot's brow, for "Boro Winkee," his favourite
war-steed, had that morning fallen down dead whilst exercising in the
meadow.  Taken in battle from a potent Galla chieftain, whose name it
inherited, the steed had long enjoyed 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 punishment
followed the catastrophe.  The boy was a court favourite, and
Antonistye, his father, by far the most renowned warrior in Shoa, was
mayor of the corporation of king's herdsmen, who take the field in
independent bodies, and under the title of _Abelam_ [derived from the
Amharic word "_abella_," "he may eat up"] 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 regarding 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 intervals by foaming cascades, which raise a shower of white spray in
their headlong descent: whilst frowning basaltic cliffs cast a deep
gloom over wild steppes and terraces, whose lone hamlets and 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 perpendicular
scarps, where they hide amidst masses of foliage, unthought of, and
unmolested.

Deep buried in the bosom of this stupendous chasm, 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 pulverised, the ore is mixed with a large
proportion of charcoal, and placed in a clay furnace resembling the
smith's hearth, but furnished with a sloping cavity considerably
depressed 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 scoria sinks to the
bottom.  This is again broken, and re-fused, when the dross flowing off,
the pure metal is discharged in pigs, which, by a repetition of heating
and welding, are wrought into bars; but owing to the very rude and
primitive apparatus employed, the unceasing toil of ten hours is
indispensable to the realisation of two pounds' weight of very inferior
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
Chacha rises the silent village of Cherkos, rendered famous a few years
since through the massacre of one thousand of its Christian inhabitants
by Medoko [his gazelle], a celebrated rebel.  His proceedings occupy one
of the most conspicuous pages in the chronicles of Shoa.  Exalted by
rare military talents and undaunted intrepidity to the highest pinnacle
of royal favour, he became elated by the distinctions conferred, and
being suspected of aiming at even greater dominion, was suddenly hurled
into the deepest disgrace, and bereft in the same moment of property and
power.  Burning with revenge, the warrior crossed the border to the
subjugated, though disaffected Galla, whom he had so lately held in
check, and who now with open arms received him as their leader in
revolt.

At the head of a vast horde of wild cavalry, 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 offender sought an asylum at Zalla Dingai.  Through the
powerful mediation of Zenama 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 dignities.

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 subversion of the empire had at length been quelled by
the extinction of the fiery and turbulent spirit that had raised it,
large offerings were made by His Majesty to all the churches and
monasteries throughout the realm, in return for their prayers; and
solemn processions and thanksgivings were attended by the exercise of
every sort of work of charity and devotion.

Among the royal retinue this day seated before 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
members of the disgraced family to whom Sahela 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
insurrection, 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 disregarded
disclosure, he received full pardon for the past.

Ayto Tunkaiye, a gigantic warrior, greatly distinguished for his valour,
who enacted a prominent part in Medoko's execution, was also of the
_cortege_; and beside him stood Hailoo, younger brother of the rebel
noble, who purchased restoration to royal favour at the expense of a
deed of the blackest treachery.  This he recounted not only without a
blush, but with extraordinary satisfaction at his fancied heroism.
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, whilst
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 advancement to the government of Mesar Medur,
a post of high honour, which he enjoys to the present day, and which
occupies the frontier of the Galla dependencies.

Volume Two, Chapter XIII.

MEDOKO THE REBEL.

  "Like whom to Shoan eyes,
  None ere has risen and none ere shall rise."

Renowned for his great strength and dauntless heart, Medoko was of a
more robust and brawny form than most of his countrymen.  There was a
bold bearing in his erect carriage--his gait was proud, and his speech
haughty; and not less dexterous in the management of his steed, than
powerful in wielding his weapons, he stood proclaimed the most valiant,
although the most insolent, of the Amhara.  His handsome features and
his gallant deeds had gained for him the palm of favour among all the
dames of the land.  An aquiline nose stood prominent from his manly
countenance, and a bright eye sparkled clear and daring under a bushy
brow.  The fairest daughters of Shoa loved to look upon the warrior, and
rejoiced to add their beauty to his harem, or to experience the gifts of
his bountiful hand; and the shrill note of female welcome burst from
every throat, as he curvetted 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 honours and preferment had been again liberally showered upon
his head by the monarch who had so frequently received the benefit of
his assistance, and had been more than once indebted 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 favourite; and among
the most bitter of his opponents was one who, by the insidious tongue of
malice, materially 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 Asrat had held during two successive reigns the snug office of
confessor to the royal family.  Sleek from good living, his hood fell
without a wrinkle over his portly person; and bowing in devotion before
his superiors, the words of flattery flowed in profusion from his honied
tongue.  The sins of the rich were easily forgiven; 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 handle of his polished crutch, which
were ostentatiously displayed as he daily brushed through the
court-yards of the palace.

On many occasions the audacity of Medoko had broken out into open
mockery of the priestly rapacity; but although the dark feelings of
revenge rankled in the breast of the monk, yet a scowling look of hatred
was alone ventured in return to the jibes of the great governor and
first favourite of the despot.  On one fatal festival, however, when the
fumes of the old hydromel had gained a complete ascendency over the
party, a bitter jest was retorted by the exasperated priest, a fierce
wrangle ensued, and the holy person of Father Asrat was violently
spurned against the wall by the strong arm of the hot-blooded chief.

A reconciliation had been outwardly effected by mutual friends, but from
that day the most wily insinuations were used to poison the breast of
the king.  The actions of the past were vividly brought to his
recollection; words that had never been spoken, and expressions craftily
distorted to serve a vile purpose, were daily poured into the royal ear;
and although the demeanour of the monarch remained unchanged, suspicion
was gradually being instilled into his mind, and the cloud required but
a slight shock 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 daughter of the royal house will be led to
the nuptial altar on the morrow," is the sole intimation afforded; and
the happy bridegroom is not aware of the honour to be conferred, until
the hand of "the introducer" leads him from the group which encircles
the throne, to the immediate performance of the rite.  But the
stout-hearted Medoko had contrived to behold the beauty of the far-famed
princess "Golden Fruit," and intoxicated by a long succession of
prosperity, and stirred up by the deceitful priest to believe that the
king would refuse no request preferred by a chief whose services were
held in such high esteem, he rashly resolved upon demanding the only
remaining favour which the monarch had hitherto withheld.

On a bright morning in May before the commencement of the monsoon, a
distinguished 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 was girded to his right side, the emblem of
high authority and place.  The bearer of his silver shield preserved a
respectful space for the chief, and a dark war-steed, glittering in
chains and studs of polished metal, followed at his side.  A dense mass
of wild Galla, armed with the serrated lance and tough black buckler,
closed the procession, which, amidst the acclamations of the assembled
mob, wound up the rocky path of the palace hill at Ankober.

On gaining the last flight of steps, the great door was thrown open, and
Medoko advanced to the audience of leave previous to his departure to
the seat of his government.  The small latticed gallery had been decked
out in his honour, and the crimson velvet hangings of state depended in
front, loaded with massive silver ornaments.  Rich carpets were spread
below for the convenience of the more favoured nobles.  The officers of
the household, uncovered to the waist, stood in a double row in front;
and the monarch reclined upon his seat of honour at the open window,
gaily clad in a green silk vest bordered with gold, over which the folds
of the usual white robe of Abyssinia hung gracefully around his
recumbent figure.

Advancing to the prescribed limit, Medoko, 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 monarch, 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 satisfaction
at the liberal gift of his vassal, and the words were spoken more kindly
than usual--"What is the desire of the Abogaz?"  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
multitude.  But although the monarch was irritated to the last pitch by
this unprecedented insolence, he restrained his feelings under the usual
cold calm smile.  "We will converse regarding this business at a future
period," he said; and the audience was closed with an invitation to the
chief to pass his last evening in the private apartments of the palace--
an honour conferred only upon a favoured few.

Warnings and advice were not wanting from many quarters; and
recollection called to mind many dark scenes which had been transacted
at the friendly board of the despot, who was well known to be in a
dangerous mood when too many smiles lighted up his countenance, and who
preferred the quiet capture of his enemy to forcible seizure in the open
day.  But the rash Medoko, confident in his own ascendency through
service rendered, discarded every thought of evil.  With a stout heart
he entered the gloomy hall at the appointed hour, and under the guidance
of an eunuch proceeded along the rough dark passages of the interior.

On gaining the inner apartment, he found Father Asrat and his assistant
kneeling in the corner before their low desks, mumbling the lessons of
the evening from the miracles of the Holy Virgin--divers flasks of
potent spirits being as usual ranged on the wicker table for the
entertainment of the select company.  All were in the highest humour.
The demeanour of the monarch was kind and conciliating; and amongst the
honours and favours 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 customary topics were discussed--the
usual quantity of strong liquor was swallowed--and at intervals the
choristers chanted the Psalms of David.  The evening passed in great
hilarity, and the company at length rose to depart.

His heart bounding high with future hope, Medoko stooped low to pay the
salutation of the night, and was instantaneously pinioned from behind,
whilst a rush from the front prevented every effort to lay hand upon his
weapon.  By his fierce struggles he once nearly regained an erect
position, but numbers crowded through every passage, and he found
himself stretched on the floor securely 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 played over the bloated features of the malicious monk, and it
shot through the heart of the fallen warrior.  A deadly vow was muttered
betwixt his clenched teeth; and as he lay foaming with rage, the words
were half audible through his suppressed breathing, "Let him guard his
cowled head if he can: henceforth to the Devil with my allegiance!"

Volume Two, Chapter XIV.

ESCAPE FROM GONCHO.

Medoko had been hurried from the presence, 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 diversion had been already made in his
favour.  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, having hastily collected, followed close on the footsteps
of the guard; and as the prisoner passed through the thick forest of
Aferbeine, the shrill note of the Galla henchman more than once fell on
his attentive ear, to convey the 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 great mountains, and her pale beams fell cold over the isolated rock
of Goncho, on the summit of which is perched the state prison of the
kingdom.  The lower extremity of this hill is rent and furrowed by many
tangled ravines, and the bare craggy scarp frowns over the
wide-spreading valleys which stretch on either side.  Sharp palisades
guard the approach, and strong gateways lead through well-defended
courtyards 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 he passed the
rocky threshold of the prison.  But the thoughts of a free foot on the
mountain-side, and the signal vengeance that would follow, banished from
his stout heart the usual feelings of despair, and in ironical words he
returned the salutations of his brother Abogaz, into whose keeping he
was about to be consigned.

Wulasma Mohammad was a fat imperious personage, of most sinister
expression of countenance, and much more feared than either loved or
respected.  The cool healthy air of his mountain fortress, and a quiet
life of inactivity, had filled his veins with a rich flow of blood, and
he spent the greater portion of the day over a jar of potent hydromel.
His body had become bloated and his mind bewildered by the fumes of the
liquor; and dividing his time between dreaming and drinking, he left the
charge of his bolts and avocations to his burly brother Jhalia, who,
fortunately for the prisoner, was now engaged on the frontier in
quelling a disturbance which had been induced by the stupidity of his
superior.

The vulture eye of the Abogaz brightened up on the arrival of the
illustrious Medoko; and being at the moment unable to comprehend whether
he came as a prisoner or as a guest, an order for entertainment and wine
rung through the apartment, instead of chains and fetters for the
malefactor.  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 gaoler, cheated out of his expected carouse, consented to take
some measures of precaution.

Built on the only sloping face of the hill, the governor's houses
stretch entirely across the outlet from scarp to scarp, and from his
immediate bedchamber two trap-doors cover the passages to the inner
recesses of the prison.  A staircase descends from one into the vaults
underground, where immured in chains are the state criminals, and the
younger branches of the royal family; and a passage leads through the
other to a series of small apartments erected upon the upper surface of
the 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
residence 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 for the entertainment of his
distinguished prisoner.

The rude wax taper was flaming and sinking at intervals over the
untouched food, as one quarter of an hour was passed in attentive
musing; but the peculiarities of the prisoner's situation were too
striking not to be immediately taken advantage of, and he accordingly
braced up his spirits for the enterprise.  Having contrived with his
host's knife to remove the thongs and sticks which composed the walls of
his flimsy dungeon, he crept into an outer apartment, 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
favoured his undertaking, although otherwise little suited to the task
to be performed; but palisade and paling gradually yielded to his
strength, and after an anxious hour of exertion, he reached the dark
precipice unnoticed and undiscovered.

Nought broke the stillness of the scene save the sound of the wind
whistling over the bleak crags; and as the daring fugitive stood for a
time in meditation before venturing the awful leap, an owl, brushing his
cheek, soared away on noiseless pinion; its hoot which re-echoed from
below seeming as the voice of a spirit calling to follow without fear.
Quickly recovering his confidence at the omen, and nerving himself for
the perilous task, he slid down the face of the precipice, and
recommending his soul to the Holy Virgin, quitted hold of the last tuft
of grass which sustained him over the yawning gulf.  Down, down dropped
the chief, until his very senses reeled again; but his flowing cotton
robe materially assisted the 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 flight, till at
length, bruised and bleeding, he reached the bottom of the rocky scarp,
hitherto untraversed except by the sticky foot of the lizard.

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

Volume Two, Chapter XV.

INSURRECTION OF THE GALLA.

In 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 nature delight to
select.  The deep valley is thickly clothed with the most luxuriant
cultivation, and its sides rise in a gentle slope, throwing out a
succession of verdant terraces, teeming with herbs and wild flowers.  On
one of these stood the village of Mundeeda, the residence of Goma, the
great chief of the Abitchu.  A bright green sward extended far in front,
and the steep mountain that rises behind afforded shelter from the bleak
blast of winter.  A sparkling brook, after 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 honour of the
deities, and where the listless heathen was wont to dream away the hours
of idleness.

The tenements, although low and rudely 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 crooked swords, which now imparted to the interior the
semblance of an extensive armoury.  Every thing was in a state of utter
confusion and uproar.  Large droves of wild shaggy horses, and clusters
of fiery savages were grouped on the plain outside.  The ringing shout
of the warrior mingled with the neigh of his war-steed, and the din and
the clatter of household avocations resounded from the interior of every
hut.  To add to the bustle, the Galla females were running from house to
house, with their long raven tresses streaming over their bare
shoulders; whilst their short leather petticoats, with embroidered
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 general 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 revolted lieges.

Crowded around the cheerful blaze of a fierce fire that was crackling in
the centre of the largest building, sat a score of persons, who were
beguiling the time until the entertainment should be ready, by
discussing the daring escape of Medoko, and the success which would
assuredly attend the 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 accumulated massive ivory rings upon the
arm, the ostrich-feather floating over matted locks, 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
betokened 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
that thronged behind their respective lords, and a few Amhara robes
flaunted in white and crimson, amidst the sombre vestments of the Galla
group.  But Medoko and his sons, in stature above all their compeers,
appeared in the full costume of the Christian warriors of Efat.

Decked in silver gauntlets and armlets, with the graceful _akodama_
hanging in glittering clusters over their manly brows, the
master-spirits of the scene were easily to be distinguished.  The usual
robe of peace had been well replaced by the skin of the tawny lion,
which nearly reached the ground.  Fastened on one side around the sinewy
throat, it allowed full freedom to the right arm, and only partially
concealed the rich silk vest, and 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 person or in
property, from the midnight appearance of the Christian despot.
Hereditary feud and quarrel had therefore been laid aside on the
soul-inspiring words of the chief, and the weapons had been eagerly
seized in a common cause, at the thoughts of the devastation which 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 numerous flocks, but all are ever ready on the moment
to mount for the battle or the foray.  Baggage and hospital are unknown
to the wild array, and rations are found when required among the
plundered herds of the enemy.  A scrip of tobacco forms the only luxury
in camp.  A greasy cloth enfolds by day and night the body of each
brawny savage.  Lance, and sword, and shield, complete his equipment;
and the hardy host, leader and partisan, sleep without cover on the cold
bare ground.

The wild hordes from the boundless plains of the Hawash, under the
gigantic Wodage Girme, first poured in their warriors.  The depths of
the Moolo Falada forests next swelled the numbers, and the heights of
Entotto and Sequala had completed the rebel force, eager for spoil and
for revenge, which was ready to cover the land with desolation on the
morrow.

The sacrifice to the Great Spirit had been that afternoon performed by
the priest with every favourable result, and the preparations for the
feast of departure were now completed.  Bullocks and sheep were
slaughtered by the score on the green meadow, and beside each carcass an
abundance of bread and beer were deposited for the impatient guests, who
immediately grouped around the food, and with keen knives commenced the
attack.  A long wicker table had been placed in the centre of the
largest apartment, and deep earthen vessels, filled with thick pepper
soup, were ranged in double line down the middle, whilst cakes of every
description thickly covered the surface.  The chief took his station at
the top, and the guests were squatted on their hams on either side.
Slave boys, on their knees, supported huge jars of sour beer, and the
females, perched upon adjoining bedsteads, were ready to dole out the
more potent liquor.

The steam of the bowls, containing a decoction of fowls, red pepper,
onions, and grease, together with the more offensive effluvia from fifty
rancid heads and as many unwashed persons, were endured with the most
stoical indifference; and the feeble light of a few tapers that
glimmered faintly through the smoke, was just sufficient to reveal the
rows of eager faces in earnest preparation, and the gleam of the sharp
teeth whetting for the entertainment.

The hum of voices in low conversation ceased on the moment, when the
host, dipping a fragment of bread into one of the large bowls, dropped
the savoury morsel into his elevated mouth.  Every hand forthwith felt
its way to the provender, and the loud smacking of satisfied lips
succeeded the suppressed chatter of tongues.  Servants, bending over the
guests, amply supplied their wants, by tearing the bread with their
hands, and after a plunge into the 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 man.

The delicate raw meat was next introduced, and the dismembered limbs of
sheep and oxen were placed as a dessert upon the groaning board.  The
servants threw themselves upon the flesh, and drawing their long crooked
knives from their girdles, cut and hacked the bloody joints into small
squares, which were received from their fingers, and bolted with the
greatest satisfaction, until nature cried enough.  Then commenced the
deep carouse.  Horn after horn was drained.  The presiding deities over
the liquor jars were unceasingly employed in serving out their contents,
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 trample 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 a more unsteady 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, drew his garment over his head,
and resigned himself to a heavy slumber.

Volume Two, Chapter XVI.

MASSACRE OF THE CHRISTIANS AT CHERKOS.

The verdant meadows of the Shoan district of Daggee are strangely
crossed and intersected by low chains of barren rock, with here and
there an isolated hillock crowned by the abode of the Christian farmer;
whilst 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 upwards of a
thousand feet abruptly from the plain.  Its giant sides are in part
slightly fringed with moss or sweet-scented thyme; and a few small huts
dot the narrow ledges; but the wolf and the hyaena chiefly tenant the
dark fissures, whilst the vulture screams her death note over the
yawning gulf.  Superstition has wrapped the beetling cliff and the
gloomy ravine in her dark embrace, for here the captive toils in the
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 on
to swell the mighty Nile; and at frequent intervals the mountain
torrents pour their tribute over the frowning scarp, which for miles
forms the impregnable fortification of the land.

Near the commencement of this stupendous precipice, and barely a gunshot
from its brink, stands Angollala, the Galla capital of the kingdom,
commanding the upper pass into the Christian land.  Three small hills
which rise abruptly from the plain, and enclose 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 smallest
was distinguished by the more imposing edifice dedicated as a church to
the Ark of the Holy Covenant, and its table summit was crowned with an
ample residence for the Negoos.

A few trees raised their stunted heads above the thatch of the various
kitchens and storehouses, which were crowded thick over the crest, and
the flowering _umbar_ threw a broad zone of fragrant lilac blossoms
around the royal buildings.  Stones and rocks, strewed plentifully in
every direction by the hand of nature, formed a considerable impediment
to the rapid advance of horsemen; and stout heavy wooden palings, which
descended in a double or treble row far down the slope, completely
screened the inmates against any sudden surprise from the border foe.

A wide meadow stretches from the palace 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
evergreens, the hamlet overlooked the pleasant slope which extends to
the verge of the precipice, gaily 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 colonised by
favourite 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 discoloured streams from the surrounding
hillocks, to form a temporary lake in the enclosed amphitheatre, and
each reeking thatch sent up its tribute 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 surface to the incautious foot.  The monsoon was indeed
raging in violence over the land; and according to custom, the monarch,
thinly attended by his household officers and establishment, alone
occupied the palace.  All the governors and great men had taken leave
and departed to their respective provinces, the capital was well nigh
deserted, and as night closed in, the few remaining serf inhabitants
were seeking a dry corner in their frail huts, to shiver through the
weary hours of darkness.

As the moan of the wind is heard preceding the coming storm, so the hum
of a confused multitude first struck upon the practised ear of the
vigilant.  The alarm was quickly spread by the fierce baying of the
dogs.  The chant of the singer suddenly ceased within the palace, and
the king, followed by all his attendants, rushed to the southern
palisade.  Then was distinctly heard the clattering of hoofs over the
opposite heights above the Chacha, as the pagan host surrounded the
devoted hamlet of Cherkos.  The glare of light and the faint wreath of
smoke next succeeded, as the torch spread from hut to hut.  The wind
blew cold and gusty, and the flames wheeling in fearful eddies through
the mist, revealed at intervals the cliff and the crag, and the peaceful
church reposing amid the dark grove of junipers, hitherto unpolluted by
the foot of the Gentile.

The wild shout of triumph, mingling with the shrill shriek of despair,
now rolled in fitful notes across the intervening plain.  The whole
firmament was illumined by the flames of the burning village, and they
were witnessed in terror by the assembled inmates of the palace; for the
sacred precincts of the church itself had now been 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 that was interposed, shrouded the scene.

The priest Asrat shuddered 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.  Darkness rendered its efforts
abortive.  By degrees the flame expired, and one horrid 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 distress," he exclaimed, "and the seat of my fathers to be
polluted by the accursed touch of the rebel?  No; death is preferable to
such disgrace."  The royal gates opened to receive the terrified
inhabitants, who came flocking up the hill.  Every matchlock was lowered
from the walls of the great hall, and distributed amongst the young and
able-bodied.  Doors were barred and barricaded, and sufficient means of
defence for a time seemed to have miraculously sprung from the
untenanted location.

The pens of the scribes were now wielded with vigour; and as each tiny
letter, or token, or 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 the
fear of the king brought governor and vassal to the rescue; and as
hatred of the rebel's insolence stimulated even the dullest to action,
long before morning numerous bands from the immediate vicinity had
formed, on the meadow, a living barrier between the beleaguered monarch
and his stern foe.

Volume Two, Chapter XVII.

BATTLE OF ANGOLLALA.

The day dawned, and 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 of war settled again upon the scene of slaughter.

Frightful indeed was the sight which met the gaze of the Amhara, as they
took their position in front of the plundered village on the frowning
scarp of the ravine.  The opposite crags were studded with the mangled
bodies of their murdered compatriots.  Men, women, and children, had
been ruthlessly sacrificed, and the thousand favoured inhabitants of a
pleasant abode now lay stark and 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 impassable to the foot of man, and the wolf and hyaena
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 supremacy, for both were equally hard-pressed
for the means of subsistence.  With their usual reckless indifference to
the future, the Galla had wasted the country, and rioted in its
destruction.  The supplies brought to the royal camp were nearly
exhausted; and the king, galled by the presence of the rebellious array
within sight of his capital, having now succeeded in assembling a much
superior force, resolved upon giving battle on the morrow.

Prayers and psalms had been recited the livelong night--vows were made
at every shrine in the kingdom--and the ark of the cathedral of Saint
Michael had been transported 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 umbrellas, 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
matchlock-men, 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 poured down the sloping hill; and as the day broke, 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.

The battle commenced by repeated discharges 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 pressed
forward to the close encounter, and the cavaliers of Shoa were not slow
in following his example, for many fought under the eyes of their wives
and children--all for the honour of the king, and the glory of true
religion.

Down came the pagan host like the rushing blast, and the stones flew far
under the clatter of their hoofs.  But they were fiercely met by the
long-bladed spears of the Amhara, and every inch of ground was for once
stoutly contested.  The roar of the foaming cataract, which thundered
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 sharp 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 presence roused to new life and exertion the
successful partisan.  Many of the Amhara bands were already reeling from
the repeated shock of the wild riders of the Hawash, when suddenly, in
the very heat of the action, a large body of warriors, clothed in black
mantles, and armed with long heavy spears, rushed down the hill on foot,
and, prostrating themselves as they passed the royal umbrellas,
descended fresh into the arena.  The fierce inhabitants of Mans had sped
to the rescue from their hereditary estates, and their savage ferocity
and reckless bravery was well known throughout the land.  The relations
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 arrived to the succour only to behold the spot strewed with
the bodies of his stoutest partisans, and to witness his beloved son,
the youthful Hailoo, sink before his eyes, transfixed by a dozen
spear-blades.  A panic seized the pagans; and, dismayed and
broken-hearted, they fled tumultuously in every direction.

In vain Medoko performed the most incredible acts of valour--his voice
had now lost its charm; and, crippled by a wound in 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 horizon.  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 ornamented with
the cloth of the accursed Gentile, whose body he had left to the fangs
of the wild beast.

After galloping for some miles 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 further.
Asylum and assistance were offered in vain; the stout heart of the rebel
had been quelled by the late heavy loss he had sustained, and for a time
at least he bowed to the power of the monarch of Shoa.  Short was the
moment allowed for the explanation, and after a hurried parting and a
hope for better days, the band mounted and pressed on.

Medoko and his surviving son Chara, now commenced the more difficult
undertaking of threading their path back again among the advancing
Amhara; but a perfect knowledge of the localities enabled them to take
advantage of every hill and hollow.  After many weary hours of anxiety
they passed the capital undiscovered, and urging their horses to speed,
took the road to Ankober.  The Bereza was swollen and unfordable, but
their gallant steeds successfully breasted the rushing waters.  The
king's watchmen had left their cold posts, in order to take shelter from
the cutting blast, before the riders swept down the rocky defile of the
Chaka, towards the wooded sides of Mamrat; and long ere the voice of the
brotherhood had risen in the matin chant, the rebels had been formally
admitted to sanctuary, and were safely reposing in the sacred monastery
of Affaf Woira.

Volume Two, Chapter XVIII.

TRAGIC END OF MEDOKO.

In an open glade, at the foot of the great mountain range, stands the
church of Affaf Woira, and the tenement of Abba Salama, its superior,
enclosed by a rough stone wall.  Numerous huts are scattered in clusters
over a wooded eminence, which rises on the steep side of the river, and
here the indolent brothers,

  "Beneath the shade of melancholy boughs.
  Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time."

An air of the most perfect repose usually 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
protection to the vulture and the white ibis.  The "monk of the wood,"
the Gureza ape, there displays his variegated coat floating in peace
amongst the mossy branches; and whilst every breath from beneath wafts
up the perfumed air, the lazy monk of the monastery, during the entire
day, basks in the sun amidst 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 bamboo.

But bustle and confusion for once disturbed 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 procession, under the thundering
chorus of an Abyssinian psalm, moved over the bright greensward.  The
gay umbrellas of the church, rich in satin and silver, led the van, and
the corpulent Superior, in his white cotton robes, followed the
insignia, bestriding a sleek mule decked in metal chains and tinkling
bells.  At his side marched the bearers of the straight falchions,
sheathed in scabbards of polished silver.  A band of priests followed,
with their heads swathed in folds of white cotton, and their persons
wrapped in black woollen cloaks, profusely studded with blood-red
crosses and other emblems of Christianity; and closing the procession
strode two hundred stout dirty monks, clothed in the skin of the wild
antelope, with their shaven heads enveloped in dark greasy cloths, each
carrying in his hand a small iron cross, and joining the tribute of his
lusty throat to the deafening chant.  Dell and dingle rung again as the
psalm increased in violence, and the cavalcade, threading the
intricacies of the wood, 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, though far from being appeased, was curbed by a 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, and the triumphant monks returned amidst the joyful
acclamations of the female inhabitants of Shoa, whose shrill voices are
raised on every possible occasion, and whose feelings were in the
present instance enlisted in the behalf of their old favourite.  The
trip also would appear to 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 this monastic
intercession.

The nature of Abyssinian custom impels the humbled grandee to tempt
again the slippery ladder of power; and disgraced for a time, the
courtier, bending his neck to the misfortune, dances attendance on his
capricious master until fickle fortune smiles upon his fallen condition.
Unless enjoying the favour 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 despised and detested by a race who are
ignorant of its pleasures, and possess neither amusements nor
intellectual resources.

The property and estates of Medoko had not been confiscated, and months
rolled quietly along as day after day he took his station among the
courtiers in waiting; but the eye of the monarch was turned in cold
indifference upon his former favourite, and there were not wanting
counsellors to whisper deeds of blood into his ear.  Besides the father
confessor, the haughty chief had 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
demeanour which ever characterised the chief.

The feast of Maskal was now approaching, and it being rumoured that
honours and government were to be again bestowed upon "the murderer of
the Amhara," as the rebel was denominated among the conspiring band,
measures were taken to counteract the royal intention, if such had
really been entertained.  The most odious calumnies 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 unhealthy 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, according to the
etiquette, his son Chara, together with his retainers, in the middle
court-yard, where shields and spears must be deposited, Medoko crossed
the enclosure, and alone and unattended entered the inner wicket.

On the several faces of the inner square are the entrances to the
principal buildings of the palace.  The great hall of entertainment on
one side faces the king's stables on the other, and the artificers'
workshops 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.  Whispering in his ear the
intentions of the king, he strongly advised him to reject the proposal
with scorn; and no sooner had he ended than the four conspiring chiefs
advanced from the interior, bearing the royal preferment to the country
which was so thoroughly detested, and which had been hitherto offered
only to men of low degree.

The royal presentation, although received 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 previous discourse and forebodings of the monk; for a
black bullock had been discovered lying dead at the threshold of the
gateway, portending that on that day an untimely fate awaited some one
within the royal precincts.

For a time no word escaped the moody lip of the monarch.  His features
remained fixed and still; but a withering glance from his 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 Woosen, the _Dedj 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 proceeded together into the outer
court-yard.  Approaching by degrees, the band surrounded the bed of the
chief, who was lulled into fatal security by a message that the king was
about to appear to receive in person the refusal of office in Giddem,
and whilst 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 from his
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 at bay, and some of the hunters paid dearly for their
treacherous sport.  In the hour of battle his sword had seldom required
a second blow, and as the trenchant blade now fiercely descended into
the neck of the chief conspirator, the head of Guffa Woosen for a moment
drooped upon the 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 walls and houses;
and from these elevated places of security, savage yells proclaimed the
perpetration of the dastardly deed.  The king seized a double-barrelled
gun from the wall, lest the mighty warrior should attempt to storm the
harem; and a high tribute was paid to the single arm which had thus
cleared the court.

Desperately wounded, the chief now staggered across the yard, fainting
and falling more than once ere he reached the gateway.  No doorkeeper
remained to dispute the egress, and as yet none dared to cross the path
of the stricken brave.  One little enclosure alone separated him from
his devoted followers, but his strength 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 beheld through the wicket the situation of the chief.
Rushing through the door, he dealt a blow from behind on the neck of the
recumbent figure, and the head sunk to rise no more.  One faint struggle
of the right arm was alone to be distinguished, and one word was
indistinctly murmured amidst the gurgling of the flowing blood; for the
long knives of the assassins had penetrated into a brave heart, and the
victory over the king's enemy had been already achieved.

Crowds now rushed to the spot, and the limbs were hacked to pieces by
the miserable poltroons amidst the coarsest ribaldry and mirth.  One
wretch, as he thrust his crooked knife into the late brilliant eye,
exclaimed, "How is it that my father 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 hand, brushed past young Chara as he entered
the murderous court-yard.  Stones and sticks were still being expended
on the remains of mortality which were strewed in every direction.  All
human resemblance had already been entirely effaced, and a deep pool of
blood remained to mark the dire tragedy.

To this hour the stain is settled upon the spot; and it is daily before
the eyes of the perpetrators of the outrage.  The stern warrior is never
mentioned within the precincts 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 amongst the Amhara only to still the
unruly child, the gallant Medoko is the darling theme of the roving
Galla.  The heathen female draws the long tress across her flashing eye
at the recollection of his fate; and the chief yet thinks with respect
of the brave spirit who could quell the feud and the intestine quarrel,
and who had led the wild host with success, to spoil the dominions of
the Christian despot.

Volume Two, Chapter XIX.

THE GALLA BORDERS--PROCLAMATION OF WAR.

Shortly after our departure from Ankober, a robbery was committed in the
residency; and the delinquents 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 scribe, who had been for some time employed
in copying manuscripts for Dr Roth; and the greater portion of the
stolen property was shortly returned by the hands of the chief smith,
who succeeded the disgraced page in the office of _baldoraba_.
"Strangers have visited me from a far country," was the message
wherewith he was charged, "and whilst residing under my protection they
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 consisted chiefly of beads, were
sovereigns of William the Fourth and of Queen Victoria, and suspicions
arising in the royal mind that these were not of gold, as asserted by
Lieutenant Barker, 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 chisel
by the conclave of smiths.  "Call you this English gold?" exclaimed the
Negoos: "here then is a piece of Abyssinian gold for you,"--and throwing
upon the ground the brass foil of a sword scabbard, he laughed
immoderately.  A fourpenny piece was then exhibited, as a somewhat more
portable and commodious medium of exchange than blocks of fossil 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.

[The _sareti_ is a sprig of wild asparagus worn in Shoa as a token of
victory, as will be seen presently.]

A quarrel of long standing between Ayto Melkoo and the
commander-in-chief of the gun-men, 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 favour of the appellant, the
Master of the Horse, although a great favourite, was handcuffed, and
imprisoned in the brewery, but after a few hours' durance he was set at
large, and his punishment commuted to a fine of seven hundred and fifty
pieces of salt.  "It is of no consequence," he remarked somewhat
unwisely, "I shall carry a _mamalacha_ to the `commander,' Captain
Harris, and he will pay the amount for me."

This boast had given occasion to malicious insinuations on the part of
his enemies, and after dark a confidential message was brought to me
from the palace, to the effect that Ayto Melkoo stood suspected of
concealing certain "pleasing things" understood to have been received
from my hands.  But this imputation, which, if confirmed, must have
involved disgrace and confiscation of property, proved, fortunately for
the accused, to have no foundation.

A better instance could scarcely have been adduced to illustrate the
fleeting and precarious nature of the despot's smiles.  The mother of
this tottering favourite, a native of Ambasel in the province of Lasta,
was for many years the mistress of Hatze Yasoo, then Emperor of Gondar,
on whose demise she became an inmate of the seraglio of Asfa Woosen.
Ayto Wadi, the distinguished Galla governor of Angollala, being thrown
into prison by the latter monarch, contrived to solace himself with the
presence of the lady, and the Master of the Horse was the result of the
intrigue.  No disgrace whatever attaching to his illegitimate origin, he
was regarded in the light of a member of the royal family; and, being
brought up in the palace, has succeeded during three several reigns in
maintaining a position at court, which might now have been sacrificed by
the clandestine possession 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 invariably followed by some
especial token of the royal goodwill, 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, I received a
special invitation to accompany him the next day on a shooting
excursion, a Galla ram, the size of a well-grown calf, having first been
thrust into the tent by the bearer of the message--the dirty page
Besabeh--who, as usual, composed himself to sleep in a corner after the
due performance of his errand.

Saturday, being the Jewish Sabbath, brings rest from all labour, and is
invariably devoted by the king to excursions abroad.  Starting on
horseback at an early hour, a gallop of several miles led us across the
Chacha, and over the border of the Galla dependencies, to an extensive,
but narrow sheet of water, where an otter had lately been seen.  "It has
hands, and nails, and fingers like a man," observed the monarch gravely,
"and a head like a black dog, and a skin like velvet; and it builds its
house at the bottom of the river, and plucks grass, and washes it in the
water; and all my people thought it was the devil, and would destroy
them with strong medicine.  Now is this animal found in your country,
and how do they call its name?"

We amused ourselves by killing snipe, much to the entertainment of the
monarch, who displayed little talent for shooting birds on the wing, and
made no secret of many very unsportsmanlike ideas.  Numerous ducks and
geese soon arrested his attention.  Drawing up with his retinue, and
resting his weapon over the shoulder of an attendant to insure steady
aim, he 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
Majesty 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 diminution in the numerical strength of the
feathered fools resulted in no attempt to take flight or even to shift
position.  Incredible though it may appear, the living still paddled
among the floating carcasses of their slaughtered comrades, as if
nothing had happened, until the destroyer, weary of persecuting the
"unclean birds," which were not even taken out of the water, 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, whilst red-headed divers
peeped warily forth 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 heron,
the snakebird, and the redshank, waded through the shallow drifts; and
geese, widgeon, teal, and mallard, rose whirring in the air at every
step.  But amidst all this inviting variety, the snowy egret was the
object of the king's ambition; and although, after many unsuccessful
attempts, he failed in adorning his head with her unsullied plumes, he
retired perfectly satisfied with his skill as a rifleman, after a long
stray shot had perforated the eye of an "_alata furda_."  This is a
gigantic slate-coloured crane, with eccentric red wattles; and several
pairs that were marching over the mead had previously elicited most
notable displays of gunmanship on the part of Ayto Berkie and others of
the royal favourites.

Abogaz Maretch, with his feudal train of Abitchu, joined the _cortege_
as it passed Wona-badera, his seat of government.  The treeless expanse
passed over--a type of the entire Galla territory north of Moolo-Falada,
where forest land commences--consists of wide valleys clothed with a
verdant carpet of grass, clover, and trefoil, which, from their
redundant luxuriance, almost impede progress.  Every little intersecting
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 hastily thrown up during the
rebellion of Medoko, fortifies the south-eastern environs of Angollala;
and although confessedly inferior to the great wall of China, it is
calculated to offer temporary opposition to horsemen who are no Nimrods.
Some of the lower parts were cleared by Captain Graham and myself
without the slightest difficulty, and much to His Majesty's amazement;
but every attempt on the part of the Amhara to follow our example proved
a complete failure.  On our return we 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 and governors were also accorded the privilege of squeezing
through with the crowned head, but followers and people of low degree
were compelled 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 accomplished under a wild choral chant,
laudatory of the monarch, which invariably announces his return from an
excursion abroad.  The road was lined with pilgrims clothed in yellow
garments, and having each a cross of blue clay upon his forehead.  They
had been to perform their vows, or redeem their pledges left, at the
sanctuary of Debra Libanos [Mount Lebanon], chief seat of learning in
Shoa, and the renowned 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 venerable tree, a
seam in which yet vouches for the truth of the legend that it
spontaneously clave asunder at his holy bidding, but closed to foil the
sacrilegious assailants who sought his life.  Being athirst, he prayed
unto God, whereupon the archangel Michael, 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 neighbouring torrent, but no sooner did he curse the
waters, than they were dried up, and have never since flowed above the
channel!

The remains of the saint still cast a halo over the spot in which they
he interred, and the pool which he blessed, retains to this day the
property of cleansing the leper, and healing every disease on either of
the three days annually devoted to the commemoration of his birth,
death, and ascension.  Famous as the most holy of shrines throughout
Southern Abyssinia, men of every rank, from the monarch to the meanest
peasant, if unable to repair thither in person, delegate their
substitute with offerings according to their wealth.  Having on his way
bathed in the "Segga Wadum," 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 Christianity, and after kissing, at
the adjacent church of Saint Mary, a cross which is asserted by the
priesthood to have fallen from heaven, he is secure against sickness and
witchcraft.  The very earth from Debra Libanos is carried away as an
antidote to maladies, and 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 kettle-drum announced the presence of the herald, 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 woe 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 provisions for twenty-one days,
shall be held as a traitor, and shall forfeit his property during seven
years."

Volume Two, Chapter XX.

A LECTURE ON PHYSIC.

The skill of the medical officers attached to the Embassy had already
produced its effect upon a nation so ignorant of the healing art.
Woizoro Indanch Yellum, aunt to His Majesty, arriving from Achun-Kurra
on a visit to the court, was made the bearer of compliments on the part
of Zenama Work, the Queen-dowager, [i.e. rain of gold] "respecting the
pardon of the delinquent slave."  But they were accompanied by a request
for medicine, and an admonition that the British guests of her son would
do well not to squander all their drugs amongst those who knew not how
to appreciate them.  "We have seen wondrous things achieved in the time
of Sahela Selassie," concluded this message from "the golden
shower,"--"and the prophecies respecting the red men have indeed fully
come to pass."

The fame, too, of the operation performed with such singular success
upon the governor of Mentshar had spread far and wide, and applications
for surgical aid became daily more numerous--the patient, in lieu of
tendering a fee, invariably insisting, when cured, upon the receipt of
some reward.  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 not disdain assistance, and many a hapless victim to Galla barbarity
sought a cure for his irreparable misfortunes.

An exceedingly ill-favoured fellow, striding into the tent, exhibited a
node upon the forehead, which he desired might be instantly removed.
"The knife, the knife," he exclaimed; "off with it; my face is spoiled,
and has become like that of a cow."  A ruffian 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
resource, but the Master of the Horse was loud in his opposition.  "Take
my advice," he remonstrated, "and leave this business alone.  If the boy
dies, 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 blacksmith.  Should
venesection be required, a stick placed in the patient's mouth is
tightened by means of a thong passed round his 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 rebroken to admit of their being properly set;
and upon the authority of Ayto Habti, the chief physician in ordinary,
it may also be stated, that 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,"
[_Bala medanit_, "the master of the medicines," is the term applied to
every physician] which of a truth must be acknowledged to form but a
feeble _materia medica_.  Insanity, epilepsy, delirium, hysteria, Saint
Vitus's dance, and in fact all obstinate disorders for which no specific
is known, are invariably ascribed to the influence of demons or
sorcerers, and the patient is either declared to be possessed of a
devil, or to labour under the disastrous consequences of inumbration by
the shadow of an enemy.  Shreds of blue paper are held to be
preservatives against headache, 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 on
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 selected from among the number of the infected, and carefully
secluded until the pustules are ripe.  Many hundred persons assemble,
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.

Whilst invalids of all classes daily flocked to my camp for medical
assistance, applications were not wanting from the palace, in proof of
the reputation that we had acquired.  One of the princesses royal, who
had been lodged with the illustrious guest from Achun-Kurra, in the
crimson pavilion presented by the British Government, found herself in
need of advice; and on being visited, lay concealed beneath the basket
pedestal of a wicker dining-table, whence her sprained foot was thrust
forth for inspection.  Divers respectable duennas of the royal kitchen,
who had been severely scalded by the bursting of a pottage cauldron,
were also treated with success when they had been given over by the body
physician, at whose merciless hands the sobbing patients had been
plastered over with honey and soot.  A mutton bone was next extracted
from the throat of a page, where it had been firmly wedged for three
days.  But the cure which elicited the most unqualified and universal
amazement was that of a favourite Baalomaal [Officer of the royal
household] who, labouring under a fit of apoplexy, which had deprived
him of animation, was suddenly revived by venesection, after fumigation
with _ashkoko goomun_ [Hyrax's cabbage] had been tried without the
smallest avail, and preparations were already commencing for his
interment.

Medicine, in fact, now engrossed 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 being administered to
patients labouring under complaints, for the removal of which they were
respectively adapted.  Two or more invalids, who objected to be seen,
were certain to arrive at the palace within every four and twenty hours;
and no subterfuge that ingenuity could devise was left untried, by which
to augment the already ample stock of pills on hand.  "You 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 once more prepared, directions were given to
apply it constantly to a boy who had been found labouring under
ophthalmia, in order to ascertain whether he died or survived.

The most particular inquiries were instituted relative to the mode of
counteracting the influence of the evil eye, and much disappointment was
expressed at the unavoidable intimation that Dr Kirk's dispensary
contained neither "the horn of a serpent," which is believed to afford
an invaluable antidote against witchcraft, no preservative against
wounds received in the battle-field, nor any nostrum for "those who go
mad from looking at a black dog."

"We princes also fear the small-pox," said His Majesty, "and therefore
never tarry long in the same place.  Nagasi, my illustrious 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 virtues.  Glasses,
hermetically sealed, betwixt 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 master of the horse, with a
strict injunction to have it carefully stitched in leather--"this is
_talakh medanit_, very potent medicine indeed; and henceforth I must
wear it as a talisman against the evil that beset my 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 grey hairs black;--the medicine to destroy the worm in
the ear of the queen, which is ever burrowing deeper;--and, above all,
the medicine of the seven colours, which so sharpens the intellects, as
to enable him who swallows enough of it, to acquire every sort of
knowledge without the slightest trouble.  Furthermore, you will be
careful to give my people _none of this_."

Volume Two, Chapter XXI.

THE CAMPAIGN.

In common with all other African potentates, Sahela Selassie never
engages in war, induced either by public principles, or by national
glory, and, least of all, by a love of his people.  Whilst the fear of
rebellion and disturbance at home deters him from attempting on a grand
scale to resume the lost possessions of his ancestors, to wield the
sceptre as they did, three hundred miles south of his present limits,
and to re-unite the scattered remnants of Christian population who once
acknowledged their supremacy--revenge, the almost invariable 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
subjugated usurpers of portions of the ancient empire of -Ethiopia, or
of asserting his unstable authority over some neighbouring tribe that
may heretofore have succeeded in maintaining its independence.

The wilds of Abyssinia are not easily explored by the solitary
traveller, and I therefore gladly embraced the opportunity of acquiring
important information relative to the mode of Amhara warfare, as well as
of visiting regions almost unknown.  Superstition, policy, and fear,
alike influenced the wily monarch in his expressed desire to be
accompanied by his British guests.  The presence of the stranger being
considered to shed a blessing over the army, is invariably enforced by
royal mandate, which extends indiscriminately to all residing within the
kingdom; and whilst His Majesty, distrusting 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, I indulged in the hope that the cause of humanity might be
promoted by the check which the presence of the European invariably
enforces upon the excited savage, during the revolting and sanguinary
scenes of exulting victory.  From the fact of the army having provided
rations for no more than twenty days, it was clearly impossible that
operations should be directed against Lake Zooai, in Gurague, distant
from Angollala one hundred and fifty miles; and this circumstance fully
explained the before incomprehensible indifference displayed by the
Negoos to every preparation which might 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
publish a manifesto of the approaching campaign, calculated to mislead
his enemies; and he not unfrequently carries the deception so far, as to
make three or four marches in a direction quite opposite to that in
which he had inwardly resolved to strike the blow.  None have the
slightest idea in what quarter the thunderbolt is to fall, and as the
fatal season draws nigh when the state revenues are to be levied,
anxiously must throb the conscious bosom of that 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 great audience
hall, few signs of preparation were observable for the approaching
foray.  Angollala was indeed somewhat more populous than usual, and
beggars more numerous and importunate.  Wild Galla chieftains, too, were
in attendance with propitiatory offerings and outstanding arrears of
tribute, and the interior of the palace presented a scene of increased
bustle and confusion.  His Majesty was to be seen absorbed in the
inspection of venerable pots, pans, and pipkins, which would have been
esteemed invaluable contributions to the British Museum.  Tailors,
silks, tinsel, and satin, were in equal requisition towards the
decoration of the imperial person, and the fat Master of the Horse,
assisted by the _elite_ of the household warriors, sat cobbling old
leather with laudable assiduity for the edification of a whole host of
eunuchs.  But in the arsenal there was no busy note of preparation such
as is wont to precede European warfare; no crowding of light ordnance
and heavy batteries; no commissariat, waggon-train, or sick carriage;
and no interminable files of camels loading for the approaching march.

  "The steed,
  The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,"

had no place on the parade: the complicated and expensive equipment, and
the munitions of the siege, were alike wanting; and although a few
detachments were bivouacked on the adjacent meadow, and the black pall
of a governor was here and there to be seen, it was still difficult even
to conjecture whence the army of the despot was to spring.

Abject slaves to superstition, the Amhara never fail to consult the
omens before setting out on a military expedition.  Priests and monks
are referred to by the monarch, and the accidental fall of the targe
from a saddle bow, the alighting of a hooded crow in the path of a
warrior, or the appearance of a white falcon with the tail towards him,
are believed to augur unfavourably to success; whilst the flight of a
pair of ravens in any direction, or the descent of a falcon with her
head towards the army, are on the other hand esteemed certain
prognostications of victory.  For a full week prior to the opening of
the projected campaign, the nocturnal howling of dogs had boded an
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
coming 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 Mariam, 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 after sunrise the
imperial crimson velvet umbrellas issued through the outer gateway at
the head of a numerous procession.  Crossing the meadow, His Majesty,
resplendent in cloth of gold, took the road to the south by the wicket
in the Galla wall, on which a strong advance picquet had already taken
post.  Every house in Angollala 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 Abitchu
legion streamed from the stockaded hill of Wona-badera, and a band of
veterans occupying the summit of an adjacent rock meanwhile chanted the
prowess of the royal warrior, who halted a few seconds in acknowledgment
of their flattering eulogium.

Little order or arrangement is attempted during the first march, which
invariably terminates at or near Yeolo, in order to afford time to
stragglers to rejoin, or to admit of the return of those who may from
any circumstance prove incapable of toil, or unprepared for the
campaign.  Immediately in advance of the army, screened beneath a canopy
of scarlet broad-cloth, were borne on an ambling mule the Holy
Scriptures and the ark of the cathedral of Saint Michael, the miraculous
virtues of which sacred emblem, throwing into shade those of the
Palladium of Troy, are believed to ensure 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 fusiliers and matchlock-men of the body-guard, and on the left by the
band of kettle-drums on donkeys, with trumpets and wind instruments.
Numerous governors, judges, monks, priests, and singers followed, and
behind them rode a curious accompaniment to a martial expedition.  Forty
dames and damsels, professing the culinary art, with elaborately-crisped
bee-hive wigs, greased faces bedaubed with ochre, and arched blue
eyebrows, 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 horizon, 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 glittering
sheaves of spears upon their shoulders, leading gaily-caparisoned
war-steeds--all mixed and crowded together in the most picturesque
disorder and confusion.

After crossing the Chacha, the country to the south-west is no longer
safe for a single traveller; and owing to the determined hostility of
the various wild Galla tribes by which it is inhabited, small Amhara
detachments would even find difficulty in passing.  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 peeped numerous tiny Galla hamlets--the distant
landscape being bounded by the great blue mountain ranges of Bulga,
Garra Gorphoo, and Sallala Moogher, collectively forming a crescent, but
towering independently in isolated grandeur.

At the termination of the fifteenth mile, the ladies and their eunuchs,
having hovered about for some time in uncertainty, finally settled down,
like a flight of flamingoes, in a pretty secluded valley, through which
winds the deep muddy Baroga.  Their halt, and the selection made of a
site for the royal kitchen, proclaimed the encamping ground under a
naturally scarped table-hill styled Gimbee Bayello, which imparts its
name to the spot.  A fierce scramble for places ensued, and the several
detachments bivouacking _sub divo_ around the dingy 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-coloured marquee of Turkish manufacture,
surrounded by twelve ample awnings of black serge, over which floated
five crimson pennons, surmounted by silver globes.  Until these had been
erected, and duly enclosed by an outer screen of cotton cloths, the
Negoos, according to his wont, ascending an adjacent eminence, with all
the principal chieftains, and an escort of several hundred picked
warriors, remained seated on a cushioned _alga_; and under the crimson
canopy of the state umbrellas, watched the progress making towards his
accommodation.

Horses abound in the kingdom of Shoa, as well as throughout the adjacent
champaign country of the Galla; but save during the foray, they are
rarely mounted by the indolent Amhara, the sure-footed mule being better
adapted to his taste, and to the rugged hills that compose the greater
portion of the frontier.  The note of war, however, had so materially
increased the value of the steed, that even the few horses we required
had been obtained with difficulty.  Every old, unsound, and vicious
Rozinante in the realm was speciously presented, and in turn rejected,
when Abogaz Maretch at length advertised his stud.  Two hundred pieces
of salt were the price fixed upon the first purchase; and as this _small
change_ was not procurable within thirty miles, and moreover would have
formed the load of two jackasses, ten Austrian convention dollars were
forwarded in 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 reply, "because you have sent it; but
in future 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 caprice 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.  Our preparations were
therefore of an extremely limited nature, no member carrying aught save
the scantiest bedding, whilst the general commissariat 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 number--proved barely sufficient for the carriage of
rocket staves, medical stores, and surgical instruments required for the
state service; the flimsy cotton awnings and scanty baggage of both
officers and escort being reluctantly transported by a few hired
domestics, or lashed 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 commissariat is unknown, every
soldier and follower transporting his own provisions, which are limited
to parched grain, or sun-dried flesh; and as, owing to the rapidity of
the march, and the usual absence of opposition, the campaign is rarely
protracted beyond a fortnight, this system has been found to answer.
Governors and leaders alone occupy tents, whilst every component member
of their respective quotas, in defiance of cold and rain, bivouacks upon
the bare ground, with his head upon the shield, and no screen betwixt
himself and the vault of heaven, save the clothes upon his back.

Strange was the sight presented as night closed over the first
encampment of the chivalry of Shoa.  Rockets were to be fired by the
royal request to instil terror into the breasts of the Galla hordes; and
we had selected the peak which rose near the head-quarters, as being 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 intervening heights, until lost in the far distance, presented
the appearance of a city of ancient days, whereof the great arteries
being 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 muskets presented to His Majesty by
the British Government had already caused no inconsiderable
consternation, it being the generally received belief that the bayonet,
hitherto a stranger in the land, formed a great receptacle for poisonous
spells.  The roar of each flight of "fire-rainers" now produced a panic
from end to end of the scattered camp.  A buzz and a clamour of voices
followed each luminous ascent, to burst forth into a loud peal of wonder
when the brilliant shower of meteors fell after the explosion.
Confusion ensued; horses and mules, breaking from their pickets, scoured
away in terror, pursued by henchman and warrior, their figures, flitting
in dim perspective among the countless bale-fires, like shades called
into existence by some magic agency; and the scene 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
desertion to the enemy, the arms of the fusiliers of the body-guard were
piled according to long-established usage, in one of the royal tents,
and strongly guarded.  The chiefs and nobles then sate 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 decorated 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 valour, takes like an ass
to his heels, and is speared without the slightest danger."

Volume Two, Chapter XXII.

THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY.

Rome is said to have subdued the world under the direction of a hen and
chickens, but the legions of Shoa and Efat are aroused to victory by the
shrill crowing of a cock, which is invariably carried with the army, in
one of the wicker baskets forming the pedestal of the banqueting table.
One hundred and fifty-six choristers, termed _asmaroch_, are entertained
at the expense of the crown, upon extensive grants of land, to chant
psalms and hymns each livelong night of the entire year.  Twelve are
brought on duty every month, and their vigils, which are invariably kept
standing, are observed with more than usual strictness during the
continuance of a military expedition.  Throughout the hours of darkness
their loud chorus arose from the pavilion without a moment's
intermission, and their vocal labours around the holy ark ceased only
with the approach of dawn.

Many detachments being still in the rear, a halt was proclaimed 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 distance
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 purpose 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 contemplative monarch,
occasionally occupied by the administration of justice, appeared to be
chiefly engrossed with the coming chapter of events, and to be
abstractedly scanning the direction in which to pounce upon the
surrounding foe.

The favourite dancing girl meanwhile attuning her shrill throat to song
laudatory of her own vocal powers, and of her happy state of
independence, in wild though far from pleasing notes 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;
  'Tis mine alone through the livelong day
  To charm the king with my roundelay.

  "Task have I none, no toil to share,
  Nor wood to fetch, nor load to bear;
  'Tis mine alone but to dance and sing,
  And drink to the health of my lord the king."

"Pity is it," remarked one of our party, "since the damsel has so little
to do, that she does not that little better."

"What fault have you to find with her 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 favourable to its
advance.  Some military precautions were now observed.  Large brigades
of horse served as flanking parties, and the heights to the right and
left were severally occupied, as the state umbrellas advanced over the
level green sward, at the rate of three miles an hour.  The king, with a
few favourite chiefs, preceded by Ayto Berri, the
quarter-master-general, and by the corps of guides escorting the holy
ark and Book of the law, led the host, which, extending for 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 entirely feudal, each governor in the
realm is required to furnish his contingent of militia in proportion to
his landed tenure--the peasantry being at all times ready for the foray,
and expected to purvey horse, arms, and provisions, without payment from
the state.  Four hundred fusiliers, bondsmen of the king, alone receive
pay--eight pieces of salt, value twenty pence sterling, being disbursed
annually 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 organisation and distribution--small
confidence being reposed in that portion which is not drawn from ancient
possessions.

Of three grand divisions, the centre, commanded by His Majesty in
person, consisted of the _Luguamioch_, under Ayto Melkoo, Master of the
Horse; the _Gasha Shakri_, or shield-bearers, and the detachment of the
collector of newly-levied tribute.  Immediately on the left flank were
the fusiliers of Ayto Katama, commander-in-chief of the bodyguard,
behind whom came the _Wotzbietoch_, or females of the royal kitchen;--
then the legion of Ayto Guebroo, governor of Mentshar; and, lastly, the
detachments of Shoa-Meda, of Morat, and Morabietie.

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
governors of Bulga, Kembibit, Gola, and Ootuba, whose respective
detachments are Christians, and who are all drawn from the
neighbourhood, where intercourse with the Galla is most frequent.  The
third division, or rear-guard, is commanded by the general styled
_Wobo_, who is arbitrarily chosen from the seats of seven governments 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 staff, 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 huddled together without order or
arrangement, 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 scampered through the army, and, strange to
say, often threaded the maze of hoofs in safety.

During the early part of the march, herds of cattle grazing quietly in
the pastures around various hamlets, proclaimed a subjugated tribe; and
clans of tributary Galla, each led by its respective chief in some
fantastic costume formerly received at the royal hands, met His Majesty
at intervals, in order to present tribute either in horses or kine--the
whole greasy band dismounting at a respectful 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 the standing crops--afield after field of ripening corn being
trampled level with the ground, in spite of the remonstrance of the
disconsolate husbandmen, who, with heavy stones upon their heads, threw
themselves at the feet of the king with loud and reiterated appeals.

The course was generally south-west, and 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 continued to beguile the tedious
march with their rambling stanzas, and to pour out 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 monotonous than the country passed over.
Wide grassy undulations, interspersed with extensive cultivation, rose
unrelieved by a single tree or other redeeming feature, 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 meadows, these
presented the general character of all Galla streams, cutting silently
through the rich dark soil, and leaving swampy quagmires on the waving
downs.  At long intervals the Negoos, dismounting to change mules,
proceeded some distance on foot--an example followed by all.  On the
first of these occasions His Majesty went through the comedy of
thrusting his feet into slippers, selected from a bag carried by a
slave, which contained numerous pairs manufactured of various coloured
morocco.  Many were tried in succession, but the royal heels being
invariably chafed and blistered, the experiment was finally abandoned in
despair; and sacrificing dignity to comfort, the despot, like his liege
subjects, advanced unshod.

For several hours not a horned head had been visible around the deserted
hamlets; and late in the afternoon, when the van of the flagging army
arrived in the extensive plain of Abai Deggar, completely environed by
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 rebellious 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, of
which 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 their important
avocations; but some arbitrary change having been directed by His
Majesty, who occupied his usual elevated position, the camp was thrown
into confusion.  Quarrels and scuffles might now be 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 surprise was adopted towards the security
of the camp.

But no advantage was taken of the Amhara neglect, and another and
similar forced march over a country equally devoid of interest with the
tract already crossed, led to the long narrow valley of Karabarek, at
the foot of the Garra Gorphoo mountains.  The bright spear-blades
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 skirted the line of march, and near the peaked hill of
Wyfun they were assembled in numbers; but none ventured within half a
mile of a host, twenty thousand in number, all thirsting alike for the
blood of their enemies.  Far and wide the country was laid waste, and
every vestige of human habitation destroyed under the torch, the flames
racing among the riper barley with the speed of a galloping horse; but
the wretched inhabitants, aware of the approach of the spoiler, had
abandoned their dwellings before the storm burst over them, and one aged
man only had yet fallen into the merciless clutches of the invaders.

This prize had stained the hand of a follower 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 mansion first
beleaguered by the insurgents, but he fled in dismay, leaving his fair
partner to defend the premises.  Joining after the first day's march, he
had put the most diverting questions relative to the English, with whose
appearance he was greatly perplexed.

"Are these people pagans?" inquired the hero with owlish features, but
too strongly indicative of his vacant mind.

"No."

"Are they Islams?"

"No."

"Then what are they?"

"Christians."

"Christians!  Impossible.  They observe no fast, and wear no _mateb_ as
a badge of their religion Is there any grass in their country?"

[_Mateb_, i.e. Mark or token.  The blue silk cord worn around the neck
by the Christians of Shoa.]

"Why not?"

"How did I know?  Have they cattle?"

"Abundance."

"And sheep and goats?"

"Certainly."

"And their Negoos, does he carry _debaboch_ [Umbrellas of state], and
make great _zumachas_ [Military expeditions] with warriors like
these?"--turning his oyster eyes, lighted with something like martial
fire, towards the countless rabble in the rear.  But the party thus
interrogated could keep his temper no longer; and as the little
hunch-backed father confessor rode jauntily up with a dirty page perched
on the crupper of his mule, to volunteer a lesson in the noble art of
equitation, he galloped off, exclaiming with a sneer--

"Like these, forsooth!  One of Her Britannic Majesty's regiments would
in a single hour sweep from off the face of the earth the whole
undisciplined mob that swells the train of the boasted descendant of
King Solomon."

Volume Two, Chapter XXIII.

THE FORAY.

Thus far the greatest irregularity and confusion had prevailed among the
Amhara troops, alike during the march and the encampment.  A council of
war was daily convened, when each leader made his report 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 depended rather upon the whim and caprice of the monarch than
upon the exigencies of the service.  The first intimation of intended
march was conveyed by the royal drums sounding suddenly to saddle a
quarter of an hour before the advance, which, as the state pavilion went
down, was announced by a flourish of horns.

But notwithstanding that the strictest silence had been observed on the
subject by the Negoos, as well as by all who might have been unavoidably
admitted to his confidence, strong surmises were entertained that a
foray from Karabarek was to be the order of the following day; and about
two hours after midnight, the sudden and unusual cessation of the psalm
singing, followed by the heavy tramp past our tents of Ayto Shishigo's
detachment of Shoa-Meda horse, confirming the opinion, the hum of the
surrounding body, like that of a disturbed hive of bees, continued until
dawn.  No sooner was it light than His Majesty rode silently forth from
his enclosure without beat of the _nugareet_, and thousands instantly
flocked towards the royal person.  The state umbrellas were encased in
white bags, and the usual cumbrous Abyssinian robe, which effectually
impedes all rapid movement, was on this occasion cast aside.  Short wide
trousers of various hues hung loosely to the knee.  A thick white cloth
girded up the loins.  The skins of wild beasts, the lion, the panther,
and the ocelot, alone hung over the brawny shoulder of the warrior; and,
with exception of about two hundred musqueteers with bayonets fixed,
every man-at-arms was equipped with spear, sword, and buckler, a mounted
henchman behind many leading a spare charger.

At first starting the crush and confusion was truly terrific.  Horses
and mules rearing, kicking, and plunging, with lances bristling, and
shields thumping in every direction, threatened instant destruction to
each component member of the dense mass, which, crowded and locked fast
together, streamed at a rapid trot after the king without 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
ploughed land, producing a suffocating cloud of dust, served still more
to increase the confusion, 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 simultaneous 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, whilst those who bestrode the stoutest steeds,
clearing the way before them by sheer strength, forced their weaker
neighbours to incline to the right and to the left, like frail reeds
before the rush of the mountain deer.

The morning was bitterly cold.  The hoar-frost lay thick and white upon
the meadows; and as the rabble host trampled over the crisp grass
towards the high range of Garra Gorphoo, which, at the distance of a few
miles, rose to the height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet, the breath
arose heavy from the nostril of man and beast, like a cloud of smoke,
mixing with the dark columns of dust which followed the clattering hoofs
of neighing war-steeds.  During 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, whilst the king struck up
the steep face of the range in the centre of an extended 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 cultivation, form the water-shed between the Nile and the Hawash.
The various rivulets that on either side wind down towards the parent
streams, intersect it into hundreds of verdant valleys, on the swelling
slopes of which the white-roofed houses of secluded Galla hamlets peep
forth among dark green groves of juniper and acacia, that add beauty to
the fair prospect.  These tropical highlands are inhabited by the Sertie
tribe, who, long in a state of open rebellion, had rendered themselves
doubly obnoxious to the despot, by attacking a detachment of Amhara the
preceding year, of whom, whilst 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 expedition, hitherto so carefully
concealed, was now fully developed; and the military dispositions for
sweeping destruction appeared to be right skilfully made.

Hurrying onward with ominous rapidity, slaughtering 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--now breasted the steep
sunny acclivity like flames driven before the wind--and now wound in
Indian file along the edges of cliffs affording 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 under the violence of the
hurricane; and before ten o'clock, the highest pinnacle of the green
range having been crowned, a wide prospect burst upon the eye.  A
succession of richly cultivated plains dotted over with clusters of
conical white houses, in parts surrounded by clumps of tall junipers,
stretched away from the foot, the very picture of peace and plenty.
Embosomed between the isolated peaks of Yerrur, Sequala, and the
far-famed Entotto, lay the wide plain of Germama, thickly peopled by the
Ekka and Finfinni Galla, upon whose doomed heads the thunderbolt was
next to fall; and full in its centre two placid silver lakes, like great
mirrors, reflected back the rays of the morning sun across sheets of
luxuriant cultivation, extending for miles, nearly ready for the sickle.
Far beyond, the long wooded line of the Hawash, rolling its troubled
waters towards the plain of the Adaiel, loomed indistinctly 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 slopes, and
partially screening the approach of the locust army, conspired to
enhance its success.  Twenty thousand brawny warriors, in three
divisions, covering many miles of country, and linked by detachments in
every direction, pressed on towards the inviting goal--their hearts
burning with the implacable hatred of hostile barbarians, and panting to
consummate their bloody revenge.  Taken entirely by surprise, their
devoted victims lay helplessly before them, indulging in fatal dreams of
happiness and security, alas! too speedily to be dispelled.  Hundreds of
cattle grazed in tempting herds over the flowery meads.  Unconscious of
danger, the unarmed husbandman pursued his peaceful occupation in the
field; his wife and children carolled blithely over their ordinary
household avocations; and the ascending sun shone bright on smiling
valleys, which, long before his going down, were left tenanted only by
the wolf and the vulture.

Preceded by the holy ark of Saint 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 towards the expectant army, and pronounced the ominous words
which were the well-known signal for carrying fire and sword through the
land--"May the God who is the God of my forefathers strengthen and
absolve!"  Rolling on like the waves of the mighty ocean, down poured
the Amhara host among the rich glades and rural hamlets, at the heels of
the flying inhabitants--trampling under foot the fields of ripening
corn, in parts half reaped, and sweeping before them the vast herds of
cattle which grazed untended in every direction.  In the extreme
distance their destructive progress was still marked by the red flames
that burst forth in turn from the thatched roofs of each invaded
village; and the havoc committed many miles to the right by the division
of Abogaz Maretch, who was advancing parallel to the main body, and had
been reinforced by the detachment under Ayto Shishigo, became equally
manifest in numerous columns of white smoke, towering upwards to the
azure firmament in rapid succession.

We 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 inward satisfaction, whilst watching through a
telescope the progress of the flanking detachments, as they poured
impetuously down the steep side of the mountain, and swept across the
level plain with the fury of the blast of the Sirocco.  A rapid detour
to the westward in an hour disclosed the beautifully secluded valley of
Finfinni, which, in addition to the artificial advantage of high
cultivation, and snug hamlets, boasted a large share of natural beauty.
Meadows of the richest green turf, sparkling clear rivulets leaping down
in sequestered cascades, with shady groves of the most magnificent
juniper lining the slopes, and waving their moss-grown branches above
cheerful groups of circular wigwams, 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, animated 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 smoke, mingled with
the dust raised by the impetuous rush of man and horse.

The luckless inhabitants, taken quite by surprise, had barely time to
abandon their property, and fly for their lives to the fastness of
Entotto, which reared its protecting form at the distance of a few
miles.  The spear of the warrior searched every bush for the hunted foe.
Women and girls were torn from their hiding places to be hurried into
hopeless captivity- Old men and young were indiscriminately slain 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 retributive
destruction amongst the execrated Galla.  Whole groups and families were
surrounded and speared within the walled courtyards, which were soon
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 a 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 orphan
children, together with the barbarous trophies that had been stripped
from the mangled bodies of their victims.

The hoarse scream of the vulture as she wheeled in funereal circles over
this appalling scene of carnage and devastation, and the crackling of
falling roofs and rafters from the consuming houses, alone disturbed the
grave-like silence of the dreary and devoted spot, so lately resounding
to the fiendish shouts and war-whoops of the excited warriors, and to
the unpitied groans of their helpless captives.  And as the exulting
barbarians, followed by the curses of many 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, pillaged, and despoiled, as
far as the means of ruthless man could effect its destruction.

The royal division crossed the deep vale of Finfinni by a most dangerous
and difficult defile, leading over the bed of the principal torrent,
which winds through an extensive belt of dark juniper forest, of truly
magnificent growth.  Lofty pine-like trees, hoary with the moss of
centuries, towered above banks that rose some hundred feet almost
perpendicularly, and were clothed throughout with tangled undergrowth.
A huge fragment of porphyry, nearly choking the straitened descent,
afforded barely sufficient room for the passage of a single horseman,
whilst a succession of slippery rocks and treacherous pools filled up
the channel to the opposite bank, steep, abrupt, and wooded.

Loud shouts drowned the pleasing murmur of a splashing 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
tumultuously towards 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 army of
the invader.  But the Abyssinian system of warfare consists in surprise
and murder, not in battle or fair conflict.  The king continued to
advance rapidly without the smallest check, and being escorted only by a
few fusiliers of the body-guard, carrying each two rounds of ammunition,
was necessarily much exposed; but confident in the terror with which his
meteor-like descent would inspire 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 extended 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 incessant
beating of kettle-drums.  Whilst the work of destruction still continued
to rage on all sides, herd after herd of lowing beeves came pouring
towards the royal standard, and each new foraging party brought with it
fresh groups of captive women and girls.  Some of the more braggart
warriors affecting inability to return their blood-stained blades to the
scabbard, pompously carried them in the hand unsheathed; and even the
boyish arms of some of the most effeminate of the royal pages had proved
victorious over a 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.

Detailing their deeds of cruelty, they basked in the smiles of their
savage and approving monarch, whose only eye became at times frightfully
wild with excitement, although his demeanour throughout the long day of
horrors was cool and self-possessed, from the experience that he had
acquired during eighty-four similar forays.

After a brief halt, the march was resumed through the country of the
Ekka Galla, which was clean swept with the besom of destruction; and the
distinguishing green sprig of asparagus in the woolly heads of
successful cavaliers became more and more numerous as the eventful day
drew on to its close.  The sun at length disappeared behind the western
mountains, towards which the course of the army was directed; and night,
casting her 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 valley, without possessing the smallest idea of the position of the
rear division, with the tents and baggage, to the leader of which no
clue had been afforded as to the royal intentions.

Horses and mules were now turned loose among the standing beans; and
several thousand head of 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 acclivity, on the summit
of which the king, surrounded by his chieftains, took up his position
for the night.  His Majesty, although 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 contemplation of the
amassed herds, to be insensible alike to the cold wintry blast, and to
the long calls of hunger. 4 A wilder scene can scarcely be imagined than
that presented by the nocturnal bivouac of the locust-like army of the
Amhara, flushed by its recent success.  Loud whoops and yells, arising
from every quarter 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.  Groups of grim
warriors, their hands embrued 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 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, we slept at broken intervals upon the bare ground, amid the
gorged and weary warriors, the saddle of each serving for a pillow--

"The earth our bed, our canopy the sky."

Volume Two, Chapter XXIV.

THE ROYAL ACHIEVEMENT.

Welcome to all was the first grey light that illumined the eastern sky,
and summoned the warrior from his uneasy slumbers.  So uncomfortably had
the night been passed, that it was in truth rest to rise.  The despot
was among the first to abandon his cold couch; and a bulletin of success
having been penned by the royal hand, for the information of Queen
Besabesh, the main body of the division, convoying the interminable
droves of cattle, was in motion across the Ekka valley.  Escorted by
five thousand cavalry.  His Majesty then proceeded to a knoll at some
distance within the scene of yesterday's carnage, upon the summit of
which he tarried, whilst parties went out in search of the body of his
grand-nephew, the youthful son of Ayto Besuehnech, 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 sunbeam danced over the steep
rugged sides and ruined stone edifices of the fastness of Entotto,
anciently the proud seat of Ethiopic splendour, 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, rivalling the lowland Aiulloo, was again visible in the
distance, its once active crater converted by the revolutions of ages
into an extensive lagoon, on the banks of which stands the celebrated
shrine of Guebra Manfas Kedoos, a saint renowned for the destruction, by
his prayers, of live hundred genies.  On the one hand frowned the dark
wooded 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 consequence of their blessing
having been followed by the birth of Sahela Selassie.  Far in the
distance a low belt of vegetation screened the sleepy Hawash, and over
the intervening tract numerous tributaries to the Casam, absorbed
eventually in the parched plain of the Adaiel, conveyed the eastern
drainage of Garra Gorphoo through the ravaged valley of Germama.

Over this wide expanse not a living inhabitant was now to be seen.  In
every direction the bloodstained ground was strewed with the slaughtered
foe, around whose disfigured 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 howling dogs
wandered up and down in fruitless quest of their lost masters.  A single
day had reduced to a wilderness the rich and flourishing vale of
Germama, including the dark forests of Finfinni, which for years had
slept in peace; and their late numerous and unsuspecting population had
in a few hours been swept from off the face of the earth by the
devastating irruption of the barbarian Amhara hordes.

The 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 desolation.
Glutted with booty, the despot now left his locusts to pursue their own
course up the Ekka valley, where flames and plunder again marked their
straggling return towards 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,
honeycombs, poultry, household utensils and farming gear, with captive
women and children, indiscriminately mingled with the men-at-arms.
Whilst some of these latter, wounded and mutilated, were lashed upon the
backs of their palfreys, others, dismounted, were dragging behind them
their lame and exhausted 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.

Re-entering the mountains, across which the sun now 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 inroad, made numerous female captives,
and, with the loss of the sumpter horses laden with horns of hydromel,
acquired considerable 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 air.  During its more recent progress, this division
had carried fire and sword through the country of the Sertie Galla,
where it yet remained unplundered; and, as the day again closed, the
vault of heaven was re-illumined 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 imposed upon them.  The relinquishment to the crown of
three or four hundred of the many thousand head of cattle captured
during this and the preceding day, would, with some twenty or thirty
horses, have averted this awful chastisement, the fearful consequence of
taxation refused.  The revolt of tribes inhabiting remote portions of
His Majesty's dominions arises too frequently from the oppression of
Galla governors, over whose proceedings he can exercise very inadequate
control; but it is caused in a principal degree by the absence of
outpost or fortification to hold his wild subjects in check.  Could he
be prevailed upon to abandon his present weak mode of securing the Galla
dependencies, to strengthen them by those military arrangements for
which the country is so peculiarly adapted, and to place a better limit
upon the exactions of frontier governors, what bloodshed and misery
might not be averted!

The army halted at Boora Roofa to enable straggling detachments to
rejoin; and small parties went out in various directions 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 inmates, 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 favourite governor, had, at
the distance of a few miles, surprised and surrounded a Galla in a tree,
among the branches of which the caitiff awaited the arrival of the king.
Impatient to wreathe his brow with new laurels, the monarch lost not a
moment in sallying forth to destroy the unfortunate wretch, taking a
most formidable array of single and double-barrelled guns and rifles of
every calibre, together with an escort of five thousand cavalry.

Receiving a long shot through the thigh at the royal hands, whilst
imperfectly ensconced 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 his otherwise inevitable fate.  To take the life of a Galla, and
to secure a prisoner of either sex, are, in Amhara warfare, accounted
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 to
which the destruction of a helpless foe entitles him from every governor
in the realm, the increased respect acquired in the eyes of his subjects
and warriors, and the additional lustre shed over his already chivalrous
reputation by each new murder, however foul, induce him still to seek
occasions such as this to embrue his hands in gore.

Messenger after messenger now galloped into camp at full speed, with the
joyful tidings of the king's achievement, each new announcement
eliciting yet louder and louder songs and shouts from the _wotzbeitoch_,
eunuchs, and parasites at the royal quarters.  In another hour the
cavalcade returned in triumph, the wounded captive riding on a mule
behind the exulting monarch, who, by virtue of his bold exploit, wore in
the hair a large green branch of wild asparagus, whilst the greasy
garment of his bleeding prisoner graced the proud neck of his war-steed.
Repeated volleys of musketry, with the blasts of horns, and the din of
kettle-drums, proclaimed the signal prowess of His Christian Majesty.
Priests and women flocked to receive him with a clamour of acclamation,
and he alighted amid the most stunning uproar.

Through the Master of the Horse I presently received a message 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 King's British
visitors, in view to the exaltation of the national name.  "Why tarried
ye in the tent?  I desired that my children might slay the heathen in
the tree; but, when they came not, I myself performed the deed."

I informed the puissant monarch in reply, "that, independently of its
being the Sabbath, and none of the party possessing the smallest
inclination to destroy a defenceless human being under any
circumstances, no public body was authorised by the law of nations to
draw a sword offensively in any country not in open hostility with its
own.  That in Shoa an elephant was esteemed equivalent to forty armed
Galla, and a wild buffalo to five; and of these much-dreaded animals we
were ready to destroy any number that he might think proper to permit."

Great was the triumph and the quaffing of mead, and the feasting on raw
beef, during the residue of the day and the early hours of the night,
for, lo! the king of kings in single combat had prevailed over his Galla
foe.  Essential assistance had been afforded by the medical officers of
the Embassy to the sick and wounded; amongst the latter, to a brother of
the Queen; yet many reproaches were now abroad, in that its members had
eaten the royal bread, and destroyed none of the enemies of the state.
The example of other foreigners, who were represented to have shot Galla
out of trees, was contrasted somewhat unfavourably to British courage;
and a private of the artillery escort was roundly taxed with cowardice
for permitting 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 Amhara 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 labour
of the cultivator is forsaken for the shield and spear.  But in
Abyssinia, where the principal booty is monopolised by the monarch, the
case is widely different, since, although military expeditions are of
frequent occurrence, the sword of the plunderer is as often turned again
into the ploughshare--whilst the despoiled husbandman, 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 cultivation.

The Abyssinians have been represented as a bold, martial, and chivalrous
race--but in Shoa the "champions of the Cross" are impelled by none of
that knightly valour which warmed the breast of the crusader of old.
The white feather, that emblem of cowardice in other lands, forms the
boast of their murderous exploits; and the system of the noble art of
war would seem to consist in the merciless destruction of the enemy by
sudden inroad and surprise.  Harrying the invaded country with
overwhelming masses of undisciplined cavalry, the only opposition to be
encountered is an occasional skirmish during the night with an outlying
detachment, or by day during the passage of a weak body through morasses
or intricate defiles.  The appearance of a foe invariably proves the
signal for increased disorder, all who are so disposed sallying forth to
the assault, when those who harbour animosity against a comrade not
unfrequently avail themselves of the opportunity to assassinate him in
the _melee_.

Cruelties emanating from the hereditary detestation of the heathen,
which, with the barbarous spoils earned during the foray, is handed down
as an heir-loom from generation to generation, are unfortunately
countenanced by the monarch, who has too often personally set the
disgraceful example of mutilation; whilst the bigotry and superstition
of the savage Amhara induces him to regard every pagan in the light of a
dog, as doth the fanatic Moslem the Christian.  The revolting
barbarities practised in the hour of victory, which from time immemorial
have had existence 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 usurpers of the fairest portions of the land, who butcher children
and old men without distinction, mutilate all who fall into their hands,
and enslave females upon every opportunity.

The rapid muster of the Amhara under their respective chieftains, the
disorderly march, the rude, but for the purpose sufficient tactics, with
the slaughter and devastation consequent upon success, forcibly bring to
mind the wars of feudal Europe.  The stimulus afforded by individual
interest in the murders committed during the foray stands at present in
the place of discipline, since without one or the other no army could be
brought into the field.  Triumph attends the return of the Christian
warrior from battle in proportion to the number of lives he bears upon
his arm, and for each enemy slain he is entitled to some conspicuous
personal badge, which forms his greatest pride.  A ring, a gauntlet, or
a bracelet, gained at the expense of acts the most dastardly, raises him
accordingly in the estimation of relatives and companions in arms, and
signal success almost invariably paves the way to royal preferment.

Discipline alone can check the prevailing barbarity, by superseding
desultory hand to hand combat, and keeping every soldier in such
comparative ignorance of the number that fall to his individual prowess,
as to preclude the vaunting of exploits.  To those especially who have
been eye-witnesses of such a foray, it must afford matter for deep
regret that feud and contest should hitherto so effectually have
debarred access to the interior, and should have checked the advance of
Christianity and civilisation, which, as in happier lands, must bring
with them the means of providing for redundant population, and could not
fail to ameliorate the horrors attendant upon the existing system of
Abyssinian warfare.

Volume Two, Chapter XXV.

LIBERATION OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR.

During the more than usually successful campaign of the Amhara host, an
opportunity was afforded us of laying down, as scientifically as very
limited time would permit, an extensive and most interesting tract of
country hitherto scarcely known--not to be explored by the adventurous
but single traveller, and only to be visited under the peculiar
advantages afforded to the British Embassy by the despotic Negoos.  We
were all much disappointed that this acquaintance should not have
extended to the Lake Zooai, as anticipated from the manifesto originally
promulgated at Machal-wans; but Ayto Berri, many years
Quarter-master-general of the royal troops, who, in his _quondam_
capacity of Mohammadan rover, had often visited that famous expanse of
water, strongly discountenanced the contemplated measure of molesting
the inoffensive inhabitants of its five islands--mixed Christians and
pagans living in profound peace with each other, and with every
surrounding neighbour.  To his advice may in some measure be ascribed
the alteration in the king's intentions; but the argument which had
probably 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 heathen 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 my earnest
remonstrance, aided by the 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 preceding day by
consenting to liberate the whole.  Ere the _nugareet_ sounded the return
of the troops, a proclamation went forth commanding the immediate
release of every prisoner of war; and as the dissatisfied army turned
its back upon the valley, long files of widowed dames and fatherless
girls were to be seen hurrying in freedom across the hills towards their
desolate hearths, overjoyed at the sudden and unexpected restoration of
their 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 the world.

It would be superfluous to dwell upon the satisfaction which filled the
breast of every member of the Embassy, at this signal victory over
savage ferocity; and heartfelt were the congratulations on all sides,
that Providence had permitted us to be thus instrumental in ameliorating
the condition of so large a number of our fellow-creatures.

A long march brought us the same day to the river Alelta, a tributary to
the Nile, and forming 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 footing, and many were the disasters that befel the demure
dames of the royal kitchen.  Wicker parasols might be seen floating down
the current as the luckless proprietors struggled in the black slimy mud
among mules and war-steeds, or emerged in truly pitiable condition to be
censured by the 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 caution.  Before the king had passed with
the main body of the victorious troops escorting 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 become entangled in the mazy labyrinth, and
were massacred to a man ere assistance could be rendered by the
matchlock-men of the bodyguard, who did not reach the ground until the
enemy were in full retreat.

His Majesty's object in now revisiting the scene of this catastrophe was
sufficiently obvious.  No sooner had the imperial cavalcade halted among
the bleached skeletons of the fallen warriors, than champions, whose
steeds were distinguished by greasy garments stripped from the bodies of
Galla victims, caracoled proudly in front of the state umbrellas,
brandishing their bright weapons aloft--exhibiting the human fragments
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 until the pavilion had been prepared for
the royal reception.

Early the ensuing morning the king sent confidentially to my tent, 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 dubious.  Our 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
reception at the hands of the monarch.  She might have sat for the
portrait of La Belle Sauvage, but the grease wherein the person of the
handsome dame was embedded, tended unfortunately to destroy the romance
inseparable from her Amazonian appearance and feudal condition.

Various triumphant detachments also met the royal cortege _en route_,
the chiefs and victorious warriors careering in succession before the
van of the army, with green sprigs of asparagus waving above their
dishevelled and newly-dressed locks.  Prisoners were seated behind the
cruppers of some of the more merciful, and the flank of each grey steed
was dyed with clotted human gore.  A short rambling recitative,
expressive of loyalty and devotion in the field, was followed by savage
yells and whoops, twice or thrice re-echoed by their marshalled band of
followers, when they vaulted lightly from the saddle, prostrated
themselves on the ground, and galloped off, each in his turn, to make
way for some new squadron, whose war chorus came pealing over the
hills--

  "The combat's past, the fight is won,
  Then triumph o'er the prostrate foe;
  The heathen blood has freely run,
  Raise high the chaunt, Woko, Woko.

  "Let hill and dale return the note,
  Woko, Woko, ayah Woko;
  Loud ring from every Christian throat
  The shout of death, Woko, Woko."

Whilst the army was encamping, the legion of Ayto Shishigo, rejoining
the royal division with three thousand head of oxen, in like manner
reported their successful exploits to the king, who, as usual, occupied
the summit of an adjacent eminence.  Tribute was still in a course of
diligent collection, and Galla chieftains, with their 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 direction, it was strongly fortified,
affording fuel for the royal kitchen, and subsequently a scramble to one
half of the army.

Volume Two, Chapter XXVI.

THE TRIUMPH.

A long march across the Sana Robi next brought the troops to Belat, in
the neighbourhood of Yeolo.  His Majesty, seated upon his cushioned
_alga_, halted frequently in the wide undulating meadows to witness
warlike rehearsals on a still more splendid scale; on the termination of
which, many of the quotas having received their dismissal, dispersed to
their respective districts, although not until after one Amhara soldier
had been treacherously murdered by a rival comrade, and another had been
desperately wounded in a trifling dispute.

Before sunrise the ensuing morning the victorious troops, reduced by one
third, marched upon Angollala, driving exultingly before them upwards of
thirty thousand head of cattle, the entire of which were, _par
excellence_, the property of the king.  Arrived within sight of the
capital, strains of martial music burst from the centre division, when
every throat throughout the vast army joined in one deafening chorus.
Half a mile to the south of the Galla wall a tent had been erected, to
which His Majesty retiring for a few minutes, arrayed himself
preparatory to the triumphal entry; 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 Saint Michael, passed
through the Ankober gate of the defences, the assembled chiefs and
warriors who had been most distinguished during the successful foray,
arrayed in the glittering badges of former achievements in arms, placed
themselves in advance.  One hundred gore-stained steeds, resplendent
with trappings and brass ornaments, and fancifully caparisoned in gay
cloths and chintz housings, bounded and pranced gallantly under this
chosen band of proud cavaliers, who, with lances couched, and party
coloured robes flaunting in the wind, slowly curvetted over the verdant
carpet of turf.  Their glossy black hair, loaded with feathers and green
branches in token of recent triumph, and their variously emblazoned
shields, glancing brightly in the sun-beams, they rent the air with
shrill whoops and yells, responded at frequent intervals by loud shouts
of welcome from the palace, and from all parts of the town; whilst the
dense phalanx of warriors in the rear--their forest of lances partially
obscured under a thick canopy of dust--pressing tumultuously forward,
and pouring the wildest war-songs from ten thousand throats, completed
one of the most brilliant and savage exhibitions that can be conceived.

The king was enrobed in the ample spoils of a noble Hon, richly
ornamented, and half concealing beneath their tawny folds an embroidered
green mantle of Indian manufacture.  On his right shoulder he wore three
chains of gold as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, and the fresh-plucked
bough of asparagus, which denoted his recent exploit, rose from the
centre of an embossed coronet of silver.  His dappled war-steed,
bedizened with housings of blue and yellow, was led prancing beside 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, whilst his long plaited raven
locks floated wildly behind, over the spotted hide of a panther, by
which his broad shoulders were graced.  Abogaz Maretch and Ayto Berkie
rode on either side of the crimson _debaboch_, and a marshalled line of
shield-bearers, under the Master of the Horse, preserved a clear space
around the royal person until the cavalcade had gained the stockaded
knoll, upon the summit of which the palace is erected.

Here a deputation of priests, clad in snow-white garments, received the
victorious monarch 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 the
umbrellas within the gate, greeted the royal return with the shrillest
clamour, and cast themselves prostrate in the dust.  Fusiliers and
matchlock-men of the imperial body-guard lined the second palisaded
enclosure, and under a _feu-de-joie_, their leader, performing the
war-dance before the holy ark, led the procession to the last enclosure,
where the king being met by the eunuchs of the royal household, entered
the palace by a private door, and surrounded by pages and attendants,
presently took seat in a high latticed balcony fronting the inner
quadrangle.

Full in the centre stood a gigantic drum, whereat twelve old hags
thumped unceasingly with crossed hands, keeping time energetically with
their feet, whilst, under the most frightful contortions and
gesticulations, they cursed and screamed defiance to the enemies of the
state.  Sixty 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 dwindling into recitative, now bursting forth into a deafening
chorus.  Around this strange group, the dismounted cavaliers formed
fifteen deep, and filling the entire court, poised each his trophy of
blood aloft upon the glittering 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 despot.

"Behold in me the king's great warrior," now resounded from every
quarter.  "I it was who slew his enemy in the open field, or speared him
in the burning hut.  May victory ever attend his armies in the battle!
May Sahela Selassie reign for ever!"  A general shout and clashing of
shields, with the sudden cessation of the wild music, 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 further extremity of the court,
announced to the public that the tragedy of "the Royal Robber" had been
performed with the most brilliant success, and would be repeated again
during the season.

Rumours of the destruction of the entire Christian host had flown to
Angollala in consequence of the Negoos having, for the first time in his
life, passed the night apart from his baggage; and the grief and
consternation which 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 weapons of a lost descendant of the house of Solomon adorned the
rude walls of the pagan Galla, still fire and sword had ravaged their
fair country; and the rich booty with which the adjacent meadows were
profusely dotted, proclaimed a harvest which, during thirty years, and
eighty-four successive expeditions, had not been eclipsed in the annals
of Amhara bloodshed and rapine.

Volume Two, Chapter XXVII.

NUPTIALS IN HIGH LIFE.

Ayto Hierat's crime brought its own punishment.  The prominent part he
had taken in the event at Boora Roofa, which had so recently covered his
royal master with glory, could hardly be suffered to pass unrequited,
and three days after the return of the expedition to Angollala, he was
accordingly honoured with the hand of Woizoro Belete Shatchau [Anglice,
"Superior to all,"] a shrew possessing the most diabolical of tempers,
whom two husbands had already divorced, although a princess of the blood
royal.

On the morning appointed for the nuptials, we received an early summons
to the palace, in order to witness the ceremony.  The throne was tricked
out with unusual gaiety for the occasion, and the king, covering his
mouth with a fold of his striped mantle according to undeviating wont,
was still in the hands of the barber, who, having curled the last lock,
was adjusting the green _sareti_.  The court-yard was already crowded
with spectators, and a numerous train of female slaves, who had entered
by a side door, were arranging themselves in front.  The quaint, loose
chemises of blue and red, with broad white borders, which formed the
attire of all, imparted a most grotesque appearance, and each carried on
her woolly head a large wicker basket, ornamented with bead draperies
arranged in every variety of fanciful vandyke.  These antique figures
and their burdens constituted the dower of the bride, whose wedding
garments we had supplied, and who presently entered, riding upon a white
mule, gaily tricked out in forked housings, chains, and brass bells.
The Princess Worka Ferri [i.e. Golden Fruit], her sister, followed upon
a second, similarly caparisoned; and both ladies were distinguished by
large _aftabgirs_ of crimson silk, as well as by a cowl of silver
network which covered the hair, and 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
attendants clad in pea-green vests.  A dance and vocal chorus was
continued during a quarter of an hour, to the dissonant thunder of the
war drum; and as the umbrellas 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 indispensable, that
a wedded pair forms a rare phenomenon in Abyssinia.  No marriage rites
whatever solemnised this union; and the shrew, in full procession,
proceeded straightway to spend the honeymoon at the abode of her third
husband, who, following at a respectful distance, exhibited in his
features small anticipation of conjugal felicity.

Descending through the great gate, a train of dirty cook-boys led the
van, bearing on their heads pots, pans, and culinary utensils.  One
hundred female slaves followed, 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 honour, bearing decorated barillas of choice wine from the
royal cellars, rode on either side of their mistress.  Numerous mounted
Amazons--musty-looking Ethiopic figures in blue and white smocks, and
party-coloured bead helmets--kept the inquisitive crowd at a distance
with their long white wands; whilst an escort of three hundred chosen
spearmen, flanked by nobles, eunuchs, and pages on horseback, brought up
the rear, amid the thumping of _nugareet_ from the hill top, and the
shrill acclamations of the entire female population of the town, which
rung from every eminence in honour of the nuptials of Princess Belete
Shatchau.

"My Galla subjects revolted," exclaimed the 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 towards the
prisoners of war, who had on this occasion been released for the first
time during his reign, I did not lose the opportunity of commenting upon
the destruction of innocent and helpless children, as being a most
inhuman practice, and one quite unworthy of the Christian warrior.  The
despot smiled, as if half ashamed; and looking down, replied, "I am
aware that it is bad, but in all countries we must conform to the
customs that prevail.  The Galla destroy the Amhara without
discrimination, and we do but retaliate.  You must all accompany me on
my next campaign in January.  I shall build a fortified house at
Karabarek, and you must there tarry with me.  Whenever you are present I
will release the captives."

During the absence of the army at Garra Gorphoo, one of the Mohammadan
inhabitants of Argobba had been waylaid and wantonly murdered by the
Adaiel, who are in constant feud with the frontier population of Efat.
The relations and clansmen of the deceased surprised the village to
which the assassins belonged, and, in revenge, slew sixteen persons.
Wulasma Mohammad succeeded, after much difficulty, in apparently
pacifying the lowland tribe, who had in their turn sworn upon the Koran
to take bloody vengeance; but no sooner had he returned from the border,
than thirteen Moslem females, proceeding from the town of Channoo to
draw water in the wady, were barbarously butchered at the well.

This tragedy being followed by an application for troops to chastise the
delinquents, now induced the remark, that "if the Adaiel could see one
fourth of the Amhara host, they would cease to trouble the frontier."

"No," replied His Majesty, "it will not do.  My grandfather tried his
arms with the people below, but he was surprised, and lost four thousand
men and six thousand oxen in the bed of a dry ravine.  The water of the
_kwalla_ [i.e. Low valleys] is putrid, and the air hot and unwholesome.
Noxious vapours arise during the night, and the people die from fever.
We fear their sultry climate and their dense forests, and their mode of
warfare.  They leave open only one avenue; and when the Christians enter
the thicket, breaking short their lances, they rush in and fight at
close quarters.  No one can stand against them.  Our muskets avail
nothing, by reason of the trees and bushes.  Furthermore, the Adaiel are
subtle in strong medicines.  They poison the wells with drugs, and
corrupt the water with magic spells and enchantments.  It is their wont
to mix together the flesh of a black dog, a cat, and a certain forest
bird.  This they strew craftily about the ground, and whoso eateth
thereof, becomes instantly insane and dies."

According to the etiquette of the court, I now placed at the foot of the
throne the presents which custom enforces after a victory.  "My son,"
resumed the king, "I am your father.  I am rich.  You have already given
me too much, and I desire not your property.  I wish only for your love,
and for that of your nation.  I am fully aware of the objects of your
residence in my kingdom.  I have seen your character, and know that you
will slay elephants, and buffalos, and wild beasts.  You must not go
away, but accompany me on many more expeditions.  You have now seen much
people.  You must go with me to Gurague, 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
Adaiel and the people of Geshe [a province on the northern frontier of
Shoa] 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."

Volume Two, Chapter XXVIII.

CHRONICLE OF THE INVASION OF MOHAMMAD GRAAN.

In connection with the foregoing remarks respecting the inhabitants of
the lowlands, it is now desirable to sketch, for the reader's
information, some of those early hostilities between the Mohammadans and
Christians, which find a record in the meagre annals of Abyssinia.  They
led, in the sixteenth century, to an event so often alluded to in these
pages,--the invasion of Graan, "the Left-handed," whose irruptions
proved the greatest calamity that ever befel the country.

The allegiance claimed from the Adaiel by the emperors of Ethiopia is
known to have been evaded at a very remote period.  Ages ago gold was
returned for gold, apparel for apparel; and the intractable Moslems were
studiously kept in good humour whensoever they thought proper to visit
the Christian court.  Their revenues arose chiefly from the supply of
camels for the transport of merchandise to various parts of Africa, and
from the importation of fossil salt, which then, as now, passed instead
of silver currency, and for which they purchased slaves, together 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 have interfered 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, and massacred or tortured the priests,
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, amongst many
other derogatory expressions, taunted him as "an 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
species of enormity appears to have been practised 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 descent in a
direct line from the Apostle.

Constant commercial intercourse had long been maintained between Cairo
and Abyssinia, both across the desert and by way of the Red Sea.  Great
caravans, composed formerly of Pagans, but now of Mohammadans, passed in
without molestation, 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 communication across the desert, whether for
commercial or religious purposes, was closed to the Christians.  After
the conquest of Egypt and Arabia by Selim the First, 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 honoured with
the correspondence of the great founder of the Saracen empire.  Many
Arabian merchants, flying about the same period from the violence and
injustice of the Turkish tyrants, had sought an asylum in the opposite
African states, whereupon the Ottomans took possession, from Aden, of
the seaport of Zeyla, and not only laid the Indian trade under heavy
contributions, by means of their galleys cruising in the narrow straits
of Bab el Mandeb, but threatened the conquest both of Adel and
Abyssinia.

Betwixt these countries there subsisted peace from the death of Amda
Zion to the middle of the fifteenth century.  Towards 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 aspired 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 struggle to assert supremacy over the low country;
and, on his death-bed, he caused himself to be so turned that his face
might be towards the sandy deserts of the Adaiel, to whose subjugation
his whole energies had for ten years been devoted.

Mafoodi's inroads, it has been seen, commenced during the reign of
Alexander.  They continued, with increasing horrors, throughout that of
his successor Naod.  Nebla Dengel being only eleven years of age when
called to the throne, Helena, his mother, ruled during his minority.
Albuquerque was at that period viceroy of India, and to him the
queen-dowager sent to implore assistance for troubled Abyssinia.
Arriving at Goa, the ambassador announced himself to be the bearer of "a
fragment of wood belonging to the true Cross on which Christ died, which
relic had been sent, as a token of friendship to her brother Emmanuel,
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 unfavourable reception experienced in
Shoa at the hands of the young emperor, who could never be brought to
recognise his mother's proceedings, which had led to this influx of
foreigners.  At the age of sixteen, having adopted the title of _Wanag
Suggud_, signifying "feared among the lions," he had taken the field in
person against Mafoodi, 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 resolved either to
conquer or to die a martyr to his religion, threw the gauntlet of
defiance to the Christian chivalry, and it was instantly accepted.  The
infidel was slain in single combat by the monk Gabriel, a soldier of
tried valour, who had assumed the monastic cap during the preceding
reign in consequence of having been deprived of the tip of his tongue
for treasonable freedom of speech.  Cutting off the head of this
vanquished antagonist, he now threw it at the feet of his royal master,
and exclaimed, "Behold, sire, the Goliath of the Infidels!"  The green
standard of the Prophet and of the faith was taken, twelve thousand of
the Moslem were slain, and the youthful emperor, in defiance, struck his
lance through the door of the King of Adel.  The monk who had thus
delivered Abyssinia from her worst scourge, was welcomed with the
applause of the whole nation.  Maidens pressed forward to strew flowers
in his path, and matrons celebrating his achievements 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 Janissaries, at the head of whom he burst into Efat and Fatigar,
drove off the population, and laid waste the country with fire.  In 1528
he took possession of Shoa, overran Amhara, burnt all the churches, and
swept off immense booty.  In his next campaign the invader wintered in
Begemeder, 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,
practised every species of atrocity, and set fire to half the churches
in Abyssinia.

Famine and plague now raged, and carried off those whom the sword had
spared.  The princes of the blood were all destroyed; Axum was burnt,
and the monarch himself, after being compelled to take refuge in the
wilderness, was finally slain.  With him died also the boasted splendour
of the Abyssinian court, for he was the last monarch of Ethiopia who
displayed the magnificence of a "king of kings."

Markos, the aged Archbishop, had, on his deathbed, appointed as his
successor John Bermudez, a Portuguese who had been detained in the
country, and at the request of Claudius, who succeeded to the empire, he
now proceeded to Europe to obtain assistance.  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 person.  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 carried before Graan, who,
with his left hand cut off his head, and sent it to Constantinople, his
body being quartered, 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 unperceived 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 possessed not the power to take his head also."

Delivered from his enemy, Claudius now sought to repair the ravages
which had been committed in his country.  A total eclipse of the sun
shortly afterwards threw both army and court into consternation--every
ignorant monk who practised divination declaring the phenomenon to
portend another invasion from the lowlanders.  But in spite of this
prophecy an interchange of prisoners took place.  Del 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.  I Noor, the Ameer of Hurrur, who was
deeply enamoured 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 him 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 celebrated church of Debra-work, "the
mountain of gold," which had been burnt by the infidels.  Claudius, who
had almost by a miracle rescued Abyssinia from the Mohammadans, marched
instantly to accept the challenge.  Many prophecies were current amongst
the soldiery that the campaign was to prove unfortunate, and the
hot-headed monarch to lose his life; but he laughed at these monkish
predictions, declaring an honourable death to be infinitely preferable
to the longest and most prosperous reign.

The rival armies were on the point of engaging, in the year 1559, when
the high priest of Debra Libanos rushed before the emperor to declare a
vision, in which the angel Gabriel had warned him not to suffer the king
of the church of Ethiopia to expose himself in a needless fight.  Thus
discouraged, the cowardly Abyssinians instantly fled, leaving Claudius
supported only by a handful of Portuguese soldiers, who were soon slain
around his person, and he immediately afterwards 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, who caused it
to be interred in the holy sepulchre of Saint Claudius at Antioch; and
the name of the hero who had been victorious in every action save that
in which he died, has since been enrolled in the voluminous catalogue of
Abyssinian saints, where it now occupies a conspicuous place, as the
destroyer of Mohammad, surnamed "the Left-handed."

To the present day the most preposterous legends are believed with
reference to the personal prowess of this fierce invader, his gigantic
stature, and the colossal size of his steed.  He is said to have wielded
a brand twenty feet in length; and although it is matter of notoriety
that he fell in the manner above narrated, by the hand of a Portuguese
soldier, he is represented to have received no fewer than four thousand
musket bullets before yielding up the ghost.  The supernatural
achievements of Graan are handed down to posterity in an extant Amharic
volume; and his inroads gave birth in the mind of the people of Shoa to
a superstitious dread of the Adaiel, such as was long entertained of the
Turks in Northern Europe, and which it has been seen extends even to the
warlike monarch.

Volume Two, Chapter XXIX.

PROCEEDINGS AT ANGOLLALA.

Certain Abyssinian potentates of old are recorded by their biographers
to have bestowed in religious charity all their worldly substance,
saving the crown upon their heads.  But such will never be said of
Sahela Selassie, whose endowments, although frequent, are invariably
regulated by prudence.  Avarice stigmatises his every gift, and even
adulterates the incense of his sacrifice.  The countless droves of
sturdy beeves which now ranged over the royal meadows were daily
inspected with evident signs of satisfaction; but whilst the sleekest
were distributed over the various pasture-lands, the leanest kine were
despatched to the several churches and monasteries, as offerings after
the successful campaign.

At this season of rejoicing and festivity, the host of loathsome objects
that habitually infest the outer court, or crawl in quest of alms around
the precincts of the palace, had increased to a surprising extent, in
order to share the royal bounty.  Swarms of itinerant paupers, who
bivouacked under the old Galla wall, sang psalms and hymns in the
streets during the entire night; and long before dawn the clamour
commenced around the tents of a throng of 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 pilferings were of
course committed by this ragged congregation; and a deputation of the
inhabitants of Angollala soon presented 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 we received an invitation to witness
the distribution of royal alms, which was to be followed by a beggars'
feast.  The wonted inmates of the palisaded enclosure were no longer
there, but their place was occupied by a shoal of even more wretched
beings, just imported with a caravan from Gurague.  Upwards of six
hundred slaves, of every age, from childhood to maturity, and most of
them in a state of perfect nudity, who had been snatched by the hand of
avarice from the fair land of their birth, were here huddled together
under the eye of the rover for inspection by the officers of the crown,
preparatory to being driven to market; and the forlorn and destitute
appearance both of old and young, stamped them objects but too well
fitted for participation in the charity of a Christian monarch.

Immediately on our arrival within the court-yard of the palace, we were
conducted by the king to the royal bedchamber--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
favourite war-steeds, whose mangers were in close proximity to the
well-screened couch.  Cleanliness did not characterise 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 protect the slumbers of the suspicious despot.
The mystery of our introduction into the precincts of the harem, was
presently explained by the appearance of one of the young princes of the
blood royal, who had arrived in the course of the morning, and, with
eyes veiled, was now led in by a withered eunuch, in order that he might
receive medical assistance.

Saifa Selassie, "the sword of the Trinity," is an extremely aristocratic
and fine-looking youth, about twelve years of age, possessing the noble
features of his sire, with the advantage of a very fair instead of a
swarthy complexion.  Beneath a red chintz vest of Arabian manufacture,
he wore a striped cotton robe, which fell in graceful folds from the
girdle, and from the crown of the head a tassel of minutely-braided
locks streamed to the middle of his back.  "This is the light of mine
eyes, and dearer to me than life itself," exclaimed the king,
withdrawing the bandage, and caressing the boy with the utmost
fondness--"Give him the medicine that removes ophthalmia, or he, too,
will be blind like his father."

I assured His Majesty that no alarm need be entertained; and that
although the cause was to be regretted, the day which had brought us the
honour of an interview 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 my arm, and replied, "We do not yet know each other as we
ought, but we shall daily become better and better acquainted."

"Whence comes this _maskal_?" resumed the inquisitive monarch, raising a
Catholic cross devoutly to his lips, as the royal scion was reconducted
by the shrivelled attendant towards the apartments of the queen--"to
what nation does it belong?"

"It is the emblem of those who, in their attempts to propagate the
Romish 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 Saint Giles had, meanwhile, been ushered through a
private wicket, and in the adjacent enclosure offered a most revolting
spectacle.  The palsied, the leprous, the scrofulous, and those in the
most inveterate stages of dropsy and elephantiasis, were mingled with
mutilated wretches who had been bereft of hands, feet, eyes, and tongue,
by the sanguinary tyrants of Northern Abyssinia, 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, 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 onwards upon the
spectres of mules, asses, and horses, and the blind, in long Indian
file, rolling their ghastly eyeballs, and touching each the shoulder of
his sightless neighbour, groped their way towards the hum of voices, to
add new horrors to the appalling picture.

An annual muster-roll being kept as a check, all who were ascertained to
have been participators in the distribution of the preceding year were
unceremoniously ejected by the myrmidons of the purveyor-general, who
has ever the interests of the state revenues warmly at heart.  The
mendicants were next classed in squads according to their diseases, and
the dwarf father confessor, by no means the least frightful object in
the assembly, proceeded, in capacity of king's almoner, to dispense the
royal bounty.  Sheep, clothes, and money, were distributed with a
judicious hand, each donation made being carefully registered by the
scribes in attendance; and half-baked bread, raw beef, and sour beer, in
quantities sufficient to satisfy every monk and beggar in the realm,
having been heaped outside the palace gate, all ate their fill, and
dispersed.  Next to the merciful disposition of Sahela Selassie, his
munificence to the indigent may be ranked among his most prominent
virtues.  Whilst the needy never retire empty-handed from his door, no
criminal ever suffers under the 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 obsolete, and the sickening sentence is unknown which in the
northern states condemns 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 different climes; and the scene that awaited our return
from the banquet, although in strict accordance with retributive
justice, was in appalling contrast with the more merciful fiat of
civilised jurisprudence.

A warrior had been convicted upon undeniable evidence of the 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 this
companion into the wood, and taking 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, prompted the dastardly outrage;
and the treacherous assassin who had embrued his hands in the blood of
his dearest friend, now placed the green trophy of valour triumphantly
on his guilty head.  "Where is thy brother?" was the question that
awaited 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
body had been discovered, that suspicion fell heavily upon himself.

Mourning relatives threw themselves in sackcloth at the imperial
footstool, and cried aloud for the blood of the prisoner.  Arraigned
before the monarch, the investigation had been patiently conducted
during the beggars feast, and the "Fetha Negest" having been duly
consulted, the sentence proceeded from the royal lips--"Take him hence,
and deal with him as you will."

The last sun that was to shine upon the malefactor was sinking fast
towards the western horizon, when, with hands bound behind his back, he
was hurried from the presence for instant execution.  Its rising rays
had seen him seated at the door of the hut, whilst his young wife
adorned his locks with the newly-plucked branch of asparagus, that was
the record of his infamy, but the meridian beam had witnessed his
arrest.  The relatives of the murdered, and a band of the king's
headsmen, each 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
taunts and ignominy upon his numbered moments.

Impatient of delay, the friends of the deceased were about to immolate
their victim on the meadow close to the encampment of the Embassy; but
adjured by the life of the monarch, they urged the culprit over the
rocky mound adjoining the Galla wall, which was already crowded with a
vast concourse of spectators, burning for the consummation of the last
sentence of the law.  Scarcely had the unresisting criminal passed the
summit, than an eager hand stripped the garment from his shoulder, and
twenty bright spears being poised at the moment, he turned his head to
the one side, to receive a deep stab on the other.  Whilst still
reeling, a dozen blades were sheathed in his heart, and a hundred more
transfixed 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, bearing the trophy aloft, as they howled with truly savage
satisfaction the Christian chorus of death!

Mother, sisters, and wives, now flocked around the lifeless clay,
rending the air with their piercing shrieks.--"Alas! the brave have
fallen, the spirit of the bold has fled."

"_Waiye, waiye_--woe 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 lamentation.  But the turbaned priest was not there; no
absolution had been given, nor had the last sacrament been partaken; and
the unhallowed remains of the murderer would have found a tomb in the
maw of the hyena and the vulture, had not a charitable hand enclosed
them under a cairn of stones by the highway side, where many a
grass-grown mound marks the fate of the cowardly assassin, who had
destroyed his brother in the wood, and whose memory is coupled with
dishonour.

Volume Two, Chapter XXX.

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY TO THE CAPITAL.

"Reculer pour mieux sauter," is a maxim strictly in accordance with His
Majesty's notions of strategy.  Twenty days had elapsed since the return
of the expedition, when the arrival before the palace of six thousand
head of cattle proclaimed the success of a second sweeping foray
directed against the Ekka and Finfinni Galla.  A Mohammadan merchant
residing at Roque, the market town and great slave-mart of Yerrur, was
suspected of having with his own hand slain the son of Ayto Besuehnech,
grand-nephew to the king--this youth having pressed on far in advance of
his comrades in pursuit of the retreating pagans.  To avenge his
untimely death, a detachment, consisting of five thousand horse, was
despatched under the command of Aytos Berkie, Chilo, and Dogmo, the
government of which latter chief had previously been extended in
acknowledgment of his recent services.  They made a forced march through
Bulga, and although foiled in their principal object by the precipitate
flight of the rover whose life they sought, the whole of his family and
followers were massacred, his effects plundered, and his house burnt to
the ground.

The survivors of the Ekka and Finfinni tribes, believing the fatal storm
to be expended, had already returned with the residue of their flocks
and herds, and were actively engaged in restoring their dilapidated
habitations, when the Amhara hordes again burst over their fair valley,
slew six hundred souls, and captured all the remaining cattle, thus
completing the chastisement of these devoted clans, who, notwithstanding
the generous restoration of their enslaved families, had failed to make
submission--and redeeming the royal pledge "to play the rebels another
trick."

The king had not honoured 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 issued at sunrise on horseback through the
_sirkosh ber_, the only addition to his usual costume being a plume of
nine feathers stripped from the _Rasa_, or egret, which were worn in the
hair in token of his recent prowess at Boora Roofa.  Putting his horse
into a gallop, he never drew bridle until stopped by the Bereza, many
parties under governors of the adjacent districts joining the royal
_cortege_ from various quarters, and swelling the retinue to two
thousand equestrians, who continued at a furious pace to clatter over
the stony ground.

Mosabeit, a village standing on a peninsula formed by the junction of
the Toro Mesk water with the Bereza, imparts its name to this, the most
direct road from Angollala to Ankober.  The river forded, the king
mounted his mule, and diverging to the right, passed through a valley
studded with hamlets, the inhabitants of which, male and female, came
forth with many prostrations to the earth, whilst the women raised their
voices together in the usual ringing _heleltee_.

On all occasions of rejoicing and ceremony, 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 clamour of welcome, moving the
tongue with more than ordinary volubility against the palate, and
producing a continuous succession of tremulous notes.  One watchful dame
on the outskirts perceives the approach of the cavalcade, and forthwith
gives out her wild screech of warning.  In a moment the mountain side is
covered with every female within hearing; the _Hil! lil! lil_!
progresses fast and furious as they bend nearly double to assist in
upraising the yelling chorus; tears stream from their eyes in the
violence of the exertion, and far and near the hills resound with the
gathered volume of their shrill throats.

The king halted for a moment at a pile of stones by the way-side,
covered with rags, feathers, and flowers, to which every devout
Christian adds his tribute whilst saluting it with his lips.  It points
to the white-roofed church of Saint Michael the Archangel, peeping
through a dark clump of junipers at some distance from the road, and
many were the fervent kisses of adoration bestowed by the triumphant
warriors.  A little beyond, a large black cross on the summit of a
tumulus directs attention to the residence of Ayto Berri,
quarter-master-general of the Amhara forces.  Here His Majesty again
diverged, in order to lead the cavalcade through the most thickly
populated tract; and after resting for half an hour in the Ungua-mesk,
one of the many royal meadows, now black with the Galla herds, he turned
suddenly off to the Motatit road, according to his invariable custom,
when proceeding to the capital after a successful foray.

The Arsiamba, styled at its point of intersection with the route usually
pursued, _Ya Wurjoch Maderia_, 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.  But by far the most
interesting object is a certain white pillar, overgrown with nettles,
standing at the foot of the hills which bound the Ungua-mesk.  It is
designated "Graan's stone," and is famous from an existing tradition
that the Moslem invader tied his war-horse to it on the occasion of his
leading the Adaiel to the destruction of Debra Berhan.

Abundantly cultivated, and rich in grazing land, the tract we had passed
over is throughout so destitute of trees and even of bushes, that the
inhabitants employ no other fuel than dried manure.  Arrived at the
summit of the Chaka mountain, where straggling _cossos_ break the
monotony of the landscape, many hundred females, assembled from the
numerous villages in the vicinity, 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, preceded by a war-dance, wherein all the warriors joined, he
finally took up his quarters for the night in a house separated by a
deep valley from the capital.

Early the ensuing morning we rode out to the Chaffa meadow at the foot
of the palace, to meet and welcome His Majesty, who, after arraying
himself within a marquee erected for his accommodation, shortly appeared
through a gorge in a low range of hills, which was crowned on either
side by matchlock-men 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 golden collar encircled his neck, and a massive
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, whilst a row of spangled pendants across the
brow half obscured the eyes, and imparted a peculiarly savage aspect,
which was enhanced by a large branch of wild asparagus floating above
the curly locks, and by a white and crimson robe drawn across the lower
portion of the face.

As the cavalcade advanced, the braves continued to caracole until
reaching the extremity of the meadow, where the assembled priests and
monks of Ankober, as well as of the neighbouring churches and
monasteries, were drawn up to receive their sovereign.  The holy arks
were each screened under the canopy of a large embroidered umbrella; and
that of Saint Michael, the senior, which had accompanied the army into
the field, was carried beneath a _debab_ of solid embossed silver,
decorated with chain pendants and fretwork.  Psalms having been chanted
by the turbaned body, who danced vehemently to their own chorus, the
_Alaka_ of the cathedral advancing, laid his hands on the head of the
victorious monarch, and gave his blessing, when the procession moved
slowly forward towards the foot of the hill, singing the death knell of
the pagan,--

  "Moolohoy Moolo?  Hai hai!
  Wokao?  Selala dabito!"

The warriors, preceded by the royal band of kettle-drums and wind
instruments, took the lead up the long steep and narrow path, which
winds along the verge of a precipitous ascent to the palace, perched on
the very pinnacle of the cone.  A proclamation, through the herald,
having commanded the presence of all the inhabitants of the capital and
of the villages adjacent, every roof, bank, and cliff, was crowded with
women and girls.  As the king passed on, they kept up an unceasing
clamour, and it increased to a deafening din as he approached the gate
of the outer enclosure, where a dense mass of curled heads extended
across the entire open area in front of the palisades.

The British escort, drawn up before the lower defences, presented arms
as the monarch passed, and within the stockade stood the high priests of
the five churches, robed and mitred.  The clamour, the music, and the
echo of musketry, continued during the tedious ascent of the steep and
difficult path, which, broken into steps, winds betwixt lofty palisades,
through nine gateways and lodges, to the inner enclosure.  Here His
Majesty took his seat in a raised alcove, the throne, and the usual
trappings of royalty, being on this occasion new throughout, and more
than wonted cleanliness pervading every quarter of the palace.

Once more the large drum in the middle of the court gave forth its deep
notes.  Three hundred concubines, seated in a circle around, again
screamed and clapped their stained hands in deafening concert.  A
dancing girl, flanked by two wild braves, whirled in front of the
throne, and in a series of eulogistic rhymes, composed by herself,
chanted a rehearsal of the recent heroic deeds of the puissant monarch,
"who, although invariably triumphant over his heathen foes, had never
decorated his royal brow with a branch greener than that by which it was
now surmounted."  Each time she turned towards the crowd, a shrill
clamour of united voices rang forth the chorus to her verse.  The
skin-clad warriors leapt and howled;--akodamas, coronets, and silver
swords, glistened in the morning sun; and as the chiefs, governors, 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 carpeted yard, and lining every wall, capered, yelled, and
shouted with the wildest enthusiasm.  A general war-dance followed the
cessation of the shrill notes of the songstress, and the pageant
concluded with a royal salute, fired by the artillery detachment over
the British flag, which, in honour of His Majesty's arrival, floated far
below in the centre of the capital of Shoa.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXI.

THE PALACE AT ANKOBER.

The entire slope of the palace eminence is studded with thatched
magazines and out-houses; and these, shame to the Christian monarch,
form the scene of the daily labours of three thousand 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 the building arises the plaintive ditty of those who grind the corn
by the sweat of their brow.  Here cauldrons of red pepper soup yield up
their potent steam; and in the adjacent compartment, long twisted strips
of old cotton rag are being dipped in bees' wax.  Throughout the female
establishment the bloated and cross-grained eunuch presides; and his
unsparing rod admonishes his giggling charges that they are not there to
gaze at the passing stranger.

In the sunny verandah of the wardrobe, tailors and curriers are
achieving all manner of curious amulets and devices--the offspring of a
savage brain.  Blacksmiths are banging away at the anvil under the eaves
of the banqueting hall.  Turbaned priests, seated in the porch, armed
with a party-coloured cow's tail, indolently drive away the flies from
volumes which are elevated on a rack before their ancient eyes, and
detail the miracles of the saints.  Under one shed, notaries are
diligently committing to parchment elaborate inventories of tribute
received.  Sacred books are being bound in a second.  In a crowded
corner painters are perpetrating on the illuminated page atrocious daubs
of our first father carrying spear and buckler in the Garden of Eden;
and in the long shadow thrown by the slaughterhouse, whence a stream of
blood is ever flowing across the road, carpenters are destroying bad
wood in a clumsy attempt to fashion a gun stock with a farrier's rasp,
for the reception of an old honeycombed barrel which promises to burst
upon the very first discharge.

Governors and nobles, with shields and silver swords, are seated above.
Clamourous paupers, itinerant monks, and applicants for justice, fill
the lower courts.  The open _Arada_ before the great-gate is choked with
idlers, gossips, and immoveable beggars, 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,
behold Ayto Wolda Hana himself, seated in magisterial dignity, arranging
the affairs of the nation.  Hundreds tremble at his uncompromising nod;
and appellant and respondent, accuser and accused, alike bared to the
girdle, bend in cringing submission, as in a cracked and querulous voice
the despotic legislator delivers his arbitrary fiat.

During the absence of the Negoos on military expeditions, the most
inquisitorial espionage is exercised over the actions of every
foreigner, and the strictest police established, to insure the safety of
the almost deserted capital.  Every avenue is vigilantly guarded, and no
stranger allowed to enter the town without permission 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 overflowing.  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 the importunity to which we were exposed
on the part of the wealthy had attained the point beyond which it was
scarcely possible to advance.  Each ruffian who had destroyed an infant
considered that he possessed an undeniable right to be "decorated from
head to foot, and completely ornamented."  Villains, streaming with
rancid butter, entered the Residency, and desired that the "Gyptzis's
bead shop might be opened, as they had brought salt to purchase a
necklace;" whilst 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 demanded the merited reward.  "The gun is the medicine for
the cowardly Pagan who ascends a tree," was the maxim of many who
aspired to the possession 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 claim to the possession of "pleasing things."

With the design of aiding his fast-swelling collection of natural
history.  Dr Roth had offered rewards to all who chose to contribute,
and the king's pages were kept well supplied with ammunition for the
destruction of birds; but the unconquerable love of sticking a feather
in the hair almost invariably spoiled the specimen.  A bat, firmly
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 exultation--"It is the Devil, who had got into the
monastery of Aferbeine; I've caught the rascal; _min abat_?" "what is
his father?"

After this strong invective, which is indiscriminately applied also as
occasion demands, to man, beast, and every inanimate thing, the youth
was not a little surprised to perceive the naturalist quietly extricate
the much-dreaded animal with his fingers.  A party of females, who
carried pitchers of water at their backs, had halted in the road, and
looking over the hedge, were silent spectators of the proceeding.
"_Erag, erag_," they exclaimed with one accord, placing their hands
before their months 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 Archangel, whose church immediately
adjoins the palace, the monarch received the holy sacrament in the
middle of the night, and returned thanks for his victory, a chair having
previously been obtained from the Residency to obviate the fatigue
stated to have resulted from former orisons.  The holy ark, which had
brought success to his arms, was again placed under the silver canopy,
and thrice carried in solemn procession around the sacred edifice, under
a salute of musketry and ordnance.  Large offerings were as usual made
to it, alms distributed among the poor, a new cloth 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 suddenly inumbrated the moon, and as the black shadow was
perceived stealing rapidly onwards, and casting a mysterious gloom over
the face of nature, late so bright, the exulting Christians were seized
with the direst consternation.  The sound of the drum was hushed, and
the wild chorus was heard no more.  Believing the orb to be dead, and
that her demise prognosticated war, pestilence, and famine, the entire
town and suburbs became a scene of panic, tumult, and uproar, whilst
women and men, priests and laity, collecting together in the streets and
in the churches, cried aloud upon the "Saviour of the world to take pity
on them--to screen them from the 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 construction.  During the
whole period of the moon's obscuration, the wailing continued without
intermission; and when the planet, emerging, sailed again through the
firmament in all her wonted brilliancy, a universal shout of joy burst
from the lips of the savages, in the firm belief that the prayers and
sobs of the multitude had prevailed, and awakened her from the sleep of
death.

His Majesty had been previously apprised of the precise hour and minute
at which the obscuration 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 appearance 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 attention
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 it is
girded on the loins of none but those who enjoy an exalted place in the
sovereign's favour.  The forfeiture of government and the loss of the
cumbrous badge go hand in hand, and many are the weary hours of
attendance indispensable towards the restoration of either.  On no
foreigner who had yet visited the Christian land had this mark of
distinction been conferred, but the despot now suddenly resolved that
the fluted tulip scabbard should adorn his English guests.  "You bring
the stars upon earth, and foretell coming events," said His Majesty, as
he presented these tokens of favour and confidence--"you are my
children; you possess strong medicine.  You must wear these swords in
assurance of my permanent love, that your name may be great in the eyes
of all my people."

Volume Two, Chapter XXXII.

THE FOREST OF MAMRAT.

Excursions abroad continued as usual to occupy the royal leisure; and
even when rats and horned owls formed the ignominious quarry, the king's
Gyptzis were invariably summoned.  But the dark forests which clothe the
foot of Mamrat proved the favourite scene of these rambles, and thither
the steps of the monarch were usually directed.  Large colonies of the
_gureza_, which inhabit the noblest trees, offered an irresistible
attraction; and although, from their retired habits no less than from
their appearance, these inoffensive 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 sable body,
betrayed the place of concealment; and numbers being soon prostrate upon
the ground, the survivors, amazed at the murderous intrusion, were to be
seen swinging from bough to bough like a slack-rope dancer, and leaping
from tree to tree as they sought more secure quarters in the, to man,
inaccessible sides of the hail-capped mountain.

Occupying manifold caves and subterranean crannies in this the most
elevated pinnacle within the range of vision, the idolised riches of
Sahela Selassie are covered with massive iron plates, barred, and
secured by large heaps of stone.  A strong guard of matchlock-men
occupies the only practicable ascent to the treasury; 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.  At the extremity of a forest vista, the
huge wooded cone presents a grand and imposing object, avenues of tall
trees screening its dark defiles, whilst the fleecy vapour that steals
across the hoary summit, discloses glimpses of the many smiling hamlets
which crest the Abyssinian Alps.

A Mohammadan legend asserts, that in time of yore, "the Mother of Grace"
towered even to the skies, and so remained until the first invasion of
Graan.  Ameer Noor, his brother, the ruler of Hurrur in its golden days,
having formed his camp upon a rising ground above Alio Amba, despatched
his chieftains in all directions to slay, burn, and plunder.  Upon their
return, laden with rich booty, obtained without having encountered a
single Amhara, the disappointed Ameer exclaimed, in his religious zeal,
"'tis the mountain Mamrat that hides the dastardly infidels.  May Allah,
the only one God, who rules over the universe, grant that it be
overthrown, and my foes revealed!"  Scarcely had the pious prayer
escaped his lips, than the pile reeled to and fro like a drunken man,
and sank to its present level.

"The country of the Adaiel," adds the same veracious authority, "through
which the Ameer led the followers of the true Prophet, was in those days
a trackless desert, 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 present time."  During the struggle that followed the
arrival of the Moslem invaders, 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 Zeyla, was slain on the terrace
betwixt Mamrat and Alio Amba, and his body 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," is a spacious
cell, often visited by the king.  During one half of the fourteenth
century, it formed the abode of an anchorite, renowned far and wide for
the austerity of his life, 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 Emperor, 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 standard of Christ droop before the
profane ensign of the infidels; for that it was written in the book of
the Revelation of Saint 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, and their heads being
transmitted to the King of Adel, proved the forerunners of a bloody
defeat, which he shortly afterwards sustained.

To the latest occupant of the cave of Mamrat is attached the legend
embodied in the two ensuing chapters.  It is fully illustrative of the
grovelling superstition that enthrals the Amhara, of whom 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 favour
of Asfa Woosen, fifth monarch of Shoa, who took forcible possession of
his sister, and after degrading the courtier for opposing this despotic
measure, sentenced him to the loss of an eye, which was put out with a
hot iron.  Resolved to have his revenge, the outcast became a worshipper
of the eighty-eight invisible spirits, termed _Saroch_, believed to be
the emissaries for evil of Warobal Mama, the King of the Genies, whose
court is held at the bottom of Lake Alobar, in Mans, whence his drum is
heard pealing over the water whenever war, famine, or pestilence are
about to visit the land.

Having purchased supernatural powers at the price of his hope of
salvation, Thavanan tormented the king 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 now lie interred in the cell
beneath a pile of rough stones, which, during a long period of
mortification, served him for a couch, whilst 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 recognising the sorcerer in a
holy Christian anchorite, who had despised the world and its vanities
during a period of fifty years, he lived universally regarded in
Abyssinia as a second Peter.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXIII.

THE NECROMANCER, A LEGEND OF SHOA.

In the lone recesses of a rocky cave reclined the youth Thavanan, lost
in gloomy meditation.  The hues of care and study were indelibly stamped
upon his lofty 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 his shoulder;
and the blue silk cord which encircled 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.  Thunder rolled in continued peals,
crumbling in pieces the sparry roof over-head, and the hot lightning
illumined every nook and corner of the retreat, whilst the waters of the
broad lake, now raised in wrath, came dashing and foaming to its very
mouth 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 in desperation the uneven floor of the
slippery cavern.

"Years have rolled away since that withering 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 requisite 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
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 favourite of former days whilst browsing
on the green meadows of Shoa, and knowing the voice of its master, it
quietly followed his footsteps into the centre of the grotto.

The bright eyes were turned upwards in confiding innocence as it licked
the hand which had so often fed and caressed it; but all pity and
compassion were effaced in one fiery feeling of revenge.  The words of
the dread spell to the spirit of the deep were poured forth on the
midnight blast; and the sharp knife gleaming for a moment in the air,
was plunged into the heart of the unresisting victim.

Shrieks filled the cavern, and unearthly echoes were flung back from
every side of the broken vault, whilst the life-stream gurgled on to
mingle with the waters of the lake; and as the last faint groan was
rendered from the expiring animal, the badge and symbol of Christianity
was dipped in the crimson tide which had flowed to the honour of the
genius and his satellites.

[The cord of blue silk styled "mateb," which in Abyssinia is worn around
the neck of the Christian to denote his faith, has usually a small
silver cross appended.]

A sulphur-coloured fowl was next subjected to the necessary preparations
for the sacrifice.  One eye was deliberately scooped out amidst
blasphemy and execration, and the bright blue cord which had hitherto
graced the neck of the Christian, now gory with unhallowed blood, was
bound in a mysterious knot on this the second victim to the powers of
darkness.  The holy cross was suspended to the desecrated thread; and
having raised the flickering embers with sweet woods and subtle
essences, Thavanan crushed the head of the fowl under his heel until the
brains flowed, and then dashed the body into the fire.

The flame shot aloft in one fierce spire of light, blazing like the
arrow of the infernal host, and, again, satiate with the pungent
offering, sank amid a stifling cloud of fetid smoke.  Casting himself
upon the rocky floor in an attitude of prostration, the youth listened
in awe to the moans of the wind which had succeeded to the hurricane.
But his courage was firm as the foundations of Mamrat; and it was well
for him that his heart quailed not during that hour of perilous
endurance.

The effects of his diabolical incantation were soon manifest.  Foul
spirits mowed and chattered in his ear, and the cold rushing of pinions
flapping lazily through the air wetted him with slimy spray.  But
revenge and desperation had steeled his nerves; and after a period of
intense misery, which appeared without limit to the sufferer, the
melancholy sound of a drum came faintly booming over the face of the
waters--the welcome token that the hour of trial was past, and that the
sacrifice had been accepted.  Waxing louder and louder, the pealing of
the music shook the rocks with its continuous reverberations.  Unearthly
voices, ceasing to torment, faded altogether away; and the renegade,
casting one look on the ashes of things holy and once prized, stepped
forth from the mouth of the cavern.

Wild and fearful was the scene which met his gaze.  The moon was for the
moment unobscured, but huge masses of pale cloud, like armed hosts, sped
fiercely across the skies, whilst thunder and lightning seemed to warn
the astounded beholder that spirits of another world were engaged in
their unholy revels.

Unruffled by the breeze, the great lake spread like a sheet of molten
silver at his feet; whilst 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 prayer to the spirit he had invoked, Thavanan plunged headlong
into the cold deep waters, which gurgled and bubbled over his descending
form; but baffled in his design to reach the glittering white sand--now
the only haven of his hope--he rose once more to the surface.

All was dark, dismal, and lonely.  A thick fog covered the water, the
earth, and the sky, whilst 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 unavailing 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 savour of
the sacrifice had penetrated into the halls of magic.  A long sinewy arm
raised the body high over the water.  The drum again pealed through the
boundless space; the bright fire threw one last triumphant stream above
the surface, and a heavy plunge beneath 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 awakening senses, and
the sweet melody of voices ushered him again into existence.  Starting
from his trance, the bewildered Thavanan found ample scope for the
indulgence 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 coloured
amber and crystal rose to sustain the glowing fabric, and cloths, such
as emperors alone can boast, strewed the floors in unbounded profusion.

In the centre of each gallery stood an altar of virgin silver, from
which a never-failing arrow of flame diffused a mellow light over the
glittering pillars of the hall.  Around their more searching sister,
jets of sweet-scented water played high in the air; and dancing on the
apex of each fountain, a sparkling emerald, the ransom of a monarch,
gently regulated the rush of the stream, in token that the elements were
here held under control.

Superb paintings, illuminated in transparency, shed a dreamy languor
over the scene, and music lent her exhaustless charms to captivate the
sense.  Sweet strains of triumph, ringing in full chorus among the lofty
domes, died gently away into the softness of repose; and at times the
low murmur of the waves fell pleasingly upon the ear, as the lake poured
forth her springs in homage to the master spirit, and imprinted the kiss
of obedience on the magic abode of Warobal Mama.

Colossal statues of Famine, War, and Pestilence, frowned from their
lofty pedestals in all the sternness of brass above the glories of this
rich and varied scene.  Each giant arm grasped a knotted mace, whose
awful blow on the iron drum of misfortune was well known to the dismayed
inhabitants of the upper regions of earth as the sure harbinger of woe.

Arts and sciences had each their separate niche in the spacious
apartment; and favoured votaries were deeply engaged in scanning subtle
essences, or preparing potent spells.  The hum of confused voices was
borne on the fragrant atmosphere, whilst 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 to the dread spirit of the lake.

In the immediate vicinity of the wondering mortal, an elevated throne
stood the most conspicuous object.  Spiral steps of gold led to the
shrine of power.  Precious stones sparkling in rich wreaths of enamel,
hung a brilliant balustrade in front--and forming the seat of high
honour and place, a white ivory shell rested amid the shining leaves of
the ever-flowering lotus.  The sea-snake rose in glittering green folds
to receive in his soft embrace the recumbent occupant; and ministering
spirits of strange form, bearing harp and censer, were ranged in silence
around.

Thundering peals of music, and a sudden prostration, proclaimed the
presence of the genius of the place; and, amid the clash of lute and
timbrel, a cloud of incense floating high over head, disclosed a dwarf
crouching on the shell.  His aspect was mild and beneficent, and a
flowing white beard entirely covered his minute person; but the essence
of ethereal intelligence shot from his piercing black eye, and a pale
fire played among his long yellow locks.  Again the harps rung out the
silver notes of welcome, and a vocal chorus 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 wrongs, or length of day."

Borne forward by an irresistible impulse, Thavanan found himself among
the kneeling crowd in front of the throne, and a soft still voice
proceeded from the high place:--"Mortal, what would'st thou with us?
Answer without fear."

"Revenge," replied the petitioner, "revenge for injury unprovoked--a
house rifled and burnt, a fair sister carried to the lawless harem, and
the eyeball blasted for ever, of one who had heretofore looked upon the
great monarch of Shoa as a perfect Deity upon earth."

"Let the child of clay take the oath of allegiance, and be instructed to
obtain his wish," responded the being in whose tiny form was
concentrated such power and grandeur; and as the words proceeded from
his lips, the floor sank under the foot of the proselyte, and Thavanan
stood with an attending spirit in the centre of a gloomy grotto.

A blood-red cross, which flashed amid the darkness, revealed sights
horrible to behold, and conjured before the imagination thoughts upon
which it was then madness to dwell.  But daring to the last, the
apostate, in presence of the symbol of Christianity, abjured all the
high hopes of Heaven.  Revenge upon earth filled his soul for the
moment; and although the touch of that blessed sign struck through his
young heart like the sharp stab of the searing-iron, the fearful oath
was firmly and distinctly repeated.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXIV.

THAVANAN THE TORMENTOR.

Months had passed away since the disappearance of the gay Thavanan, once
the favourite of the potent monarch of Shoa.  Fallen in a single day
from his high estate, and deprived of an eye before the scoffing
multitude, the innocent victim to intrigue had departed alone and on
foot through the gateway of the palace.  A thousand cavaliers had that
morning obeyed his least command, but not one attended him in the hour
of adversity; and shunned as a thing accursed by the brutal mob, he
wended his way in moody silence to his home in the green meadow of the
Chaka.  But the myrmidons of tyranny had outstripped his heavy footstep.
Ashes alone proclaimed the site of his late flourishing abode, and a
solitary goat, bleating amid the ruins, was all that remained of his
once numerous possessions.

The king's _aferoch_ had been busy since early morn, and every thing had
been swept 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.  Stunned by the fatal intelligence, Thavanan, followed only by
the goat, withdrew unnoticed from the scene of desolation, and his very
name was for a time forgotten in the land.

Towards the close of the year strange reports were circulated from the
palace.  Unseen hands abstracted the choicest viands--the clearest
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
morsel transferred from the gaping mouth to the rushes which strewed the
floor.  The monarch himself was not exempt from the foul plague.  His
palate was daily cheated of some accustomed dainty; and once, to the
horror of the assembled courtiers, a bloody tail was inserted as the
royal jaws opened to essay a dish prepared in the seraglio--a loud laugh
ringing meanwhile among the rafters of the banqueting-room, which struck
upon the ear of the discomfited despot like the merry tones of his
exiled favourite.

Priests were called in to the rescue--holy books were read, and
consecrated water profusely sprinkled upon 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
apparitions 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.  Tossing on his couch, the restless monarch sunk
weary to sleep, only to be jaded by spectres and evil dreams, in which
the wronged Thavanan invariably appeared as the chief tormentor.

The nuisance continued without intermission, until, on the high festival
of Easter, harassed and exhausted, the Negoos 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 depressed eye, no mirth or hilarity
on the tongue of any guest, and a low whisper hardly disturbed the
silence which reigned among the dismayed assembly.

The usual infernal sallies were on this day practised exclusively at the
royal board, before which the uneasy monarch, occupying a high alcove,
and surrounded by pages and men at arms, reclined in his wonted
grandeur.  Suddenly, another figure appeared at the table, resting one
hand in a curiously wrought earthen vase, and extending the other high,
in defiance towards the throne.

"The lost Thavanan!" shouted the crowd: "he has pawned his soul to the
fiend"--and swords flashed from the scabbard, as men's hearts were
strengthened 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 portion of him who trifles with the pleasure of kings!"

It was indeed Thavanan who confronted the frown of majesty; but how
changed from the mild and handsome favourite of former days!  White as
the feather of the _Rasa_, his dishevelled hair floated over the bent
shoulder, and stern revenge was graven in the deep furrows of his pallid
cheek.  His solitary eye gleamed with infernal 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 words
of scorn:--

"False monarch, repent in time, for the serpent will turn upon its
destroyer.  Proud descendant of the race of Solomon, the wit of thy
illustrious ancestor is dull in comparison with the wisdom of the
meanest disciple of Warobal.  I defy thy myrmidons and thyself!"

And uttering these words, Thavanan instantaneously 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 unwelcome
intrusion.  Again the hearts of the vassals fell within them; and whilst
a gloomy silence pervaded the hall, the triumphant song of the tormentor
came ringing 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 courage of the tyrant quailed before the dread powers which were in
array against him, and resolved upon an act of tardy justice.  Freedom
was restored to the degraded and enslaved family, and the confiscated
lands were returned threefold to the impoverished 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
redress.  Persecution, nevertheless, ceased for a time; and men breathed
more freely as their hopes gained ground that the spirit of the avenger
was appeased.

On the proclamation of the annual military expedition, the chiefs and
nobles of Shoa 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
mustered on the highest mountains of Anko.  But evil omens and
portentous signs were witnessed continually.  Dogs howled unceasingly
during the livelong night.  Throughout the hours of day, the shrike
croaked from every bush; and the merlin, turning her back on the passing
cavalier, arranged her sober plumage on the stone, without bestowing, in
earnest of victory and success, one glimpse of her snow-white breast.

No heed was given by the stern monarch to these portents of coming evil;
and on the eve of the intended march the halls of the palace were
crowded with all the chivalry of Efat.  Boisterous mirth presided at the
banquet; but as the last horn of old hydromel was drained to the
downfall of the Galla, there arose a fearful cry from the interior
enclosure, and bands of eunuchs, with horror 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 descended like a thunderbolt on the heretofore
unsullied honour of the nation.  "He has left the old and the ugly,"
sobbed the trembling guardians; "but alas for the fair and beautiful
ones of the harem, they are all gone on the wings of the evening wind!"

King and nobles rushed into the court-yard, and every hut which crowned
the pinnacle of the capital poured forth its inmates to gaze at the
wondrous spectacle.  High over the up-reared peak of the mountain soared
a rich rosy cloud, lit by the last glorious rays of the setting sun, and
charged with a freight more prized than the fine gold of Kordofan.
Amhara's fairest daughters were revealed to the unhallowed 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 carried the bitter truth to the exasperated monarch, that the
captives enjoyed their present thraldom as a happy release from the bolt
of the harem gate, and the rod of the testy old eunuch.

Dishonoured in the eyes of his subjects, and smarting under the loss of
objects which still held a place in his heart, the despot stamped and
raged in uncontrollable fury.  The beat of the nugareet and the voice of
the herald forthwith proclaimed the abandonment of the projected
expedition; and, plunged in the deepest mortification, Asfa Woosen
retired to brood in solitude over his unprecedented misfortune.

Morn witnessed the dispersion to their respective quarters of governors
and their levies; and before the shades of another evening had closed
over the deep valley of the Airara, a breathless courier galloped
through the palace-gates with the unlooked-for but welcome tidings, that
the ladies of the royal harem had been discovered reposing unattended
among the high fern and heather of the adjacent mountain side.

Again were the parchment faces of the wrinkled eunuchs radiant in sallow
lustre.  Three hundred mules were instantly dispatched for the
conveyance of the truant flock to their fold; and at midnight the
muffled damsels were consigned, amid the cracked exultations of
attendants, to their wonted cages in the palace.

But the fair sister of Thavanan was not of the number, neither could any
clue be obtained to her fate or condition.  A small scroll had indeed
been discovered on the turf, sealed and bearing the address of the ruler
of Shoa--a gigantic glow-worm, attached by a single yellow hair to the
envelope, having particularly attracted attention to that which it was
conjectured might contain the desired information.

The curiosity of the king finally overcame the cautious scruples of the
priesthood, who advised the immediate destruction of the missive.  As
the wax crumbled between his fingers, a roar of thunder shook the palace
to its foundations, whilst a stream of black dust, pouring from the
parchment to the table, gradually assumed the semblance of a pillar of
sand agitated by the fierce whirl of the storm.  A pungent odour
impregnated the apartment, and the crackling sound of the devouring
element was followed by the presence of the dread tormentor.

"I have come once again, monarch of the hard heart, to repay the debt
which is still due, and, blasted like the much-injured Thavanan, thy
soul may henceforward entertain some feeling of pity for thy fellow-men.
Listen to thy doom.  No mercy was shown unto me, and none shall be
extended to thee.  Thy son, after a short reign of terror, shall fall by
the hand of a slave, and die cursing the author of his existence; and
thy son's son shall bear upon his disfigured 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 towards the king, a sickening
sulphuric fume filling the presence chamber, and the necromancer
vanished in the thick smoke.

Plunged for hours in a death-like stupor, Asfa Woosen was only aroused
from his lethargy to bewail the loss of the left eye, which had been
scorched in the socket by the contact of the fierce flame.  The calamity
greatly softened and influenced the actions of his after-life; and
torture and mutilation 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, but none knew from whence he derived food or nourishment.  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,
and his language was not as 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 sound of the scourge was often heard amid
prayers for deliverance from the evil one.

On a fresh morning of May, when the roses and jessamine were scenting
the dewy air, the wild flowers springing over the face of the green
meadow, and birds warbled pleasantly amid the rich foliage, 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 answer being returned to the 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 eternal slumber upon a bed of
sharp stones; and the tale soon spread through the land that the holy
Father Peter--now no more--was indeed the dread necromancer Thavanan,
who had thus, by the continued penance of half a century, expiated his
fierce act of apostasy.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXV.

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 dwarf nor a decrepit priest who
has renounced the society of his fellow-men, but enjoys the reputation
of being fully competent to blast the harvest at pleasure, to poison the
fountain, and to render the able-bodied incapable.  The thoughts of all
classes move in a dense atmosphere of superstition.  Talismans, written
in mystic characters, if mixed with the seeds and leaves of potent witch
plants, gathered by the hand of the forest recluse, afford a feeling of
security which is not to be extracted from the pages of the Gospel; nor
does any one ever venture to mount his mule without a preservative
against the spear of the bandit, or the sharp knife of the heathen.

Savage man, obtaining only through the medium of his own wishes and
imagination a glimmering idea of the invisible and supreme Power, seeks
some tangible object of veneration, and some ostensible source of
protection.  Thus the Abyssinian, whose vague religious ideas afford him
but small consolation in the hour of tribulation, and but little
reliance of security or deliverance in the day of danger and distress,
reposes implicit faith in the doctrine of amulets, which present a
substance stamped with a mystic and supernatural character, and one
capable of being attached individually to himself.  The arms and neck
are therefore clothed in a perfect panoply of charms against the
influence of every misfortune and disease, whether experienced or
anticipated; and the _tulsim_, which is a worked zone studded with
minute leathern pockets, containing sacred spells enveloped in double
and treble wrappers, encircles the waist of every man, woman, and child,
throughout the Christian dominions of Sahela Selassie, who himself
reposes firm faith in their efficacy.

The influence of the evil eye exercises a strong control over the minds
of all.  Bad spirits are believed to roam about the earth and the
waters, and to occupy houses after dark, whence the Amhara never
ventures to throw fluid on the ground, lest the dignity of some unseen
elf should be violated.  The _Beza_, or sacrifice for the sick, is
considered lawful and efficacious, and is frequently resorted to.  The
bullock, as the type of the invalid, after being driven round his couch
amid singing and clamour, is slaughtered outside the threshold; or an
egg is turned thrice towards the head of the patient, and then broken
beside him.  Saint Michael is, by many of the more ignorant, supposed to
be the Almighty.  The Virgin Mary is considered the creatress of the
world; and _Sunday_ is understood to have been a saint of surpassing
sanctity, greatly superior both to Saint George and to Saint Michael, on
which account he claims one day out of the seven, whereas 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 favourable omen.  In
common with the heathen Galla, the Christians of Shoa make annual votive
sacrifices in June to _Sar_, the evil spirit--notwithstanding its strict
prohibition 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
ginger-coloured hen, a red she-goat, 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 disease,
the honour of true religion was speedily vindicated by the transfer to
the royal coffers of all the worldly substance of the delinquent.

Under cover of the night, a thread of cotton yarn is often stretched by
the hired sorcerer completely round some devoted tenement; and the
extremities having been connected by means of an iron link, well imbued
in blood, the walls and doorposts 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 assembled multitude, who
consider that some heavy calamity, if not instant death, would follow
the act, there is not to be found one individual sufficiently bold to
remove the spell, and thus deliver the inmates from its withering
influence.  Since the king's arrival 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 by-stander, a
missionary of the Church of England tore away the charm without any evil
consequences 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 kelpie 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
favourite food of the malicious spirit of the deep.  Divers plants and
herbs possess properties and qualities the most baneful; and a bunch of
the _Fegain_ grass, if skilfully cast upon the person of an obnoxious
enemy, produces dire disease and speedy death.  Sorcerers and
necromancers attaining the respectable age of four and five hundred
years exist in numbers in many parts of the land, flitting through the
air, and riding upon the wings of the wind; and unbidden and invisible
guests, such as Thavanan the Tormentor, enter the banqueting hall, to
rob the festive board of its choicest viands.

Hid from mortal gaze, and realising 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 are situated on
the overflowing Nile; and there, released from the shackles of wedlock,
beautiful females abound.  Potent liquors pour on in never-drying
streams, and the earth yields her spontaneous fruits without care or
labour.  But shrouded in magic mist, these Elysian fields open their
portals only to those mortals of commanding form and handsome features,
on whom the glance of favour has been cast by the bewitching inmates of
the enchanted garden.  Human endeavour 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."

As in 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 monarch's father confessor, a
perfect Asmodeus in appearance, is of extremely diminutive stature, but
he is possessed of singular good feeling, and forms a gratifying
contrast to the majority of his countrymen.  The chiefs and nobles often
select their secretaries and household priests with reference to their
bodily imperfections; and the most erudite sage in the capital, whose
charms and talismans are esteemed all-powerful, and who knoweth every
plant from the "cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the
wall," sustains his character for wisdom and for lore, as much by the
deformity of his appearance as by the brilliancy of his understanding.

Sickness and misfortune are usually ascribed to the influence of the
evil eye of the _Booda_, or sorcerer.  Long consultations are held to
discover from whose sinister glace the calamity has emanated; and when
suspicion has gradually settled into conviction, the most implacable
hatred is conceived towards the delinquent; and although concealed under
that garb of indifference which the savage can so successfully assume,
yet the opportunity of revenge is never suffered to pass unheeded in
after-life.  Hailoo, the father of Oubie, the Nero-like Dedjasmach of
Tigre, added much to his previous notoriety by the extermination of all
the _Boodas_ who fell within his murderous reach.  Superstition exulted
in reeking hecatombs of human victims; and the love and veneration of
his subjects knew no bounds on his last summary act of collecting
together and roasting to death thirteen hundred miserable wretches, who
were suspected to possess, and to have exerted with success, the
influence of "the evil eye."

By the credulous Abyssinian, every blacksmith and 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 amongst this class of handicrafts to fasten a metal
collar about the neck of the whelps of those animals, and turn them
loose; when the badge being retained through life, and occasionally
seen, the fabulous stories in circulation are strengthened in the eyes
of the uninitiated.

The presence of any Christian emblem, or portion of Holy Writ, is
supposed sufficient to neutralise the labours 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.  Of this belief an instance was afforded shortly
after our return from Angollala, when a bar of iron was to be
transformed into a tire for the wheel of a gun-carriage.  The small
draft of air created by a pair of primitive native bellows proving of
none avail, the smiths declared aloud that the phenomenon arose from
some holy charm.  Badges and emblems, spells and amulets, were cast
aside by all; but the labour was renewed without any better effect, and
the artisans stood aghast.  A pair of British forge bellows were now
produced, and the assembly were requested to don their paper armour, and
to stand round the anvil.  The potent blast poured from the nozzle, and
under the brawny arm of one of the European soldiers, the sparks flew
far and wide.  In five minutes the work was completed, to the dismay of
the Abyssinian magicians, who came privately to request of me that no
further public exhibition of the sort might thenceforth be made, lest
their name and their glory should be extinguished throughout the land.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXVI.

EXCURSION ALONG THE NORTH-WESTERN FRONTIER OF EFAT.

The disparaging reflections cast by the chivalrous people of Shoa, in
consequence of our refusal to slaughter defenceless pagans during the
murderous expedition to Entotto, rendered it imperative that some
decided step should be taken by which to wipe out the stain, and restore
the tarnished lustre of the British name.  The destruction of an adult
elephant, which is reckoned equivalent to that of forty Galla, is an
achievement that had not been accomplished within the memory of the
present age, although mentioned in traditions connected with the
exploits of the most renowned Ethiopic warriors.  I accordingly
solicited permission to visit the distant wilderness of Giddem, on the
northern frontier of Efat, in the dense forests of which the giant of
the mammalia was reported to reside--a pretext which further afforded
plausible grounds for exploring a portion of the country reputed to be
amongst the most fertile and productive in Abyssinia.

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 demolish
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_."  [Elephant.]

Finding me 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 us, commanding the
governors of provinces through which the route lay, to afford every
assistance in their power to "the strong strangers of the Negoos."  But
all assertions relative to the possibility of destroying the monarch of
the forest were still received with an incredulous shake of the head;
and whilst not the smallest expectations were entertained at court of
the success of the Gyptzis, the greatest ridicule attended 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.  This permission
enabled us to enjoy a most extensive panorama from the heather-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 frowned 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 rose the lofty blue range of Bulga, and on the
other the eye ranged uncontrolled over the boundless plains of the
savage Adaiel, spread out below like a great chart, and embracing a
prospect of many hundred square miles.  In the centre soared the stern
crater of Abida--the beacon which, in days long gone, marked the
dominions of the proud emperors of Ethiopia, when, according to the
traditionary couplet, "their sceptre swayed from Azulo to the 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 our advance to the Airara.  "_Bu
Negoos_," "_Bu Sahela Selassie amlak_," were talismanic words
energetically vociferated, and a heavy staff was thumped across the path
in earnest of its being 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 possessing all 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 supported at intervals by
transverse beams, as to form a succession of clumsy steps, 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
we were to follow 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 manor, who numbers
some threescore years, he is not likely long to find his wish realised.
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 at last been deprived of
his government and of his silver sword, and was on his way to the
presence of the despot in deep disgrace.

The Abyssinian verdure is singularly evanescent, a month without a
shower being sufficient to dry up the rich herbage, and to darken the
hue of the foliage; but the "rain of Bounty," which usually falls in
February, giving a fresh impulse to 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.  The best
pastures were covered with the sleek beeves swept off from Finfinni, and
the cornfields were yellow with the royal crops now under the sickle,
whilst in the numerous threshing-floors muzzled oxen were already
treading out the grain.

Our route led across Motatit and the Toro Mesk, through dales and over
hills abutting upon the face of the bluff frontier 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 _Rodentia_,
being the only objects of natural history observed during a march of
twelve miles, which led to the halting ground in the centre of the
little village of Asophee, opposite to the frowning mountain Kooromania.

Under our flimsy cotton awnings, the night proved intensely cold; and on
resuming the journey at an early hour the ensuing morning, over a
swelling country thickly dotted with Christian hamlets, we found the
more sheltered pools by the road-side covered with a thin coating of
ice, the first witnessed since our arrival in Abyssinia.  At the village
of Amarague, hospitable entertainment had been prepared by Ayto Egazoo,
whose name signifies, "May they buy."  This notable warrior had, prior
to the late foray, introduced himself to me, somewhat k-propos of his
title, by an ingenious but abortive attempt to sell an unsound horse.
Dismounting on the right side from the identical straw-coloured steed,
he now placed himself, with shoulders bared, in the middle of the road,
and by the life of the king adjured us to enter his abode, in order to
partake of a sheep that had been expressly slaughtered.

Wulleta Selassie, his comely partner, daughter to Shishigo, the governor
of Shoa-meda, had kindled in the dark hall the fiercest of fires, and
immediately on the termination of complimentary inquiries, an ox-hide
being spread, the heavy door was barred to exclude the evil eye.  Raw
collops having been steadily rejected, bones, singed in a somewhat
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 betwixt his finger and thumb the extracted orb of the
deceased mutton--"do, the eye is the daintiest part.  No!--well you
_must_ eat this marrow," crushing the uncooked shank 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 demonstration of the
absence of poison.  The surplus repast, fluid as well as solid, quickly
disappeared under the united efforts of the retinue; and a bead necklace
having been hung about the neck of the lady's hopeful son and heir, we
finally effected our escape from the ovenlike apartment, with the aid of
divers promises made to both master and mistress, and sundry pieces of
silver disbursed to silence a host of importunate menials.

Ayto Egazoo rode forth, in accordance with etiquette, "to see the party
off."  From the courtyard of his snug but dirty domicile, Tegulet, and
the blue hills of Argobba and of the Wollo Galla, bounded the extensive
prospect.  Regaining the road, we crossed in succession the
Tekroos-Bado, Moosh, and Goodawurud rivers, all remote sources of the
blue Nile.  On the banks of the latter stands the monastery of Saint
George, famous as having been left unmolested when the district was in
the hands of the Galla, many of whom are even said to have been
converted to Christianity.  Goodawurud was the title of a potent
chieftain, who, with Merkurri, Amadich, and Logo, held the country after
Graan's desolating visit, until 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 Saint George; large bands of whom, lounging away their
hours of idleness beneath the 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 anchorites, 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 society.  Men become monks at any period of life.  Those who
are afflicted with grievous sickness, vow that in event of recovery they
will abandon the world, and transfer all their moveables to the church.
The rich often deliver over their property to their children, who are
bound to support them until death.  The poor subsist upon the bounty of
the king and of the community; 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, all
former scores may be cleared off with the ease and rapidity of the most
indulgent court of insolvency, by the simple process of "putting on
angels' clothing."

The skin of the Agazin is usually adopted as the garb of humiliation;
and this emblem, together with the unwashed person, is intended to
commemorate the legend of their great founder Eustathius, who boasted of
having performed no ablution during a long term of existence, and who
miraculously crossed the river Jordan, floating securely upon his greasy
cloak.  The prophet Samuel is also sometimes referred to as affording
another notable example 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 his leathern robe.

Throughout Shoa, lakes are believed to form the great rendezvous of evil
spirits; and in one called Nugareet-fer, at the foot of the hills, the
drum of the water kelpie 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 beautifully rounded tumulus styled Zalla Dingai, "The rolling
stone."

"Bad people," saith the tradition attached to this spot, "were one day
seated upon a rock that formerly occupied the summit of the hill.  They
were telling lies, and busied in contriving tricks by which to
circumvent their neighbours.  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 ascending a high ridge, the Queen's
white palace forms a striking object in the landscape; and beyond it is
a square eminence, where, under the eye of the erudite Alaka Woldab, the
reigning monarch passed his earlier years, until the assassination of
his sire opened to him the accession.  From this point we obtained an
extensive view over Geshe and Efrata, with the Great Saka mountains
stretching towards the Nile.  A little further on the heather-grown
range suddenly terminates in an abrupt descent of full three thousand
feet, at the foot of which lies the rugged province of Efat, blending
into the blue plains of the Adaiel.  The great beacon Azulo, with the
wide crater of Abida, hazy and hot, were visible in the east.  Afrubba,
and the high hills of the Ittoo Galla, rose in the distance, and a
perfect chaos of rude disjointed mountains lay piled towards 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 Saint George, the only
redeeming feature was the church dedicated to "Our Lady," reposing
quietly amid the rich foliage of the "cosso," and other large-leafed
forest trees.  In many respects 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 accessible nook
and corner usurped the place of the wild 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, passed us at intervals--
the sword by their side and the spear in their hand, indicating that the
frontier along which they journeyed was in a far from settled state.

This tract of high land, which forms the watershed between the Nile and
the Hawash, is richly cultivated and abundantly 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 cultivation is to be seen.

During the descent, which passes through a gap in the precipitous trap
rocks, and is steeper and even worse than that of the Chaka, the bleak
and lofty peaks of Aramba, Gaifaiyetto, Woti, Mamrat, Kondie, and
Wofasha, are severally revealed to view; these forming a continuation of
the great mountain range which fortifies the whole eastern frontier of
Shoa, from Bulga to Worra Kaloo, and extends thence through Ambasel,
Yedjow, and Lasta, to Simien, the highest point of Abyssinia.  From the
foot of this pass the road leads across the Telunko, close to Debra
Sena, a small eminence covered as with an inverted bowl, by a dense,
cabbage-shaped clump of junipers, concealing Saint George's church--a
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 Telunko is again crossed, to the face of a steep acclivity leading
to Dokaket, the ancient capital of Emmaha Yasoos, third monarch of Shoa.

The sun was dipping below the opposite range as a halt was proclaimed by
the King's guide at the house of Ayto Abaiyo Gurwa, the governor of the
district, whose hospitality proved unbounded.  For a full hour he
continued shouting and scolding, ordering and countermanding; and whilst
he expressed the greatest mortification at my declining to appropriate
two fat oxen, in addition to liberal supplies of sheep, bread, mead, and
beer, he was with difficulty prevailed upon to accept a present that I
had 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 introduce him, that access be not impeded."  The party nominated
as the medium of communication stepped to the front, and the two, baring
their shoulders, and bowing the one to the other, fell back into their
respective places.

Ankober is the capital of the eastern division of the kingdom of Shoa,
in which are comprised the provinces of Basso, Dabdabo, Karaba, Kawt,
Mans, Giddem, Abomesa, Mahhfood, and Dokaket.  The last-named especially
forms the scene of constant inroads from the savage Adaiel, whose
country lies little more than a cannon shot below; the Amhara, who on
the Farri boundary are severely punished by the politic monarch for
taking a life, even in retribution, flocking hither to entitle
themselves to wear the decoration of the "akodama," the _ne 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 Ankober, the Moslems, who are the far braver
race, would doubtless have paid its Christian population a hostile visit
long ere now.  On the adjacent northern frontier, the intricate
labyrinth of broken ravines, over which our view had ranged in the
morning, forms a strong natural barrier against the Wollo Galla, whose
incursions are nevertheless frequent; whilst the Tulema, residing in the
Saka range, entertain as decided a disinclination to descend from their
own bleak hills, as do the Amhara to visit the hot valleys and forests
of the Adaiel, which stretch beyond the borders of Efat.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXVII.

THE SHREW OF MAHHFOOD.

Bidding adieu to the hospitable host, we continued our journey along the
eastern side of the Turmaber range, through a country considerably
improved in point of beauty.  There was a warmth of appearance about the
numerous hamlets, quite in unison with the increased temperature of this
lower tract.  Gayer flowers bloomed by the way-side; more brilliant
birds fluttered among the thick corinda hedges, through which peeped the
eglantine, the honeysuckle, and the blackberry; and the entire prospect,
although exceedingly broken, was covered with the most luxuriant grass,
in every spot where the hand of the cultivator had not been busy.  The
slope of each hill and abrupt eminence was wooded with junipers and
other fantastic evergreens; fields of yellow safflower glowed 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 choristers, who accompanied the army to
Garra Gorphoo, and was now making a professional tour of the provinces,
joined us _en route_, carrying a small wicker parasol; 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 honour 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"--whilst it
formed the burden of her song, conveyed an opinion diametrically opposed
to that entertained by the public; and the followers, inspired by the
words of a woman, took up the sentiment, and made the valleys re-echo to
their martial chorus, which attracted to the roadside 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 district has never been conquered either by
the Galla or Mohammadans.  The residence of the governor, who has been
honoured with the hand of Woizoro Birkenich, daughter of Queen Besabesh
by her former marriage, stands on the apex of the loftiest of the many
isolated hills; and in accordance with the precaution invariably taken
to prevent surprise on these disturbed frontiers, it is surrounded by a
formidable fence.  Our camp was pitched at the foot; and the thermometer
having stood in the morning at 32 degrees on the summit of Dokaket, the
difference in temperature was considerably felt during the afternoon,
when the mercury mounted to 90ø under the flimsy palls which formed our
only screen.

Having been specially recommended to Ayto Gadeloo, whose acquaintance I
had formed during the late foray, we paid him a visit of ceremony in the
cool of the evening, and were received and entertained according to the
perfection of Abyssinian etiquette.  The whole of the dirty domestics
and household slaves were mustered on the occasion, to witness the
presentation of gifts brought for the "Emabiet," [i.e. "The mother of
the house"--a title of honour employed in speaking of the queen, the
princesses royal, the mistress of a family, and the holy Virgin, who is
usually styled "Our Lady."] who, like the rest of the princesses royal,
displayed unequivocal signs of being sole and undisputed mistress of the
establishment.  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 complete was her monopoly, that he could be said to
boast of little beyond the empty title of governor of Mahhfood.

The lady put a few preliminary questions touching the number of wives we
each possessed, 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 ceremony an air of unbending
stiffness.  The host, who was either unable or unwilling to answer any
interrogatories respecting his own country, subjected us to a tiresome
catechism; and like the Arab Bedouin, who formed his estimate of the
poverty of Europe by the fact of its producing neither dates nor camels,
Ayto Gadeloo conceived a passing indifferent idea of Great Britain, from
the discovery that it boasted of no mules.

"Have you mashela, and daboo, and tullah in your country?"  [Anglice,
"maize, bread, and beer"] he inquired, whilst his fair partner feasted
her eyes upon the "pleasing things" presented, in none of which it was
evident the lord of the creation was destined to participate--"Oh, you
have all these; well, and have you oxen and sheep, and horses and
mules?"--"How, no mules?" he shouted in derision, while the slaves
tittered and hid their black faces, and their mistress laughed
outright--"Why, what a miserable country yours must be!"

Shortly after daybreak we resumed our journey through very thriving
crops, descending 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-plant, and cotton, in many parts artificially
irrigated, flourished with the utmost luxuriance on a rich-black soil,
under a climate resembling that of the more favoured spots in Western
India.  The scenery of this richly-wooded and well-watered valley was
not a little enhanced by the beauty of the surrounding mountains, of
which the numerous peaks were tufted with trees, and crowned by populous
hamlets, whilst the redundance of vegetation, and the growth and quality
of the cotton, with a soil adapted for the production of sugar, coffee,
and rice, proclaimed the locality to possess the very highest natural
advantages as an emigrating settlement.

In the broad shallow channel of the Robi, upwards 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 fusiliers in lieu of the usual iron bullets.  They are even
employed as slugs and shot, 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; and we were warned to be on our guard, as
it had long been infested by banditti called Gowezza, composed
principally of Christian outcasts, who absconded either from fear of
their creditors, or of church censure.  During the great famine in the
year of Saint Luke, their numbers were augmented by from five to six
hundred Christian, Mohammadan, and Galla vagabonds, who formed
themselves into a lawless band, and renouncing all forms of religion,
took up their permanent abode in the greenwood, where, favoured by the
nature of the ground, they could plunder and kidnap with impunity.

To the notes of an Abyssinian war chorus, which still proclaimed our
hostile designs on the lordly elephant, the plain was crossed without
any demonstrations on the part of the outlaws; 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 on which stands a house belonging to Wulasma Mohammad.
Abomesa, forming the termination of the range towards the Adaiel
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 progenitors are said by tradition
to have been left there prior to the reign of Nagasi, first king of
Shoa.  Hoossain, Wahabit, and Abdool Kurreem, generals probably detached
from the victorious army of Graan, are represented to have come from
Mecca, and to have taken possession of the country--the legend assigning
to the first of these warriors as his capital the populous village of
Medina, which is conspicuous on a cone among the mountains shortly after
entering the valley of the Robi.

Having descended the Gozi range, the road led across an extensive flat,
styled "the wilderness of Giddem," which forms the neutral ground
betwixt the Amhara and the Adaiel.  But less than four years have
elapsed since the great chief of the Gibdosa, at the head of his whole
clan, made a sudden inroad, and swept off all the cattle in this
district.  The Christians pursuing the invaders, slew great numbers in
an engagement fought near Rasa, and recovered a portion of the spoil;
but on their march back, they were in turn overtaken by Anbassa Ali, who
destroyed upwards of one thousand.

The valley of Giddem is watered by four fine rivers, which we 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
Bakindee, the banks of which are precipitous and thickly wooded, is
represented to have been 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 patches, choked with reeds and wild canes, is
tenanted by troops of guinea-fowl, by 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 surrounding hills,
proving especially favourable to the labours of the agriculturist.
Traces of the huge tenants of the shades so worthy of their bulk, were
however visible among the adjacent 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 Sower, beneath the spreading branches of
a venerable tamarind, we found Ayto Abaiyo, with a numerous retinue,
reposing during the noontide heat, on his way to assume the district of
Mungust, to the south-southwest, the late governor having been summarily
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
misgivings in the mind of our 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 us, and to hail from a respectful distance the suspicious
band of his own countrymen.

Leaving the valley of Giddem, seven miles in length, the route led over
a very broken and stony rise into a third vale, also richly cultivated,
whence commenced the ascent of the Kokfari range.  We halted for the
night at the village of Zumbo, pleasantly situated on a pretty green
terrace on the mountain side between Manya and Dai Mariam, and I
despatched the King's messenger in advance to apprise Ayto Tsanna, the
governor, of our arrival within his jurisdiction.  Supplies poured in
from all directions; but although now far beyond the reach of the
much-dreaded freebooters, it was not destined that our hours should be
passed in peace.  Attracted by the smell of honey, a legion of huge
black ants swarmed into the tent; and invading every bed, caused one
slumberer after the other to start in madness to his feet.  In vain we
obtained a light, and massacred thousands upon thousands--a fresh army
streamed upon the track of the annihilated troops; and so unremitting
were their persecutions, that we ultimately found it necessary to strike
the camp, and remove to a remote stubble field, where, although fairly
beaten from the field, pursuit was fortunately baffled, and their
proximity speedily forgotten.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXVIII.

HOSPITALITY AT KOKFARI.

"May the guests of the Negoos come quickly!--all is prepared for their
reception," was the message received early the ensuing morning from the
old governor, to whom our party stood specially consigned by the king,
and who was, moreover, an acquaintance made in the late expedition,
where he had appeared in capacity of "wobo," or general commanding the
rear guard.  After ascending the steep face of the mountain, and
gradually turning the shoulder of the range, we reached his residence,
occupying the summit of a steep hill, well fortified with palisades and
wicker-work.  A deep grove of tall trees on the opposite eminence
concealed the monastery of Kasaiyat, famous as the depository of the
chronicles of Saint Eustathius, and beyond, a wild tract of forest land,
intersected by serpentine rivers, stretched away to the blue hills of
Efrata and Worra Kaloo.

Approaching the residence of Ayto Tsanna, I caused a salute to be fired
in his honour by our escort; and being forthwith ushered into his
presence, we found the kind-hearted and hospitable veteran seated in the
inner porch of his spacious house, where skins had been spread for our
accommodation.  Nothing could surpass the munificence of our reception.
Bread, honey, butter, hydromel, beer, poultry, and eggs, were supplied
in princely abundance, whilst oxen and sheep were slaughtered for the
use of the followers, and corn and grass supplied to the numerous train
of horses and mules.  A spacious domicile was provided, in which, after
a fire had been lighted to dislodge evil spirits, our repast was spread;
and during the greater portion of the afternoon the liberal and
intelligent host continued to witness the drill of the artillery escort,
performed at his special request, and to converse with evident
satisfaction on the manufactures of Europe, specimens of some of which
he had most unwillingly accepted.

Messengers were in the mean time despatched to five subordinate
governors, with orders to assemble their quotas on the morrow for the
purpose of hunting.  The _tooltoola_ resounded through the neighbouring
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 necklaces of beads and a
streaming white feather in token of his achievements performed during
the recent foray, had been specially charged with the entertainment of
our followers; and the strength of the potent old hydromel, no less than
the liberality with which it had been dispensed, were but too evident
upon the majority ere the night fell.  Loquacity increased with each
additional _gumbo_ that was drained, and loud and boisterous were the
praises of the good cheer within the chieftain's hall.

Amongst the visitors who flocked to behold the white strangers, was a
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 projected hostilities, and one anecdote
considerably staggered the faith reposed by the governor in their
success.  "In ancient days," quoth the recluse, "one of the most
powerful monarchs of Ethiopia, whose name I have forgotten, made war
against the elephants with his whole army.  The king of the elephants
being sore pressed, took unto himself a mouse to wife, and herein he
displayed his wisdom and sagacity.  The mice espousing the quarrel of
their noble kin, entered the imperial storehouses in a countless body--
devoured all the shields, harness, accoutrements, and leather, in a
single night, and thus utterly defeated the project of the king of
kings."

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 warriors, armed with every available weapon, when,
according to the approved system of Abyssinian bullying, the animal is
sometimes worried to death.  But these expeditions are generally
undertaken with little success, and seldom terminate without many fatal
accidents.  He who hurls the first successful spear is entitled to an
honorary reward from the king, and to a triumph 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 highlands, 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 are therefore studiously shunned; and hyenas,
although occasionally destroyed, are in many parts of the country
suffered to multiply to an alarming extent, from the existing
superstition that Jewish sorcerers descend from the mountains during the
night, and transform themselves into the likeness of these animals,
whence there could be no good result from their destruction.

Neither journey or hunting is ever undertaken without propitious omens,
and should these be wanting, the Amhara will retrace his steps on any
pretext, and patiently await the welcome sign.  The sight of the unclean
hare is sufficient to shake the stoutest nerves.  An antelope bounding
across the path augurs favourably to success in any undertaking.  A fox
barking on the left hand destroys all hope of a happy result, but on the
right hand a prosperous issue may with confidence be anticipated.  The
appearance of a white buzzard prognosticates good or evil according to
the position of the tail, and chief of all the numerous birds of ill
omen is the "Goorameila."  [Lanius humeralis.  Lath.]  Death or the most
dire disaster, is certain to follow his portentous croak; and there is
no inhabitant throughout the realm who has not some tale to record in
confirmation of the fatal character of this ominous shrike.  That
foolhardy 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, maltreated, or murdered.  The omens
must in this instance have proved favourable.  Under the personal
guidance of the host, whose hospitality increased rather than abated, we
repaired, on the afternoon of the second day's festivities, to Manya--a
village occupying the high promontory of table-land immediately opposite
to our 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 and Adaiel.
The route wound by a gradual descent over the Kokfari mountain, so
named from the numerous red-legged partridges, the size of a
guinea-fowl, with which the coverts swarm--thick copses of brushwood and
heather, interlaced with dog-roses, eglantine, and bramble, affording
the most alluring shelter in the vicinity of abundant grain and water.

Beneath the moss-grown branches of a silvery "woira," which leaned its
venerable form over the hill-side fronting the church dedicated to
Emanuel, stood a miniature imitation of the sacred edifice, erected
according to wont upon a pile of stones.  Bread, grain, rags, and
feathers, were industriously heaped upon this idol by every passer by,
and the kiss was imprinted with fervent devotion upon the rough stem of
the tree around which the old governor, dismounting from his mule,
fastened a strip of cloth as a votive offering.  On reaching our
destination, which by certain of the followers 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 our arrival to the Gille and Soopa, two
tributary clans, occupying the low country, who, in obedience to the
summons of the preceding day, were already assembled on the confines of
the hunting ground.

From the Rasa hills, the residence of the formidable Anbassa Ali, whose
domains 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 course through the hot Adel
plains, by the dark line of trees that fringe the banks.  The mountain
itself, although far beyond the dominions of Shoa, is renowned as the
most sacred seat of monkery.  Continually emitting volumes of dark
smoke, its only inhabitants are Christian friars, who, despising the
world and its vanities, retire thither, unmolested by Galla or
Mohammadan, to spend their days in blissful peace and seclusion.
Universally looked upon as sorcerers, they are believed to live on the
most social terms with the lions and wild goats which share the retreat,
and the tale assigns to the holy fathers an exclusive subsistence upon
fruits, and herbs, and roots, which, together with a pair of wings, are
freely furnished them from Heaven; but it is certain that none who have
yet returned from the pilgrimage have brought back their feathered
appendages,--whilst their lank figure and their sunken eye have
betokened rather the toil of the weary wayfarer than the high enjoyment
of Elysian feasts.

Volume Two, Chapter XXXIX.

THE WILDERNESS OF GIDDEM.

Before daylight of the following morning, Ayto Tsanna gave the word to
saddle, and the tedious descent of the south-eastern face of the steep
Manya hill having been accomplished on foot, we gained the border of the
wilderness as the sun rose, and took post on a small eminence to await
the report of the scouts who were out in every direction among the
tangled grass.  The valley, environed by mountains, and extending eight
or ten miles in one uninterrupted flat, was intersected throughout its
extreme breadth by the four streams already named, their thickly-wooded
banks harbouring antelope, and a great variety of birds of the most
brilliant plumage.  These detached jungles, in many points uniting,
formed a continuous belt of dark foliage, and in others receding as the
miry swamps became niggard of the requisite moisture, afforded limited
vistas to the eye, although still accessible with difficulty either to
man or horse.

A speedy summons arrived from the governor, who, with a large party of
retainers, and two matchlock-men forming his body-guard, was seated on
the banks of Jow-waha.  An elephant had been descried at the distance of
some miles, and an uproar had in consequence commenced, sufficient to
alarm the most fearless and sedate quarry in existence.  After a
protracted and tumultuous consultation, the hunt was commenced according
to the Abyssinian method--equestrians and pedestrians without 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,
whilst crowds of Galla horsemen galloped on either flank, to complete
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 Adaiel, the appearance of several horsemen hovering in the
distance induced the governor 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 their respective chiefs, Abbo and Boroo [Boroo
signifies "my yellow horse"], came pouring in from all directions--a
wild and savage race, whom the Christians declared to be the most
hardened, cruel, and insubordinate wretches in the whole world, men who
would take a life for the possession of the veriest trifle.  More than
trebling the numerical strength of the Amhara, their appearance so
alarmed the veteran "Wobo," that he forthwith placed himself under the
protection of his guests; and apprehending a termination to the day
similar to the issue of Chevy Chase, requested that rifles might be
discharged for the purpose of intimidation, whilst he ordered his
immediate attendants to raise the shrill war-cry to collect his
scattered retainers.  The Moslems meanwhile contented themselves with
gazing at the unwonted appearance of the white strangers, and clumps of
Christian spears soon restored the chief to his self-possession, and
relieved the forebodings of his dismayed followers, whose extraordinary
politeness to the auxiliaries was beyond all things diverting; the most
tender inquiries relative to health and wellbeing only eliciting a
scowling glance, accompanied by a surly dogged reply.

It being in the interim reported that a man had been destroyed by a
female elephant, at whose calf he had ventured to hurl his spear, Ayto
Tsanna took the opportunity of freeing himself of his unpleasant Galla
vassals, by directing them to hem the skirts of the forest, whilst he
requested us "to enter the thicket, and destroy the enraged beast, whom
no one else would approach."  Although well convinced of the
impossibility of accomplishing this absurd request, a desire to efface
former evil imputations induced a ready compliance, and a body of Amhara
spearmen were selected to point out 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 up a prayer for Divine assistance,
coupled with abuse and defiance to the much-dreaded object of their
quest.

The story of the catastrophe proved on investigation to be utterly
false, the man having been merely lacerated by a splinter in a fall from
a tree, instead of killed outright by an elephant, as averred by his
comrades.  A search of two miles through the shady recesses of a
magnificent forest, where some of the venerable trees measured upwards
of forty feet in circumference, and where the lemon grew wild in the
utmost luxuriance and profusion, led us 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
effect that the elephants were surrounded at the further extremity of
the waste, and unless immediately attacked would make their escape.
Rejoining him with all expedition, it was ascertained that want of
method had again frustrated every design, and that the clamour of the
unruly multitude 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 hundred horsemen.  But before finally leaving the
ground, the Galla chieftains and their wild host were assembled; and the
governor, 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 morrow, or shame would be the portion of all in the eyes of their
royal master.  Bowing their heads, in token of implicit obedience to the
high behest, the chiefs pledged themselves to spare no exertions, and to
appear early the following day with double the number of their
respective tribes; which assurance given, the opportunity was embraced
of urging an old dispute relative to the loss of certain Galla steeds,
stated by Boroo, surnamed Amba Bukazia, to have been stolen by the
Amhara borderers.

"Yellow Horse" rose to speak in favour of his countrymen.  His portly
figure betokened high command and perfect self-possession.  The fines of
his dark face had settled down into features expressive of the most
imperturbable coolness, and his whole appearance was that of the haughty
savage chieftain.  Standing erect before his feudal superior, his
attitude and demeanour were strikingly bold and dignified.  His mantle,
surmounted by a shaggy black skin, fell gracefully over his brawny
shoulders; and his words flowed on, pleasing and mellifluous, in a
smooth stream of native eloquence, which the soft language of the Galla
admitted of his modulating into a masterly succession of measured
rhymes.  The interpreter sat opposite, with his eyes riveted on the
orator, and sentence after sentence being rendered into Amharic with
ease and volubility, he conveyed to the governor through every marked
intonation a close verbal interpretation, without disturbing for a
moment the graceful flow of the impassioned harangue.  But Ayto Tsanna
having already decided the question, and mentally resolved not to listen
to the appeal, gladly availed himself of my departure for camp to mount
his own horse, and thus abruptly to terminate the unpleasant discussion.

Volume Two, Chapter XL.

DOWNFALL OF THE ELEPHANT.

Ere the sun had risen the ensuing morning, we 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 labours of
the day, suitable trinkets were presented.  The swamps on the southern
side of the waste having been drawn unsuccessfully, columns of dust
which arose from the opposite quarter high above the trees were
pronounced to indicate the presence of a troop of elephants; and thither
we all hurried.  But the performance of the beaters was even inferior to
that of the preceding day.  Half the number, visibly shaking with fear,
ascended the tallest trees, whilst those who had again induced us to
precede them through the ocean of tangled flags, where to kill or even
to see a wild beast was perfectly out of the question, used their utmost
endeavours, by talking and shouting, to give warning of our approach.

But we were resolved to prove that the Gyptzis would not place others in
a position which they scrupled themselves to occupy, and the hunt was
continued for some hours with those of the Amhara who possessed
sufficient courage to accompany us.  The sun was oppressively hot, and
our side arms, which were insisted upon as a measure of precaution
against the treachery of the allies who had been summoned to assist,
proved peculiarly cumbersome and distressing; but swamp after swamp was
beaten unsuccessfully, and forest after forest traversed without one
glimpse being obtained of the desired quarry.

At length, about two in the afternoon, I was summoned 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 followers 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 _Jowwaha_!"  The council instantly
dissolved.  Inspired by a new ray of hope, we leaped again into the
saddle, and, carrying our rifles across our 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 behind us; and, arriving at the spot where the
animals had been in view, "Yellow Horse," with half a score of his wild
riders, was alone present.  At the water's edge numerous deep holes in
the wet sand were still bubbling from below, and after following the
fresh foot-marks a few hundred yards, I ascended a tall tree, from the
summit of which, with the aid of my pocket telescope, I presently
identified the broad backs of a herd standing at the distance of half a
mile.  Unconscious of the presence of any foe, they were quietly grouped
under a solitary acacia, and but for the flapping of their huge ears,
might have been mistaken for masses of rock.  Descending as soon as I
had thoroughly reconnoitred the land-marks, I made very light of what I
had seen, and affecting to doubt the evidence of my eyes, carelessly
proposed that the native allies should tarry where they were, whilst
Douglas Graham and myself proceeded into the jungle on foot, before the
governor with his noisy train should arrive from the rear.

After much fruitless opposition on the part of old Boroo, who saw
through the plot, and vowed that his despotic master would hold him
responsible for the accident which he considered our rash intention to
be certain to involve, my arrangement was finally carried.  Armed with
two rifles each, we stealthily advanced against the wind, under the
cover afforded by the dry copse wood, which yielded up a cloud of
impalpable dust, and rendered the inclination to sneeze incessant.  I
had marked a scrubby thorn-bush, which served as a beacon, and on
climbing silently to the top, we commanded a view of a small open area
that had been trampled completely bare.  High cane-like wands and
withered grass environed it on all sides, and in the centre, beneath the
shade of a venerable camel-thorn, whose stem had been well polished by
continual rubbing, stood a gigantic bull elephant, surrounded by four of
his seraglio.

Thus far we were undiscovered, and British credit being now completely
at stake, we paused to take breath, and examine our weapons.  Measures
having been concerted in a whisper, we then crept upon our hands and
knees to the extreme verge of the covert, carefully avoiding the
thickest patches, and keeping the tree still always to windward, until,
through a beaten track which led towards it, the dark figure of the
patriarch of the herd was at last revealed at the distance of only
fifteen yards.  His trunk was curled around one of his long white tusks;
his ears and his under jaw moved at long intervals; and as he swung
lazily from side to side to throw his weight on alternate legs, his head
was soon turned in the exact position to ensure success.  Having first
looked at my companion for an assenting nod, I laid my heavy rifle over
a forked wooden rest, set the hair-trigger, and planted a two-ounce ball
in the only small fatal spot behind the ear which was presented by the
monstrous target.

A heavy fall announced the effect of the shot, and confusion instantly
followed.  One of the females whose front had been towards our ambush,
rushed forward, and received a volley of hard bullets in her broad
forehead, which turned the attack, and brought her also to the ground,
after a flight with her companions of fifty yards.  She, however, rose
after some minutes, and rushing past the cavalcade collected on the
outskirts, escaped into the thick forest to die, attention being
meanwhile entirely engrossed by the tusker, the nobler quarry, who,
although prostrate on his side like a fallen tower, manifested 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 Amhara rabble would not fail to claim the
honour and the credit of having slain the prize with their powerless
spears, should any perchance find the carcass during the absence of the
lawful proprietors--a surmise which was fully confirmed by the
appropriation of the tail as a trophy, by the very first man who made
his appearance.

The death of this lordly monster, to which so little importance would
have been attached in those parts of the African continent where the
event is one of diurnal occurrence, here 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 universally
credited, it produced even more than the good effect anticipated.  Those
who, when the storming party first entered the covert, had sought safety
in trees, could with difficulty be prevailed upon to descend, in order
to approach the mountain of flesh from which life was said to have
departed; and 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 incontinently
disappeared.  The Galla horsemen, who had previously boasted the
destruction of elephants with their spears, did not venture to approach
for a full hour after their ears had been saluted by the reports of our
rifles; 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 the scattered forces gradually rallied round it, chief
after chief offered his hand in congratulation of the, in his eyes,
daring exploit, expressing his wonder and amazement that a small
rifle-ball had been able to accomplish the annihilation of the bulk and
life of seventy seasons, and extolling the prowess of the king's
European visitors in the encounter with so formidable a monster, 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.  Whilst dancing and howling around the carcass, they
affirmed the deed to be the work of genii, and complimented us 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 dominions of Sahela Selassie would know no
limit."

Boroo, the brave chief of the Soopa, who, before our shots were heard,
had with extreme difficulty been restrained from galloping into the
jungle at the head of his gathered retainers, and thus alarming the
quarry by the noise and confusion of many hundred horsemen, was more
particularly earnest and vehement in his congratulations on our victory.
He had himself anticipated none but the most fatal results from what he
termed so rash an attack upon the hitherto unsubdued monarch of the
wilderness, and had trembled for the royal vengeance which any accident
to the party 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 as we
returned to the encampment on the hill-top, the same honours were paid
us 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-side,
and as the hunting-party crowned the steep, raised their shrill voices
in praise and welcome.  The tents were entered amid the deafening chorus
of a war song.  Bullocks were instantly slaughtered for all 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 ornament our hair in earnest of victory.  Dame
Twotit composed a new extemporaneous sonnet upon the occasion, which she
rehearsed during half the night; and until the cock crew, every quarter
of the village of Manya resounded with wild dancing, martial music, and
war songs, in celebration of an achievement, now for the first time
witnessed by the Christian population of Shoa.

Volume Two, Chapter XLI.

THE NORTHERN GALLA.

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 converts to Islamism--the Allala river intersecting the country
of the former, of which the principal village is Esgieye, and the Negeso
that of the latter, whose chief resides at Allaiyo.  Further to the
north, where a continuation of the wild tract of forest land is visible,
the Adaie threads the district inhabited by that portion of the Wollo
who own allegiance to Shoa under the government of Efrata, and by the
Doogoogra Galla, who were also dependent, but have long been in a state
of open rebellion.  Large quantities of excellent coffee are cultivated
in Manchettee and Efrata, and with the salt pieces or "amoles," which it
has been seen are imported from Tigre by the Wollo and Worra Kaloo, are
brought to Shoa by the Moslem merchants.  In Giddem itself, however,
coffee is not cultivated, owing to the prejudice entertained respecting
its use by the Christian population generally.  Westward of Giddem, and
interposed betwixt it and Morabietie, is the province of Mans, largest
of all the districts of Shoa, but subdivided into Lalo, Mama, and Ghera,
each of which forms a distinct government.  Abiye, third king of Efat,
defeated and subjugated 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 possession, and she is much
beloved by the people, although, as regards their allegiance to the
crown, they still retain a large share of their ancient 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 depose the
governors whom he appoints to rule over them--and refuse to take part in
the annual forays over the southern border, upon the grounds that they
have quite sufficient occupation in the adjustment of intestine feuds
and boundary disputes.  These latter are points not always
satisfactorily adjusted in Europe--nor is it extraordinary that they
should be attended with some difficulty in Africa.

During the rebellion of Medoko, the king, in his distress, sent an
urgent message 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
subjects to be his own flesh and blood, upon whom he could not impose a
heavy taxation.  The only tribute paid, therefore, is in _sekdat_, a
coarse black cloth, manufactured of the fleece of the sheep of the
country, and invariably employed in the manufacture of the royal tents.

This fabric also furnishes a costume indispensable in so rigorous a
climate, where the bleak unsheltered hills, swept by a cutting easterly
wind, rank among the coldest portions of Abyssinia.  The soil is chiefly
a rich black earth, producing abundant crops, but perfectly destitute of
timber.  Salt is the only circulating medium; and a man's wealth is
estimated by the number of his ploughshares, which are carefully buried
until wanted.  The swarthy complexion of the inhabitants, and their
sombre habiliments, distinguish them amongst all the other subjects of
Shoa--wearers of the white cotton robe--than whom they are even more
superstitious, bigoted, and ignorant; the most enlightened amongst them
being esteemed right cunning sorcerers, and as such, dreaded wheresoever
they wander.

Mans has already been mentioned as a province famous for the lake
Alobar, the reputed residence of the King of the Genii, through which
the river Shai flows to join the Nile.  Of yore, when the spot now
inundated was _terra firma_, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in
the house of the wealthiest cultivator residing in the many flourishing
villages that then existed, and to have addressed herself to the
mistress, saying, "I am hungry, and have nothing to eat.  Give me corn,
and I will grind for wages."  A vast heap of grain was pointed out,
sufficient for a week's labour, but no sooner had the Virgin touched it
than it was miraculously 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
this 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 contribution to the shepherds on the festival of
Debra Tabor, and on the anniversary of "our blessed Lady."

Immediately north of Giddem, betwixt the frontiers of Shoa and Argobba,
is the district of Dibbie, under Abba Munsoor, a Wollo Galla of
consequence, formerly governor of Wofagabel, in the territories of
Birroo Lubo, and notorious for his personal valour.  Having with a
chosen band of followers rebelled some years since against the Prince of
Argobba, he fortified himself at Arikkee, a high table-topped mountain
on the 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 matchlock-men, was at length sent to reduce
the insurgents; but no sooner had the besiegers opened fire from a deep
defile that environs the stronghold, than five hundred of their number
were laid dead by a storm of stones from above; the residue, as usual on
such occasions, retreating in the utmost disorder.  The entire scarp of
the precipitous hill had been lined with beams and rafters balancing
huge masses of rock; and the leathern thongs by which they were lashed
being simultaneously cut away by the garrison, destruction was carried
along the whole extent of the crowded ravine.  After this signal
victory, Abba Munsoor abandoned his citadel, and tendering faith to
Sahela Selassie, was placed on the frontier of his former liege, where
his valour and trusty services have gained him the highest place in the
royal favour.

The dread entertained by the Christians of the independent Moslem
denizens of the low country, has been clearly portrayed by the personal
confessions of their monarch.  The destruction of a single individual of
the hostile tribes, by the most treacherous means, is estimated a feat
of the greatest valour, and one that entitles the hero to the highest
distinctions.  His Majesty's recent allusions to his highland
neighbours, 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 governors, by Abogaz Gobassie, a
brave chieftain 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 compelled to
take flight, leaving the enemy in possession of a fine district across
the river Wonchit, pertaining to the principality of Zenama Work.

These events caused considerable consternation in the kingdom of Shoa;
and it being apprehended that the Mohammadans would follow up their
success in the direction of Giddem, all the Wollo gunmen in the royal
service were discharged, and Christians or converted Galla slaves
enlisted in their room.  A large detachment of the body-guard was then
ordered to the north for the defence of the frontier; but under the
conviction that, as on all former occasions, the Amhara cavalry would
leave them to dispute the field alone with their brave foes, they
proceeded on the service with the greatest possible reluctance, although
placed under the immediate command of Chara, the son of Medoko, who is
scarcely less renowned for valour than was his rebel father.

Birroo Lubo, the Prince of Argobba, is descended from Lubo the son of
Watsooba, 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
governor of Gof, whereupon he diligently occupied himself in the
extension of his dominions, dividing his residence between that town and
Ain Amba.  His elder son, Ali Birroo, met an untimely death in one of
the many border struggles with the troops of Sahela Selassie; and the
only surviving brother, Amade, who is to succeed his now aged father,
has already obtained a great reputation for personal valour in the
field.  The term Argobba is applied by the Adaiel to the whole of the
border country in which cotton is cultivated.  Caravans constantly come
from Aussa to Dowwe, on the frontier, the road being far more secure
than that between Tajura 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 favourite war-steed, "Abba Daghet," "the
Father of Height."  This chieftain resides at Gatira, [The Cypress tree]
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 given him his daughter in marriage, with territory in
his own dominions, and affords military aid in time of need as a check
upon the western Galla; and Imam Liban, of the powerful Worra tribe, has
likewise made considerable grants of land with a similar object.  Thus
possessed of extensive power, and courted on all sides, the treacherous
chief avails himself of his position to shift the cloak according to the
wind; and, although wedded 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 Pagans.
Hating Christian and heathen with all the dire inveteracy enjoined by
their creed, and slaying both without mercy on every opportunity, the
Wollo preserve all the superstitions of the latter, below whom they are
in many respects debased by Mohammadan bigotry; thus affording a
melancholy proof of what the whole Galla nation must become, should it
ever unfortunately happen that Abyssinia terminated her intestine
struggles by falling under the 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.  This
superstition is 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 Mohammadan prince of Tehooladeree, wherein is
the lake Haik, has long been in firm alliance with the King of Shoa, and
twice ably assisted him against the Wollo, an important piece of
service, for which His Majesty remunerated him handsomely.  It is now
two years since he was defeated by Birroo Lubo, and driven to seek
refuge at the Christian court, until, having mustered sufficient
reinforcements, he contrived, after several severely-contested battles,
to reinstate himself in his government; and it is said of this warrior,
that on the occasion of his 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 pretext for the
war was Ali Marie's refusal to acknowledge allegiance to Ras Ah, has
thus, by the subjugation of the Tehooladeree Galla, obtained possession
of the entire line of road from the frontiers of Shoa to Tigre, and has,
moreover, deprived his enemy the Negoos of his staunchest and most
powerful ally.  It is not a little singular, that Sahela Selassie, who
is on outward terms of friendship with Ras Ali, should have been
suffered to afford an asylum to Ali Marie, 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, remarking, as he did so, "that he
gave this token of deference for the first time during his life."

The Tulema Galla are the last to be mentioned on the northern frontier
of Shoa, and at their hands the most serious disasters and reverses have
uniformly been experienced.  A former emperor of Ethiopia is said to
have married a female slave, by whom he had three children, Metcha,
Karaiyo, and Tulema.  These youths were charged with the royal herds,
and being in the wilderness, and brave young men, they soon drew around
them a number of discontented vagabonds, who embraced their language and
manners, which were those of their mother, a native of the very centre
of Africa.  Concerting an attack upon the southern provinces of the
empire beyond the Hawash, they defeated the imperial army on the banks
of the river Gala in Gurague, which runs south towards Zingero; but of
numerous clans and houses into which the rebels became subsequently
divided, the twelve tribes of Metcha, the Karaiyo, and the Tulema, have
alone retained their aboriginal appellation.

Attempting to invade the territory of the Abitchu and Ghelan, the Tulema
were defeated and driven to the north-west, where they established
themselves on the bleakest and most lofty highlands, and to the present
day have maintained their independence.  One portion have become
converts to the Mohammadan faith, but the occupants of the mountain Dera
adhere to idolatry.  Woosen Suggud succeeded in subjugating some few of
these tribes; but on the accession of Sahela Selassie, they cast off the
yoke, and being joined by a member of the blood-royal of Shoa, became
formidable enemies.  Force after force has been sent against Kalala, the
capital, on the borders of Morabeitie, and always with the same result.
Birroo-Bukiza, and his successor, the brave Abba Damto, have invariably
repulsed the "soldiers of the cross," with fearful slaughter, and many
governors have been put to a cruel death.  In the mind of the
superstitious Amhara, fear has gradually given birth to a belief of the
existence in these cold mountains of a race of fabulous beings called
_Arita_, to whom their reverses are attributed.  The lower portion of
the body is described to be that of an ass or a black dog, whilst the
head and shoulders assume the human form, and with the gait, costume,
and language of mankind, complete a disguise which enables the monsters
to roam undetected over the border districts of Shoa, in prosecution of
their bloody career of cannibalism.

Volume Two, Chapter XLII.

THERMAL WELLS AT FEELAMBA.

The day following our victory over the monarch of the forest was passed
in the laborious operation of hewing out the ponderous tusks, each of
which formed the load of a donkey, and was valued at one hundred German
crowns.  A strong force was in attendance to keep the peace; and owing
to the inferiority of the tools at command, and the existing necessity
of cutting completely through the head to the root of the lower tusk,
which was half-buried in the soil with the violence of the fall, the
trophies were not borne off until the sun had set.  The wounded man had
meanwhile been conveyed to the camp for surgical aid.  The edges of the
laceration in his thigh had been by an amateur practitioner neatly
brought together with acacia thorns fastened by threads of wiry grass;
and a handful of silver easily reconciled the patient to a few weeks of
confinement to his bed.

An Armenian, acting in capacity of dragoman to the Embassy, had been the
Esculapius--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
feigned the highest spirits at the prospect of resuming his "old sport,"
for he had slain elephants by the dozen in Northern Abyssinia; and their
tails, he contended, "like the tails of all elephants, were not tufted
at the extremity, as I asserted, but covered with long hair, after the
fashion of the horse!"  A mouse wandering from an adjacent granary at
Dokaket, and unwisely scampering over his bed, fell a sacrifice to the
well-aimed staff of the hero, who, by virtue of this 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 hide himself in a manner far from creditable to his
nerves; he had been heard to exert his voice in earnest supplications
for assistance at the rumoured 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 had only once
beheld a live elephant "from the summit of a very high tree, when he
discharged his matchlock as the beast retreated, and the people declared
that it would die."

This curious confession on the part of the impostor, whose statements
had heretofore been credited, led to further disclosures.  He had been
addicted to shooting at hyenas by night in the suburbs of Adowa; and
having once been so fortunate as to overturn the object at which he
fired, he flew enraptured to the spot, and was somewhat disagreeably
surprised to find a Christian man weltering in blood, which flowed from
a perforation through the heart.  For this untoward murder he was
sentenced to pay two hundred pieces of salt, by Oubie the usurper, who,
however fond of putting his own subjects to death, permitted no one else
to do so with impunity; and being unable to raise the amount of this
fine among his numerous friends, he wisely adopted the alternative of
flight.

In Shoa he set up as a physician, and practised medicine, until so many
patients died under his hands, that the king was compelled to issue an
interdiction.  It formed the veteran's boast, that although well
stricken in years, he could still bolt ten pounds of raw beef at one
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
corroborated.  He had seen the monster Oubie, 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 Ras Subagadis, under whom he once held 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 become headsman to so humane a prince.

Every object in visiting Giddem having been fully and satisfactorily
accomplished, we bade adieu to the hospitable old governor, whose
parting request was, that he might be favourably mentioned to his royal
master.  This I unhesitatingly promised; and Ayto Elbeshar was deputed
to lead the way to the celebrated thermal springs of Feelamba, situated
within his government, and which I had determined to visit as we
returned to Ankober.  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 crystal water, varied at intervals by miniature cascades, and
shaded throughout its tortuous course by trees and flowering creepers of
luxuriant beauty.  In an angle formed by a sudden bend are the hot
wells, five in number, rising at some distance from each other--the
remnants of old volcanic action, which has long entirely disappeared in
other parts of its theatre, but has left behind it, 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 have been
conveyed on the tail of a huge serpent to the summit of the lofty and
then inaccessible rock on Debra Damo, where he founded a convent, of
which he is the tutelar saint, and which is still one of the most
renowned in Ethiopia.  It is recorded of Aragawi that he raised the
dead, and caused the blind to see; and among the manifold notable
miracles ascribed to him, the not least remarkable is the conversion to
Christianity of the Devil himself, whom he persuaded to take the
monastic cap for forty years!

Selassie, the Holy Trinity, is another open pool or basin situated close
to Aragawi, and like it rising in bubbles from the sandy bank and bed of
the stream.  In both the temperature stood at 118 degrees of Fahrenheit.
Mariam, the blessed Virgin, at 115 degrees, issues from a cave,
provided with a rude door, and partitioned by a bar of wood into two
cells for new and old complaints, and in these patients were in the act
of immersion.  Abbo, at 120 degrees, percolates from the centre of a
steep bank of soft red sandstone, covering basaltic wacke, through an
artificial spout inserted for the convenience of drinking the waters.
Numbers of dreadfully diseased wretches, the lame, the halt, and the
blind, who were here assembled, with victims who had suffered under the
Galla knife, formed a horrible spectacle, which called vividly to mind
the scriptural account of the pool of Bethesda.

The superintendence of the numerous patients who thus flock hither to
undergo the discipline of the baths, is limited to the collection of one
piece of salt, value two-pence halfpenny sterling, for the use of the
wells, which are believed to possess the highest sanative virtues in a
great variety of disorders.  The waters possess a slight taste and smell
of sulphuretted hydrogen; but they may be drunk hot from the spring
without creating nausea.  There is no precipitate whatever; and not five
yards from their source they mingle with a strong current of cold pure
mountain water, to which no perceptible alteration is imparted in
colour, temperature, or taste.

Here we obtained many rare and beautiful birds; amongst 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 surmounted 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 presently sent me,
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 supplying us with 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 we had again met Ayto Abaiyo, superintending
operations at one of the royal threshing-floors, where all the
inhabitants of the district were assembled; and self-interested motives
induced him very uncivilly to oppose a day's hunting on that river, upon
the score of alleged hostilities with Anbassa Ali.  In order to free
himself from any further importunity, he clandestinely instructed our
guide to lead us by the most direct route, and hence arose the offence
which I had committed against the "_Emabiet_."

Volume Two, Chapter XLIII.

RETURN TO ANKOBER.

An extremely steep and infamous road, intersected by numerous mountain
torrents, brought us 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 along the channel of
the river Shonkorghie, or "Sugar-sides," which takes its source in the
Turmaber range, and during the rains becomes quite impassable.  On its
borders the blackberry and the corinda abounded, both in full fruit.
The scenery was especially beautiful; and in a romantic glen, 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 ancestors, is garrisoned by a strong detachment of
gunmen, and entrusted to the custody 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 stronghold,
which occupies the apex of a rocky ridge, possessing great natural
strength.  Here, in a succession of long barn-like buildings, are
consigned to mould and cobwebs, and jealously guarded, every civilised
invention received by the despot, which could in any way tend to the
advancement or improvement of his people.

Our 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,
whilst on the other, far beyond a remarkable pyramidical hill called
Koka, could be traced the jungly banks of the Awadee, gradually fading
into the blue perspective of the Adel desert.

We experienced every civility at the hands of the governor and Shalaka;
the latter of whom insisted on mounting guard over our tents in a small
temporary bower erected as a defence against the nocturnal cold.
Supplies of every description were furnished in regal profusion; and the
voracity of the Abyssinian followers, to whom the excursion had proved
one continued feast, was most severely put to the test.  The king'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 in most instances refused our money, they yet
accepted presents of tenfold value in their estimation, which amply
remunerated them for the tax imposed by the despotic Negoos.

But different indeed would be the reception afforded to the man who
should venture to wander through the country without 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 contrivance, by which to obtain possession of any curious
article exposed to his admiring gaze, without imparting aught of value
in return; and in Shoa a display of force is frequently 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 richest imaginable presents.

Our last march lay over the mountain mass of which Mamrat forms the main
feature.  The ascent in many parts is extremely tedious; and deep dells,
intersecting the road, are traversed each by a clear streamlet, leaping
from rock to rock in its downward course to vales far concealed from
view.  A singular bird's-eye view of Goncho, the state prison, was
obtained from a natural terrace on which, environed by dark juniper
trees, stands the church of Kidana Meherat, "the Covenant of Mercy."
This very common title is due to an opinion entertained by the
Abyssinian fathers, that God appeared to the Virgin Mary in Paradise,
and formed a covenant with her for 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 playfellow of
Sahela Selassie, the young prince had sworn that, on his accession to
the throne, he would not forget him, and throughout his long reign he
had proved true to his word.  Although the deceased had, by his disputes
with 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, honours and wealth had been heaped upon him from
the throne, in gratitude for which he willed to his liberal master the
entire of his accumulated property, without making any provision for his
own children, who, in the ordinary course of things, are permitted to
reside twelve months on the father's estate before it reverts to the
crown.

A great portion of the latter part of the road lay through the mighty
forests of Mamrat, of which the scenery was rendered singularly
beautiful by the admixture of vernal and autumnal tints, produced at
this season by the great proportion of evergreens.  The shadowy and
sombre juniper, fashioned like the tall cedars of Lebanon, and the fresh
and lively "zigba," "So massy, vast, yet green in her old age," wave
stage above stage from the gloomy depths of the valley, to the very
pinnacle of the mountain, amid the moss-grown forms of the silver-haired
"woira."  The imperial purple lory, with myriads of brilliant birds,
darted through the cool recesses; the bell voice of the campanero tolled
with monotonous regularity, and many a clear and sparkling rivulet
bounded over its broken channel.

Deep-seated in this retirement lies the monastery of Mantek, said to
have been founded a thousand years.  It is inhabited solely by
_Tabeeban_--men strongly suspected of being Jews in disguise--cunning
workers in iron, wood, and clay, who are regarded as sorcerers, and -
shunned accordingly by all save the king, to whom they are endeared.
The austerities practised by this fraternity, "in order to obtain
righteousness before God," are perhaps as severe as any recorded in
monkish annals.  An oath is taken, under a curse, never to look at a
female, nor to hear her voice, nor to eat a morsel of bread 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 is kindled
either on Saturday or on the Sabbath; the most meagre diet is observed
throughout the residue of the week; many sit up to their necks in water
for days together: at appointed periods all lash their naked bodies with
rods of sharp thorns; and whilst every brother sleeps in a sitting
posture upon a hard clay bench, with his loins girt about by a tough
cord, the _Alaka_, their superior, does penance continually in a massive
iron chain.

A tree, which 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 cotton 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.  Leviathan he believed to be a monstrous serpent, carrying
the world on its back.  None possessed firmer faith in the winged
chariot of Ethiopia, in which the celestial ark of the covenant is
recorded to have been brought from the Holy Temple; and he further
laboured under the happy delusion, that a fire kindled above his
secluded convent, must, _par excellence_, be fully as conspicuous at
Jerusalem, as the beacons in Palestine by which Saint 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, he had dealt largely in human flesh, and
seen much of the unexplored interior, but 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 became _Etchegue_, or Superior of all the
monasteries.  A proselyte to the religion of Ethiopia, Osman had
renounced the false prophet, and put away every Mohammadan abomination,
coffee only excepted.  Without the sober berry, he averred life to be a
very burden; and the clergy were fain to close their eyes upon the
malpractices of one, whose geographical information, united with great
abilities as a spy, had exalted him to the highest place in the royal
favour.

A frequent visitor at the residency, the garrulous monk had opposed
strenuous arguments to my projected war against the elephants, herds of
which he represented to be so numerous around the lake Zooai, that
caravans are afraid to traverse the dense forest unless provided with a
number of young goats, to whose bleat the colossus entertains an
unconquerable antipathy.  "Take my kid with you," he advised: "on no
account omit this, or the monsters will assuredly trample you."  He had
been reminded that "the battle is not always to the strong," but he
invariably shook his head; and even now that the chorus of victory was
ringing in his ears, and the tail of the fallen actually in his hand, he
continued at intervals to ejaculate, with upturned eyes, "No; I like it
not."--"By Mary! it doth not please me."

In the environs of the capital a vast concourse of people had assembled
to welcome our safe return from the hunting-field; and as the ivory
trophies of the chase were borne through the crowd upon the shoulders of
six men, great were the demonstrations of astonishment and commendation
evinced at the successful issue of an expedition so universally
ridiculed at its departure.  Women and girls shouted in the
market-place.  Visits of congratulation were forthwith paid by all our
friends and well-wishers; whilst 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.  Amongst
those who felt more particularly annoyed and chagrined was Sertie Wold,
the Purveyor General, who had not long before hunted the wilderness of
Giddem for two successive months, with a retinue of more than three
thousand spearmen and many fusiliers, and who had during that period
enjoyed very superior opportunities to ourselves, without however being
able to achieve the object of his highest ambition--the death of an
elephant.

Volume Two, Chapter XLIV.

HONORARY DISTINCTIONS.

The court had meanwhile removed to Angollala; but a paternal letter from
the royal pen awaited the return of the Embassy to the capital.  "Are my
children well?--have they entered in safety?  I have heard with joy of
your success.  Horsemen were dispatched, and they brought me the glad
tidings that you had killed.  Hasten hither, that I may confer upon you
the reward due unto those who have slain forty Galla in the battle."

No time was lost in accepting this invitation, and a guard of honour met
us on the road.  Together with sheep and oxen from the king, and
barilles of hydromel from the queen, visits of congratulation were
received from all the principal courtiers present.  Amongst others, came
Ayto Egazoo, whose hospitality had been extended to us on our way to
Giddem; and Ayto Zowdoo [i.e. My crown] formerly governor of the
important province of Geshe on the northern frontier, who was dismissed
for bravely fighting against the Worra Kaloo, on the occasion when the
son of Birroo Lubo fell--an event which, although highly gratifying to
His Majesty, policy had induced him to punish by the imprisonment and
disgrace of all the principal Amhara engaged.  Both of these visitors
had, with sorrowful hearts, taken leave of us on our departure; and they
now repeated the inward conviction entertained, that the animals against
which rash war was to be waged, would have "consumed the assailants"--a
persuasion which had led them to cherish not the smallest hope of seeing
any one of us again.  But greater than all was the delight of the chief
smith, when he gave his assurance, after a careful admeasurement, that
the circumference of the ivory trophies then lying in the tent for
presentation to his royal master, yielded two full spans in excess of
any tusk in the royal magazines.  A band of fusiliers were at dawn the
ensuing morning directed to escort us to the presence; and whilst
ascending the hill through the various courtyards, they chanted the war
chorus of death before the spoils of the vanquished elephant.  A
successful expedition against the Loomi Galla having recently returned,
the walls of the reception-hall were decorated with numerous trophies
hanging above scrolls of parchment closely written with blessings from
the priesthood.  But the whole court was in deep mourning, in
consequence of the demise of Ayto Baimoot, the chief eunuch, who was
nurse to the king in infancy, and had been through after-life his
principal adviser.  Heads were close shaven, 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 other have accomplished during the reign
of Sahela Selassie."

The ivory was now laid at the feet of the king, who listened with great
interest and seeming astonishment to the detail of our proceedings, and
to the assurance that the monarch of the forest might always be
vanquished by a single bullet, if properly directed.  A long confession
of the personal dread entertained of the elephant by His Majesty was
followed by an anecdote formerly touched upon at Machal-wans, of his own
discomfiture, and that of his entire host, by a herd encountered during
a foray against the Metcha Galla, when, being firmly convinced that the
army would be destroyed, he had deemed it prudent to retreat with all
expedition.  "I ran," he repeated 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, I took the
opportunity of intimating that a strong desire had been entertained to
bring from Giddem the spoils also of a wild buffalo, but that Ayto
Tsanna declared to me that His Majesty, during an expedition made some
years previously, had fairly exterminated the species.

"_Oonut now_," "that is true," he replied, "and you must not attempt to
kill the `Gosh,' for it is a most ferocious and dangerous beast.  What
answer should I give if my children were to be demolished by buffaloes
in the kingdom of Shoa?  They consume men and horses.  When I slew a
buffalo in Giddem, there were ten men and ten horses destroyed.  They
reside in the thickets where they cannot be seen; and putting their
heads to the ground, annihilate 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 monarch to place his own exploit in a superior point of view, I
changed the subject by an assurance of the uniform kindness and
hospitality that we had experienced on the road, at the hands of Ayto
Tsanna, and at those of the Emabiet in Mahhfood more especially; and
each pause was followed by an ejaculation from the royal lips: "Did I
not command him?  Is not Birkenich my daughter?"

Certain rewards and immunities are in Shoa attached to the destruction
of enemies 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 proceeded, by the
royal command, to invest the victors with the decorations due to the
downfall of an elephant.

"You have each slain forty Galla," repeated the king, "and are
henceforth entitled to wear upon the right 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 to be
replaced at the expiration of that period by the _erkoom_ feather.  Thus
honoured, we took our way down through the court-yards of the palace, a
band of warriors again preceding, who discharged their muskets at
intervals, whilst they chanted the Amhara war chorus, 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 attempt to levy it, and the royal forces took the field against
them.  Botha, who presided 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 Hawash, 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 Summad 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 Argobba.  He therefore determined to renounce his allegiance,
but deferred the execution of his design until after joining Ayto
Shishigo, who commanded the troops acting against the Loomi; and it
being then proposed to burn a 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 already in flames, but the work of
destruction was now discontinued; and the royal forces retreating in
disorder, were again attacked by the rebel brothers, and defeated 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 saddled, 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 him with excommunication if he stirred, and thus the day was
irretrievably lost.

Hawash Oosha [i.e. "The dog of the Hawash"], who governs the subjugated
sections of the Aroosi, Soddo, Liban, and Jille tribes, having meanwhile
joined the insurgents, the whole Galla border was in arms.  This
powerful chieftain, who was for many years the open enemy of the despot,
had been finally gained over to the royal interest by large presents,
and by the espousal of his daughter; since which period he has held, in
nominal subjection to the crown, an important portion of the plain of
the Hawash.  He soon repented him of the part he had taken in the
present insurrection; and the usual dissensions arising among the
rebels, a deputation, 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 aggravation 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 desolation.

Two successful inroads followed close upon this threat, and ample
vengeance was taken.  The wealth of the Pagans was transferred to the
royal meadows.  Women wrung their hands in captivity, and a black and
burning monument attested the lava-like course of the chastising hordes.
The season of retribution again drew nigh, and Shambo and Botha
trembled at the fate that awaited them.  The powerful intercession of
the church was sought with bribes, and obtained.  A hooded monk from the
cloisters of Affaf Woira stood before the throne with a peace-offering
from those who supplicated pardon, and clemency was graciously extended.
As the Embassy entered the palace-court at the royal invitation, the
traitors were perceived prostrate on their faces, heaping dust upon
their heads in token of abject humiliation.  The fear of the heavy
fetters of Goncho was before their eyes; and the half inebriated state
gaoler scowled at them like a basilisk from the ladder of the balcony.
But for once he was cheated of his prey.  Five hundred head of choice
black cattle, which the caitiffs had treacherously swept from those
whose cause they so lately espoused, were accepted as the price of
pardon; and with an eloquent harangue from the throne, setting forth the
duties of a liege subject, Shambo and Botha were dismissed in peace.

Volume Two, Chapter XLV.

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 mountains,
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 possessed courage to cast
off the blankets before the sun rose, invariably saw the hoar-frost
lying white over the faded meadows.  Dogs continued to howl in packs,
and mendicants to importune as of yore.  Dirty pages and troublesome
idlers still infested my tent; and the approaches were choked by
numerous bands of Yedjow Galla, who were begging their way to the
country of Dedjasmach Paris.  Day and night their monotonous 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 frequent on the part of all who loved to be
decorated.  Abba Mooalle, surnamed "the Great Beggar in the West," with
his adopted brother, appeared to hold the lease of the tent in
perpetuity; and in return for amber necklaces and gay chintz vestments,
hourly volunteered some promise, simply, it would seem, that they might
afterwards enjoy the pleasure of forfeiting a gratuitous oath.  If
solemn asseverations by highly respectable saints and martyrs, were to
be received with credit, messengers were almost daily despatched, and on
fleet horses too, for the purpose of bringing from the Galla
dependencies on the Nile, amongst other treasures, the spoils of the
_gassela_, a black leopard, elsewhere not procurable, and "worn only by
the governors of provinces."  But by some unaccountable fatality, not
one of these fleet couriers ever found his way back to the English camp
at Angollala; 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
insatiable character, and scarcely more addicted to veracity.  Gadeloo,
"the hen-pecked," was punctual in his attendance, by order of the
Emabiet of Mahhfood, who had always 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, escorted 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 decanter of unusually potent hydromel, and a
sabre-cut on the head of either, demonstrated, alas! the fleeting and
unstable nature of all sublunary friendship.

As each evening closed, the nobility were to be seen streaming towards
our tents from the royal banquet, supported upon their ambling mules by
a host of armed and not very sober retainers; and a tribe of ragged
pages bringing messages from the palace, accidentally entered at the
same time to report the substance of the conversation, although many of
the illustrious visitors were absolutely inarticulate.  Lances were
hurled at a target to the imminent peril of all spectators; and the neck
of the vanquished having been duly trampled under foot, according to the
ancient Oriental form of military triumph, all who anticipated any
difficulty in reaching their own abodes, staggered back to the Gyptzis
to laugh at the mad pranks of Daghie, the obsequious court buffoon, and
the flower of Abyssinian minstrelsy.

Decked by the favour of the monarch in a shining silver sword, this
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, grimaces, and inquiries, he proceeded to elicit from his
instrument imitations of the human voice under various intonations of
joy, surprise, and sorrow; and a host of retainers, crowding round the
doors with shoulders bared, next shouted their approval to some
travestie of the wild Adel slogan, or joined their voices in full chorus
to swell the Amhara death triumph, or this, the pibroch of the Nile:--

  "The sword is burning for the fight,
  And gleams like rays of living light;
  Let thoughts of fear inthral the slave--
  Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.

  "Clustering they come, the Turkish rout
  Ring back on high the Amhara shout;
  For honour, home, or glorious grave--
  Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.

  "The sword of Confu leads the war.
  And dastard spirits quail afar;
  None here to pity, none to save--
  Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.

  "Our swords in tint shall soon outvie
  Yon scabbard of the crimson dye.
  And overhead shall ruddy wave--
  Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave.

  "Red as their belts their blood shall flow,
  Deep as the hue of sunset glow;
  Mercy to none who mercy crave--
  Rouse to the strife, ye Gojam brave."

Pages and abigails were hourly in attendance, on the part of their royal
master or mistress, with some rubbish from the palace, which was
carefully 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 description was not
to be obtained?"  The outcry raised for detonating caps was wearisome
and incessant; for although it was notorious that the royal magazines
boasted a hoard sufficient to answer the utmost demand of at least three
generations, the king was ever apprehensive of bankruptcy, in event of a
quarrel with the Adaiel, "because his own people knew not the road
beyond the world of waters."  Thus it happened that Kidana Wold, "the
long gunman," who had charge of the royal armoury, received private
instructions to look in at the Residency at least twice a week, with a
_mamalacha_ for fifty or a hundred _tezabs_, and regularly once a month
averred that he had been so unfortunate as to drop from his girdle
another box of His Majesty's patent anticorrosives--a loss which, unless
timely repaired, must inevitably result in the forfeiture of his
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
in high demand, its superiority over the manufacture of Shoa being
admitted even by the maker.  But the sulphur monopoly remained as
heretofore most jealously guarded.  The ill-starred individual who had
charge of the mines on the frontier, in an evil hour accepted silver for
a lump of the purified commodity, which was required for the cure of
applicants having the beggar's disease; and spies reporting the
peculation, the delinquent was condemned to perpetual labour in the hot
valleys of Giddem.

This convict was accompanied in his exile by a shrewd lad, who had been
detected at the Bool Worki market in giving circulation to two
counterfeit dollars.  Weeks of incessant toil had enabled him to produce
out of a 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 untoward consequences of his labour.
"Tell me," inquired the king, as the culprit was being removed, "how is
that machine made which in your country pours out the silver crowns like
a shower of rain?"

Architecture now occupied a full share of the royal brain.  The hand
corn-mills presented by the British Government had been erected within
the palace walls, and slaves were turning the wheels with unceasing
diligence.  "Demetrius the Armenian 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 labour to
construct, it was useless when finished, because the priests declared 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 advice."

Early the ensuing morning the chief smith was accordingly in attendance
with hammer and tongs; and "when the sun said hot," the pious monarch,
having first paid his orisons in the church of the Trinity, proceeded,
with all suitable cunning, to plan the projected edifice beneath a
fortunate horoscope.  Twelve waterways were traced with stones under his
skilful superintendence on a site selected after infinite discussion;
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 actually happened--
demolition within as many short hours, on the very first violent fresh
to which the river is subject during the annual rains.

But our predictions of this impending catastrophe were received with an
incredulous shake of the head; and my advice that orders should be
issued to the Governors on the Nile to keep a vigilant lookout for the
upper timbers on their voyage down to Egypt, was followed by a
good-humoured 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 that
I proposed to construct a bridge upon arches which might defy the
impetuosity of the torrent.  "All my subjects are asses," retorted His
Majesty: "they are idle and lazy, and devoid of understanding.  There is
not one that will consent to labour, 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 moment, and the monarch whistled aloud.

And the king was right.  Weaving excepted, which in so cold a climate is
an art indispensable to existence, the people of Shoa can hardly be said
to practise any manufacture.  The raw cotton, which is as cheap as it is
excellent and abundant, is, by him who would be clad, handed over with a
number of _amoles_ proportioned to the size of the cloth 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 spindle, to which
motion is imparted by a rapid pressure betwixt the left palm and the
denuded thigh, whilst the right hand is simultaneously carried upwards
for the purpose of "roving."  Time is here held of no account; and
female labour having supplied the want of machinery in these preliminary
operations, the twist is transferred to a rude locomotive loom, and a
warm durable mantle is produced with the aid only of a simple shuttle.

British commerce has not only forced its way, but created markets and
customers in many a wilder and more inaccessible portion of the globe
than highland Abyssinia, and its operation promises to open the only
means of improvement and civilisation.  Even in the absence of water
carriage, the experience of many years has proved that the living ship
of the desert 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 ruler in the strongest chains of personal
interest.  It would rapidly change the pursuits of the people--convert
the rude hut into a comfortable dwelling--limit, if not extinguish, the
slave trade with Arabia, and if not reform, at least enlighten, the
clouded Christianity of Ethiopia.

A commercial convention betwixt Great Britain and Shoa was a subject
that had been frequently adverted to; and His Majesty had shaken his
head when first assured that five hundred pair of hands efficiently
employed at the loom would bring into his country more permanent wealth
than ten thousand warriors bearing spear and shield.  But he had
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 annexure 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
articles 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
country, the abrogation of the despotic interdiction which had from time
immemorial precluded the purchase or display of costly goods by the
subject, and the removal of penal restrictions upon voluntary movement
within and beyond the kingdom, which formed a modification of the
obsolete national maxim, "never to permit the stranger who had once
entered, to depart from Abyssinia."  All these evils His Majesty
unhesitatingly declared his determination to annul for the good of his
people.

Tekla Mariam, the royal notary, kneeling, 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 chief
of the church, the Dedj Agafari, the Governor of Morat, and three other
functionaries who were summoned into the alcove for the purpose.

"You have loaded me with costly presents," exclaimed the monarch as he
returned the deed: "the raiment that I wear, the throne whereon I sit,
the various curiosities in my storehouses, and the muskets which hang
around the great hall, are all from your country.  What have I to give
in return for such wealth?  My kingdom is as nothing."

Volume Two, Chapter XLVI.



APPENDIX.

Remarks on the Geology, Botany, and Zoology of the Highlands of Southern
Abyssinia.

Geology.

When the portion of North-eastern Africa that is to form the province of
inquiry received its present configuration, the fountains of the deep
may be supposed to have opened at once upon a surface, of which the
prior quality and condition has become so shut out from human
observation, that analogies, drawn from other countries under similar
circumstances, must supply this deficiency.

Porphyry forms the general basis of all the different volcanic
formations discernible.  From the pinnacle of Jebel Goodah, on the Gulf
of Arabia, it may be traced, though indistinctly, in the minor
outrunners of the Abyssinian Alps, to the province of Efat, where it
passes under red sandstone.  The principal Shoan range, and the high
westerly plateau towards the valley of the Nile, present solely
secondary formations, but the porphyry again emerges on the southerly
borders in the ranges of Garra Gorphoo and Bulga; whilst the left; bank
of the Hawash valley is distinctly of primitive crystalline formation.

The overlying rocks, which seem to have been poured from the centre of
this tract, consist of masses of trachyte and columnar basalt, of
pyramids of wacke, and beds of lava and tufwacke, with strata of
conglomerates and sandstones.  The former of these, the trachyte and
basalt, belong to the lofty mountains of Abyssinia; whereas wacke, lava,
tuffo, and scoria, 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, running
nearly parallel to the Shoan alps.  Disclosing in some few spots the
nature of their interior, it appears that immediately over the porphyry
lies a red sand-stone, embedding vast quantities of coal, and presenting
a true stratification.  It consists of minute but quite perfect hexagon
dodecaeders of quartz in a white cement, is very soft, and cleaves
sometimes in regular squares.  Its depth was not observed to be very
great, nor did the overlying formations, a marl and conglomerates, seem
to form obstacles to the miner.

The Shoan mountains, of alpine height, exhibit a structure of basalt,
wacke, and trachyte; the latter, in all its varieties, surrounds a
nucleus of basalt, basaltic wacke, and dolerite.  The conglomerates and
tuffos at their feet, and partly on their terraces and tops, are of
trachytic 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 formation.

When the action began, craters or clefts were formed in the then
existing crust of trap-rocks, which in their turn were covered with
masses of trachytic lava; a little later, the tuffos and conglomerates
were deposited, which prove the importance of augite in their formation
by numerous crystals of pyroxen embedded in them.  Subsequently new
basaltic eruptions either raised these deposits to their present height,
or pierced them through in their original sites, both cases occurring on
the same locality.

The basalt composing the hills about Ankober presents no vestige of
olivin, nor does it influence the magnetic needle; but a distinction
between basalt and greenstone in their finer-grained varieties is
difficult; and to determine in words the affinity which they bear to
each other in the present instance, the rock might be styled basaltic
greenstone.  Columns, pentagonal or heptagonal, crown the tops of hills,
and seem rather a composition of hornblende than of augite and feldspar.
Scoriaceous varieties are found on the outsides of the later protruded
masses.

The trachyte is generally a compact mass of grey feldstein, which
contains crystals of glassy feldspar, irregularly embedded, and in
different quantities.  Some varieties are porous, some full of small
holes, others black from grains of obsidian; and a few, especially near
the dikes, incline to phonolite.

To the westward the ridge terminates in a high plateau, the western
Galla provinces of the kingdom.  This vast plain is crossed in various
directions by hill ranges, the greater part of which do not rise to any
considerable height.  Here true basalt is disclosed in all the grandeur
of its columnar cleavage, but no other species of rock.  Deep and narrow
ravines carry off the superabundant waters, and pits of tolerable
ironstone afford a supply of metal for the manufacture of weapons.

The chief bearing of the mountain chains in Shoa is north and south,
with spurs to the west and east.  The towering height to which they
rise, in a nearly uninterrupted ascent, may be calculated to be from
eight to nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and their single
pinnacles far exceed that limit.  They are most abrupt, and difficult of
access, excepting by the only two passes to the high western plateau.
Ravines and chasms of a depth which admits the sun but for few hours,
tell of the catastrophe which resulted in their formation.  Inaccessible
steep cliffs and dismal precipices everywhere line the tiresome footpath
of the lonely muleteer.

The hills of Efat present more rounded forms; their slopes are better
cultivated, and their tops afford the most eligible positions for the
abode of the Abyssinian farmer.  During the rainy season, all the many
rivers which at other times carry only sufficient water for the purposes
of the cultivator, not only fill their deeply-excavated beds, but
overflowing and inundating all the lower parts of the hills, would sweep
off any of the fragile Abyssinian buildings within reach; but the soil,
when saturated with humidity, becomes so heavy and compact as to be not
easily washed away.  The impetuosity of the mountain torrent undermines
the fast-decomposing rock, and frequently brings down large boulders and
loose stones, which, dashing against the sides of the ravine, are in no
small degree instrumental to its destruction.

Not less important are the changes going on in the high range, since the
time of their formation.  Ice is of so uncommon occurrence, that we can
scarcely attribute to it any considerable cooperation; but the action of
water is materially assisted by occasional earthquakes.  Gradual
decomposition and decay has produced on the base, and produces still,
conglomerates of various thickness and extent.  The high plateau enjoys
a thick coat of fertile black soil.  Lakes, pools, morasses, and swamps,
are frequent; the rivers of little fall have muddy and miry beds, which
on that account become unfordable during the rains.

A few hot mineral wells are known and made use of in Efat and Giddem.
Precious metals 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.  Enclosed in the basalt, it comes to view only in the
ravines, whence it is scraped out.  From the western borders of the Adel
country, and from the extinct volcanoes of Mentshar, is derived the
small supply of native sulphur required; the pits are described as
exceedingly copious.  Coal-beds appear to extend along the whole of the
eastern frontier of Shoa; but the combustible nature of the fossil is
scarcely known in the country.  Copper, tin, zinc, and salt, are all
imported into Shoa; the Adaiel possessing the last commodity in
abundance.  The Shoan clay proves a very indifferent material for the
manufacture of earthenware.  Excellent quarries could be worked, but the
primitive fashion of the dwellings is independent of the use of stone.

Botany.

The provinces that compose the kingdom of Shoa enjoy not only political
but also natural and physical boundaries.  From the luxuriant
vegetation, or the parched-up desert of a tropical clime, we suddenly
ascend to regions where the blessings of fertility are more equably
diffused, and which serve as granaries to the inhabitants of the
lowlands.

From the general nature of the rocks, it is obvious that the soil
consists chiefly of decomposed feldspar, which requires abundance of
water.  Dews, rains, and springs, however, so moisten the mountain side,
that artificial irrigation need be 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 the _cryptogamic plants_ of cellular
construction, are in different zones nearly the same.  Under similar
circumstances the same lichen covers the face of the rock in Europe as
in the continents of the torrid zone, the same mould lines decaying
matter, and the same fungus cleaves to bark and root.  But, compared
with the other orders of plants, the cellulars are most defective in
numbers throughout Abyssinia, the peculiarities of the climate being
very unfavourable to their development.

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; _Parmeliae_ and other
lichens cover rocks, or depend fantastically from the withered branches
of gigantic trees.  _Mosses_, however, are very scarce, and only of four
kinds.

The _vascular acotyledonic plants_, the ferns, might likewise be
expected in greater variety among the Abyssinian weeds than is actually
the case.  The deep recesses of the few remaining forests harbour some
kinds which very closely resemble European forms, and belong to the
genera _Aspidium, Polypodium, Asplenium, Adiantum, Scolopendrium,
Ophioglossum_, and _Pteris_.  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 Besoo_" i.e. much work--
finely wrought.

Of the four orders into which the tribe of _monocotyledonic plants_ is
naturally subdivided, viz. the Grasses, the Lilies, the Orchides, and
the Palms, the first undoubtedly deserves our principal attention, for
it is by far the most numerous and important.  The great elevation of
the Abyssinian plains is so favourable for the cultivation of all
_Cerealia_ of the temperate zone, that they may rival the very best
agricultural districts of Northern Europe, whilst the low country along
the foot of the mountains produces some kinds of tropical grain, and
would fully answer for the cultivation of rice, which at present is
unknown in the country.

The Abyssinian husbandman takes great trouble in improving the
cultivated sorts of grain, by changing the seed-corn at every season,
and sometimes by sowing promiscuously different sorts to produce new
varieties.  Hence the astonishing number of distinguishable kinds
cultivated in a small compass of ground under certain established
appellations, and brought into use for very different purposes.  Within
a circumference of five miles around Ankober are found, of juwarree, 28
varieties; of wheat, 24; of barley, 16; of rye, 2; of teff, 4; of oats,
2; of maize, 2.  Various kinds of bread and cakes are prepared from some
of these; malt for beer is chosen from others; and the inferior kinds
are given to slaves and cattle.

The existing meadow-grasses answer so well, that an 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, etc.
Papyrus also grows in the low countries of Efat.

The following species of grasses and grain are cultivated: Lorghum
vulgare (_Mashila_), the Juwarree of India, and Durrha of Arabia, in
many varieties, the principal of which are: a (_Sengada_), with red
spreading spike; b (_Wogari_), with yellow, compact pendent spike.  The
young stalks contain a great deal of saccharine, and are chewed: they
attain, in good situations, the enormous height of eighteen feet.  The
produce of Efat and Giddem in this grain is chiefly exported to the
countries of the Adaiel; but a small quantity comes to the Shoan marts
for 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 officinarum, the sugar-cane (_Shonkar_), is also planted to a
small extent in the low country.  The art of making sugar being unknown,
it is only chewed; and although regarded a great luxury, and sent in
token of friendship by the great, no particular care is bestowed upon
improving its growth.

Elusine Tocussa (_Dagusa_), a minute grain in quarternaire crosswise
disposed spikes, is produced on a low grass extensively cultivated in
Northern Abyssinia; and the Emperor of Gondar is said to be forced by
etiquette to eat cakes of it, to the exclusion of other farinaceous
food.

Poa Abyssinica (_Teff_).  This millet-like seed is a favourite with all
Abyssinians, although the bread made of it is extremely unwholesome and
insipid.  Four varieties are found, two of a brown, and two of a white
kind.  The latter has the preference; and the finest, called _Manya
Teff_, is grown only upon the king's fields, and can never be purchased
by the subject.  The straw 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
neither juwarree nor wheat will thrive.  Its greatest consumption is in
brewing, but mules and horses are also fed on it, and the finer sorts
are eaten (_Mariam Sahr Litch Alkuso Sandarash).  Barya Settat_, i.e.
"the slaves' portion," 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
cultivated by the Galla, and subsequently introduced.  The other
provinces of Abyssinia have also furnished various kinds; but the most
esteemed are indigenous, viz.  _Y'abuna ehel, Ya beri mangada, Ya gosh
gumbar_, i.e. "Aboon's grain;" "bullock's molar tooth;" "buffaloes'
forehead."  Wheat is frequently eaten unground, in a mixture of parched
grain, called _Kolo_, which is the only store carried by the Amhara
warrior into the field.

Avena spec. (_Gherama_) is a small kind of oats, sown on the poorest
fields, in order that favourite mules and horses may crop it while yet
green.  In times of scarcity the poor are compelled to resort to it.

Bambusa arundinacea (_Shemal_).  The bamboo is not indigenous in any
part of the country, but groves are planted on the king's grounds, in
order to supply poles for the royal tents.

The following are the grasses found in every pasture:--Lolium temulentum
(_Enkerdad_), much dreaded as poison; Chloris spec. (_Agerma_);
Andropogon distachyum (_Gasha_); Anthistiria spec. (_Sambalet_);
Sporobolus spec. (_Ya teff sahr_) the seeds eaten as those of the teff;
Poa brizoides (_Ya 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 colours.  None but the edible kinds of Allium are
cultivated in Abyssinia, ornamental gardens being quite unknown
throughout the country.  Some grow in swampy meadows, especially those
with bulbs, more properly ranking as lilies: others, with perennial
stem, are found on dry waste places, such as the Asparagus and the Aloe.
The whole year round, the meads are graced by the lovely blossoms of
two Commelineae, viz.  Commelina Africana, and Tradescantia spec.  Both
having small oval tubers, they are called _Off angoon_ and _Off gola_,
i.e. "bird's egg" (_off_, a bird; _angoon_ and _gola_, or more commonly
_angola_, an egg).  These tubers are eaten in times of famine.  One
ixia, a very beautiful kind, of the morasses around Angollala, springs
up immediately after the termination of the rains.  Haemanthus
coccineus, Amaryllis clavata, Gloriosa spec, are rare plants of Efat;
Bulbocodium spec, is a very transient form, observable a few days after
the "rains of Bounty."  Onions and garlic (_Neitch Shongort_) are
favourite vegetables; various kinds of Aloe (_Ya jib Shongort_) adorn
the wastes of Efat, and furnish good fibres for making ropes.  Asparagus
retrofractus (_Sareti_), and Asparagus Ethiopicus (_Kastanitcha_), are
fructiferous and climbing shrubs: a green twig of the first, stuck in
the hair of the sinciput, is a token of exultation after a successful
encounter with an enemy or wild beast; the wood of the second is of
peculiar hardness, and splitting well serves the Amhara scribe as a pen.
Lastly, one Smilax (_Ashkila_) affords the stick in common use as a
tooth-brush.

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

The _Palms_ of the continents of the eastern world are, with very few
exceptions, inhabitants of the sea-borders, and do not thrive at any
considerable elevation or even distance inland.  The coast of the Adaiel
is therefore the only locality where three species of this tribe, viz.
Phoenix dactylifera, Hyphaene crucifera, 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 Abyssinian
vegetation in general.  The Dicotyledones, comprising two-thirds of all
the plants, will necessarily help to show, that although included within
the tropics, the Flora of Shoa, and of some of the Galla provinces to
the west, is, on the whole, subalpine.  The avenues of approach to them
from the eastward, evince in their scanty dress the influence 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 where, in fact, a temperate and a torrid clime exchange their
products as it were upon neutral ground.

The _Chlamydoblasta_ number but very few species in Abyssinia.  One
Nymphaae only, on the lakes of Shoa, and one Aristolochia (bracteata) of
the Adaiel country, could be discovered.  This latter, called _Gerbaad_,
is a secret remedy with the Danakil against poisoned wounds, and in fact
they are prone to attribute mysterious qualities to the most of their
weeds.  Pepper is not found either in a wild or cultivated state,
although nothing would oppose the introduction of that favourite
condiment, which at present, under the appellation of _Gunda Berberi_
(_Gunda_, an ant; _Berberi_, hot spice) is imported from Arabia and
India.

Of _apetalous Gymnoblasts_, some important species are to be recorded,
since they form the chief pride of the forests.  And justly beginning
with the Coniferae, the fir (cedar), which graces the Alps of Northern
Abyssinia, is replaced in Shoa by a gigantic juniper, Juniperus excelsa
(_Det_).  This noble tree of the woods as well as of the churchyards
attains in its life of one century a height of upwards of one hundred
and sixty feet, with four to five in diameter at the base.  Growing
nearly in the shape of a cypress, it throws off continually the lower
branches, which shoot out almost at a right angle from the stem, so that
two-thirds of the same are void of green; the top is always a pyramid,
and generally scanty.  The wood is very inferior, but splitting readily,
it supplies, in the absence of proper carpenters' tools, the chief
timber used in the construction of huts and churches; and it forms,
besides, the common fuel.  Neither is any use made of the resin or
berries; but twigs lopped off the melancholy trees that overshadow the
cemetery, are often strewn upon the corpse before the grave is filled
up.  A yew tree, Taxus elongata, _Sigba_, also of the Shoan forests,
keeps within more moderate dimensions; sixty feet in height, and five in
circumference, is the utmost.  The tough wood, like that of the wild
olive-tree, furnishes the timber for works of art which are to last some
time.  To tarry beneath its shade, or to inhale the smoke of burning yew
wood, is regarded as particularly noxious.

The low temperature reigning in the Alps of Abyssinia does not prohibit
the growth of a species of fig, which contrasts strangely enough with
the tall juniper.  The _Shoala_, a kind of Banyan tree, with large,
oval, acute, serrated, and subcordate leaves, and racemes of fruits
attached only to the stem and principal branches, measures frequently
seven feet in diameter, with a height of forty feet, at an age of
two-score years.  Its roots are partly above ground; but of secondary,
or branch-roots, there is no vestige.  Requiring no small space for
expansion, it stands commonly on the outskirts of the forests, or quite
alone, but its shade is extremely dense and unfavourable to other
vegetation.  The fruit, of the size of a pigeon's egg, brown and
insipid, might be eaten by people in distress.  In the low country the
Sycamore Fig-tree makes its appearance; it is called _Worka_, i.e. "the
Golden," by the Amhara, and _Woda_ by the Galla; and has, with those of
the latter nation, who are still in the bonds of idolatry, a sacred
signification.  Being planted over the tombs of notable persons,
conjurers, or heroes, offerings are brought to it, and hung up on the
branches at certain festivals, when the neighbouring tribes feast
together upon that holy and neutral ground.  The Worka stands always
near running water, towering far over the jungle, although the undivided
stem is scarcely ten feet high.  The leaf has a yellow tomentum below;
and the fruit forms a favourite food of monkeys and of various birds,
but is not touched by man.

The _Kuaraf_, Gunnera spec, another plant of the same family, of
_Artocarpeae_, is an important vegetable during the strict fast of Lent.
It grows in swamps and rivulets, and is an annual low plant from a
perennial root, with large radical leaves and a leafless stalk, bearing
the minute flowers on a bunchy raceme.  The petioles, ribs of leaves,
and stalks, are eaten fresh when stripped of the epidermis; and their
taste is similar to that of the sorrel.  The common stinging-nettle
(_Sama_) is, by boiling, also prepared into an indifferent food during
the quadragesimal low diet.  The troublesome weed grows everywhere to a
height of five feet.

Of the many _Polygoneae_, a few must be noticed on account of their
frequent occurrence and of their use.  Polygonum tomentosum (_Ba Waha
lay_, i.e. "upon the water,") and Polygonum serratum, cover the margins
of morasses and lakes.  Polygonum frutescens (_Umboatoo_) is the most
common hedge-shrub.  Rumex arifolius (_Makmako_), frequent in swampy
meadows, yields, in its fleshy root, a reddish dye for colouring butter.
The root of another species of Rumex, called _Tutt_, is believed to be
a nostrum for barbarous and criminal purposes; but, happily, it is quite
innocent.  Instead of these species, which all belong to the Flora of
Shoa, there appear in the Adel country several Boerhaaviae.  Introduced
into Shoa is a kind of willow (_Aheia_), much employed in the
manufacture of saddles.

The _monopetalous Gymnoblasts_, being a class next to the highest and
most important, contain a large number of plants, of which the following
are pointed out: Plantago Capensis (_Ya gura wosfi_), and Plantago
Egyptiaca (_Burrh_), both common weeds in Shoa; Plumbago Capensis, with
large white corolla, in Efat, and Scabiosa decurrens (_Adai_), with
snowy heads, in Shoa, are highly ornamental; Echinops horridus, growing
to the height of ten feet about Angollala; Carthamus tinctorius (_Suf_),
extensively cultivated in Efat for the oil of the seeds and for the dye
yielded by the flowers; Carduncellus spec. (_Dorakus_),--a decoction of
the dried flower-heads is administered 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.  Pteronia 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, viz. the Polymnia Abyssinica (_Nug_),
which is the chief oil plant.  _Suf_ and _Nug_ oil mixed is called
_Kabanug_, and only used for burning, since it possesses strong purging
qualities.  The family of the _Compositae_ furnishes altogether but a
small number of useful plants in proportion to its extensiveness.

The _Campanulaceae_ are low annual insignificant weeds, one Lobelia
excepted, viz. the Rhynchopetalum montanum, or _Jibera_.  This strange
perennial plant, with the aspect of a palm-tree, grows chiefly in moist
ravines among the high mountains, and is especially frequent about
Ankober.  The stem attains upwards of fifteen feet in height, and five
inches in diameter.  The top carries a crown of large leaves; and the
spike is one foot and a half long.  When the seeds are ripe, the plant
dies suddenly.  One Erica (_Asta_), five feet in height, assists
likewise to dispel the aspect of a European Flora, which is conveyed by
the Veronica Beccabunga and Anagallis of the meadow rivulets.
Scrophularia frutescens (_Djodjo_), with a strong smell of camphor, is
used as a febrifuge and charm; two kinds of Orobanche are also among the
conjurer's infallible 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
_Labiatae_, so replete with aetheric oils, do not enjoy the reputation
due to them.  Of the many kinds only three have names and use, viz.
Origanum spec. (_Kassi_), and Ziziphora spec. (_Lomi shett_, i.e.
"lime-smell"), which are used in the fomentation of boils; Leonotis
spec. (_Ras Kimr_), as anthelminthicum by a decoction of the dried
leaves, mixed with a little oil.  Several _Convolvulaceae_ and
_Boragineae_ 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 Berberi_, i.e. "red 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 imported from the Ittoo Galla.
Solanum marginatum (_Umboi_), a shrub, the seeds of which are strewed on
the surface of ponds to stupify the fish, which are nevertheless still
eatable, and Atropa arborea (_Amoraroo_), the red juice of whose berry
is used by the Amhara women to stain their palms and nails, are common
hedge-shrubs in Shoa.  Of the narcotic qualities 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 potato nor any other edible kind of Solanum has
yet been introduced into Shoa.

The families of _Contortae, Rubiaceae, Ligustrinae_, 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 laniflora, with particularly sweet-smelling flowers, lines the
borders of the rivulets in Efat; Carissa spec. (_Agame_) has edible
berries, and flourishes both in Efat and Shoa.  Melanea verticillata
(_Adguar_), is a jungle-tree of ten feet height, with purging berries.
Psychotria spec. (_Doda Gula_), is a shrub found in Shoa; Coffea Arabica
(_Boon_) grows wild in many of the warmer provinces, but is diligently
plucked out by the Christian population, who consider 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, however, being taken of it; but
its proper home seems to lie far to the west and south, in the kingdoms
of Caffa and Enarea, where a donkey's load is sold for the twentieth
part of a dollar.  Two kinds of jessamine grace with their fragrant
flowers the 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
colour, as well as medical and nutritious qualities, we find several
important families altogether wanting in the Flora of Abyssinia.  The
Pomaceae and Amygdaleae are absent, and the existing scarcity of
fruit-trees, whether wild or cultivated, is indeed most apparent.
Others of more limited utility are very numerous, as the Tricoccae,
Rhocadeae, Amarantinae; but the Leguminosae form by far the largest
family of polypetalous phanerogames.

Of _Umbelliferae_ there exists in the low country one Ferula, a small
tree of unknown properties.  In Shoa there are several Caucalis
(_Karambashu_), growing on pasture grounds, and poisonous to cattle.
Coriandrum sativum (_Dumbelan_), and Anethum foeniculum, the well-known
European spices, are cultivated.  Berberis tinctoria of the forests
yields a good yellow dye for mourning apparel.  Clypea spec.
(_Engotshid_), is a creeper with pellate leaves, upon which small cakes
are baked.  Ranunculus trilobus (_Goodie_) is a troublesome weed on the
meadows.  Nigella sativa (_Asmud_) is occasionally cultivated as a
spice.  Several species of Polygala flourish unnoticed.  Some
_Balsamineae_ grow in shady places; one of them, Impatiens grandis
(_Girshid_), has a tuberous root, with the juice of which the women
paint their palms and faces red.  Thlaspi bursa pastoris (_Ya bug elat_,
i.e. "sheep's tail"), the cosmopolitan weed, follows agriculture also in
Abyssinia.  Sinapis Nigra (_Sanafitch_) grows wild, and is sometimes
resorted to as an additional ingredient of the pepper sauce called
_wotz_.  Brassica spec. (_Goomun_), a cultivated coarse kind of
cow-cabbage, perennial, and five feet high, is eaten as a vegetable
after much boiling; the seeds are also used for oil.  Of the numerous
_Capparideae_, 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 Africanus (_Ya medur oomboi_) is
an annual plant, of sandy and desert places; the seeds are a favourite
medicine in Shoa, and also with the Galla.  Cucumis colocynthis is
frequent in the valleys adjoining the Bahr Assal, but is not collected
either for home use or for exportation.  Cucurbita lagenaria (_Kel_)
grows wild, and is cultivated in Efat for water-bottles.  Cucurbita
pepo, a common coarse pumpkin in Shoa, serves as a vegetable.  Bryonia
scabrella (_Ya Amor a M'sa_) is a much dreaded poison.  Two species of
Flacourtia, _Koshim_ and _Menedem_, have edible berries.

Viola montana, a violet without smell, grows in the forests of Shoa.
_Tamaricinae_ occur in the desert, from the sea-shore as far as to the
Hawash; the presence of the principal kind, called _Sagan_, is, to the
Dankali herdsman, a sure indication of water near the surface.  The
genus Hypericum has only showy plants.  The _Chenepodeae_,--chiefly
weeds, contain one species (called _Amedmadoo_) which is used for
polishing metal.  Achyranthes spec. (_Talineh_) is a styptic medicine.
Phytolacca Abyssinica (_Endott_) is a common shrub in Shoa and Efat; a
cold infusion of the dried and pounded berry possesses wonderful
cleansing qualities, and is used instead of soap.  Silene 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 refrigerants in inflammatory fevers.
Epilobium villosum (_Ya lahm tchau_, i.e. "cows' salt") is regarded as
an excellent and wholesome fodder for homed cattle, if given
occasionally Punica granatum (_Rooma_), sometimes cultivated in Efat,
was introduced from Arabia.  Several species of Grewia bear edible
fruits in the desert, where their acidity is very grateful.

To the various kinds of _Byttneriaceae_ and _Malvaceae_, no particular
interest is attached, except to the cotton (_Det_) 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
cultivated merely for the seeds, of which oil is made: flax-dressing not
being understood.  Vitis vinifera (_Woin Saf_), planted as a curiosity
in the king's gardens, bears plentifully, and would doubtless answer
well upon volcanic soil.  Several species of Cissus interlace the
jungles of Efat; one, especially, is a constant companion of the
Camel-thorn Acacia in the desert.

Euphorbia Abyssinica (_Kolqual_), a singular sconce-like milk bush of
the Abyssinian groves, gives charcoal for gunpowder; with the corrosive
sap it is frequently attempted to stop ulcers of a phagedenic nature.
The inspissated juice of two other species of Euphorbia, _Birgut_ and
_Anderfa_, serves as a drastic purgative.  The ostrich-hunting Somauli
poisons his arrows with the milk of Euphorbia antiquorum, which does not
make the meat injurious.  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 decoction of the leaves of this
cultivated shrub is used in the manufacture of hydromel and beer instead
of hops.  Celastrus spec. (_Chaat_) is a species of the tea planted and
used in Efat, but more extensively in Caffa and other countries of the
interior.  In Efat the fresh leaves are both chewed and used as an
astringent medicine, or taken in order to dispel sleep: a decoction in
water or milk being also drunk as a beverage, which tastes bitter
enough.  Hagenia Abyssinica (_Cosso_) affords, in a cold infusion of the
dried flowers and capsules, the famous drasticum purgans and
anthelminthicum of the Abyssinians.  The tree is one of the most
picturesque in appearance.  Balsamodendron Myrrha (_Kurbeta_) grows on
the borders of Efat, in the jungle of the Hawash, and in the Adel
desert.  The resinous gum called _Hofali_, is collected for exportation.
Balsamodendron Opobalsamum (_Besham_) is commonly found with the
former, and grows even at Cape Aden.  Citrus medica (_Lomi_) flourishes
wild in the jungles of Giddem, and is cultivated in Efat: Citrus
aurantium (_Bahr Lomi_), lately introduced from Arabia, and Citrus
decumana var.  (_Trunco_), with apple-like solid pulp, are both found in
the royal orchards.  Rubus pinnatus (_Injori_) yields the best of all
wild-growing fruits in Abyssinia--a true blackberry of the forests.
Rosa Abyssinica (_Kaga_), a tree-like dog-rose, bears an edible hip.
The Brayera Abyssinica, which serves in Tigre instead of _Cosso_, is not
known in the southern provinces.

Trifolium saxatile cespitosum (_Nagad_) is sown on the best meadows for
green fodder.  Vicia faba (_Bakkela_) is most extensively cultivated in
Shoa and in the Galla countries to the west; the beans are eaten either
fresh and green during the season, or, when dry, made up into soups.
Ervum lens (_Missur_), Cicer arietinum (_Shimbrah_), Pisum sativum
(_Attur_), Phaseolus spec. (_Adunguari_), are produced in Efat and other
warm provinces of the kingdom.  Many species of Indigofera, wild and
unheeded, grow in the desert and on the borders of cultivation.
Pterolobium lacerans (_Kantuffa_) is an impenetrable hedge-shrub
abounding in Efat: the bark gives a red dye for leather.  Tamarindus
Indica attains a majestic size in the jungles of Efat, but is quite
neglected; as are also various kinds of Senna (_Senamaki_).
Dichrostachys cinerea.  Acacia eburnea.  Acacia planifrons, and other
Camel-thorn trees called _Gerar_, are of the utmost importance to the
wilderness and desert; in the latter, the umbrella-like tops collect man
and beast beneath their scanty shade during the 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 importance to the cultivator, farmer, or physician; but no
doubt double the number could be added by any people more enterprising
and inquisitive than the 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 necessary 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
questionable 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 distribution than those in which the respective types
hasten in more marked characters to the highest possible perfection.
None of the numerous tribe of _Radiatae_ are, in their proper home,
directly exposed to the external air and its changes.  They live in a
medium, which generally preserves a mean temperature, with extremes not
prohibiting the possibility of animal existence, and their ephemeral
life is little liable to be cut short by any sudden change.  Thus we
find that the waters and animal humours produce, in different climes,
similar beings, in which either the deficiency in bulk is made up by
countless multitudes of individuals, or the deficiency in number by high
reproductive powers.

Intestinal worms (_Wosfat_) prove one of the chief plagues of the
Abyssinians.  Not only ascarides, but also tape and thread worms (Taenia
and Filaria), are to be constantly contended with.  The frequency of
this disposition must have its source in the usual diet, consisting of
unleavened dough-like bread and raw meat, which the accompanying pepper
sauce is not sufficient to 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 organised beings, both
plants and animals, is much more apparent than in the above-named order
of the _Radiatae_.  Being bound by the strongest ties to the limits of
those beings which are assigned to them as food and home, their species
present distinctly marked characters of geographical distribution
throughout the world.

In Shoa and Efat there appears with the increase of vegetation a larger
number of insects, but the most noxious of them remain only during the
height of the season.  This is most perceptible in the migrations of
locusts and caterpillars, which, by a few cold rains, are induced to
descend into the open wildernesses and deserts.  Such a sudden relief
from countless hosts of the locusts, called _Anbasa_, is invariably
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 (_Feenta_), and cockroaches, do considerable damage during the
hot season.  A large black ant (_Goonda_), which bites ferociously,
constructs no water-tight habitation, but intrudes at the beginning of
the rains into the huts, from which it is expelled with the utmost
difficulty.  The Egyptian honey-bee (_Neb_), either kept in the
farm-yards within baskets, or existing wild in the woods, finds
abundance of odoriferous flowers.  Honey is an 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 musquitoes (_Tenang_).  White ants (_Mest_) are not so
numerous and destructive in the upper as in the lower country.  Small
colonies of them live and build their chambers beneath loose stones, but
they never come into the houses, and, in fact, the juniper timber of the
fragile edifices is seldom attacked by any wood vermin.  Various most
beautiful butterflies, 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
comprised under the general appellation of _Densissa_.  Among the
former, the Coprophaga, many Egyptian species may be met with, as Copris
Isidis, Ateuchus sacer, and others; among the latter, chiefly Cetoniae,
are found species nearly allied to or identical with some of Senegambia.
One notable Inca, the male of which is armed with a powerful head
excrescence, lives principally on the sap of wounded trees; Lycus
appendiculatus frequents chiefly the flowers of Umbelliferae; many
Curculionides inhabit the plants of the family Compositae, but
Coccinellae are the most numerous.  Species of Lytta abound, but no use
is made of them, the Shoans having no real medicine prepared from the
animal kingdom.  Spiders (_Sherarit_) and scorpions (_Kind_) are
studiously avoided, or destroyed, as particularly impure and noxious,
though the former never attack aught save their prey, and the sting of
the latter is little dangerous.  Total disregard of cleanliness is
punished with a frightful increase of bodily vermin, as fleas
(_Kunitsha_), lice (_Kemal_), bugs (_Tochan_), and acarus scabici
(_Ekak_).

The large number of water-birds upon the lakes and morasses of Shoa
effectually restrain an increase of _Snails_ and _Shells_; some species
of Bulimus (_Kendautchi_), minute Helices, Pupa, and Limax, are so few,
that the damage done by them is not perceptible.  Neither serve the
larger kinds as food.

The known fresh-water _Fish_ are insignificant in quality and quantity,
and only serve to feed the numerous crocodiles which infest the main
stream of the Hawash.  Its various tributaries, when they first escape
from the mountains, carry small species of Salmo and Perca (_Asa_),
which are in great request during Lent; but the manner of taking them is
primitive and imperfect.

All the _Amphibia_ are objects of apprehension and superstition.
Serpents (_Ebab_) are not numerous, and are chiefly of small kinds, nor
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 animal.  Two kinds of
tortoises (_Yeli_) are found in the low country, Testudo Graeca and
Indica; the latter attains an enormous size in the deep impenetrable
jungles of Mentshar.  The dread entertained of the Saurii comprises all
kinds, the harmless and the formidable.  The Egyptian Gecko
(_Enkakela_), the chameleon (_Eist_), the Seineus officinalis, and other
numerous lizards, which make themselves most useful by the removal of so
many annoying insects, are unrelentingly doomed to destruction, whilst
the crocodiles (_Azo_) roam unmolested on the abandoned shores of the
larger rivers and lakes.

The _Feathered Tribe_ exist in great variety of species, which may in
some degree be due to the preponderance of migratory birds.  The
_Scansores_, however, are principally stationary, their food seldom
failing throughout the year.  The noblest of them is a parrot-like
Coliphimus (_Sorit_) of the Shoan forests.  Lovely shades of green, and
many tints of the brightest red, a stately crest, and a long rounded
tail, make it a favourite with the Abyssinians.  A tail-feather fastened
in the hair of a daring warrior, is a token of late achievements in the
battle-field.  Two other kinds, called _Wans Sorit_, i.e. Sorit of the
river-side, and _Aheia_, i.e. donkey, from its asinine tunes, are much
inferior in beauty, though not in size.  One, Coliphimus concolor, is of
a dull greyish green; the other, C. fasciatus, black and white, with
white zones, across the tail; the beak of the female is green; both live
in Efat upon different grains and wild figs.  Two small kinds of parrot
inhabit the fig and tamarind trees of the lower country: their name,
_Donkoro_, is also used figuratively of persons 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, whilst the female is greyish
brown and yellow.  Centropus Jardini, a beautiful kind of cuckoo, lives
solitary on the fig-trees in Efat: several species of woodpeckers, which
do not seem to differ from the South African kinds, are found on acacias
and tamarinds.

Among the _Ambulatores_ many migrate during winter-time from the
mountains to the eastern plain; others arrive during summer from the
North, most likely from Sennaar and Egypt.  They rarely do any
considerable damage on the plantations of Teff and Juwarree, whilst
their services in destroying numberless vermin are most conspicuous.
Bird-catching for food or for amusement is not a sport with the Amhara,
but, on the other hand, there is no privilege in favour of the
songsters--a study and imitation of the tunes of which might greatly
improve the execrable attempts of music, vocal and instrumental, vented
by the unskilful Abyssinian performer.

Two gaudy kinds of Alcedo play on the rivulets--Merops Bulockii and
Nubicus.  These truly African species of the flycatcher are in the
lower, Upupa epops, the common hoopoe, in the upper country.  Certhia
tacazze and chalybea, with two other equally beautiful kinds of the
humming-bird, proceed with the seasons to their flower-gardens, when the
return of rain here, and of warmth there, elicits the most fragrant
blossoms, and covers the shrubs of the mountain-side, or the
jungle-trees, with soft honey-insects.  One of these humming-birds
suspends its baglike nest, ingeniously woven of raw cotton, by a string
of the same material, to reeds, or cotton-plants.  Buphaga Africana
picks the larvae of gad-flies 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 given origin to the story of the wonderful groves, where
all the fruits are birds enclosed in a shell.  Lamprotomis 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 Pammelaina, and also species of
Motacilla, and Saxicola, whilst one Muscipeta, the male of which has two
tail-feathers three times as long as the whole body, is quite silent.
The head and neck of this remarkable bird are steel-blue, the other
parts of the plumage rusty-brown, except the two elongated middle
feathers of the tail, which are snowy white, with black quills, and a
brown plot at the extremity: they are used as an ornament for royalty.
Lanius humeralis (_Gurameile_) is one of those fatal birds, the sudden
appearance of which before an army at its outset, forebodes ill-success,
and all manner of misfortune to single persons, if the tail be directed
towards them.  To the other kinds of shrikes no such unhappy celebrity
is attached, although they seem not less litigious, and anxious to draw
off by their noise the attention of a wayfarer from the vicinity of
their nests.  Alauda alpestris comes from the West, and returns again
after two months, April and May.  The most numerous kinds of finches,
Ploccus, Pyrgita, Linaria, etc., are all comprised under the appellation
_Off_, i.e. small bird: they seem generally to have fixed quarters.
Colius Capensis (_Rasa_) is solely in Efat, in company with the Wans
sorit.

Ravens and crows are of three kinds, but one of them (_Kura_) is
particularly remarkable on account of its beak, which is much higher
than the crown, carrying a considerable protuberance on the top, the
nostrils being situated in an excavation, which runs forward in a broad
furrow; the bill is very massive, twice as high as it is broad, and
terminating in a small hook; the colour of the plumage is deep brownish
black, except a broad bar of white feathers across the sinciput, and
sometimes a 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 rustica appear to avoid each other, not being seen
together in the same localities.  Cypselus apus and Caprimulgus species
are rarely met with.  Coracias afra and Abyssinica live only in the
lower country, also the various kinds of Hornbill.  _Erkoom_, 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 Erkoom runs swiftly, and rises seldom into the air: the white
wing-feathers are much esteemed as an ornament of the hair by the
triumphant warrior.  Buceros nasutus, and another species, which differs
slightly in colour and size, eat small lizards and chameleons.  Buceros
erythrorhynchus (_Sholak_), the most frequent of them, rids the
plantations of many noxious insects.

The tribe of _Raptores_ (_Amora_) is uncommonly numerous, and on the
whole very useful in Abyssinia.  Those that feed on living animals
seldom stoop even at a stray fowl, whilst all their other prey is quite
indifferent to the farmer, and the carrion-birds remove quickly whatever
the indolent grazier has dragged outside his door.  Finding plenty of
food, they have no need to wander widely or periodically; yet the large
species have their nests at considerable distances from their hunting
districts, and commonly on inaccessible precipices.

Strix bubo, the only but very common owl of the up-country, and one Otus
of the low plain, are treated as birds of ill-omen.  From the entrails
of the former the necromancer prepares a potent charm.  The eagle,
Aquila naevia (Nas'r), comes seldom near the villages, nor is he forward
in his depredations.  Falco biarmicus fights his superiors in size, and
deprives them forcibly of their prey; it has got hence the appellation,
_Ya Amora Alaka_, i.e. chief of the birds of prey.  Morphnus occipitalis
(_Adagoota_), a beautiful crested falcon, lives in the lower country of
Giddem, and is particularly inert.  Several species of Astur and
Accipiter (_Bazi_) feed on small songsters and mice.  Ternis, spec.
(_Goodie_), removes innumerable quantities of locusts; and Milvus
parasiticus (_Tshelvit_) cleans streets and premises in company with the
crows.  Gypaetos barbatus (_Cheffie_), extremely frequent in Shoa, draws
near to butchers, and waits patiently for his share--the paunch and
other rejected parts of the victim.  Vultur arrianus and fulvus
(_Vellos_) smell their food many miles off, and gather round it in great
numbers.  The periodically returning wars, and the extensive stock of
cattle kept throughout the habitable parts, feed, with never-failing
supplies of carrion, horrible gangs of hyenas, jackals, dogs, and
vultures.  Cathartes perenopterus 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 domesticated
kind, kept almost in every compound, is very much neglected, and not
being of a superior breed, remains small and lean.  All other meat is
eaten raw by the Abyssinians, but fowls, either tame or wild, must be
cooked.  The wild ones, pintado, partridge, quail, and grouse, are not
prohibited, but still suspected as unwholesome food; and if even long
after an indulgence of such meat the gourmand falls sick, he invariably
looks back upon that trespass as the cause of his indisposition.  Numida
cristata (_Chickra_), in bevies of many hundreds, range throughout the
lower country.  A very large kind of partridge (_Kok_) is found, not in
coveys, but in pairs, running swiftly through furrows of the
corn-fields.  Dogs are taught to catch them without injury; and before
being eaten, the bird is kept for some days, to obviate the bad effects
of any unclean food which it may possibly have taken.  This partridge
attains the size of the pintado.  Another kind, living on the high
plateau, and also hunted down with dogs, resembles more that of middle
Europe.  Pterocles arenarius, and other species of grouse, occur in the
deserts.

Pigeons are frequent both in Shoa and in the eastern provinces.  _Wani,
Ergeb_, and _Kumroo_, are appellations of different kinds, all too wild
to tempt the Abyssinian to any exertion to catch or domesticate them.
_Wani_ is the largest, above brown, below slaty-grey; the head grey,
with a black zone across the sinciput.  Another is all grey, except a
white zone on the upper neck, and a collar of darker arrow-headed
feathers; a third also grey, but with a white head, and brown edges on
the wing-feathers.  _Ergeb_ has a peculiarly inflated beak; head and
neck grey, shoulders and back olive-green, breast and belly
citron-yellow, wing and tail-feathers whitish edged and tipped.
_Kumroo_ is the turtle-dove, one kind of which has elongated
tail-feathers.

Otis Arabs, the largest bustard, which is as swift as the ostrich,
destroys a great number of locusts and scorpions, and is therefore never
eaten.  Another smaller bustard (_Wato_) is variously coloured; it lives
on the borders of the desert.  Charadrius spinosus is a rare visitor of
the lakes near the Hawash.  Tachydromus isabellinus is an inhabitant of
the plains of Efat; and Himantopus atropterus of the morasses near
Angollala.

Abundance of water makes the provinces of Shoa a favourite place of
resort to many species of _Grallatores_.  Among the herons are
remarkable Ardea ephippiorhyncha, and another called _Alaka fattah_,
having particularly long wing-feathers of a darker colour than the
remainder of the body, which is above grey, below white.  The former
lives in the valley of the Abai, the latter about Angollala, but
migrates also to the West.  Smaller kinds, as Garzetta, Nycticorax,
arrive from the North in 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 peewits, the spoonbill,
and the flamingo, sometimes extend their migrations as far as Shoa.

Geese and ducks swarm unmolested over the lakes of the western
provinces; a few descend also to the plain.  Chenalopex Egyptiacus
builds its nest upon high trees on the river side in Efat.  Another rare
species carries on the frontal basis a thinly-feathered flexible bunch.
All the birds of this class are strangely inapprehensive of danger when
moulting or hatching.  During their stay in Shoa they are occupied with
both of these processes, but the rigorous proscriptions regarding food
usually afford them protection.

Of _Mammalia_, the _Rodentia_ seem to have no great extension through
the cultivated provinces of Shoa.  One small house rat (_Eid_), and a
field mouse, Otomys albicaudatus, are very obnoxious indeed to the
grain, but snares and traps keep them easily down on well-managed farms.
Lepus capensis (_Dindjel_) frequents more the plains both of the low
and of the up country, and does little damage.  To eat of its flesh
would be considered downright criminality, not less than myophagy
itself.  Hystrix cristata (_Shart_) lives only in abandoned
termite-cones in the 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
Adaiel have the Hejaz lamb, short haired, with fat tail; the Galla, a
most superior tall fleecy kind, also with fat tail, and without horns.
With the latter the 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 chiefs and men of renown throughout the country.  The cured
skin (_Dabbalo_) of the common sheep is an indispensable part of the
male dress.  From the wool a kind of camlet cloth is woven.  Goats
(_Fial_) thrive better in the mountains; they are tall, horned, with
short matted hair of many colours; in fact, quite identical with the
European kind.  The Adel have no breed of their own, but drive down
annually from the Shoan marts vast herds into their savannas.

The Abyssinian horse (_Feras_) is small, and held in little repute.  The
donkey (_Aheia_), of a sturdy and strong race, is 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 patronised by the Abyssinians, but despised by their
more warlike neighbours, the Galla, with whom the horse is a favourite.
A wild 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 drinking-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 and jungles of Bulga and Mentshar all along the
river Hawash; its chase is considered one of the most dangerous pursuits
of the hunter, several human lives being frequently expended on the
conquest of one beast.  Strepsiceros capensis (_Agazin_), and Oryx
capensis (_Sala_), are hunted on the borders of the desert.  In the
latter species, accident sometimes causes the loss of one horn,--a fact
which probably gave rise to the story of the unicorn; moreover, the
parallel horns are placed so near each other, that when the animal is
seen _en profile_ from a distance, it might well appear single-horned.
Gazella Mhorr wanders in large herds through the desert; Antilope
Saltiana (_Medaqua_) abounds from the sea-coast to the foot of the
mountains.

Hyrax Abyssinicus (_Ashkoko_), a harmless inhabitant of nooks and
corners of the rocks, is common to Shoa as well as to the hills of the
Adel.  Bruce's Rhinoceros (_Worsisa_), combining the more striking
characters of the Asiatic and African species, that is, the two horns of
the latter and the plaits and folds of the former, deserves a closer
investigation; it lives in the deep jungles of Mentshar, on the banks of
the Hawash.  Phascochoerus Africanus (_Erya_), the African hog, infests
the woods of the warmer districts, and is a horrible-looking brute.
Hippopotamus amphibius (_Gomari_) hides its colossal frame during the
day in the floods of the Hawash, the Jumma, and other large rivers and
lakes.  The Wato, a certain caste among the Galla, subsist upon its
flesh; and the thick skin is cut into shields or whips.  Elephas
Africanus (_Zihoon_) is dispersed in many small families, and destroys
the plantations of sugar-cane and Juwarree along the foot of the
mountains.  Not the slightest attempt is made to put a stop to his
ravages, the paltry weapons in use being of no avail, whilst severe loss
of life follows the footsteps of the enraged animal.  A small trade in
ivory is notwithstanding carried on with the coast in the tusks found
accidentally.

Lutra inunguis (_Devil's sheep_), rarely surprised on the banks of the
river Bereza, furnishes in its body divers secret medicines to the
initiated.  Viverra Civetta (_Angeso_) is wild, but frequently kept in
cages in the Galla countries to the south-west of Shoa.  The Civet
(_Dering_), taken out of the bag by means of a small spoon, and
collected in cow-horns, is one of the precious articles which the slave
caravans proceeding from the interior through Shoa to the coast, barter
for their daily food.  One Ichneumon (_Mootsheltshella_) robs the
poultry-yard.  The lion (_Anbassa_), and the leopard (_Nabr_), are
well-known throughout Abyssinia.  The former seldom pays a visit to the
hills, hunting nightly along the banks of rivers, and lurking during the
day in his jungle retreats; the latter is more 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 retreating 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 Gurague.

The domestic cat is a rarity in Shoa; only great men place them as
guardians in their storehouses.  The dog (_Oosha_), generally a
half-wild companion of the farmer, and inmate of his premises, becomes
attached and useful when allowed to share the master's protection.  It
is taught to keep the herds in order, to catch birds, to defend
property, to give warning on the approach of wild beasts.  Not the tenth
part of the quickly-multiplying race possess owners; but their utility
as scavengers proves their safeguard.  Canis Anthus (_Dahela_), a
wolf-like dog and an offensive thief, frequent in Efat, is caught in
pitfalls; its liver has some mysterious virtue.  The jackal (_Kabbaro_),
and Hyaena 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 (_Zingiro_), the male, with the mane of a lion and a powerful
frame, is very mischievous and even dangerous; it congregates in caves
and fissures of the rocks.  Colobus (_Guresa_), the prettiest of all
monkeys, and one duly patronised by the Abyssinians on account of its
retired habits, is always on the top of the highest trees, commonly on
the Woira, which bears its food.

_Filfil_, an animal that throws up mole-hills, baffles all attempts to
catch it.  Pteropus Egyptiacus and Nycteris Thebaica (_Lelit off_, i.e.
night-bird), are harmless, but suspected inhabitants of ruined
buildings.  An obscure idea of a former supremacy of man over the beasts
of the field causes the Abyssinian Christian to view, in a literal
sense, those legends which his pious ancestors have recorded of the
singular dealings of holy men with the arch-fiend; and he still
figuratively personates every evil passion of the human heart by some
savage, treacherous, or subtle animal 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, Number III.

On the Coffee Tree, Tea Plant, and Cotton, of Southern Abyssinia.

Tradition assigns to the countries of Enarea and Caffa the indigenous
residence of the coffee tree.  In Shoa Proper the cultivation and
consumption are strictly interdicted, as savouring too strongly of the
abhorred Mohammadan; but in proper situations it grows strong and
healthy, and in all the bordering districts subject to Sahela Selassie,
where the restriction is not enforced, the plantations are numerous and
thriving.

Planted before the rains, the seed soon appears above the ground, and
when six months old, the offspring is transferred to take the place of
some worn-out tree.  Water and the manure 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
decomposition of trap rock, which has been washed down from the adjacent
heights; and although taking six years to arrive at maturity, it yields
a slight return on the second season of its transplantation.

The berries are in the first instance of a dark green hue, which before
pulling is suffered to turn red, a white milky-looking pulp called
_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 sufficiently dry to admit of
its removal, which, by continual free ventilation out of doors, is
usually the case in one month.  The seeds intended for the plantation
are not divested of the husk, but sown by the handful in a small plot,
which is carefully manured and watered; and the (_gullaboo_), sold
separately from the bean, is employed as a beverage with the decoction
of the _chaat_.

For the better security of his own monopoly at the ports of Zeyla and
Berbera, the Ameer of Hurrur opposes the importation of coffee into his
own dominions, both from Shoa and from the country of the Galla.  The
plant is extensively and successfully cultivated; but the price given at
Hurrur is high in comparison with that paid in Abyssinia; and the
average demanded on the coast by the merchants of the former
principality, varying from five pence to seven pence per 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 though whose territories the caravan
must pass--all form great obstacles to the conveyance of the cheaper
produce from Abyssinia, although these might doubtless be overcome
within a reasonable period by the well-directed efforts of British
perseverance.  In Caffa 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 towards the transportation of the
product in unlimited quantities to every portion of the globe.

_Chaat_ 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 Chinese tea districts,
whilst the average temperature does not exceed 60 degrees 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 beverage 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 Pentandria Monogynia _Linn_, and to the natural
family of Celastrineae, or to that sub-family of the Rhamneae, which
have in the flower the stamens alternating with the petals.  The family
of Rhamneae, namely, the genus Rhamnus itself, supplies to the poorer
classes in China a substitute for tea, and is known under the name of
Rhamnus Theezaus _Linn_.

[The _chaatt_ may thus be characterised:--Frutex inermis; foliis
oppositis, petiolatis, oblongis, serrato-dentatis, glabris.  Calyx
minimus, persistens.  Petala 5.  Stamina 5-petalia alternantia.  Fructus
superus, oblonge baccatus, 5-locularis, polyspermus, vel abortive
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 Celastrineee, sub-order
Aquifoliaceae.]

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 favoured parts of Western India.  The Efat shrub varies, according
to the locality and supply of water, from three feet in height to
upwards of seven, and usually assuming the form of a pyramid, extends
its lower branches to a width equal to the stature--the size of the
leaves, and the soft and yielding nature of the stem, imparting a strong
external resemblance to the Bourbon cotton.  Eight and nine inches in
circumference are not unfrequently attained; and the advantages of a
very productive crop twice in each year, the existence of the plant
during five seasons, and the heavy return of the particularly fine wool
during the very first, award to the species a most deserving
pre-eminence.

[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.]

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 appearance.  The wool is considered superior,
and the cloth produced is softer and more elastic, but its existence is
limited to three years.  Both are planted indiscriminately 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 ploughed 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.

[Gossypium Gondarense.  Seeds sprinkled with short hairs.  Cotton white;
capsules 3-celled, 3-valved; flowers large, yellow; leaves 3 to 5-lobed;
lobes commonly obtuse.]

The seed, having been placed for some time in wood-ashes, is well rubbed
with red earth before planting; and wherever the locality is favourable
to irrigation, water is not spared.  The pod, when ripe, is cut with a
knife, the husk removed, and the wool deposited in a bag, with the
utmost care to exclude extraneous matter.  One full bearing bush
produces twice during the twelve months between four and five pounds of
raw stuff.

End of Volume II.

Volume 3, Chapter I.

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
neighbours, still distinguish the highlands included between Nubia and
the sources of the blue Nile; and the limits of the Christian empire,
governed by the sovereigns 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 dominion of the world,
received in direct inheritance from Adam.--"Their rulers were both
descended from Shem, who was nominated 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 discovered in the church of Saint
Sophia, and it claims for the present royal family descent 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
until the present day; and from the peasant to the despot this legend 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 the 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 son Menilek, the result
of her visit to the greatest potentate of the age, was born, and in due
time transmitted to his august sire, that he might be duly instructed in
all the mysteries of Jewish law and science.  Having been anointed king
under the name of David, he returned to his native land, with 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.

But previously to his setting out, the gates of the temple of Jerusalem
were left unguarded, and the doors miraculously opened in order to
afford an opportunity, which was not neglected, of stealing and carrying
away the holy ark of Zion and the tables of the law.  To queen Maqueda
also is attributed the inhuman treatment since experienced by the royal
princes, for on resigning the reins of authority to her son, about nine
hundred and seventy years before the birth of Christ, she caused 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 succession opened to
them, or during their natural term of existence, be kept close prisoners
on a lofty mountain; a cruel and despotic enactment, which, through a
long succession of ages, was jealously observed.

The Emperor of Ethiopia early adopted the title of Negoos, or Negash;
and the coast of the Indian ocean towards 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 times down to
the Mohammadan conquest of Arabia belonged to Abyssinia.  The family of
Menilek ibn Hakim are stated in the Kebra za Negest to have worn the
crown in uninterrupted felicity until the year of our Lord 960, when an
event occurred which 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 accompanied Menilek from Jerusalem, had meanwhile waxed
extremely powerful, and refusing to abandon the faith of their
forefathers, they now declared independence.  Electing a sovereign of
their own creed, they took possession of the almost impregnable mountain
fastnesses of Simien, where their numbers were augmented by continual
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
signifies "fire," a woman of extraordinary beauty and talent, conceived
the design of subverting the religion, and with it the existing 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
nominated to the crown, was of tender years; and Esther, deeming no
opportunity more favourable, 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 distant and loyal province of Shoa; and the reins of government
passed into the hands of a Christian family of Lasta, styled Zegue, with
whom they remained until the thirteenth century.  During the
administration of Naakweto Laab, the last of this dynasty, Tekla
Haimanot the monk, a native of Abyssinia, was created Abuna, [Abuna, or
more properly Aboon, signifies "our father"] or Primate of Ethiopia.  He
had previously founded in Shoa the celebrated 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.
Obtaining extraordinary influence over the mind of the king, he
prevailed upon him, for conscience-sake, to resign a crown which could
never be purified from the stain of usurpation.  The banished line of
Solomon, content with the dominion of Shoa, had made no effort towards
the recovery of their ancient boundaries; but by a treaty now concluded,
Yekweno Amlak was restored to the throne of his ancestors.  Naakweto
Laab was to retain Lasta in perpetual independence, with the golden
stool, the silver kettle-drums, and other insignia of royalty, whilst
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, appointed from Cairo by the chair
of Saint Mark.

Volume 3, Chapter II.

THE LINEAGE OF SHOA.

Thus affairs continued until the sixteenth century, when the invasion of
Mohammad Graan led to the total dismemberment of the Ethiopic empire;
and Shoa, amongst other of the richer provinces, was overrun and
colonised by the Galla hordes.  Nebla Dengel, the emperor of Gondar,
fell by the hand of the Moslem conqueror.  Faris, the son of Dilbonach,
by a daughter of the house of Solomon, held a Ras-ship under the crown,
in the stronghold of Dair, and from his son Sumbellete sprang Nagasi,
the first monarch of Efat, who was born at Amad Washa, the capital of
Agamcha, 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 present 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 Geshama; the latter of which fastnesses, in the more remote
periods of Ethiopic splendour, had served as a place of confinement for
the younger brothers of the reigning emperor; whilst the former is in
the hands of an independent ruler, whose ancestress becoming the
mistress of the Christian governor, the father of the Delilah contrived,
during the celebration of her nuptials, to surprise the garrison, and
put every man to the sword.

Nagasi repaired in due time to Gondar, to be formally invested by the
Emperor; but after receiving at the royal hands twelve "nugareet," 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
favourite child, a war-steed which he had always ridden to the combat.
The youths were summoned to court in order that they might receive their
legacies; and on opening an amulet attached to the horse's neck, it was
found to contain the will and testament of the deceased, nominating
Sabastiye the successor 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 removed his capital
thither from Dokaket.  At the period of his accession, the sorcerers
predicted that if one Arkaradis should be appointed minister, the empire
would be doubled.  Diligent search was made throughout the realm, but a
mendicant was the sole individual of that name who could be found.  He
was duly inducted into office; and his first step was to revive among
the circumjacent Galla an ancient prophecy, that when fires should be
seen on the summits of the three loftiest peaks of the great barrier
range, their possessions would be overrun by the Christians.  After the
lapse of a few months, Arkaradis caused beacon-fires to be kindled
during the night on the crests of Kondie, Ankober, and Mamrat; upon
beholding which many of the heathen fled, and without a blow being
struck, sundry districts were appended to Shoa.

Asfa Woosen, grandsire 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 hundred Pagans with his own
spear from the back of his favourite war-steed Amadoo.  Amongst many
other despotic laws enacted during his reign, was one prohibiting the
manufacture of hydromel by the subject.  Three great rebellions
threatened the stability of his empire, which had now shaken off all
allegiance to Gondar, but each in turn was quelled by his personal
valour.  The last insurrection was headed by Woosen Suggud, the
heir-apparent.  In a pitched battle the youth was wounded by the hand of
his father, taken prisoner, and immured throughout 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 that sorcerer had
spirited away, destroyed the other shortly afterwards, by means of a
powerful spell imparted by her paramour.

Since the commencement of the present century, the custom of consigning
to a dungeon the brothers and kindred of the reigning monarch has fallen
into desuetude in Northern Abyssinia.  The princes of the blood-royal
now wander over the country unmolested and unheeded, attaching
themselves to any chief who may be willing to extend countenance and
support, and holding themselves at his disposal in the event of his
gaining ascendancy over his rivals, and requiring a titular emperor to
perform the indispensable ceremony of nominating a Ras.  But the form is
still retained, of placing the crown upon the brows of a descendant of
the ancient line of Solomon, who is content to be a mere puppet in the
hands of the temporary minister; and enjoying a stipend of three hundred
dollars per annum, with the paltry revenues accruing from the tolls of
the hebdomadal market in the capital, he remains a prisoner upon parole
in his palace at Gondar.

Volume 3, Chapter III.

THE MONARCH AND THE COURT.

Sahela Selassie, "the clemency of the Trinity," seventh king of Shoa,
whose surname 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 exceedingly active reign of
four and a half years, during which he extended his empire far beyond
the limits bequeathed to him by Asfa Woosen--made conquests in the south
to the mountains of Garra Gorphoo, and in the west to the Nile.  The
most despotic measures marked his transient but iron rule; and had he
survived, the expectations formed of him would in all probability have
been realised, and he would have become monarch of all Abyssinia.  But
the nation groaned under his oppression; and after a series of the
harshest acts, induced by visits in disguise, like those of Haroun
Alraschid, the great Kaliph of Bagdad, to the 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 palace at Kondie, which was burned to the ground;
and the wealth amassed in many earthen jars melted, 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 lightning to the
furthest extremities of the kingdom, and become a signal for rapine,
anarchy, and murder, which rage unrestrained during the continuance of
the interregnum.  Every individual throughout the realm deems himself at
full liberty to act according to the bent of his own vicious
inclinations--to perpetrate every atrocity, and to indulge in the
gratification of every revengeful and licentious passion, without fear
of retribution or of punishment; and it being perfectly understood that
there exists neither law nor rule until the new sovereign shall have
been proclaimed, the kingless land for a season runs rivers of blood.
Fearful was the tragedy that followed the assassination of Woosen
Suggud.  The royal family residing at Ankober, and the heir-apparent at
a still greater distance from Kondie, there ensued a scene of anarchy
and confusion which it would be difficult to describe; and at Debra
Libanos alone there fell no fewer than eight hundred victims to private
animosity, of whose murder no account was ever taken.

The eyes of the monarch being closed in death, the minister styled Dedj
Agafari, "the introducer through the door," proceeds to the inauguration
of the successor, who, unless some other arrangement 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 bow
before his footstool.

General mourning is invariably observed during the seven days which
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 themselves sobbing and screaming upon 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 Abyssinian history.  For in the kingdom of
Shoa revolutionary projects against the crown have invariably been
anticipated by consigning the uncles and brothers of the sovereign to a
subterranean dungeon, where they pass the remainder of their days in the
elaborate carving of harps and ornaments 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 remnant 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
scanty materials for amusement 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 relationship have been rudely snapped asunder, and the very
name of brother is the stern curse of those whose only crime is their
affinity to the monarch.

Seven princes of the blood-royal were inmates of the vaults of Goncho on
the arrival of the British Embassy in Shoa.  The legitimate issue male
of the reigning sovereign has fortunately been limited to two; but it
was not the less melancholy to reflect, that one or other of these
interesting youths must, in all human probability, drag out the noon and
evening of his days within the walls of that dismal dungeon, where so
many have sunk into the grave unrecorded 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 go like," is an
ominous title enough to distinguish the heir-apparent to the throne.
Better known by his Christian appellation of Hailoo Mulakoot, and now in
his sixteenth year, he has by his royal sire been permitted 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 monastery of Loza; whilst his brother, Seifa Selassie, "the sword of
the Trinity," who is three or four years younger, is the favourite of
his father, and may be regarded as the heir-presumptive.

In accordance with the custom of the land, this prince is also secluded
in a monastery 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 education differs little from that
of other Abyssinian 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 epistles of Peter, John, James, and
Jude, and the acquisition of the Psalter by heart, is followed by the
perusal of the Revelation, the epistles of Saint Paul, and the gospels--
the histories of the Holy Virgin, of Saints George and Michael, Saint
Tekla Haimanot, 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; disobedience 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 multiplied"--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 commoner of
Shoa; and although not permanently resident in the palace, is much
beloved 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
obnoxious to imprisonment on a new accession, being created governors of
provinces, whilst 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
measure is usually connected with some political object, consists in an
interchange of presents betwixt the monarch and the parents of the
damsel.  Chamie, the Galla Queen of Moolo Falada, near the Nile,
presented 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, _gassela_
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.  Mohammadans 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 consequence of the conversion has been
evinced in numerous disgraceful instances, the not least notorious of
which involves the reputation and the health of one who long enjoyed a
most exalted place in the king's affections--a sister of Wulasma
Mohammad.

Throughout intra-tropical Africa the _nugareet_, or kettle-drum, forms
the emblem 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 reverberating from the palace hill.  The trumpet is also a
concomitant on state occasions, when two large crimson _debaboch_, or
aftabgirs, screen the royal person.  The attire of Sahela Selassie,
although usually plain and unassuming, is, on certain pageants, more
imposing, and is then assisted 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 displayed in massive
bracelets and rings, and in the embroidery with which his 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 numerous chains hanging in gorgeous clusters around
the brow, and surmounted by the imperial plume of white egret feathers.

On the Saturday in Passion week, a solemn assembly is held in the palace
court, which is decked out with carpets, and velvets, and gay cloths.
The priests then rehearse the military achievements of the monarch, and
the gathered population respond with the loud hum of approbation; but
with this exception, and that of the great annual review at the feast of
Maskal, or the triumphal return from the successful 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 upon the brave in war.  The high-sounding titles of
household officers are yet scrupulously 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.

Volume 3, Chapter IV.

THE REIGNING DESPOT.

A more singular contrast of good and evil was perhaps never presented
than in the person and administration of the Christian despot.  Avarice,
suspicion, caprice, duplicity, and superstition, appear to form the
basis of his chequered character, and his every act exhibits a
proportion of meanness and selfishness, linked with a desire to appear
munificent.  Yet are these radically bad ingredients tempered and
concealed by some amiable and excellent qualities.  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 excepted, which latter, as a remnant of Jewish religion, is
universally reverenced, is he engaged in public affairs--in trying
appeals, and in deciding suits which are brought from all quarters of
his dominions.  Notwithstanding the impediments offered by a weak
constitution, and by many bodily 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 distinguished above
other Abyssinian rulers, who too justly incur the reproach of idleness
and perpetual debauchery.

After the religious performance of his matin devotions, the king
inspects his stables and workshops, bestows charity upon the assembled
poor, despatches couriers, and accords private audiences of importance.
Then reclining in state upon the throne, he listens for hours to all
appeals brought against the decisions of his judges, and adjusts in
public the tangled disputes 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 although
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 demeanour in the midst of
the most boisterous discussions, than at the method and perspicuity with
which such manifold affairs are disposed of; and whilst thus receiving
the most favourable impression of His Majesty's capacity for the
transaction of business, a parallel might be drawn between his demeanour
and that of many more civilised monarchs, which would be flattering to
the semi-barbarous ruler of Shoa.

At three o'clock the king proceeds to dine alone; and no sooner is the
royal appetite appeased, than the doors are thrown open, and the long
table in the great banqueting-hall is crowded with distinguished
warriors and guests.  Harpers and fiddlers perform during the entire
entertainment, 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 continues to peruse letters or to
issue instructions, until the board has been thrice replenished 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 evening hours, and the company depart,
leaving the favourite 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 diversified by
exercise on horseback, whenever leisure and the fickle sky will permit.
Making excursions with from four to five hundred mounted followers, it
is then his wont to sit for hours on the splashy banks of some
sequestered brook, conversing familiarly with those about him,
witnessing the exercise of his stud, and devoting every spare moment to
the numerous petitioners who crowd with complaints around the royal
person.

Dreading the fate of his father, the monarch never stirs from his
threshold without a pistol concealed under his girdle along with his
favourite 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,
whilst the gates of the palace are barred after the going down of the
sun, and stoutly guarded.

The principal officers of the royal household, and those most confided
in by the suspicious monarch, are the eunuchs.  Ayto Baimoot, their late
chief, was specially charged with the royal harem, in all its branches,
as well as with the establishment of slaves.  Long faithfully attached
to his indulgent master, he was, whilst 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 proclamations are
published to the nation.  Armed with a rod of green rushes, he ushers
into the presence-chamber all officials, strangers, and visitors,
introducing at the appointed 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 occasions 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 Physician, 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 constant
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, whilst
others extend to mead, the greatest luxury which the country can afford.
The distribution of this maintenance comes exclusively 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 establishment.  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 odour with the fanatic clergy, and thus enjoys the advantage of
their influence over the priest-ridden population, whom he rules
principally through the church; and, never undertaking any project
without consulting 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 letters, and spends considerable sums
of money in collecting ancient manuscripts.  Possessing natural talents
and shrewdness, which have been improved by the rudiments of education,
he rules his hereditary dominions with tact and advantage; and might,
had his energies been properly directed, have shone one of the greatest
potentates that ever wielded the sceptre in the now disorganised 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 greater moment--how wealthy and
powerful a monarch might he not still become!  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.
Although, like other rulers of Abyssinia, he is ever entertaining some
project of aggrandisement, his mind is yet filled with trifles, and not
sufficiently expanded to mature a plan of operations upon an extended
scale.  Precluded by want of liberal education or of intercourse with
civilised nations, from calculating events, or looking deep into the
page of futurity, he lives in fact for little beyond the present day.
Old in constitution, though not in years--enfeebled by excess, as well
in mind as in body--uncivilised--called early to the throne, and ruling
during 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 idolised 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-tempered, 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 from the general success of his military
expeditions, he is feared and respected by all the adjacent tribes.
Conducting himself with that easy freedom which generally distinguishes
conscious superiority, his demeanour is dignified and commanding; and
the appearance of the half-civilised 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.

Volume 3, Chapter V.

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD.

The hereditary provinces subject to Sahela Selassie are comprised in a
rectangular domain of one hundred 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 population of the numerous dependencies
at a million and a half.  Without including tribute in kind, the royal
revenues are said to amount to about eighty or ninety thousand German
crowns, accruing chiefly from import duties on slaves, foreign
merchandise, 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 considerable
treasure, which is carefully deposited underground, and not lightly
estimated by its possessor.

Nearly in the centre of the kingdom presides 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 governors with the royal approval.
Judge in her own dominions, her decisions nevertheless lie under appeal
to the throne; and even as queen-dowager, she is debarred 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 exercise over the
Redeemer.

Long tired of the world and of its vanities, the venerable lady has made
numerous applications for permission to retire to a convent, and assume
the veil, the royal entreaties to the contrary having alone delayed 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,
whilst the destroying hand of the Amhara presses in wrath upon the head
of the surrounding heathen.

Four hundred governors, styled _Shoomant_, are appointed under the crown
of Shoa, and these with fifty _Abogasoch_, 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 dependencies.
Some few of these 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 appear with his contingent
of militia, whensoever summoned for military service.  His grants are
regulated by the amount of his levy; and as he rises in the royal
estimation, so he receives badges also for subordinates, who may have
distinguished themselves by their zeal, activity, or valour.

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
themselves, 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, clarified 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 favour.  Resolved to disgrace a
nobleman, he either sends for or visits the doomed personage, treats him
with marked kindness and condescension, in view to dispel alarm; and
embracing a favourable moment when no resistance can be offered, gives
the fiat to those in attendance to secure 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 absolute, it is subdivided amongst all who execute his orders, and
little despots arise in all the numerous governors 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 monarch, may involve them in destruction when least anticipated.
Accountable for every event, whether probable or improbable, assiduity
in the management of affairs does not always avail.  Talents and bravery
are sometimes displayed in vain, and mere caprice 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 compensation in
grain, many days of extra labour in each of the great agricultural
operations.  A fluctuating tribute in kind, regulated by his will and
caprice, is exacted from all land-holders, to meet the demands of His
Majesty, who, in addition to an inauguration 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; whilst he who taxes too roughly is certain to be
stripped of authority 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 impoverished and shunned by the
servile crowd, strives again to ingratiate himself with his sovereign--
frequently succeeds by long and patient attendance, and once more girded
with the silver sword of authority, he attains that perilous and giddy
pinnacle, 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 promote his pleasure, and the subject waits on his
sovereign will, for favour, preferment, and place.  All appointments are
at the king's disposal--all rewards and distinctions come from the
king's hand.  In years of famine, food itself is only 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 his will.

Concealment of any acquisition, howsoever small and valueless, is
invariably visited with loss of office and confiscation of property.
Gold forms the exclusive privilege of royalty.  Personal ornaments and
coloured raiment have until now been restricted by the severest
sumptuary laws, and none, except the highest chiefs and warriors of the
land, were ever honoured by an exemption from the rule.  But these harsh
prohibitions, which exist under no other government in Abyssinia,
originated long before the present reign, and have been enforced during
so many generations, that they are now little irksome to the people.

Shoa has hitherto stood exempt from the unceasing endeavours to acquire
ascendancy 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 neighbours to carry fire and
sword into the heart of his undefended 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 into the mere spectre of imperial
dignity--is deposed and restored to the throne at the caprice of every
predominant ruler--his name at least is deemed essential to render valid
the title of Ras, and through the latter, of the governors of all the
dependent provinces of Abyssinia.

But herein the King of Shoa forms an exception; and fortunate it is for
His Majesty as well as for his dominions, that the surrounding Galla
tribes, united with natural defences, should have so completely shut him
out from participation in the intestine disturbances which have ravaged
and laid waste every other province of this beautiful and once
prosperous land.  Although 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
independent monarch.

Volume 3, Chapter VI.

GALLA DEPENDENCIES IN THE SOUTH.

During the reign of Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sahela Selassie, the
independent states of Shoa and Efat were of very inconsiderable extent.
Morat, Morabeitie, Giddem, Bulga, and other districts now appended, were
at that period distinct governments, 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 Galla
should have been left in undisturbed possession of the lands which they
had wrested from Southern Abyssinia.  But no sooner had Asfa Woosen
subdued King Zeddoo, the usurper of Morabeitie and Morat, with whom sank
also those of inferior pretensions, than he began with his united forces
to make inroads upon the Galla tribes.  The unsettled state of the
newly-conquered provinces precluded extensive operations; and the task
of reducing the Pagans to obedience was thus principally bequeathed 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 acquisition of Moogher on the Nile, and by the
conquest of the Abitchu, Woberi, and Gillan, so far south as the
mountains of Garra Gorphoo.

Conceiving that a youth who had scarcely numbered twelve years would be
unable to hold them in subjection, the tributary Galla revolted
immediately upon the accession of Sahela Selassie.  But subsequent
events proved that they were mistaken in the estimate formed of the
monarch's military capacity.  He vanquished King Hailoo, who still
asserted his dignity in Morat.  Having amassed firearms from Gondar and
Tigre, as well as from the sea-coast of Tajura, he was enabled to quell
many successive 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 baptised; and having
commanded them to wear about their necks the "_mateb_," or cord of blue
silk, to fast, and to eat neither with Mohammadans nor Pagans, nor to
touch meat that has not been killed in the name of the Holy Trinity,
they have thenceforth been denominated Christians.

Throughout his long reign, it has been the king's favourite project to
re-unite the scattered remnants of Christian population which still mark
the extent of the dominions of his forefathers.  The countries to the
south and south-west have therefore always received the largest share of
His Majesty's attention, and in those directions he has attacked and
subdued in succession all the tribes on this side of the Hawash.  The
Metta, Metcha, Moolo Falada, Betcho-Woreb, Betcho-Foogook, and
Charsa-Dagha, 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 north-east the Selmi, the Aboti, and several other tribes
previously independent, have been reduced to feudal submission, and by
judicious 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
administration, it is said of the southern Galla, "where all was once
strength, there is now nothing save weakness.  Of yore, tribute was paid
by all, whereas at the present day the possession of the dependencies
does but entail expense."  Three annual expeditions, 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
permanent tranquillity amongst the tribes subjugated by his ancestors;
and the Sertie lake, with other morasses, remain monuments 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 tributary tribes rebel
during each rainy season, only to be re-subdued as soon as it is over--
the insurgents sometimes tendering their renewed allegiance the instant
they perceive 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 rebellious 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 who have been enslaved.  It cannot fail to appear
extraordinary, that those who are unprepared for resistance should
occupy their beleaguered abodes one minute after they had 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 nation, at whose merciless hands they would experience even
worse treatment than at those of the Amhara.  Neither, during
persecution, could the tax-repudiating hope to find an asylum among
tributary neighbours, with whom they might perchance be on amicable
terms, since their reception would inevitably entail on those who
harboured the fugitives 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 alternative 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 Abogaz Maretch, who resides at Wona-badera, south of Angollala.
At first a bitter enemy of Sahela Selassie, this haughty warrior chief,
renowned for his bravery, was finally gained over by bribes, and by
promises of distinction and advancement, which have actually been
fulfilled.  Partly by force, and partly by soft words and judicious
intermarriages with chiefs of the various 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 favour,
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 valuable presents which he is enabled to make to the
throne, owing to his proximity to the high caravan-road from the
interior, preserve him a distinguished place in the estimation of the
Negoos, to 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 harvest in cattle.

Dogmo, who resides in the mountain of Yerrur, was educated in the
palace; and his undeviating attachment to the crown has been rewarded
with the hand of one of the king's illegitimate daughters.  Botha,
Shambo, and Dogmo, are the sons of Bunnie, whose father, Borri, governed
the entire tract styled _Ghera Meder_, "the country 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, another 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 afterwards, from a successful expedition 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 entrusted with the
preservation of the avenues to the Lake Zooai, long an object of the
royal ambition.

Among the most powerful Galla chieftains who own allegiance to Shoa, is
Jhara, the son of Chamie, _soi-disant_ Queen of Moolo Falada, who, since
the demise of her husband, has governed that and other provinces
adjacent.  Sahela Selassie, who it will be seen relies more upon
political marriages than upon the force of arms, sent matrimonial
overtures to this lady, and received 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 border to avenge this
insult offered to the monarch of Shoa, and the invaded tribe laid down
their arms; but Gobanah, foster-brother to Jhara, and a mighty man of
renown, finding that His Majesty proposed burning their hamlets without
reservation, 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 himself a prisoner at
discretion.

Upon learning to whom he had relinquished his liberty, Gobanah,
broken-hearted, abandoned himself to despair, and refused 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_"
conferred 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, although he has hitherto evinced strong attachment
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 not improbably enact a most
conspicuous part in the history of the Galla nation.

Volume 3, Chapter VII.

THE GALLA NATION.

Abyssinia had long maintained her glory unsullied under an ancient line
of emperors, until, in the sixteenth century, the ambitious and
formidable Graan, at the head of a whole nation of Moslem barbarians,
burst over the frontier, and dashed into atoms the structure 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 invader, and since supported rather by the memory of
departed greatness than by actual 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 mighty conqueror, and his wild band; and the Galla
hordes, pouring into the richest provinces, from southern central
Africa, re-erected heathen shrines during 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 Jerusalem, to whom are applied traditions similar
to the Scriptural chronicle of the descendants 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 were nine--Aroosi, Karaiyo, Jille,
Abitchu, Ghelan, Woberi, Metta, Gumbitchu, and Betcho-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 Ethiopia, it is said that the term by which the
nation is recognised was applied to the Ilma Oroma, or seed of Oroma, by
the Prophet himself, who, on sending to summon Wollaboo to become a
proselyte to the true faith, received a direct refusal.  "Gal La," "he
said No," reported the unsuccessful 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 to
me through the angel Gabriel."

But whatever may be the origin of the heathen invaders, it is certain
that, as a martial people, they have greatly degenerated from their
ancestors.  Under one head, they overran the fairest provinces of
Ethiopia; and had they remained united, they might, with equal ease,
have completed the conquest of the greater portion of the African
continent.  Relaxing, however, in their common cause against the
Christians, the tribes soon began to contest among each other for the
possession of the newly-acquired territory.  Intestine feuds and
dissensions neutralised their giant power; and the weakness and
disorganisation by which the majority are now characterised is to be
ascribed to the fact of there being no paramount chief.

Roving in his native pastures, where his manners are unadulterated by
the semi-civilisation 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.  But
grease and filth 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.  Accoutred
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 neighbours.

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 equally
to agricultural pursuits, and herein they are aided by a delightful
climate, and by a luxuriant, well-watered soil.  Whilst the women tend
the sheep and oxen in the field, and manage the hives of bees, the men
plough, sow, and reap, presenting in this respect a striking contrast to
their indolent lowland neighbours, the Adaiel, whom they rival in
barbarous ferocity, in treachery, and in savage propensities.  Rich and
verdant valleys, the glory of the mountains, and the pride of the
proprietors, flourish with the most luxuriant crops, which are but too
frequently 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 borders of the very field of which he was garnering 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 cowrie shells, and clasped around the waist by a zone
of coloured 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, which fall 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 that
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 by a dark forest of
juniper overhanging the deep ravine, whose ever foaming torrent
fertilises the adjacent pastures.  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
generally practised since the days of Virgil are here extant.  The same
confused clamour is raised to induce the swarm to alight; and the
cylindrical hive having been rubbed inside with the leaves of
odoriferous herbs to entice the wild insects to remain, it is suspended
under the eaves of 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 invariably
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; whilst on the banks of the Hawash stands the venerable Woda
Nuwee, [_Ficus sycamorus_, the wild fig.  It is called _worka_, "the
golden," by the Amhara, and attains a vast size] to which the tribes
flock from far and wide to make vows and propitiatory offerings, and to
recount their exploits in war.  Paying adoration only to stocks and
stones, and bending the knee to none but idols and serpents, they here
make oblations of butter and honey to secure the favour of the deity--
hang upon the spreading branches the trophies taken from their enemies;
and performing incantations to _Sar_, the prince of the demons, bind
around their necks the entrails of the slaughtered victim which has
yielded auspicious 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 copper, to divine from the fat, caul,
and entrails, whether or not success will attend the warriors in battle.
This point determined, the assembled multitude, howling and screaming
like demons, continue to surfeit themselves with raw meat, to swallow
beer, and to inhale smoke to intoxication until midnight--invoking
_Wak_, the Supreme Being, to grant numerous progeny, 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
fecundity, exclaiming frequently, "Lady, we commit ourselves unto thee;
stay thou with us always."

The Kalicha is the Galla wizard, conjurer, and physician.  With the
putrefying intestines of a goat hung about his neck, and armed with a
bell and a copper whip, his skill in the expulsion of the devil is
rarely known to fail.  Adoration having been paid to a serpent, the
patient is 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 his dying curse; and Galla sorceresses are frequently called in by
the Christians of Shoa, to transfer sickness, or to rid the house of
evil spirits, by cabalistic incantations, performed with the blood of
ginger-coloured hens, and red he-goats.

But among the Galla sorcerers and soothsayers, the Wato, already
mentioned as inhabiting the mountain Dalacha, towards the sources of the
Hawash, are the most universally 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; whilst he who receives the protection of a Wato
may travel with perfect security over every part of the country
inhabited by the Galla.  Subsisting entirely by the chase, they wander
from lake to lake and from river to river, destroying 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 nation, they deem all other clans
unclean from having mixed with Mohammadans and Christians; and refusing
on this account to intermarry, remain to this day a separate and
distinct people.

All barbarians are orators; and the euphonical language of the Galla,
which unfortunately can boast of no written character, is admirably
adapted to embellish their eloquent and impressive delivery.  Cradled in
the unexplored heights of Ethiopia, many of the customs of these fierce
illiterate idolaters are closely and remarkably allied to those of the
more civilised nations of antiquity.  Seeking presages, like the Romans
and Etrurians, in the flight of birds, and in the entrails of
slaughtered 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 mankind--an acquaintance with these wild invaders
suggests curious speculations on their origin, when referred to a common
parent; and these are rendered still more interesting 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."

Volume 3, Chapter VIII.

UNEXPLORED COUNTRIES TO THE SOUTH.

Divided into endless houses, the majority of the independent Oromo
tribes, to the south of Shoa, are governed by hereditary chieftains; and
it is only where the Moslem slave-dealer has successfully commenced the
work of conversion to the creed promulgated by the Prophet, 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, whilst
despotism has taken root, and flourishes under a line of Mohammadan
rulers.

Surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains, this kingdom embraces an
extensive table-land, which separates the waters to the north and south,
and ranks among the most elevated regions of Africa.  Menchilla,
stretching from east to north-west, is the principal range, and a spur
to the south-west is described as joining the so called Mountains of the
Moon.  Saka, the capital, contains from ten to twelve thousand
inhabitants, mixed Pagans and Mohammadans, who inhabit houses of a
circular form, somewhat better constructed than those of the Amhara.

Saeed was the son of Ascari, a Mohammadan, and his sister Elikkee
wedding a Galla, bore a son, Teso, who was brought up in idolatry, and
conquered Enarea.  His son Boko also died a Pagan; but Bofo, "the
serpent," who succeeded on the death of his father, was converted to
Islamism 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, sitting on the trunk of a tree with a bullock's hide
spread beneath his feet.  Saka contains upwards of one thousand
_moolahs_; but in the absence of mosques, prayers are held at the tomb
of Bofo, the first convert 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 supply of bread, and trusts for
further subsistence to pillage and plunder.  Many bloody battles are
annually fought with the surrounding tribes, and wide tracts of country
thus annexed to the royal possessions.

The Agallo, 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 Hawash, which rises in
Adda-Berga.  Limmoo, whereof the capital is Sobitcha, is a province
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
Mohammadan to boot.  It cannot be."  One hundred horns of civet and
fifty female slaves which had been sent by the Suppera, were
nevertheless accepted, and thirty matchlocks, with persons versed in the
use of firearms, 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 skin
full is purchased for twopence-halfpenny 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, and is cultivated 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 preparatory to the operation of removing the
secretion, which is performed with a wooden spoon.  A lump about the
size of a small filbert is yielded at each baking, and it forms a
considerable article of export.  Myrrh and frankincense are also
produced in great quantities, and are employed in religious ceremonies,
burnt sacrifices of incense being made to the guardian genius.

Notwithstanding the conversion to Mohammadanism 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 strictly observed by
all the Galla tribes.  The Woda tree is at Betcho; no woman is suffered
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.  Thousands upon thousands of the heathen having
assembled, the Lubah 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
dominions 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 amongst 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 unanimous 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 Saint 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 certain 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 disarmed him, that his hand refused to perpetrate 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 mammae 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 persons of the few prisoners 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 liberty; and suicide is so
frequent in captivity, that the males are hardly considered worth the
trouble of exporting.

Human sacrifices have ever been, and still are, frightfully common in
Zingero.  When carrying off slaves from that country, the merchant
invariably throws the handsomest female captive into 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 prevent
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, under Abba Rebo, is the principal.  This king is also a convert to
Mohammadanism; and the life of his father having been saved 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 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 practised 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 destroyed; and a stone having been
tied about the neck, they are thrown by hundreds into 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, subsisting entirely upon the
chase of the elephant and wild buffalo.  In Goma the Moslem faith is
universal.  Every man is a warrior; 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 accessible road,
strongly fortified by nature as well as art, none venture to invade this
commonwealth, whilst the Boono make war with impunity upon all the
surrounding clans; and, from their signal prowess in the field, are said
to be propitiated even by the King of Enarea.

Jimma and Mancho are independent Galla tribes under Saana, surnamed Abba
Juffar, from the title of his war-horse, which in Ethiopia is usually
assumed 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 of Dumbaro, the neighbourhood of which is
infested by banditti, who lie in ambush to kidnap the unwary.  The river
is crossed by means of rafts belonging to the Queen of Caffa.  They are
capable each of containing from thirty to forty persons, and are formed
of the trunks of large trees lashed together with strips of raw hide,
and surrounded by high gunwales of the same construction--the helm being
a moveable spar, unaided by oars or other propelling power.

Caffa is the mountainous peninsula formed 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 Hullaloo.  She
is represented to be a young woman of extraordinary energy and ability,
very hospitable to the rovers who visit her with blue calico, beads, and
trinkets, in return for which she gives cloth and other produce of the
country.  On the demise of her husband she assembled all the governors
of the different provinces, and having caused them to be put in irons,
proclaimed herself queen.  Her only son Gomarra, "the hippopotamus,"
still a youth, leads the army into the field; but she often proceeds
with the troops in person, and invariably plans the expedition.
Whensoever she moves abroad, her subjects are bound to spread the way
with their raiment; and as well during the administration of justice
from behind a screen with a small aperture, as during the public
banquet, drums, fiddles, and flutes play incessantly.

Nyhur, Moyey, Ziggahan, Boora, and Alera, are the principal towns of
Caffa; and the entire rugged and mountainous country is covered with
thick forests, which also clothe the banks of the Gochob, affording
shelter to the elephant, the buffalo, the rhinoceros, and other wild
beasts, in extraordinary numbers.  The river is said to take its source
in the distant provinces of Bedee Yedee and Goma, and below the
cataracts abounds in hippopotami, which are much hunted by the natives.
Dumbaro, Wurretta, and Tufftee, as also the Golda negroes, who go
perfectly naked, are 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 celebrate the festival
of Saint 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 are to be purchased for a piece of salt value
twopence-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 transported five
hundred years ago by an enterprising trader from the opposite coast of
Arabia.

Beyond the extensive wilderness which bounds Caffa on the south, are the
Doko, an exceedingly wild race, not much exceeding 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 misfortune--such as any
of their relatives being slain by the kidnapper--they pray 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 raised us up.  Why dost thou cast us down?"

Many natives of Caffa and Enarea, who for evil purposes have visited the
country inhabited by this people, describe the road to it from the
former kingdom to pass through forests and mountains, for the most part
without population, and swarming with wild beasts, the elephant and
buffalo especially.  From Bonga, distant about fifty or sixty miles, it
is ten days journey to Tufftee, the Omo river being crossed midway by a
rude wooden bridge, sixty yards in length.  Seven easy stages beyond
Tufftee is Kooloo, whence the Doko may be reached in one day.  Their
climate is warm and the seasons extremely wet, the rains commencing in
May, and continuing with occasional intermission until February.

The wilderness is principally clothed with a dense forest of bamboo, in
the depths of which the natives 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, reptiles, ants, and
honey.  They beguile serpents by whistling in a certain note, and having
torn them piecemeal with their long nails, devour them raw; but although
the forests abound to such an extent with elephants, buffaloes, lions,
and leopards, they have no means of destroying or entrapping them.  A
large tree called Loko is found, amongst 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 in numbers, 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 eagles' talons, and are
employed in digging for ants.  The Doko are ignorant of the use of fire.
They perforate the ears in infancy with a pointed bamboo, so as to
leave nothing save the external cartilage, but they neither tattoo nor
pierce the nose; and the only ornament worn is a necklace composed of
the spinal bones of a serpent.

Great annual slave hunts are undertaken from Dumbaro, 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
struggles between rival tribes.  Wide tracts having been encircled, the
band of rovers, converging, impel the denizens to the centre.  Holding a
gay cloth before their persons, they dance and sing in a peculiar
manner; and the defenceless negroes, aware from sad experience that all
who attempt to escape will be ruthlessly hunted down, and perhaps slain,
tamely approach, and suffer themselves to be blindfolded.  One hundred
merchants can thus kidnap a thousand Doko; 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 demand,
none are ever sold out of the countries bordering on the Gochob, and
none therefore find their way to Shoa.

Nothing that is related of these people, whether as respects stature or
habits, would seem to be preposterous or unworthy of credit, the
descriptions given of them differing in no very material points from
what is known of the Bushmen of Southern Africa, amongst whom I have
travelled.  Agreeing in every respect with the type of Herodotus, they
are unquestionably the pygmies of the ancients, who describe them as
found in tropical Africa; and it is a fact, well worthy of observation,
that the natives of Caffa represent their forefather _Boogazee_ to have
issued from a cave in a forest--a tradition which cannot fail to call to
mind the Troglodytes, who are also mentioned by the father of history as
being inhabitants of this portion of the African continent.

It would be beside my purpose to collect and introduce here all that the
ancients and modems have written to render probable the existence of a
diminutive race of men; but it may be worth observing, in addition to
what has been adduced above, that Aristotle, in his History of Animals
[Book eight chapter 12] professes his belief in the existence of such a
race, which he supposes to have inhabited the marshes about the sources
of the Nile, and to have dwelt, like the Troglodytes, in caverns.  It
would appear from this, that some report of the Doko had reached Greece.
The great naturalist does not fix the stature of the small men of whom
he speaks, though he adopts the popular name of Pygmies, because he is
led to speak of them while noticing the Homeric fable respecting their
battles with the Cranes.  Homer [Iliad, iii 3, onwards], however,
himself, places them near the ocean, where, according to the accounts I
received, they are really found.  Strabo [Geography xvii 2], who had
already imbibed something of the spirit of modern philosophy, thought it
better to sneer than to inquire, and rejected the whole story; though he
did not hesitate to believe, contrary to experience, that all the
animals of Upper Egypt were of diminutive size.  Pliny [Natural History
vi 35], whose faith was of boundless expansion, could discover no
absurdity in the supposition, that there existed a race of men
twenty-seven inches high, probably because he may have seen individual
dwarfs who were no larger.  He makes, however, one remark which may be
worth notice,--namely, that the small race had scarcely any nose at all,
but instead, two spiracles above the mouth, which served them in lieu of
nostrils.

But laying aside all these legends, I can discover no absurdity in what
is related concerning the stature of the Doko.  They are, it is said,
about four feet high, in which they resemble the Laplanders, the
Samoyedes, and, as I have already observed, the Bushmen.  The
Naturalist, Commerson [Camus, Notes sur l'Histoire des Animaux
d'Aristot, page 405] had heard of a similar people, called Quimos, in
the opposite island of Madagascar, though Rochon, and other modern
travellers, say they could obtain no information respecting them.  Some
naturalists, in this as in most other cases, easily elude the difficulty
by a bold profession of incredulity.  [Virey, Histoire Naturelle du
Genre Humain, volume ii page 240, onwards.]  It would, perhaps, be more
philosophical to investigate and inquire.  Great differences we know
exist in the stature of different nations, and it has possibly not been
yet ascertained what is the smallest or the largest size to which the
human body can attain.  That no specimens of the Doko race should reach
Shoa is remarkable, and may be deemed suspicious; but the reasons given
are not altogether destitute of plausibility; and, at all events, the
rumours in circulation throughout that part of Africa deserve to be
reported, in order that, as discovery advances, they who are destined to
achieve it may be prompted to careful examination.

Volume 3, Chapter IX.

THE RIVER 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 geographical 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 Herodotus, "had been deputed to
explore her solitudes.  After a journey of many days they were seized
and carried into captivity by some men of dwarfish stature, who
conducted them over marshy grounds, to a city in which all the
inhabitants were of the same diminutive appearance, and of a black
colour.  This city was washed by a great river, now ascertained to be
the Niger, which flowed from west to east, and abounded in crocodiles."

The early Arabian geographers specifically mention large rivers
descending from the high mountain land to the southward of the blue
Nile, and flowing to the Indian ocean; and it is a curious fact, that
they designate one of these "the River of Pygmies."  The Portuguese were
the next who spoke of this stream, upwards 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 now
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 Atlantic.  Spreading into a lake, and bearing on its
bosom a noble body of water, it is joined, fifteen days' journey south
of Enarea, by the Omo, a large tributary which rises beyond Tufftee in
Susa Maketch, in a 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 Dumbaro, 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 Kibbee 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
Quilimancy, which disembogues by several estuaries between Patta and
Malinda, four degrees further to the south; but all accounts of the
latter that have yet been collected from the coast, authorise 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 Egyptians three thousand
years ago.  The sacristan of the temple of Minerva in Thebes told
Herodotus that half the waters of the father of rivers flowed to the
north, and the other half to the south, and that they were produced by
the tropical rains.  The currents experienced in five degrees north of
the equator, in the vicinity of the coast, confirm the opinion of a
great river rolling a vast body of water into the eastern ocean.  At
their height during the prevalence of the monsoon in August and
September, they are known to sweep a vessel along at the rate of one
hundred and twenty miles a day, frequently exposing the inexperienced
navigator to the chance of shipwreck 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 south-westerly 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 swollen 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' duration.  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 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, "I am he who
seizes."

In addition to the two umbrellas of state, the one composed of blue, and
the other of crimson, this chieftain 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-coloured raiment--red, blue, and white, being mingled together in
profusion.  Large pewter ear-rings are worn by the males; and by the
females, whose hair is braided in long ringlets, silver armlets,
anklets, and bracelets.  Both sexes are great equestrians.  The saddles
are covered with red imported leather, and the horses and mules are
large and abundant.  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.  Precious stones are also
found, and bartered to certain white men, who, wearing shoes, trousers,
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 receive 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 bamboo 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 country of the Gama Gobo, and
the Teeto, coming from the Alla Galla--is the medium of all trade.  It
is very broad, and, except during the rainy season, has little
perceptible motion.  The volume of water is always large, and comes from
a great distance inland.  Hippopotami 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.  Native 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
geographical as well as in a commercial point of view, may be
conjectured to be the "Bargamo," 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 interior by the centrifugal
force yet unexplained.  Like the barbarous nations who were made the
weapons of Divine chastisement upon the corrupted empire of Rome, they
also brought darkness and ignorance 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 properly 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.  Whatever may be the true magnitude of the river, it is clearly
navigated to a considerable extent by a white people, who reap a
lucrative harvest whilst draining the country of its population, by a
traffic which must reflect the blackest disgrace upon the name of any
civilised people, and is here not rendered the less infamous by the
fact, that many of their purchases are Christians.

Volume 3, Chapter X.

EXISTING CHRISTIAN REMNANTS.

On both sides of the river Gochob, there exist in various quarters
isolated communities professing the Christianity of Ethiopia, 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, called _Laki_ in the Galla language, and in that of Gurague,
_Chillaloo_.  Here, in the church of Emanuel, are deposited the holy
arks, umbrellas, drums, gold and silver chairs, and other furniture
belonging to all the sacred edifices of southern Abyssinia; which, with
numerous manuscripts no longer extant, were here deposited by Nebla
Dengel, 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 betwixt the
shore and the Five Islands, Tudduchu, Debra Tehoon, Debra Seena, Goragi,
and Amshoot.  They are covered with lofty trees, and contain upwards of
three thousand Christian 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 discovered a few years
since, on the conquest of Yeya by Sahela Selassie; and between Garro and
Metcha, where forest commences in the south of Shoa, is a small tract
peopled by Christians, who reside entirely 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
exception of a few Mohammadan rovers, this independent state is
inhabited solely by Christians, who have fifteen churches, and numerous
monasteries, 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 queen whose notorious treachery renders
the passage unsafe.

Wollamo is another Christian province under an independent sovereign,
lying below Cambat to the south-eastward of Zingero, and at constant war
with both these states.  The country is extremely mountainous, and the
inhabitants, who are purchased for twenty pieces of salt, and frequently
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 considerable river termed the Ooma--the surrounding tribes
being the Koolloo, Woradda, Assoo, and Jimma.  Eight days' journey
beyond Zingero is the country of Mager, the king of which is represented
to be a very powerful monarch.  Korchassie, which is famous for the
great river Wabi, flowing to the Indian ocean, is peopled by Christians,
as is Sidama also, and both are surrounded 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, whilst beyond are mountains 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 elevated to the throne.  Turning his
attention to Christianity, which had greatly degenerated, 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 years 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 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 breathed the breath of the Holy
Ghost into a leathern bag, which was safely conveyed back to Susa, and
hung up in the cathedral.  Ecclesiastics in great numbers have been
since ordained by the process of opening this bag, and causing a puff to
pass across the 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 moustaches, 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 massive
golden scabbard, and bears a shield decorated with radii and crosses of
the same metal.  The government is not despotic.  No subject can be put
to death unless 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 Selassie, and it is the scene of similar revels.  His Majesty
presides daily at the feast, but is concealed from the gaze of his
carousing subjects by an intervening curtain, whilst the Dedj Agafari,
styled "Gubburchu," acts as master of the 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 extent than Shoa, but in manners and
customs nearly similar.  The monarch is approached with shoulders bared,
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 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
kettle-drums--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 monopolised by the crown.

Tribute is paid to Beddoo by the chiefs of many surrounding Countries,
and principally by the Shankela with tattooed breasts.  He annually
extends his dominions by murderous 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 invaded, and hundreds swept into captivity.
The chief mountain ranges of Susa are Decha, Gobo, and Saadee; and the
principal 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 rovers 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 trousers and
a loose kilt of the same colours 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 amongst mammalia.

The females are described as being fairer and more comely than their
frail sisters of Shoa.  They wear red and blue striped trousers,
reaching mid-leg, with a loose shift and a robe, also party-coloured,
the former enclosed by a zone of beads.  The hair is dressed, like that
of the Amhara, in the shape of a beehive, with minute rows of elaborate
curls; but the odour of rancid butter with which these are clotted, is
somewhat alleviated by the liberal application of oil of cloves.

Marriage is celebrated without the intervention of the priesthood, and
polygamy is universally exercised at the discretion of the man according
to his worldly substance.  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 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
engaged 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, nutmeg, 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 extensively cultivated; and
the Outoo, the Gondweiyo, and the Goddo, are described as aromatic
trees, of which the flowers, possessing the richest perfume, are dried,
pulverised, 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.

Amongst 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
contraction of the drying skin at length puts a period to his
sufferings--a refinement this upon the cruelty of the Emperor Maximin.

The particulars that I have embodied in this and the two preceding
chapters have been gathered from the concurrent testimony of numerous
individuals of various tribes, ages, and religions, who have either
visited or were natives of the countries referred to, and who, after
attaining to manhood, had been borne away in slavery.  Together with
their own language they retained a perfect recollection of 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 violence of the freebooter, or from the
unrestrained cupidity of mercenary relatives.  Making due allowance for
superstition and geographical ignorance, 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.

Shedding the clearest light over the countries more immediately adjacent
to Shoa, the evidence collected becomes less and less distinct as the
lands and tribes under consideration verge towards the distant edge of
the horizon.  It is important to know that the Gochob, in its upper
course, is occupied by so powerful a Christian people, whose sovereign
exercises over the destinies of the surrounding Gentiles an influence
which, if properly directed, could be made to check the rapid spread of
Islamism, instead of fostering the traffic in human beings.  The
extensive wildernesses beyond Susa may be concluded to form the barrier
betwixt the unfruitful land of Nigritia and the fair provinces occupying
the most elevated regions of Africa.  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 neither the natives
themselves did know, nor any body else may hope to find."

Volume 3, Chapter XI.

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 demeanour of the brothers, soon gained
not only their release, but high office in the court; and living in the
full confidence of the monarch until his decease, and subsequently under
the protection of the queen-mother, they soon secured the good-will of
the entire nation.  The work of conversion was commenced, and having
proceeded with wonderful rapidity and success, a thriving branch was
shortly added to the great Eastern church.

Bearing the happy tidings, Frumentius appeared in Alexandria, where he
was received with open arms by the patriarch Athanasius.  Loaded with
honours, and consecrated 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 Abuna 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 instituted, deacons and presbyters appointed,
churches erected, and a firm foundation laid whereon to establish the
Christian religion in Abyssinia.  Frumentius was deservedly honoured
with a favoured niche in the annals of her church history, and, under
the title of "Salama," formed the subject 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 splendour 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 application of the staff.  The adder and the basilisk glided
harmless under foot, and rivers stayed their roaring torrent, that the
sandal of the holy man should remain unstained 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 Arwe, the old serpent
of Ethiop, was utterly overthrown.

The Abyssinians now became subtle casuists and disputants.  Abstruse
doctrines were propounded, and speculative theories largely indulged in;
and the generation passed away ere the knotty points had been
satisfactorily determined, 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 misunderstanding regarding the two natures 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 Alexandrian patriarch.  The faith of the Monophysite was
declared to be the one only true and orthodox, and the banished
Dioscorus received all the honours 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 honour shall encircle Dioscorus."

But during the ensuing oppressions and exactions of the Moslem, the
successor of Saint Mark could barely retain his own existence in Egypt;
and Ethiopia, his remote charge, now nearly isolated from the remainder
of the world, rested for the next ten centuries a sealed book to
European history, preserving her independence from all foreign 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 amidst the folds of his leathern
garment.  Miracles still continued to be occasionally performed.
Sanctity 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 around 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 convenience of their inmates; and although a visiting superior
was appointed to check corruption and punish innovation or
transgression, the asperities of the monastic life gradually softened
down.  The Etchegue, or grand prior of the monasteries, preferred the
comforts of a settled abode to wearisome tours and visitations.  Further
immunities were granted to all loving a life of ease and spiritual
licence; and the commonwealth had to deplore the loss of a large portion
of her subjects, who neither contributed tax, nor assisted in military
service.

Thus converted at an early period of the Christian age, Ethiopia spread
her new religion 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 multitude.  The usual wars and rebellions arose, and schisms
and sects fill up the archives of ten centuries with all the
uninteresting precision of more civilised countries.  But still the
church flourished; the patriarch was regularly received from Alexandria,
and a long list of ninety-five Abunas flows quietly through the dull
pages of Abyssinian record, from the time of Frumentius the First, until
the days of the venerable Simeon, who, whilst gallantly defending the
faith of his fathers, was barbarously murdered 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 prophet, 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 were then
painfully undergone, and the blood of her children was unsparingly
poured out.  Nearest and dearest relatives rallied under opposite
standards; and the same cry of destruction rang from either host, "The
glory of the true faith."

The zeal of the Jesuit has seldom been displayed in more glowing
colours, or in more decided defeat, than in the attempts so
perseveringly made to draw within the meshes of his net the remote
church of Ethiopia.  And although the means employed are to be justly
condemned, still that ardour 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 uncivilised 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 instructions 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 honour of their order, or
of obtaining the 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
Christianity of the country, its forms and tenets were not more absurd,
and not less pertinaciously 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 water, 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 attempts upon the
church of the Monophysite, without leaving behind one solitary convert
to their faith, and bearing along with them the loud maledictions of an
exasperated nation.

Volume 3, Chapter XII.

THE COURT OF PRESTER JOHN.

During the darkness of the middle ages, the church of Abyssinia had
fallen into complete oblivion; but about the commencement of the
sixteenth century rumours were whispered abroad of a Christian monarch
and a Christian nation established in the centre of Africa; and the
happy news was first brought to the court of Portugal that a Christian
church still existed, which had for ages successfully resisted, among
the lofty mountains of Abyssinia, the fierce attacks of the sanguinary
Saracen.

In the year 1499, Pedro Covilham succeeded in reaching Shoa, where he
was received with that favour which novelty usually secures; and
although the stranger was prevented by the existing ancient laws from
leaving the kingdom, the quest had been successfully performed.  The
first link was re-established of a chain which had been broken for ages;
and shortly afterwards the glories of Prester John and his Christian
court were fully disclosed, to abate the intense anxiety that reigned in
the heart of every inhabitant of the West.

In due process of time an Abyssinian ambassador made his appearance in
Portugal.  Unbounded delight was experienced by King Emanuel, and every
honour was lavished upon Matthew the merchant of Shoa.  All believed
that the Abyssinians were devout Catholics, and 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 description of palaces and fountains which never existed,
and pomp, riches, and regal 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
despatched to settle in Abyssinia.  Zaga Zaba arrived in Lisbon,
invested with full powers to satisfy the interests of both countries,
temporal as well as spiritual.  But the difference of faith was now for
the first time understood.  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 subscribe a similar contract on
behalf of his church, was unscrupulously put to a violent death in a
Portuguese prison.

The first flattering ideas regarding the religion of the country being
thus found erroneous, the delusion respecting the extent and power of
the mighty empire was next to fall to the ground.  The Galla were now
streaming in hordes from the interior, and Graan, the Mohammadan
invader, was carrying fire and sword throughout the country.  The dying
Coptish patriarch of Abyssinia was prevailed upon to nominate as his
successor John Bermudez, a resident Portuguese; and, hurried by the
king, this priest proceeded, without loss of time, to seek military
assistance 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 delayed the
arrival of the Portuguese fleet until the suing monarch had been
gathered to his fathers; and it has already been seen that Christopher,
the son of the famous Vasco de Gama, anchored in the harbour 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
neglected by the archbishop to reduce the heretic Church to the fold of
the Roman see; and a series of attempts were commenced, equally to be
deplored from the mischief which they created, and the unworthy means
that were employed during the struggle.

The signal service rendered by the Portuguese troops in 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 emperor
to the Roman Catholic faith and the possession of one-third of the
kingdom, were imperiously proposed, and scornfully rejected.
Excommunication was threatened by the proud prelate of the West, and
utterly disregarded by King Claudius, who retorted that the pope himself
was a heretic.  Open hostilities broke out; and although the superior
discipline of the Europeans 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 then seized, was conveyed in
honourable exile to the rugged mountains of Efat.

Although much blood and considerable treasure had been thus fruitlessly
expended, the conversion of Ethiopia was far from being forgotten in
Europe; and the spark of hope was further kept alive by an Abyssinian
priest, who asserted, on his arrival in Rome, that the failure of
Bermudez had entirely arisen from his own absurd and brutal conduct, and
that the utmost deference would be paid to men of sense and capacity.
Ignatius Loyola volunteered to repair in person to re-unite the Ethiopic
and Roman Catholic churches; but his talents being required for more
important objects, the pope refused the desired permission to the great
founder of the society of Jesus, and thirteen missionaries from the new
order were chosen instead.  Nunez Baretto was elevated to the dignity of
patriarch, and Andre Oviedo appointed provisional 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, whilst a deputation headed by Gonsalvez Rodrigues, a
priest of secondary rank, was despatched in advance, to ascertain the
capabilities of the route, and the sentiments of the reigning monarch.

The Emperor Claudius little relished the arrival of these monks, and
Rodrigues entirely 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 reply that the people
of Ethiopia would not lightly abandon the faith of their forefathers,
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 happy result, and the envoy, disgusted with his reception,
returned shortly afterwards 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 attending the ill favour of the
Emperor of Abyssinia; and that therefore the prelate should still remain
the guest of the Bishop of Nicea, whilst 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 recommendation
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 behaviour, the bishop, during a second audience,
was sufficiently foolhardy to represent, in the most insolent language,
the enormous errors under which the Emperor laboured, and to demand
imperatively whether or not he intended to submit himself to the
authority of the successor of Saint Peter, and thus remove the heavy
obligation under which his empire already groaned.  King Claudius
replied that he was well inclined towards the Portuguese nation--that he
would grant lands and settlements in his country--that permission would
not be withheld to the private exercise 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 alteration must
be canvassed before a full assembly of divines.

Indignant at what he termed Ethiopian perfidy, but still buoyed up with
the faint hope of realising his object, Oviedo changed his mode of
attack, and addressed a laboured 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 situations the nearest relation often
proves the bitterest enemy to the salvation of the soul."

This insidious reasoning was, however, vainly expended upon the
intelligent Claudius, and served but to turn his heart further from the
Roman and his cause.  The offer of a public controversy on points of
disputed faith being shortly afterwards accepted, 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 conviction of the Portuguese
missionary that by supernatural aid he had triumphantly refuted all the
arguments urged by his illustrious 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 were fiercely attacked
in every form and fashion; and the superior beauties of the Catholic
religion fully expounded.  But no advantage resulted.  Rejoinders and
confutations followed 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 ignorant, having refused to obey the church of Rome--practising the
unholy rite of circumcision--scrupling to eat the flesh of the hog and
the hare--and indulging in many other flagrant enormities--were
delivered over to the judgment of the spiritual 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 rescript without any means of
enforcing it was fully appreciated; and the tyrannical 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 reprehensible, as the
veil was withdrawn from before the spirit of her tenets."

There is every reason to believe that the succeeding invasion of the
Adaiel was procured through the treacherous designs of the Jesuits, but
the event again proved disastrous to their cause.  Although the revenge
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
battlefield, shed a baneful influence on their ensuing efforts; and the
sceptre devolved into the hands of his brother Adam, a haughty and
vindictive prince, who is depicted in Portuguese records as "cruel and
hard of heart, and utterly insensible 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
instantaneous 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,
vowing to immolate him upon 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 meantime arrived 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 demeanour, and were allowed to settle again in
their old haunt of Maiguagua, where they remained for a time unmolested
by the new Emperor Malek 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 passive obedience.  The most pressing
solicitations were despatched to Goa for assistance; and the dauntless
Oviedo pledged himself with six hundred staunch Europeans 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 society to repair
forthwith to his more promising charge in Japan.  Loth to abandon all
his favourite 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, whilst to his immediate 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 Saint
Peter; and vessels soon after arrived on the coast of Africa, to convey
the reluctant fathers to the monastery of Saint Xavier, in Goa.

Volume 3, Chapter XIII.

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 Second stirred the dying embers,
and fresh candidates for strife, honour, and martyrdom, were soon in the
field.

Peter Pero Pays and Antonio de Montzerado, disguised as Armenian
merchants, first attempted the perilous undertaking; but being wrecked
upon the Arabian coast, they were recognised as Christian ministers, and
languished during seven years in a Moslem dungeon.

Goa next poured forth her priests to the ineffectual contest.  In
seeking the promised land, Abraham de Georgis was discovered 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
accordingly; and, shortly afterwards, Jean Baptiste being detected in
assumed costume, by the Turks of Comera, he also shared the same fate as
his immediate predecessor, in the thorny path of martyrdom.

Thus even the road itself seemed to close, and all intercourse was
denied with a country wherein the presence of Europeans was neither
desired nor permitted; and which would have been suffered to remain
unmolested, had not exaggerated ideas of its wealth 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 Saint Anne as a fit tool for the execution of his project.
Melchior Sylva, a converted Brahmin, might, from his colour 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 connexion.

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 despatched with a
full train of priests to Ethiopia, where he arrived in September of the
year 1603.

Superior in every respect to his predecessors, this missionary, instead
of attempting to carry his measures by force and overbearing insolence,
sought the softer path of insinuation; and whilst his extensive
knowledge and plausible address proved strong recommendations in his
favour, 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 crushed the very name of learning and literature.  Few
persons were to be found who could read, write, or dispute.  Ignorant
and unworthy men filled every sacred office; and the ancient defenders
of the Alexandrian faith had been swept away on the battlefield.

Amidst wars, and rumours of wars, Peter quietly settled with his
followers at Maiguagua.  Schools were opened, and the wonder ran through
the land, that youths of tender age could refute the most learned sages
of the wilderness of Walkayet.  The curiosity of Za Dengel, the
temporary occupant of the throne, was excited, and Peter, with his
erudite pupils, was summoned to the court.

Prompted by the hope of obtaining assistance from Portugal, this weak
prince, under an oath of secrecy, immediately embraced the religion of
his guest.  But his time was fully occupied in the more worldly 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 consequence.

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 Portuguese 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 _protege_ was followed by the advancement of the
pretender Susneus to the throne of the empire.

Notwithstanding his appearance as a declared partisan in the opposing
ranks, Peter's abilities as an architect now created a fresh diversion
in his favour.  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 possessing the varied
abilities and acquirements of Pays could not be long in gaining
ascendency over a rude and illiterate monarch; and by address and
perseverance he had soon effected that which the threats and violence of
his predecessors had vainly attempted during a long course of years.

Ras Sela Christos, brother to the Emperor, was the first-fruit of the
harvest.  Partaking of the holy supper with the Latins, 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 efforts of the
ignorant and uncultivated natives.  The holiness of life which was
strictly preserved among the neophytes 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 disciplined 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 towards 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
persecution favourably commenced, by scourging with whips all those
stubborn monks who refused to forego their ancient belief.

Abba Simeon, the Abuna, repaired to the court to remonstrate with the
Emperor on the scandalous interference with his prerogatives in
convening meetings and authorising debates upon ecclesiastical matters;
but his pride was timely soothed by the royal assurance that all had
been undertaken for the benefit of true religion, and that the subject
should be fully discussed in his own presence.  Again the subtilties and
dialectics of the missionaries prevailed; and the total defeat of the
Patriarch and his clergy was followed by a second more severe ordinance,
awarding the penalty 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 variance with the mild spirit of religion, and with all
the ancient usages of the land.  Aware of the feelings of the strong
party at court, as well as of the entire body of the people, the Abuna
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 Aelius, 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 temporise, and requested one further debate,
which was to prove final between the disputants.  The mild Abuna
listened to the proposal, and accompanied by a large train of monks
appeared in the royal camp, whilst the Jesuit and his colleagues
advanced into the arena from the opposite side.  The controversy was
renewed, 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
entreated him to turn a deaf ear to the poisonous insinuations of the
deceitful Jesuits, and graciously to allow his subjects to remain
faithful to the religion of their forefathers.  But the heart of the
monarch remained closed to the prayer.  The Abuna quitted the court,
plunged in the deepest distress, and a bloody war ensued, which shook
the empire to its foundation.

When Aelius 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 repair to the deluded
Emperor, whilst those who held to the ancient belief should forthwith
gather under his standard.  Finding himself shortly afterwards at the
head of a large army, he marched towards 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 Alexandrian faith; and in giving
them his patriarchal 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 prepared 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 furiously upon the royal encampment,
and Aelius succeeded in forcing his way, at the head of a small body of
troops, to the very 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 the army of the fallen leader, and the rabble, casting away their
arms, fled in all directions.

The aged Abuna found himself alone and deserted in the same spot which
he had occupied during the attack.  His years and high clerical bearing
disarmed the violence of the Abyssinian soldiery; but a Portuguese
partisan at length threw himself 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.

Volume 3, Chapter XIV.

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 translation into Ethiopic of sundry dogmatical treatises
on subjects of disputed faith.  But the barbarism of the language was
despised by most--the Latin interpolation abhorred 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 he
issued a severe edict, wherein the people were forbidden from
celebrating the Jewish 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 foreign oppression, poured in to
join the standard of rebellion which Joanel had reared on the plains of
his government.  A horde of Galla, delighting in the confusion, offered
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
compromise; 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 himself 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 escaping to the Galla, was
pursued, betrayed, and put to death.

This reverse sustained by the defenders of the old cause did not,
however, intimidate the inhabitants of Damot, a province situated on the
borders of the Nile; for scarcely had the emperor reached his capital,
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 thousand warriors was speedily organised; 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 Sela 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 people, a proposal was tendered to him, that
if he would only lend his assistance in burning 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,
despising 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 themselves to death, carried destruction
through the royal host; but the tide of victory set at length in his
favour, 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 enemies, 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 professed the Latin religion, now openly embraced 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 hereby 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 ecclesiastics might be
immediately sent to the vineyard; adding, that "although the harvest was
plentiful, the labourers 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 he had done in
the case of his predecessor Loyola; and Alphonso Mendez, a learned
doctor of the society of Jesus, was inaugurated at Lisbon 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 amongst the savage 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 11th 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 distinguished guest, and a surrounding multitude gazed
upon the imposing ceremony in silence.  "The hour is come," exclaimed
Mendez, "when the king shall satisfy the debt of his ancestors, and
submit himself 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 Saint 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
kingdom."

As the emperor rose from his position, Ras Sela Christos, suddenly
drawing his sword, shouted aloud, "What is now done is done for ever;
and whoso in future disclaims the act, shall taste the sharp edge of
this trusty weapon.  I do homage only to true Catholic kings."  The
monks, clergy, 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;
seminaries for youth were established throughout the country, and
baptism and ordination went on in peace.  The success of the Jesuits
increased rapidly, and many thousand souls were enrolled, who had been
converted from the delusions of the Alexandrian creed.

The trial of two years failed, however, to convince the nation of the
benefits of the new religion; and the emperor and patriarchs could not
deceive themselves in the fact, that the cause advanced rather in
appearance than in reality.  Missionaries who entered the native
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 Aelius and Joanel, Tekla
Georgis, another 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 completely
routed by Rebaxus, 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 afterwards
considered politic to imagine that his intentions were insincere, the
unfortunate prince was hung in front of the palace in presence of the
whole court; and his devoted sister, fifteen days afterwards, suffered
the same fate upon the same tree, notwithstanding that 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 tyranny, 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 their course of 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 honour 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 disastrous to their cause.  Excommunications were
lightly launched in civil disputes, and the soul of every counsellor of
the state was committed to the devil if he dared to question the
authority of the foreign priest.  Conspiracies were hatched against the
imperial person; and the body of a distinguished non-conforming
ecclesiastic, which had been interred within the walls of the church,
was exhumed by order of the Portuguese prelate, and thrown to the wild
beasts--an action which raised the indignation 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 Pagan nor Mohammadan ever disturbed."

The detestation of the fathers and their religion daily waxed stronger
in the hearts of all.  Their great patron, Ras Sela Christos, was
deprived of power and property for seditious attempts; and the bold
mountaineers of Begemeder at length seized their long spears to uphold
the faith of their ancestors.  The viceroy was driven from the province,
and Meleaxus, a youth of royal blood, appointed defender of the ancient
religion, and leader of the armed host of peasants who flocked to his
standard from all parts of the country, but especially 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 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 subjects, and to dismiss those
evil-minded strangers who had so long oppressed Abyssinia.  The royal
army was in no heart or condition to renew hostilities.  Rumours 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
unless some concessions were made.

The patriarch was nevertheless inflexible; and letters were at the same
time received from Rome, instigating the emperor to combat stoutly with
his rebellious subjects, and extending to Ethiopia the general
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 authority the pope held in his possession the keys
of the kingdom of heaven.

Volume 3, Chapter XV.

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.  Enticed into the
plain, the enemy were generally worsted by the royal troops, but among
the recesses of their native rocks the mountaineers had always the
advantage.  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 churches and residences, lent a
favourable ear to the entreaties of his subjects.

A second remonstrance was penned, wherein he forcibly set forth to the
Portuguese 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 opposition 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 case of refusal, Mendez reluctantly complied
with the proposal of a modified church code, under the restriction that
no public manifesto should announce the change, which must be gradually
and silently introduced.  The ancient liturgy and the ancient 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 mountaineers of Lasta, who had been altogether victorious
during the war.  They would listen to no modification of their first
demand; but imperatively insisted upon the complete re-establishment of
their ancient ecclesiastical institution, together with the expulsion of
the foreigners from the land.

The liberty and the customs of highlanders 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 excommunications, the king, in his advanced
age, began to view with an unfavourable eye the firebrand authors of
these disturbances.  Suspecting his brother and the patriarch of
seditious views--offended by the contumacy of his subjects, and the
increasing diminution of his own authority--disgusted with the present
state of affairs, and apprehensive of future events--he now seriously
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 alliance with the Galla, he marched towards Lasta.

Twenty thousand peasants, confident of victory, descending from their
mountains, rushed into the plain to meet the royal force.  The two
armies for a time remained 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 the sun--and the field of
battle was left covered with eight thousand bodies of the insurgents.

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,
"whom you now behold bathed in blood?  Are they Moslems, or Pagans, or
even the enemies of the kingdom?  No, they are Christians--they are all
thy subjects, knit together by the most tender bonds of blood,
friendship, and affection.  Those 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 very heathen 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 downfall of the
throne, and the ruin of all religion in the land!"

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 pagan Galla, who detest yourself equally with your
religion; but futile will be your attempt 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 dismissed; and having collected all the
principal monks and clergy, he announced his resolution 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 Mendez, "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 irritating great potentates to just indignation.  They be
indeed far off, but God is nigh at hand; and thy apostasy 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 quietly allowed
the Jesuits to arise, and unmoved by their earnest prayers and
entreaties, replied shortly, "that his adherence 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 doctrines."

The film fell from before the eyes of the discomfited monks.  The
friends of the Alexandrian faith, rallying round the throne, united
their utmost efforts to strengthen the emperor in his resolves; and the
rumour spread abroad that on the feast of Saint John the Baptist the
ancient religion was to be re-established throughout the land.
Thousands assembled in the capital on that day to assist in the
ceremony; and, although temporarily disappointed, the event clearly
proved that this act of justice could no longer he safely delayed.

Every art and stratagem was still resorted 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
suddenly sounded through the streets of Gondar, as the herald announced
the following proclamation to the empire:--

"Listen and hear!  We formerly recommended to you the adoption of the
Roman Catholic creed, on the firm conviction that it was the only true
one; but numbers of our subjects having sacrificed their lives for the
religion of their ancestors, we henceforth accord its free exercise unto
all.  Let the priests resume possession of their churches, and worship
the God of their forefathers.  Farewell, and rejoice."

It is not possible to describe the rapture with which this welcome edict
was received.  The praises of the Emperor resounded 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 Saint 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 seldom equalled in the annals of time.  Whilst Rome must indeed
have been prompted by no ordinary motive to persevere so pertinaciously
in a work of conversion, through all the horrors of banishment and
martyrdom, the unworthy means resorted to by the dauntless but
unsuccessful agents employed in the enterprise, have left an indelible
stain upon the page of her history.

Volume 3, Chapter XVI.

THE CHURCH, SECOND GREAT POWER IN SHOA.

Christianity is the national religion throughout the more elevated
portions of Abyssinia; 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 degrading.  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 civilisation--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 original doctrine; and the same
errors of the church prevail to this day throughout the land, as when
first propounded in the beginning of the fourth century.

The Abuna or Archbishop is the spiritual chief of Ethiopia.  Consecrated
by the Patriarch 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 Holiness.
Princes and rulers pay implicit deference 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 betwixt
state and state are satisfactorily arranged in his presence; and war,
tyranny, and violence, are controlled by his all commanding voice of
mildness and benevolence.  But whilst 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.

In the hand of the Abuna 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
throughout the land, and in his hands remains the charge of the existing
literature and education.  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 minor
offences.

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 seclusion; and to afford absolution for trivial
offences against the conscience.

Twelve thousand clerical drones, "Fruges consumere nati," fatten in
idleness on the labour of the working classes, and employ their
influence to foster the prejudice, bigotry, and superstition of their
flock.  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 respect and veneration, are fed and caressed
both by high and low, and invariably addressed as "Father."

Upon payment each of a few pieces of salt, many hundred candidates
receive the breath of the Holy Ghost from the Abuna in a single day; but
every Abyssinian being 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, because 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 capacity of servitors, and they
complete the requisite number at the administration of the holy
communion.

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 religion are expounded by the Abuna, and
especially those which have reference to the preparation of bread for
the holy supper.  In a small house styled Bethlehem, which rises
immediately behind every church, the mysterious ceremony is performed.
The deacon can alone bake the cake; and the most vigilant guard is
invariably preserved against the approach or intrusion of females or
other improper visitors during the hour of solemn occupation.

Certain revenues and estates are set apart for the support of each
clerical establishment; and to ensure the proper distribution, an Alaka,
or chief, is selected by the monarch from either class of society.
Whilst a successful foray is invariably 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 churchyard 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 miserable edifices of
wattle plastered with mud, only to be distinguished from the surrounding
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, they have a door to each
quarter of the compass, the apex of the conical thatch being surmounted
by a brazen cross, which is usually adorned with ostrich eggs, whilst
the same depraved and heathenish taste pervades the decorations of the
interior.  Sculpture is strictly forbidden; but the walls are bedaubed
with paintings of the patron saint of the church, the blessed Virgin,
and a truly incongruous 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 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 laymen were admitted, to
the second only the priest, and to the third the high priest alone.  All
entrance was denied to the Pagan,--a custom which is rigorously enforced
in Abyssinia; and her churches are in like manner divided into three
parts.

Eight feet in breadth, the first compartment stretches, after the
fashion of a corridor, entirely around the building.  It is styled _Kene
Mahelet_, and, strewed throughout with green rushes, forms the scene of
morning worship.  To the right of the entrance is the seat of honour 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 laymen during the
administration of the holy supper, whilst a cloth screens the mysteries
of the interior.  Here also hang, arranged 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 nearest relative, the first opportunity is embraced
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 remains of
Tekla Haimanot, the patron saint of Abyssinia, still shed a bright halo
over the scene of his miracles upon earth.

To _Kedis Kedisen_, 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 recorded of Menilek the son of Solomon
and the Queen of Sheba, who crowned a long course of iniquity by
plundering the Temple of Jerusalem.  The true ark of Zion is believed
still to exist in the church at Axum; but prayers, vows, and oblations,
are equally made to the handicraft of any vain ecclesiastic, which may
be held up to the admiring multitude as having been secreted in a cave
during the inroad of the conquering Graan, and since revealed by a
miraculous dream from Heaven.

In the presence of the mysterious casket consists the only sanctity of
the church.  Heretics alone doubt of its inherent virtues; and every
individual who professes Christianity must during life make his vows and
oblations to the one he has selected, 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 umbrellas; and
when replaced in its 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 towards each other with frantic gesticulations, whilst
the clash of the timbrel, the sound of the drum, and the howling 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 enviable position of eating the bread
of comparative idleness, a sacrifice is indispensable.  The priest is
restricted to the possession of a single wife; and on her demise or
infidelity, no second marriage is authorised.  A small portion of lore
must, moreover, be imbibed--the Psalms of David must be carefully
conned--and the mysteries of Abyssinian song and dance be fully
penetrated, before the sacred office can be attained.  The lessons of
early youth are, however, speedily forgotten, and the constant
repetition of the same words removes the necessity of retaining the
character.  Few in after years can read--still fewer respect the vow of
chastity--and the employment of the morning hours of the Sabbath, and of
the holydays, in dancing and shouting within the walls of the church,
entitle the performer to all the immunities and comforts pertaining unto
holy orders.

In every clerical conclave the king possesses 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 punishment
inflicted by the spiritual court, which is composed of the assembled
members of the individual church, and degradation is followed by the
expulsion of the offending brother from the community.  But the great
hall of justice is not unfrequently graced with the presence of the
refractory priest; and fetters in the dungeon, or banishment from the
realm, maintain 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 ceremony is complete.  But a more imposing rite
attends the oath of celibacy before the Abuna.  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 coloured crosses--
is then placed on the shaven crown, and shrouded from view by the
enveloping shawl; and the archbishop, clad in his robes of state, having
repeated the concluding prayer and blessing, signs with his own hand the
emblem of faith over the various parts of the body.

Education was in former days to be obtained alone from the inmate of the
monastic abode, and a life of scanty food, austerity, 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 his brow.

Priest-ridden and bigoted to the last degree, the chains of bondage are
firmly riveted around the neck of the infatuated Abyssinian.  The most
ridiculous doctrines must be believed, and the most severe fasts and
penances must be endured, according to the pleasure and the fiat of the
church.  Uncharitable and uncompromising, 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 always purchase a
substitute to undergo the two former, and the ban of the church is
readily averted by a timely offering.  Spiritual offences are indeed of
rare occurrence; for murder and sacrilege alone give umbrage to the easy
conscience of the native of Shoa, and all other crimes written in the
book of Christian commandment have been well-nigh effaced from his
tablet.  Abstinence and the disbursement of suitable largesses to the
priest and mendicant, are of themselves quite sufficient to ensure the
requisite absolution for every sin committed in the flesh.

The death-bed and the funeral feast are attended with much advantage to
the temporal interests of the church.  The choicest food is unsparingly
dealt out, and the bereaved widow is glad to leave the management 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 superstition of grateful relatives may grant a rich
reward for the blessing of the priest, and for his undeniable assurance
of exemption from punishment hereafter.

But the Abyssinian possesses no idea of the more salutary doctrine of
Christianity.  Polluted faith is here reflected in the mirror of
depraved manners, and long severe fastings constitute the essence of his
degenerate 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, childish, and inconsistent; and bigoted
to the faith of their ancestors, they abhor and despise all who refuse
acquiescence in this their absurd confession:--

"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 water 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 every sin is forgiven from the moment that the kiss of the pilgrim
is imprinted on the stones of Jerusalem; and that kissing the hand of a
priest purifies the body in like manner.

"That sins must be confessed to the priest--saints invoked--and full
faith reposed in charms and amulets, more especially if written in an
unknown tongue.

"That prayers for the dead are necessary, and absolution indispensable;
but that the souls of the departed do not immediately 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
national character is truly painted in the confession 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 effect, and
the preacher of the Gospel is acknowledged to possess every quality that
is good, mild, and just; but disliked as a stranger of envied
accomplishment, despised 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 endeavours 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 conduct according to
the Gospel; and it is not until commerce with the arts of civilised
society shall have been introduced, that the barrier can be overcome, or
one step be gained towards the restoration to the unhappy 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.

Volume 3, Chapter XVII.

ABYSSINIAN RITES AND PRACTICES WHICH WOULD APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN BORROWED
FROM THE HEBREWS.

The appellation of _Habeshi_, "a mixed and mingling people," is 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 stigmatised by the original term, the Abyssinians have
garbled the faith of all their ancestors; and there is assuredly no
Christian 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
susceptible of Hebrew influence.  The first Christian 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,
unquestionably 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 customs had been embraced, was the more readily received when
introduced into a nation amongst 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 Maqueda has been ascribed
to the invention of those fugitive Jews, who, after the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Emperor Titus, migrated into the northern states by way
of the Red Sea--who disseminated it with the design of obtaining the
desired permission to settle in the country, and whose descendants are
the Falashas still extant among the mountains of Simien and Lasta.  But
whatever may be thought by others of the legend of descent, the firm
national belief in the origin traced, will in a great measure account
for the general inclination and consent to receive Hebrew rites and
practices as they were from time to time presented.  Jews as well as
Christians 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 portion being a prediction of the birth of
Menilek, who was to be king over a nation of Gentiles.

Whatever the true date of their arrival, it is certain that the Hebrews
have exercised a great influence upon the affairs of Abyssinia since the
days of their dispersion; and although their religion was abjured by the
nation on the promulgation of the Gospel, the children of Israel,
moulding a portion of their worship on the formulae of the Christian
faith, and esteemed as sorcerers and cunning artists in the land, found
a safe asylum among the mountains, and exist to the present day, here as
elsewhere, a separate and peculiar nation.

With the destruction of the race of Solomon, the Jewish party for a time
obtained the preponderance.  Again, on the restoration of the legitimate
dynasty, they were hunted among the mountains as a race accursed, and
the feeling reigned paramount to sweep the wanderers from the face of
the land.  But the custom of ages had impressed the Hebrew practices too
deeply to be removed.  They were, in fact, regarded in the light of
orthodox Christian doctrines; and, as might have been expected from a
bigoted and superstitious people, the severest persecutions were
enforced 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 considered 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.  The church and the churchyard are equally
closed against all who commit this deadly sin; and the Ethiopian is
bound by the same restrictions which prohibited the Jews from partaking
of the flesh of certain animals.  The act which is deemed disgraceful in
the eyes of men, is regarded as a moral transgression, and is visited,
as was the case in the Mosaic institution, by the stern reprimand of the
priest.  The penance of severe fasting, or of uneasy repose upon the
bare ground, is enforced by the father confessor 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 in the Amharic language is termed
_Shoolada_, and it is held unlawful to be eaten in Shoa, more especially
to the members of the royal blood; a universal belief prevailing, that
the touch of the unholy morsel would infallibly be followed by the loss
of the offending teeth, as a direct proof of the just indignation 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.

By order of the great council of Laodicea, the Oriental churches were
freed from this burden; and the industrious gladly availed themselves of
the ecclesiastical licence to work on the Saturday.  Here, however, the
ancient usage agreed too well with a people systematically indolent; 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, issued a proclamation,
that whoso violated the Jewish Sabbath should forfeit his property to
the royal treasury, and be consigned to the state dungeon.

Ludolf, the celebrated Strabo of Ethiopia, 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.  They not only boast with the Pharisee,
"I fast twice a week," but pride themselves also upon their
mortification of the flesh during half the year, whilst 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, advance 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
rigour than any other in Abyssinia; and the reckless individual who
shall neglect the great "Toma Hodadi" cannot possess one sentiment 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 culinary utensils must be
thoroughly cleansed and polished, to the end that no particle of meat or
prohibited food may remain to pollute 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, children of tender years are not
even exempted from the penance of sixteen days; and during the many and
weary weeks of abstinence which roll slowly throughout the entire year,
the Abyssinian priest would grant no dispensation to the famished
mortal, "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 the 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, transgressed by a soldier,
during a military expedition; but his excuse of fatigue under a heavy
load of the king's camp equipage was admitted; and although on similar
occasions a certain licence is extended, still the monarch keeps a
strict watch over the maintenance of church discipline.

On the annual day of atonement, the Jews were obliged to confess their
sins before a priest.  In like manner the Abyssinians are commanded from
time to time to perform the ceremony, during the great fast of Hodadi
more particularly, and on Good Friday, the day of the Jewish expiation.
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 a 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 idolatry, 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 former 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
intercessors for mankind.

The detrimental influence of this superstition is fully exemplified in
the conduct of the nation.  The mediator is ever employed 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 baneful 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 relatives of the departed assemble
for the same purpose, and the absence of any from the scene is ascribed
to want of love and affection.  As with the Jews, the most inferior
garments are put on; and the skin is torn from the temples, and
scarified on the cheeks and breast, to proclaim the last extremity of
grief.

In later days, the extravagance of mourning has been somewhat moderated,
through the agency of a priest of the church of Saint 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.
Excommunication was thundered upon all who should thenceforth indulge
publicly in the luxury of woe; and the people trembled under the ban of
the church.  The death of a great governor soon confirmed the
restriction.  Being loved and esteemed by all classes, the prohibition
was severely felt.  The complaint was referred to the throne; and as the
deceased was a man of rank, and a royal favourite withal, the clergy
were commanded to grant absolution in this one instance.  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 ecclesiastical fiat; and to this day
the drum is mute at the funeral wake, and the customary praise of the
defunct 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 knowledge of all the occurrences of this world.  Philo, the
learned Jew of Alexandria, informs us, that the souls of the patriarchs
pray incessantly for the Jewish nation, and the erudite rabbins alleged
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 still further--they confidently
anticipate the intercession 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
representative of the celestial patron.  The ark of Saint Michael
accompanies all military expeditions, to insure success against the
Gentiles; and that of Tekla Haimanot stands the palladium of the north,
to preserve the empire from the attacks of the Mohammadan prince of
Argobba.

All the absurd ideas of the Jewish rabbins 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 immediately
enter into the kingdom of joy, but is conducted to an habitation
situated in an invisible spot between the heaven and the earth, where it
remains until the resurrection, in a state of happiness or torment,
according to the alms and prayers bestowed by surviving relatives and
friends.  This Abyssinian "limbo" is supposed also to be occupied by the
saints; and the absurdity is increased by the belief that intercession
with the Almighty is absolutely necessary to absolve the Heavenly host
from their spiritual imperfections, and insure their resting in peace
until the coming of Christ.

But the interest of the avaricious priest is concerned in the
preservation of this doctrine, and a corner of the churchyard is sternly
denied to all who die without death-bed confession, 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; whilst 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 displayed in the long line of
beeves which afterwards wends its way to the threshold of every church
in Ankober.

Volume 3, Chapter XVIII.

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 progenitor.  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 crossing a tract little
fitted for the occupation of the shepherd, he ascended the highlands of
Ethiopia, which afforded an inviting habitation to the parent stock,
from which have emanated the different shoots of African population.

Like most other Abyssinian legends, this version is somewhat at variance
with received history, which assigns to Arabia the original seat of the
Cushites.  The strange medley of colour and feature observable at the
present day, does not, however, 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 intercourse with the fairer
and more beautiful among the various hordes of slaves which have for
ages streamed through the land from the ravaged interior, are in
themselves fully sufficient to account for the diversity.

The connection with Arabia, commencing at a period the most remote, is
known to have existed for many centuries.  Armies from both nations
respectively visited each other in wrath--merchants reciprocally
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 asserted in the days of Diodorus, that Egypt was
originally colonised from Ethiopia, the very soil being brought down
from the highlands by the floods of the Nile.

Caucasian features predominate amongst the Amhara, notwithstanding that
the complexion passes through every shade, from an olive brown to the
jet black of the Negro.  An approximation 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 between the two
races.  The men are tall, robust, and well formed; and the women,
although symmetrically made, are scarcely less masculine.  They are
rarely beautiful; and their attempts are indeed ingenious to render
hideous the broad unmeaning expanse of countenance bestowed upon them by
nature.

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 eyebrows, the Amhara damsel 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 common centre, and are
besmeared with stale butter until the wig has assumed the appearance of
an ordinary English beehive.

The costume consists of a wide sack chemise with full sleeves, confined
round the waist by a narrow girdle, and surmounted 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 measures
of wheat.  Large black wooden studs in the lobe of the ear are on high
days and holydays replaced by masses of silver or pewter, resembling a
pile of hand-grenades, or the teething rattles employed in nurseries.
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-coloured beads are ingeniously wrought into
a necklace by the wealthier, who never appear without a bandoleer of
potent amulets, terminating in a huge bell-rope tassel; and the lady of
rank completes her toilet by dyeing her hands and feet red with the bulb
called _ensosela_, securely plugging up the nostrils with lemon-peel or
some aromatic herb, so that the end of the bouquet may dangle before the
mouth.

From the king to the peasant the costume 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 exertion.
Frequently disarranged, and falling ever and anon upon the ground, the
troublesome garment must be constantly tucked up and folded anew about
the shoulders, from which it is removed in deference to every passing
superior.  A cotton waistcloth of many yards in length is swathed about
the loins, and a pair of very wide loose trousers, termed _senaphil_,
hang barely 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
curved, 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 behind, and is not to
be detached from the scabbard unless by much grunting and personal
exertion.  The serf still appears in the raw fleece of the sheep, which
he shifts according to the vicissitudes of the weather,

          "With the unfashion'd fur
  Rough-clad, devoid of every finer art.
  And elegance of life;"

but 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
shoulder of the better classes.  Neither shoes nor sandals are ever
employed.  The despot and the wandering mendicant are alike bare-footed,
and, unless by the clergy or the inmate of the monastery, no covering is
worn over 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 either with
an infinity of copper rings forming a gauntlet, 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 scrupulously 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
avoided, as savouring too strongly of abhorred Islamism, the Christian
contents himself with rubbing his eyes in the morning with the dry
corner of his discoloured robe; but the greatest attention is paid to
the management 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 another, frizzed into round matted
protuberances; to-day fancifully tricked and trimmed into small rows of
minute curls like a counsellor's peruke, and to-morrow boldly divided
into four large lotus-leaved compartments.

During the period of mourning, which extends to one year, black or
yellow garments, or the ordinary apparel steeped in mire, must be worn;
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 purposely 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 promulgation of a royal
edict directing its discontinuance; but it is still universally
practised, and throughout the kingdom there is scarcely an individual to
be seen, whether male or female, who has not at some period of life been
thus horribly disfigured.

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 commenced.

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 execution or in design.  Their houses, constructed
as in the earliest days, are still a mere framework of stakes sparingly
bedaubed 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, furnished with clumsy shutters, but unprovided with any
transparent substance; and thus, if the ponderous door is closed against
the searching fog, or the cutting wintry blast, all possibility of
admitting light is precluded; whilst, excepting through the crevices in
the plank, 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 attacks 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 whilst
the universal objection to the use of water, whether as regards the
person or the apparel of the inmates, enhances the gloomy vista of
cobweb desolation, dirt and filth choke up the surrounding enclosure.

The absence of drains or sewers compels the population of the towns and
villages to live in the miasma of decomposing 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 absence of all tidiness
or comfort in the arrangement of the yards, the unseemly dunghill, which
in other countries is carried 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
country.  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 stockade, which environs the premises to preserve the inmates
from the nocturnal attacks 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 labour is to be heard--no bustle or
noise among the elders--no merry game or amusement among the children;
and thus to the European visitor the whole appears strange, savage, and
unnatural.

With doors allowing free ingress to every injurious current, with roofs
admitting 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
_ougaret_ made its appearance at the capital, and, as might have been
anticipated, spread with fearful virulence in the foul city.  The iron
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 sacrifice of atonement was duly performed, one half of the whole
population were speedily swept away.  The monarch sought strict
seclusion in the remote palace at Machal-wans, where he would see no
person until the plague was stayed; and those who survived of his
terror-stricken subjects fled for a season from a hill which was
declared by the superstitious priesthood to have been blasted by a curse
from heaven.

Volume 3, Chapter XIX.

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 certain 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
appraised.  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 results in both
taking up their own, and departing to seek a new mate.

Matrimony is, however, occasionally solemnised by the church, in a
manner somewhat similar to the observance of more civilised lands; the
contracting parties swearing to take each other for life, in wealth or
in poverty, in sickness or in health, and afterwards ratifying the
ceremony by partaking together of the holy sacrament, and by an oath on
the despot's life.  But this fast binding is not relished by the
inhabitants of Shoa, and it is of very rare occurrence.  Favourite
slaves and concubines are respected as much as wedded wives.  No
distinction is made betwixt 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 concubines.

The king resides only for a few weeks at either of his many palaces; and
whenever he proceeds to another, is accompanied by all his chief
officers, courtiers, and domestics.  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 neglect.  Few married
couples 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 chastity 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 to be chaste, and beads, more precious than fine gold, bear
down every barrier of restraint.  Honesty and modesty both yield to the
force of temptation, and pride is seldom offended at living in a state
of indolent 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 Christian subject of
Shoa is compelled, whenever summoned, to follow his immediate 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; presenting as it does the chance of capturing a slave, or a flock
of sheep, of obtaining honour 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 entrusted with
government, spend their time in basking in the sun, holding idle gossip
with their neighbours, lounging about the purlieus of the court, or
gambling at _gebeta_ or _shuntridge_, [see Note 1] the management of the
house being left to the women, and the direction of the farm to the
servants and slaves.  Visits are customarily paid early in the morning;
and it is reckoned disreputable to enter a stranger's house after the
hour of meals, because the etiquette of the country enforcing the
presentation of refreshment, the unseasonable 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 favours the support of a large
retinue; and through the lack of manufactories, the population 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 enjoyed, for no
retirement is ever permitted.  A dozen naked savages are perpetually by
one's side, restrained by no very correct ideas of order or decorum.
Each intruder seizes the first object that comes within his reach, and
attacks ears, teeth, and nose, with the most reckless indifference to
appearance.  The confused hum and the 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 their own curiosity, under pretext of doing honour to their lord
and master.

On the first introduction of a stranger, an individual is selected from
the establishment, 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 sinning mortal.  To him and to him
alone can a visitor look for admittance into the house; and unless he be
present, the monarch and the great man are alike invisible.  Courtyards
may be thronged with attendants, and the doors may seem invitingly
accessible, but the _open sesame_ is wanting, and the repulsed party
returns to his home disgusted with the insolence received.  Time,
however, gradually softens down the rigidity of this 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 contact
with the ground.  All stand with shoulders bare to the girdle before His
Majesty, or any superior; but to equals the corner of the cloth is
removed only for a time.  Any thing delivered to a domestic must be
received with both hands in a cringing attitude; and should a present be
made, the nearest object, generally the threshold of the door, is
invariably saluted with the lips.

Amongst persons of rank, presents are frequently interchanged, and the
utmost display is attempted on their delivery.  Whenever anything was
offered to us by our Amhara hosts, the articles were subdivided into a
multiplicity of minute portions, placed in baskets covered with red
cloth, consigned to a long train of bearers, and each component part of
the gift exposed in turn to our view.  Wild bulls and unruly he-goats,
half as large as a donkey, were sometimes forcibly dragged into our
sitting apartment, to the imminent danger and frequent pollution of all
around.  My personal inspection and approval was required to 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 overgrown cabbages; and
any deviation from this established rule was 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 a fire
is invariably lighted before 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 blessing 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 which are afterwards 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 dimensions, requires considerable strength of
finger to be forced into the aperture, is sufficiently ludicrous, and
brings to mind a nest of sparrows in the garden hedge expanding their
toad-like throats to the whistle of the school-boy.  Mastication is
accompanied by a loud smacking of the lips--an indispensable sign of
good breeding, which is send to be neglected by none but mendicants,
"who eat as if they were ashamed of it;" and sneezing, which is frequent
during the operation, is accompanied by an invocation to the Holy
Trinity, when every by-stander is expected to exclaim, _Maroo_!  "God
bless you!"

Raw flesh forms the grand aliment of life.  It is not unfrequently
seasoned with the gall of the slaughtered animal; but a sovereign
contempt is entertained towards 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 solitary fact;
but from my own experience I can readily believe all that is related by
the great traveller Bruce of the cruelties practised in Northern
Abyssinia.

Sour bread, made from teff, barley, and wheat, is eaten with a
stimulating pottage of onions, red pepper, and salt.  _Dabo_, the most
superior description of bread manufactured, 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,
anbabero, anabroot, deffo, 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 northern 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
patronised.  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 flavour, particularly disagreeable to
the palate of the foreigner; but its powers of intoxication, which do
not appear to be attended with the after-feelings inseparable from the
use of other potent liquors, extend an irresistible attraction to the
Amhara of rank, who will never, if the means of inebriation be placed
within his reach, proceed sober to bed.

The branches of the _gesho_ plant are dried, pulverised, 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 pepper are next thrown in, and the
mixture is consigned to an earthen vessel, closely sealed with mud and
cow-dung.  The strength increases with the age; and the monarch's
cellars are well stored with jars filled thirty years ago, which, little
inferior in potency to old Cognac, furnish the material for the nightly
orgies in the palace.

The _tullah_, or beer of the country, also possesses intoxicating
properties, and if swallowed to the requisite extent, produces the
consummation desired.  Barley or juwarree, having been buried until the
grain begins to sprout, is bruised, and added to the bitter decoction of
the _gesho_.  Fermentation 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 resembles soap and
water, is truly amazing.  In every house gallons are each evening
consumed, and serious rioting, if not bloodshed, is too often the result
of the festivity.

Rising with the liquor quaffed, the fiercer passions gradually gain the
entire ascendency, and guests seldom return to their homes without
witnessing the broil and the scuffle, the flashing of swords and the
dealing of deep cuts and wounds among the drunken combatants.  If but a
small portion 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 contentions which at present stigmatise their
nocturnal 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 stretched upon the mud floor, on which, for mutual
warmth, all the inferior members of the family lie huddled together _in
puris naturalibus_.  The clothing of the day forming the covering at
night, is equitably distributed over the whole party; and should the
master of the house require sustenance during 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 sleepers,
exclaiming _Abiet_!  "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 marked by an exclusion of all meat diet, under the penalty
of excommunication.  Eggs and butter are then especially forbidden, 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.

Besides Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the twelve months, which are
observed as holydays, the fast of the Apostles continues eighteen days,
that of the holy Virgin sixteen, Christmas seven, Nineveh four, and Lent
fifty-six.  During all these, labouring 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 more baneful than 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 foundation of mental
ignorance!  Six months out of the twelve devoted to listless idleness is
indeed an immense source of evil, and God, who has placed men here for
useful and worthy exertion, is not likely to reward them for their
sloth.  But throughout 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 passed in this world,
the spirit passes away without any very distinct idea being entertained
of what is to happen in the next.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1.  _Gebeta_ is a game something allied to backgammon, but played
with sixty-four balls, stored in twenty cavities on the board.

_Shuntridge_ is, with few deviations, the Arab game of chess.

Volume 3, Chapter XX.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Geez, the ancient Ethiopic, was the vernacular 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 Zeguean dynasty, and
the restoration of the banished descendants of Solomon, Amharic became
the court language, to the complete exclusion of the Geez.  It prevails
in Shoa, as well as in all the provinces included between the Taccaze
and the blue Nile, and is thus spoken by the greater portion 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 "Christian," would prove that it must formerly
have exerted pre-eminent influence in the empire.

Of Semitic origin, and acknowledging the Ethiopic as its parent, the
Amharic displays much interchange with the surrounding African
languages--those, especially, which are spoken by the Danakil, the
Somauli, the Galla, the people of Argobba, 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 unstable population in the south.

Amharic excepted, none of the many languages extant in Abyssinia have
assumed a written form.  The Ethiopic characters, twenty-six in number,
are the Coptic adaptation of the Greek alphabet, modelled 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,
being subjected to variations of figure correspondent with the number of
the vowels, produces a prolific kaleidoscope mixture, which might have
been deemed sufficient.  But the ingenious phonologist who applied these
to the Amharic tongue, has superadded seven foreign letters, each
undergoing seven transformations by the annexure of as many vowel
points; and these, with the addition of a suitable modicum of
diphthongs, complete a total of two hundred and fifty-one characters, of
the separate denomination of any of which, notwithstanding that most
have possessed names from all antiquity, it may not perhaps be
considered extraordinary that the most erudite in the land should
profess entire ignorance.

When the Egyptian monarch interdicted the employment of the papyrus,
parchment was invented.  The Jews very early availed themselves of the
_charta pergamena_, 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 is a mucilage of gum-arabic mixed with lamp-black.  It
acquires the consistency of that used in printing, and retains its
intense colour 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 Abyssinian scribe does not hold the
pen of a ready writer; and the dilatory management of his awkward
implement is attended with gestures and attitudes the most ludicrous.
Under many convulsive twitches 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 school-boy, with the birch of the pedagogue
hanging over his devoted head, ever took such pains in painting the most
elaborate pothook, 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
scrutinised from every possible point of view, before proceeding to the
next.  Every word must be read aloud by the delighted artist, spelt and
re-spelt, 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 approval, the destructive convulsions of the jaw
are continued, to the complete demolition of the pencil, and, long
before the termination of the opening sentence, European patience 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 application.  A book is composed of separate leaves
enclosed 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 in an unknown tongue, they are looked upon with the eye of
superstitious credulity, and more especially venerated if embellished
with coloured daubs and an illuminated title-page.

The pictorial art is still far behind the middle ages of Europe; and the
appearance of the limner arranging his design with a stick of charcoal,
or tilling 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 stilling the tempest is
a subject fraught with perplexity to those who have never seen either a
maritime vessel or the "great water," and firearms are placed somewhat
before their invention in the hands of the heroes of antiquity.  Our
common father in the enjoyment of Paradise is at the present day
invariably depicted with an emblazoned buckler, a sprig of asparagus,
and a silver sword; and his erring partner appears with a bushy beehive
wig most elaborately buttered, and with silver ear-rings resembling
piles of cannon shot.  But although doubts exist as to the complexion of
the first parents of mankind, 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 colours
invariably employed in depicting his Satanic majesty.

One hundred and ten volumes [Vide Appendix] comprise the literature at
this day extant in Abyssinia; 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 Mohammadan 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 numerous 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 edification 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 scrupulous minuteness, are vouched for upon unexceptionable
authority.

Idle legends form the delight of the people of Shoa.  The Ethiopic saint
is nothing inferior to his western brethren.  He performs 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.  Bel and the
Dragon is read with as much devotion as the Acts of the Apostles, and it
might be added, with equal edification too; and Saint George vanquishing
his green dragon is an object of nearly as great veneration as any of
the heroes in the Old Testament.

But the stores of literature being wholly 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 children only receive the
rudiments of an education 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 deficiency is presented in
intellectual features.  The five churches of Ankober have each their
small quota of scholars, but the aggregate does not amount to eighty out
of a population of from twelve to fifteen thousand!

Abyssinia, as she now is, presents the most singular compound of vanity,
meekness, and ferocity--of devotion, superstition, 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 ascribed 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 people 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 civilisation might be applied with better
ultimate results; and although now dwindled into an ordinary kingdom,
Habesh, under proper government and proper influence, might promote the
amelioration of all the surrounding people, whilst she resumed her
original position as the first of African monarchies.

Volume 3, Chapter XXI.

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 perplexed the Abyssinian divines.  The doctrines
which His Majesty conceives to be most conducive to salvation are,
unfortunately, diametrically opposed to the historical facts and clear
evidence of the Gospel; but as summary deposition and confiscation of
property is the sure meed of heresy, he bids fair in due process 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 south-western provinces of Amhara, have long maintained the three
births of Christ--Christ proceeding from the Father from all eternity,
styled "the eternal birth;" his incarnation, as being born of the holy
Virgin, 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 opinions of both
parties being at variance with the belief of the Occidental churches,
which, on the evidence of the Gospel, believe that our blessed Saviour
received the Holy Ghost at his baptism in his thirtieth year,
immediately prior to the commencement of his preaching.

Further, the Gondar sectarians assert that Christ received the Holy
Ghost by the Father, whilst those of Tigre affirm that, being God
himself, he gave the Holy Ghost unto himself.  This creed has obtained
for the latter faction the opprobrious epithet of _Karra Haimanot_, "the
Knife of the Faith," in allusion to their having lopped off an
acknowledged scriptural truth.

Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sahela Selassie, being assured by his father
confessor, a native of Gondar, that in event of his embracing the
doctrine of the three births, the district of Morabeitie, already
conquered by Emmaha Yasoos, but not at that period completely annexed to
Efat, should be permanently secured to him 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 dispute reaching a great height, was at
length brought before the despot, who put an end to it by issuing a
royal proclamation, under 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 possesses 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 Wolda
Georgis to be head of the Church, and of Kidana Wold to be the Alaka of
Debra Libanos, three monks set out to Gondar for the purpose of
denouncing them, as being opposed to this creed.  Ras Ali, erroneously
concluding that they denied the three births, sent to Sahela Selassie to
inquire 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 involved serious
consequences, and with his usual temporising 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 establishment of their creed throughout the kingdom, and gaining
numerous proselytes, the disputes had soon reached the climax.  After
fruitless efforts to satisfy the interests of all concerned, His Majesty
sought to escape participation in the quarrel, by referring the parties
to Gondar; but Zenama Work, the Queen-dowager, well assured that Ras Ali
and the head of the monks would decide against the sect whose doctrines
she espoused, denied a passage through Zalla Dingai, and thus compelled
the whole to return to Ankober.

As had been anticipated, this step resulted in the complete triumph of
the Gondar eunuch, and the consequent dismissal with disgrace of the
Alaka Wolda Georgis, chief of the church of Shoa, the Alakas of Saint
Michael, Saint George, Aferbeine, Kondie, Aramba, Debra Berhan, and
Angollala; of the king's confessor; of Wolda Haimanot, great Alaka of
Mans, chief of thirty-eight churches, styled _Bala Wamber_, "the Master
of the Chair," from his possessing the privilege of sitting in the royal
presence on an iron stool; and of numerous other priests, whose property
was confiscated by the crown, and who received sentence of banishment
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 penalties, public
thanksgivings were offered in the victorious churches; and the priests,
forming triumphant processions through every street of the town, chanted
psalms amid the shrill acclamations of the women, and the din of the
sacred drums.  The defeated party, on the other hand, complained loudly
that they had been dismissed without an impartial hearing; the monarch
having simply observed that the fact of their not proceeding to Gondar,
as commanded to do, sufficiently proved their error.  This they
disclaimed, and after requesting to be convinced upon the Scriptures,
added, "Will the king adjudge the faith as he adjudges moveables and
lands?"  But the despot cut the matter short in these words:--"Enough,
you are dismissed; and since you will not receive the faith of my
forefathers, by their manes, and by the holy Trinity, I swear that you
may beg your bread through the land, rather than that one of your creed
should be received again into the bosom of the church."

The success of the Debra Libanos sectarians was speedily followed by
discussions relative to the equal adoration due to the holy Virgin and
her Son, whilst the despotic and ill-advised proceedings of His Majesty
raised a storm throughout the entire realm.  The ban of excommunication
was instantly resorted to--the curse of the church was pronounced upon
the triumphant party--the priests who passed it, after having been
seized and compelled to accord absolution, were expelled the kingdom--
and a brave and courageous leader seemed alone wanting, to induce those
who had been defeated to raise the standard of revolt once more in a
religious war.

Volume 3, Chapter XXII.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.

Abyssinia had for fifteen years been left without an archbishop, when
Abba Salama, a Coptic youth, nominated by the hundred and ninth occupant
of the chair of Saint Mark, arrived at Gondar to enter upon the
functions of his sacred office.  Oubie, the tyrannical ruler of Tigre,
had, with diplomatic sagacity, despatched an expensive mission to the
Alexandrian Patriarch, to solicit a successor to the post so long vacant
by the death of Abba Kerlos--a wily measure, involving the sacrifice,
indeed, of lands and ecclesiastical revenues, but securing to himself a
sure political preponderance among the manifold rulers in the North, who
know no law but that of the strongest.  Heretofore the dignity had
invariably been conferred on some bigoted old monk, extracted from one
of the convents of Saint Anthony--the only monastic order recognised by
the Coptic church.  Much against his will, the patriarch elect was often
dragged by force from his cloister, where he had passed years of
abstinence and mortification, and being duly exalted to the episcopal
throne, on which the residue of his days were to be passed, he never
failed to impart a full share of ignorance and superstition.  But the
new primate, raised at the early age of twenty-two years to the
pontificate of Ethiopia, and invested with despotic powers, proved,
fortunately for the country, to be possessed of abilities of a very
superior order, whilst his mind had been expanded by a liberal education
at Cairo under the Reverend Dr Lieder, a pious and learned missionary
of the Church of England.

One of the first steps of the new Abuna was to depute a confidential
servitor to Shoa, as the bearer of a letter of compliments to myself,
expressive of his desire to cultivate a friendly understanding, and
urging on me a speedy visit to his court.  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-rumoured defeat of the former, and of
the forces of Ras Ali, which had been sent to his assistance.  The
return of killed and wounded is in this country never suffered to fall
short of the reality, and on the present occasion it had certainly not
lost by the distance it had travelled.

"It was a little before nightfall," said the turbaned priest, "that the
rival armies, countless as blades of grass, 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 middle; and the conqueror, after standing up to
his neck in water for three days, as an atonement for the slaughter he
had committed among a Christian people, sent to Ras Ali a horse with its
mane, tail, and ears cut off, and a pair of new trousers greatly soiled,
with 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 advent of the Negoos to celebrate at the capital the
festivities of the Abyssinian Christmas.  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 some common-place civilities, on the part of Dr
Kirk, "If I did not befriend the foreigners, pray who is there else to
do so?"

Entertaining such a bigoted 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 females.
Yet such is the extreme jealousy on this point, that although from our
first arrival the queen had expressed herself in the most friendly
terms, and almost daily sent me through her maids of honour trifling
presents of mead or bread, coupled with complimentary inquiries, an
introduction, under any circumstances, was quite impracticable.

From day to day, however, the most curious applications were still
preferred for beads, trinkets, cloth, and perfumery, and the utmost
disappointment was evinced at my making no demand in return.  "I possess
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, I continually received laconic notes
on scrolls of parchment varying in breadth from one inch to three,
bearing neither signature nor superscription, and tightly rolled up in
wax.  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 pattern sent
by the hands of Dinkenich;" [i.e. "She is beautiful."--One of Her
Majesty's Abigails.] and again, "May this letter come to the hands of
the English commander.  Are you well? are you well? are you quite well?
That the soap may not end quick, you will send it in large quantities,
saith Besabesh."

Not long after Her Majesty's arrival, she sent me an unfortunate child,
recently purchased from a Gurague slave caravan, with a request that
_Hubsheeri_ might be exchanged for some clear salad oil which had met
with special approval "for medicine for the face;" and great surprise
was elicited by my reply, "that such a course of proceeding would
involve disgrace and criminality, inasmuch as the unchristian-like
traffic in human beings was held in abhorrence beyond the great water."
But in this matter the Emabiet was not singular.  Certain of the
courtiers, who considered themselves under obligations, had previously
tendered us "strong Shankela slaves" as a Christmas gift, and all had
been equally at a loss to comprehend our motives in refusing.

Amongst the followers that I had brought from India was a native of
Cabool, who acted in capacity 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
_burnoos_ [cloak], on the elaborate embroidery of which half the
treasures in the _gemdjia_ house were lavished, the king, in the
plenitude of his munificence, sent by the hands of Ayto Melkoo a shabby
cotton cloth, value three shillings and sixpence, 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 indignantly; "I want none of them.  By the beard of the prophet,
I'm the son of a Pathan; and praise be to Allah, the meanest overseer of
a village in Afghanistan is possessed of greater liberality than Sahela
Selassie."

This _tirade_ had fortunately been delivered in a tongue not familiar to
the ears of the king's Master of the Horse, who was meanwhile diligently
occupied with the Pathan's needle and scissors.  Having taken the bag
out of his hands, and extracted a scrap of red cloth, he had carefully
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 department, 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 assistance.  "Don't you know that the hole has been burnt, and
therefore that it _must_ be repaired with another colour?"

In Abyssinia, as in other parts of Christendom, the festival of the
nativity is a season of frolic and rejoicing, during which people
display the strength of their piety by the quantity of beef that they
can consume; the principal difference being, that it is here eaten raw
instead of roasted.  Our cook, a Portuguese from Goa, had been
frequently summoned to the palace for the royal edification in culinary
matters, but although he was a _bona fide_ Christian, and wore a "mateb"
too, the king could never persuade himself to partake of any of the
viands prepared by his hands.  Loaf sugar being now employed in the
manufacture of a Christmas cake, His Majesty, after attentively watching
operations, enquired, as a matter of course, "How they made it white?
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.  "_Ye noor_--I don't
want it; 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 hundredth 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 the 4th of January, which was Christmas eve, the usual contest took
place on the king's meadow between the royal household and the
dependents of the Purveyor-General and the Dedj Agafari.  A cloth ball
having been struck with a mall, a struggle for its possession follows,
and the party by which it is thrice caught in succession being declared
victorious, enjoys the privilege of abusing the vanquished 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 slander may be heaped upon the most
illustrious, as well as upon the holiest personages in the land, the
monarch alone excepted.

His Majesty's partisans gained the day, and we were summoned to the
palace to witness their Christmas exhibition.  Filling the courtyard,
they danced and recited before the throne couplets defamatory 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-Gaoler, who sat a witness to the festivities, was
declared sufficient to light the entire capital during the approaching
public entertainment, which, given at the expense of the defeated
chiefs, closed the disgraceful Saturnalia in riot and debauchery.

Volume 3, Chapter XXIII.

FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY.

But by far the greatest holiday of the Abyssinian year is held on the
Epiphany, styled Temkat, [i.e. Baptism] when the baptism of our Lord, by
John, in the river Jordan, is commemorated with extraordinary pomp.  He
who neglects to undergo the annual purification enjoined on this day by
the Ethiopic 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 misfortune, whereas those who perform the rite,
are believed to have emerged thoroughly 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 governor of the town, who, after falling prostrate on his face
before the arks, escorted the procession to the river Airara--the clergy
dancing and singing, whilst the female portion of the inhabitants lining
the hill-side, indulged in the shrillest vociferation.  A tent for each
church had been erected on the bank; and a temporary dam being thrown
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 off
their 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, and affecting, under the light of innumerable
torches and flambeaux, which shed the broad glare of day over the
disgraceful scene, to believe that a supernatural veil concealed each
other's shame.

The sacrament of Christ's supper was then administered, accompanied by
rites and ceremonies highly unbecoming the solemnity of this most sacred
of Christian institutes.  The multitude next proceeded to devour a pile
of loaves, and to drain accumulated pitchers of beer, supplied by the
neighbouring governors.  Here too the most indecent excesses were
committed.  Declaring themselves to have swallowed a specific against
intoxication, 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
consumed 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 hands cymbals in imitation
of David, and in the right the ecclesiastical staff, wherewith various
absurd gesticulations 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 graceful figures.  The beard and
the crutch, and the aged face, and the sacred calling, were but ill in
unison with the mountebank 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 Scripture 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 upwards, and build their nests in heaven?"

The clergy are distinguished from the laity by a beard, and by a
monstrous white turban encumbering the head.  This is designed to typify
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 emblems of the faith,
and furnished with a peaked hood.  The sacerdotal vest was first
embroidered by command of Hatze David, the father of Saint Theodorus, to
commemorate 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 or party-coloured cloth.

A silver or brazen cross and a slender crutch are the never-failing
accoutrements of the priest; and on all occasions of ceremony, the
mitre, the censer, and the great umbrellas are conspicuous 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 procession; and after
the labours of the day were over, these emblems of regeneration were
hung up in the churches as votive offerings.  On the conclusion of the
exhibition, the clergy dispersed under a salvo of musketry to their
respective churches, and individuals who, from any unavoidable
circumstance, had been precluded from participating in the general
immersion, were then privately baptised, males and females being alike
divested of every portion of apparel, and plunged into a large reservoir
prepared for their reception.

Four years have elapsed since Sahela Selassie underwent this lustration,
wherein he was wont annually to participate, but from which he is now
held exempt, in consideration of the height of his power.  Although in a
state of perfect nudity, a cloth was held around him during the
ceremony--a privilege to which neither virgins nor females 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 exists
a firm belief, that all mules and horses that are not led forth to
exercise on the festival of _Temkat_ will die during the ensuing year.
It is considered to be "a day of great splendour;" and on pain of
excommunication, every good Christian is bound to appear clad in his
best habiliments, and in all the trinkets he can muster, to the end that
he may prostrate himself before the ark which he has adopted.

If enforced with rigour, excommunication is in fact a capital
punishment, for it is _interdictio aqua et igne_.  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 murdered 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 enclose the rash fanatic who
wantonly interferes with the royal salvation.  Scanty fare and close
confinement eventually insure absolution, and the martyr to religious
intolerance 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 excommunication 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 mistaken," was the
exordium that greeted his astounded ear, as the staff descended with an
equally startling salutation--"My father never could have proposed the
excommunication of his dear friend."  Again the weapon pattered upon the
priestly back; and during full five minutes an able running commentary
was supported by frequent playful taps over the head, to quicken the
clerical understanding.  This powerful appeal concluded, the
crest-fallen functionary willingly withdrew his ban, and bestowing
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 sacred persons of her ministers.

Unquies, the Bishop of Shoa, had long meditated the adoption of extreme
measures towards the British escort, whom he declared to be 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
slaughtered by an infidel, instead of in the name of the holy Trinity.
No one, however, could be found sufficiently bold to undertake 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 promulgation of his spiritual denunciation for the many
heresies committed.

The honorary distinctions conferred by the monarch for the destruction
of the elephant first produced a good effect, which was still increased
by the presentation of the silver shield that distinguishes the highest
functionaries in the land; and although the opinions of the clergy
generally were still far from favourable, there was a certain
influential priest who invariably found it convenient to pass the long
dreary evenings over the Residency fire.  The pious father evinced no
disinclination to participate in the good things of this world; and
whilst 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
Baptist, because they form the food of the unclean Mohammadan.

Edifying topics such as these were doubtless 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 of which we had made him 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.

Volume 3, Chapter XXIV.

EXCURSION TO BERHUT, ON THE SOUTH-EASTERN FRONTIER OF SHOA.

I deemed it to be 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 south-east, famous for its
numerous volcanoes, recently in full activity, and hitherto untrodden in
any part by European foot.  A pretext presented itself in the existence
of the wild buffalo in the lower districts; but it was necessary, in the
first instance, to overcome the royal scruples, which opposed our
attempting the chase of that animal.  This I at length succeeded in
doing; 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 instructions were
issued to men in authority to promote the views of those "whom the king
delighteth to honour;" and, preceded by queen Besabesh, His Majesty then
set out on his annual visit to Mesur Meder.

"There is one point," he observed, when we proceeded to take leave, "on
which I wanted to consult you.  The locusts 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 immediate orders are all the second-class
governors in the realm, had received commands to summon to Ankober the
Misleyni [Literally "Like myself"] or vice-governor, of Berhut and of
the plains lying betwixt the Casam and the Hawash--a tract inhabited
partly by the Adaiel, whose nominal fealty is preserved through the
influence of Wulasma Mohammad, and partly by the Karaiyo Galla, over
whom the Negoos asserts more substantial jurisdiction.  But many days
elapsed without the appearance of that worthy, whom His Majesty had
delegated to make efficient arrangements for our journey; and Deftera
Sena, chief of the king's scriveners, having, after twelve hours of
close application, contrived to complete a written representation to the
throne, a courier was despatched with it on horseback to the royal camp.
No Abyssinian will ever think of declaring himself the bearer of an
express, unless pointedly questioned upon that head, nor will he then
relinquish possession until distinctly ordered so to do.  On the return
of the special messenger, who had been three days absent on the service
confided to him, I asked him for the answer, but my application was
followed by none of the usual fumbling among the folds of his girdle for
the tiny scroll in its wax envelope; and the caitiff was finally fain to
confess, that on being summoned to the presence of his sovereign at
Mesur Meder, and commanded to deliver up the document with which he had
been charged, he for the first time recollected that it had been mislaid
at Ankober!

But a peasant, who fortunately fell in with 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 becoming aware of
the contents, and long before Deftera Sena had completed a duplicate
copy, deputed Mamrie Salomon, now chief of the eunuchs, to see his royal
intentions on my behalf carried into instant effect.  A number of
tribute-bearers from Berhut were on the point of returning to their
district; they were forthwith pressed for the transportation of our
baggage, and all minor difficulties being at length overcome, we quitted
the capital on a cold morning towards the close of March.

Immediately beyond the church dedicated 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 demeanour, and receives
numerous tributaries from the mountains on either side, its deep channel
cutting so smoothly through the trap rock, as to wear the appearance of
being artificially formed.  This valley is extremely varied in width,
extending in some parts from six to seven miles, whilst in others it is
reduced to a mere ravine by the converging spurs of the two great
ranges.  Throughout, the scenery is tame, the cliffs being flat and
naked, and the vegetation 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
wheresoever the plough could be held, there the hand of industry had
been busy, and for the first eight miles there was little 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 perseverance,
until the entire mountain range, for miles, presents the singular
appearance of a succession of perfectly isolated cones, the apices of
many being crowned by villages or by the dwellings of great men, whilst
the sloping sides are smoothed and levelled with the utmost nicety.  The
valley is thickly peopled, flourishing hamlets peeping out in every
direction; but, as in other parts of the country, the best of the land,
whether arable or pasture, pertains to the crown--Bukerfine, one of the
richest farms in the district, having been conferred upon Misht Malafeya
[i.e. "The Lady Excellent."], a royal concubine, by whom the king has a
favourite daughter.

Many monasteries dotting the wooded peaks, are here visible in all the
pride of place above the residence of the common herd--their localities
no doubt tending to rivet the chains of the infatuated Abyssinian.
Priestly intimations issuing from a temple often shrouded from human ken
under impenetrable fog, are received with increased attention, and the
thunder of excommunication commands utter abasement and prostration of
spirit, when fulminated from these grand scenes of elementary strife.
The revenues of many of the villages passed are appropriated to the
service of the church; those of Moi-Amba, containing upwards of two
hundred houses, being appropriated to the cathedral of Saint Michael in
Ankober.

A few hours' journey had substituted the heat of a tropical climate for
the cool breezes of the mountains; and the momentarily increasing
temperature afforded sufficient proof of the rapid declination of the
route, even had it not led along the banks of the Airara, which, having
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.  Emerging at length from its walls of basalt, and joined by the
Kubanoo, bearing a large body of water from the west, it expands into a
broad channel, and is employed in irrigating the extensive cotton
plantations which every where abound on its borders.  The stream is
diverted by a simple pile of pebbles; but the elevated aqueducts,
somewhat ingeniously termed _masalel waha_, "the water-ladder," are
constructed with infinite care, and passing frequently along narrow
ledges, are widened 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, on arriving
at maturity, does justice to these gigantic proportions.

Shortly after the accession of Sahela Selassie, His Majesty marched to
the Kubanoo, for the purpose of holding a conference with the Adaiel;
and his armoury 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
utmost contempt and derision.  A rush was made during the night upon the
royal camp--many of the Christians were slain--and whilst the remnant,
with their youthful sovereign, fled in dismay to the stronghold of the
capital, the treacherous assailants returned undisturbed in triumph to
their desert plains.

Kittel Yellish, the village at which we proposed to halt, had been
represented by our guides to be situated within a very moderate march of
Ankober; but the Abyssinians possess not a better idea of the measure of
distance than of the value of time; and, after eight hours passed in the
saddle, we took refuge about sunset in the Moslem hamlet of Manyo, a
cluster of huts crowning the summit of a cone, and overlooking a wild
uncultivated tract, intersected 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, exchanging the raw material for what they
need of other produce.  The village was strongly fortified in all
directions against the inroads of the leopard and hyena, by palisades
enclosing a stiff thorn fence; and there being no room even for the
smallest tent, we passed the night in a shed rudely thatched with the
leaves of the papyrus, which would not have been tenable for five
minutes in the alpine regions that we had quitted in the morning.

Volume 3, Chapter XXV.

THE ROYAL GRANARY AT DUMMAKOO.

The reception that we experienced at the hands of the virago who owned
this comfortless hovel, had been neither hospitable nor flattering.  In
the temporary absence of her husband, the wrinkled beldame considered
herself to be vested with charge of the hamlet, and for a full hour
after our arrival, standing in the dark porch of her adjacent house, she
had exerted her cracked voice in a tissue of shrill comments levelled
against the impropriety of entering private demesnes unannounced.  The
first crowing of the cock invited a renewal of her far from melodious
clamour, and it was not silenced without much difficulty, even by the
jingle of silver crowns.

The road now descended to the Umptoo, a rapid stream, with a broad stony
bed, which rises in the lofty mountain Assagud.  Cotton, in its most
perfect state of cultivation, clothed all the level terraces.  The
papyrus, here, as in Egypt, designated _pheela_, fringed the banks of
the stream in close thick patches; the honey-sucker, arrayed in green
and gold, flashed in the morning sun, as it darted among the flowering
acacias; birds of rare plumage filled the tangled brushwood; and the
fantastic forms of the circumjacent mountains enhanced 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 invasion.

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 glittering 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 progress--Mamrat,
the monster billow, shewing above all in the far horizon, as the last
barrier arrested in fall 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 summit 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 tribute rashly
withheld.  The termination of this sultry range forms an abutment upon
the country of the Adaiel, whence is derived all the sulphur employed in
the manufacture of gunpowder in the royal arsenals; and specimens which
were picked up by the way would lead to the inference that the vein
continued even beyond the point at which we crossed.

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 papyrus.
Shut in by a deep valley, it threads the mountainous district of
Dingai-terri, and many wild bananas were seen luxuriating on its moist
banks.  The dusty path led on through a jungle composed chiefly of a
bastard description of the Balm of Gilead, which being crushed under the
foot, scented the whole atmosphere.  On our arrival near the Moslem
cemetery, below Kittel Yellish, the civility of the governor of the
district was evinced in the display, on skins beneath 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 distressed 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 portentous
dimensions, here introduced himself 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 Prophet; and if judgment might be
formed from his sleek exterior, they had not been niggard of their
contributions.

Grey, water-worn precipices, with deep semicircular basins at their
base, now flanked the road, a formation of limestone occasionally
out-cropping beneath a thick stratum of basalt.  After crossing the bed
of the Meynso, we gained a more level tract, over which a gallop of five
miles led to Dummakoo, one of the royal granaries, where, by His
Majesty's commands, our head-quarters were to be established.  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 fanned by a cool breeze, it afforded a most
agreeable contrast to the barren sultry hills through which the greater
part of our course had lain.  The lofty range of Mentshar and Bulga,
rising to an extinguisher-like cone called Megasus, was the principal
feature in the landscape; and at the foot of these mountains, which
abound in coal, sinks the 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, whilst the long-tressed Mohammadan damsels are fain to trudge
with a heavy jar at their back to a remote pool, carefully fenced and
barricadoed.

All agricultural operations connected with the royal farm at Berhut, 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 labour, 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
harvest-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 neighbouring 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 himself; 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 our arrival I received a visit from Habti
Mariam, [i.e. "The property of the Virgin"] the vice-governor, whose
residence is at Wurdoo, the principal village of the Berhut district.
He explained that his non-appearance to escort the party from Ankober
had arisen from severe ophthalmia, contracted 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 despatch of a body of
his immediate retainers, commanded first to announce to the Adaiel on
the border our intention of visiting their country, and afterwards to
escort us thither.  In order to counteract any offensive demonstration
to which this unusual excursion might give rise, Habti Mariam had issued
orders to assemble his levy, in accordance with strict injunctions
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-dreaded 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 declaration 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.

Volume 3, Chapter XXVI.

ADEN ON THE CASAM RIVER, THE TERRITORY OF THE ADEL SUB-TRIBE GAREEMRA
DAMOOSA.

A canopy of thick clouds clinging to the high hills of Ankober had
indicated that rain still continued to deluge the more elevated regions;
but on the wide undulating plains of Berhut, the thermometer in the
tents stood at 105 degrees; and although the sky was occasionally
overcast in the morning, the sun shone with due tropical fervour up to
the day fixed for departure to the low country.  It was still dark when
the cavalcade filed past the church of Saint 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 saluted with a
pious kiss the rough bark of the kolqual trees by which it is fenced
round, many an offering was vowed for individual safe return from the
dangerous expedition.

Dawn of day found the party at the termination of the tract of
table-land claimed by the crown; and the sun, as he rose behind the
lofty peak of Assibote, lighted our descent by the Dodoti pass, a
winding path overhanging the valleys, which still lay in darkness.
Commanding a boundless prospect across the burning plains below, it
leads by a very judiciously selected line, with a gradual descent of
eighteen hundred feet, over barren mountain ridges rapidly diminishing
in height, to the foot of the Abyssinian range, where, watered by the
Casam, stretches the Adel district of Aden; and beyond, wild, desolate,
and hot, and surrounded by extensive white desert tracts, rise the
isolated craters of Saboo and Fantali.

The entire mountain-side is well-peopled by Mohammadan subjects of Shoa,
whose progenitors arriving 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 descendants all the ancestral
aversion to a cold climate.  A stronger and more athletic race than the
Amhara, the dark-eyed females present features far more feminine and
agreeable than their coarse highland sisters, with forms 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 accommodation both for owner and cattle, and the rich stores
of grain proclaim a life of industry and abundance.

The retinue of the governor increased rapidly with his advance.  Every
hamlet now poured forth its quota; and before reaching the Fotah river,
he mustered in horse and foot full four hundred retainers.  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 neighbourhood of the only
well, around which the heathen maidens, in rude leathern petticoats,
fearlessly drew water, proclaiming a district dependent upon Shoa.
Debouching at length upon the plain of the Casam, the increase of
temperature was at once perceptible; and the feeble breeze could not be
felt through the mass of acacias and wild aloe which in full blossom
covered the entire face of the country.

We were here joined by a weather-beaten old warrior, covered with silver
decorations for valour, who had lost an eye by the spear of the Galla.
He was to act in capacity of guide; and an hour through the low jungle
brought us to the river at a point where the width is from seventy to
eighty yards, a strong stream of turbid water running through a rocky
channel, in parts choked with groves of tamarisk.  Skirting the northern
bank for a considerable distance across hot loose boulders and hard
volcanic terraces, we gained a prominent height, 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 homed cattle.

Here the cavalcade halted, and was presently joined, from a group of
Adel wigwams, by Godana, one of the braves of the Gareemra Damoosa,
carrying a broad-headed 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 meditated 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, before authorising further advance, to be more distinctly
apprised of the nature and object of the visit.  It was explained by the
governor, "that the sole intention was to hunt buffaloes--that the white
men were the special guests of the king; and having already slain
elephants at Giddem, His Majesty sought to honour his friends the
Adaiel, by the performance of equally extraordinary feats in their
country:--concluding with the assurance, that the fear of the Ittoo
Galla having alone dictated the presence of so many followers, both
Godana and his people 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 finally, after much demur, permitted to descend into the
bed of the Casam, and there to enjoy the shelter afforded by groves of
spreading 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 adjoining district of Desse now sauntered up
by threes and fours, and tall, gaunt, meagre 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, habitually half closed
against the glare of their parched plains--the dissatisfaction so
legibly written on every face--the sun-burnt bushy wig--the pinched
features--the loose shambling gait--the air of insolent independence--
and not least, the rank disagreeable odour--all combined to proclaim
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 of 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 the survivors worked successfully upon Adel
cupidity.  After devouring the greater portion of our own supply of
bread, which to those who till not the ground forms an unheard of
luxury, they unanimously expressed 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 meanwhile been
dragged of many of its finny inhabitants by the Amhara, who are
permitted to eat fish _ad libitum_, although prohibited from touching
either flesh or fowl during the tedious fast of Lent.

Under the guidance of a party selected by the tribe, we now continued
our route along the bank of the river; and after passing a volcanic
fissure, 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.  Here we bivouacked among huge
loose boulders; and between the bold headlands which bound the stream,
numerous glimpses were obtained of its distant course.  Thermal springs
were stated to exist in the vicinity of Fantali, now about six miles
distant to the south.  Although said to have emitted no smoke within the
memory of the present generation, this hill was pictured as a fiery
furnace, and a desert waste, inhabited only by gins and demons--
doubtless a less formidable race than the Ittoo and Aroosi Galla, who
continually prowl over the intervening plain.  The presence of these
predatory neighbours, added to our former experience of Adel treachery,
and the habitual apathy and timidity of every Amhara escort, enforced
the necessity of precaution in so wild a spot; and in spite of the
fatigue entailed by the sultry march, we accordingly maintained
throughout the night a disciplined vigilance by a revival of the
long-neglected rules of "watch and ward."

Volume 3, Chapter XXVII.

TRIUMPH OVER THE FOREST BULL.

Almost before break of day we were in the saddle; and having passed the
lava-blocks which bounded the camp, we came upon a level tract entirely
composed of hard clay.  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 Adaiel attended us on horseback, together with a chosen band
of mounted Moslems, from the retinue of Habti Mariam, 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 insignificant animal that was
descried, whilst others, truer wood-craftsmen, diligently scanned the
ground over which they galloped.

Last night's traces of the wanton strength of the elephant were visible
among the noble trees.  Huge branches, twisted from the stem, lay
scattered in various quarters, and, together with the fresh footmarks of
the devastators, those of a herd of buffaloes were presently discovered.
I made many ineffectual attempts to decrease the number of the rabble
train, the disturbance they created having the effect, like the tail of
the rattle-snake, of warning all of the approach of enemies.  Several
troops of agazin, throwing back their long spiral horns, fled at our
approach.  Myriads of clamourous guinea fowl, whirring above the grove
in every direction, spread the alarm far and wide; and the quarry we
sought, 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 running water that pour their muddy tribute into
the Casam.

During several hours thus fruitlessly passed, the exertions of the
retinue were most unremitting to prevent success; but they grew weary at
last, and I then succeeded in inducing a small party on foot, with three
of the governor's braves, to precede me into the covert.  Here the cast
of a few hundred yards revealed the tracks of a buffalo, and we carried
the trail through thick groves of wild tamarisk, whose shady boughs,
meeting over-head, formed natural bowers and arcades.  The tumult had
now ceased, and we stole in Indian file through fields of tall flags,
preserving the strictest silence, and carefully avoiding contact with
every projecting twig.  At intervals, the fresher traces of the quarry
demonstrated that he was close at hand, and we had not advanced more
than half a mile before a measured splashing of water 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 looking me significantly in the face, pointed to both
his eyes.  Creeping cautiously to the brink of the river bank, where it
rose perpendicularly to the height of twenty feet, I perceived a noble
buffalo rolling from side to side, as he waded indolently across the
stream, which reached above his girth, ever and anon whisking his
tasselled tail to dislodge a host of persecuting flies.  His intention
evidently was to land immediately below the ambush that I had taken; and
as less than fifty yards intervened, each step that he advanced rendered
the target more unfavourable.  Not a second therefore was to be lost.  A
two-ounce ball through the point of the shoulder, though it tumbled the
unwieldy animal on his haunches, did not sufficiently paralyse his giant
strength to bring him fairly down, and before I could obtain my
double-barrelled rifle, he had burst from the eddying water, and plunged
into the adjacent thicket.

No trace of blood rewarded the closest scrutiny; and, after a few
minutes' deliberation, my attendants pronounced the animal unscathed;
but finding me positive as to the spot in which the bullet had taken
effect, and firmly resolved not to abandon the quest, they made several
able casts among the tall flags that waved over the rivulet.  Fifteen
minutes passed on without a whisper--then a low whistle from the thicket
proclaimed the success of Koorbo the Adel, who had recovered the wounded
beast, recumbent in the darkest recesses of the tamarisk grove.
Advancing, with my rifle cocked, towards the spot where the red eyes
gleamed through the gloom, I could perceive the white saliva streaming
in bellropes from his mouth, whilst his breathing was hard and husky.
Rising as I approached, he made a faint charge, but his strength was on
the wane, and as he stumbled across a prostrate bough, a bullet through
the heart brought him headlong to the earth.

The conquest of this noble beast, standing upwards of nineteen hands at
the wither, would have afforded me pleasure under any circumstances,
since I had never previously killed one of the same species; but there
were other considerations which rendered its demolition subject for
especial exultation.  In spite of every existing disadvantage, the
avowed object of our toilsome journey to the hot plains of the Adaiel
had now been fully accomplished, to the delight and the amazement of my
savage allies, 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, kissed my feet.  To allay my thirst, a shield
full of water was brought from the river.  Every creese was then drawn,
and the solid hide, after being removed with all expedition, was, for
the convenience of carriage, divided into six portions suited for
bucklers.  Repeated blows from a heavy stone detached the great crescent
horns from the beetling brow; and these, with the ears, hoofs, and
tufted tail, we bore off as trophies to be laid at the royal footstool.
Elated at the conquest of a formidable and much-dreaded beast, whose
destruction by this rude people--a feat sometimes occupying many days--
is esteemed equivalent to the slaughter of eight Pagans in battle, the
excited savages were presently retracing their steps through the
intricacies of the wilderness.

Flourishing the spoils aloft in earnest of victory, they alternately
whistled and chanted their wildest war-dirge, and the deep chorus raised
at intervals made the recesses of the grove to ring again.

Awaiting my return with some anxiety, Ayto Habti Mariam, surrounded by
his array 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, declared the feat to be achieved!
During the performance of the war-dance, by which his gaunt and sinewy
frame was long violently convulsed, he sprang from side to side,
quivering his spear with the most ferocious gestures, and chuckling in
imitation of vultures revelling over their prey.  His exhibition
concluded, the other doughty heroes who had been present at the death,
each in his turn, flung his trophy upon the earth; and the whole, with
shouts, and yells, and war-whoops, accompanied by all manner of savage
antics, triumphed over the spoils of the slain.

Greatly to our disappointment and surprise, the governor now intimated
the necessity of our returning forthwith to the high country.  The
prolific 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
reluctance, oppressed by the direct influence of the solar rays, and
most anxious to terminate their sojourn on a perilous border, heretofore
untrodden by Christian foot, with unanimous voice declared their
provisions to be at an end; whilst the Adaiel, 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 argument for instant departure, that the Ittoo, "having heard the
reports of the rifles, would not fail to be down in strength during 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 hundred Pagans, bursting over the frontier, had
plundered the Moslem valleys.  But the tocsin, resounding from village
to village, was promptly responded to by the gathered population, who
pursued the marauders--recovered all the booty wherewith they were
laden--and left the bodies of one hundred and twenty a prey to the
vultures of the air.  Although a brave soldier, Habti Mariam was
evidently apprehensive of a brawl in some quarter, and very unwilling to
incur the responsibility.  "You came," he repeated, "to hunt buffaloes;
and by God's aid you have succeeded.  My control extends not to these
disturbed districts; and if blows should be struck, what account shall I
render unto the king my lord?"

Further remonstrance being obviously useless, the Adaiel were assembled,
and complimentary speeches having been delivered laudatory of their
assistance, an Abyssinian, cloth and a handful of German crowns were
placed among them for division.  Godana, on the part of his avaricious
tribe, made an oration in reply; and waxing more and more animated as he
drew towards the conclusion of the harangue, 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 benedictions, the governor, with his assembled host,
ejaculated "Amen!"

We had recrossed the Casam, and commenced the ascent of the hills, when
the sudden appearance of a colony of pig-faced baboons, crowning the
bank of the volcanic cleft, gave birth for some minutes to an
apprehension amongst 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 us safely encamped on a height overlooking a bend of the river,
where a group of thermal springs issue from the sod-grown channel at a
temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and flow steaming on beneath a
grove of odoriferous fan-palms.  Celebrated for their sanative
properties, these baths were speedily thronged by all who laboured under
any real or imaginary ailment; and notwithstanding that they shrunk from
the extreme heat, which threatened to scald a European finger, the
immersion was perseveringly continued by a succession of patients so
long as the daylight lasted.

Volume 3, Chapter XXVIII.

RETURN TO DUMMAKOO.

In the absence of a standing army, it is truly astonishing by what magic
spell the inhabitants of these remote portions of His Majesty's
dominions are bound to his rule.  Owing to the difficulties inseparable
from the introduction of an armed force for their chastisement, and the
inaccessible nature of their fastnesses, no situation could be more
favourable to revolt and to rebellion.  But it is obvious that the wily
policy of government will prove successful, 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 continue to act as a potent
talisman upon all the savage, turbulent, and refractory spirits who
people his disunited empire.

During the early portion of the night, the shrill crowing, as of an
hundred cocks, might have induced the belief that the wild camp stood in
the neighbourhood of Ankober, where chanticleer taxes his throat almost
incessantly; but the sound to which the wild hills now rung was soon
ascertained to proceed from the Amhara pickets.  With a view to
compensate in some measure for the brief sojourn conceded to us in the
low country, we 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 attack made some years previously.  Our path
traversed the deep broken bed of the river, the lofty castellated walls
of which, rising sternly in the moonlight, were garrisoned by a legion
of baboons, and before dawn we 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 tamarind trees, stretching away over the long reach beyond.

But the capabilities of the place proved to have been greatly
exaggerated; and, although certainly harbouring a vast number of the
_felinae_, 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 directions, were
hunted down 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
general screaming and clattering of shields on the outskirts; and this
notable display of _venerie_ being concluded without any good result,
the cavalcade wended its way homeward.

Mounting on the left side, with the assistance 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 few cavaliers can be
said to possess the noble science of equitation.  Whilst violently
kicking with the naked shanks, and retaining the stirrup in the grasp of
the great toe, they tug violently at the cruel and barbarous bit to urge
the horse to speed; and the blood is presently 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, whilst a solid iron ring embraces the lower jaw, and
acts like a tightened curb.  The saddle is of Tartar form, and consists
of two light splinters, which leave a clear space for the spine, and
connect a high wooden pommel for the suspension of the shield, with a
cantle equally high.  Firmly sewn together with wet thongs, the tree is
padded, covered with a loose skin, and furnished with stirrup-rings,
just sufficiently capacious to embrace the first toe of the shoeless
equestrian.

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 its cheapness, might with advantage be exported
to our Indian possessions.  Colts reared among the Galla are deservedly
held superior, the reckless character of the wild pagan rider impelling
them over the most difficult ground, and thus imparting a degree of
boldness and confidence which is rarely to be found in the Amhara steed.
In Shoa the absence of roads precludes the use of wheeled carriages;
and established custom forbidding the employment of the team in
agriculture, the gelding is reserved exclusively for the saddle, whilst
mares and stallions are very rarely ridden.  The art of shoeing is
unknown, 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
of our hunters were already beginning 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 Abyssinian, and whose patience and surety of foot among the steep
rocky mountains are sufficiently appreciated.  The prices given are
consequently larger, and the care taken of the latter is proportionably
greater.  Whilst 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 constant 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 an hour, but when the road is level, the
amble is increased to five, and the pedestrians of the party still
continue to retain their place.  A saddled steed is led in the train;
and, excepting in the hereditary dominions 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 Fotah 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.  These
triumphant strains were continued with little intermission during the
whole of the steep ascent, in spite of the intense heat of the sun,
which shot forth with greater fervour than ever.  Dense clouds of dust
and sand, such as might be raised by a charge of ten thousand cavalry,
whirled up towards 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 deliverance from its
burning atmosphere.  From each hamlet along the route the inhabitants
sallied forth with shrill acclamations to greet our return.  The entire
female population 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 congratulation was immediately paid to us by a diminutive
gentleman, who boasted descent in a direct line from the celebrated
Graan, and whose more immediate ancestors possessed the vice-gerency of
the greater part of the country just visited.  Ali Qui occupied a farm
in the vicinity 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 Abyssinian accomplishment of begging in
the very highest perfection, the worthy Moslem presented ajar of milk,
and requested the loan of a few hundred dollars to pay for his estate,
whilst the coquettish damsel brought a loaf of bread, and exerted her
powers of eloquence to bring about an application to the throne for the
restoration of her parent to his hereditary dignities.  She was known by
the eccentric appellation of _Amesa Karetse_, or "fifty crowns"--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 extortion by _mamalacha_ exists in full
force throughout the land, and all are equally amenable both to its
abuses and to its privileges.  Bringing any article within his means, no
matter what, the begging petitioner hands it over to his superior as a
memento for any thing that he has the assurance to demand.  Servants
offer a stick or a bundle of grass, and ask for swords, clothes, and
money; whilst 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 indeed 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 licence being given to imposture, 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 an offering according to his worldly means, as a bribe to secure
favour and good-will.  Cattle and honey, cloth, wood, and even stones,
are presented; and this system is invariably observed in all quarrels
and dissensions, where either party desires reconciliation.  Without the
intervention of a mediator, this cannot be effected.  A third individual
is therefore sought, who will undertake 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 Majesty's life is the most potent
in use.  If adjured by the death of Sahela Selassie, non-compliance can
be visited by punishment; 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 classes are most pertinacious
beggars.  Whatsoever 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 compunction is felt in
asking for the cloak from off the stranger's back.  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;
whilst tradition extols as highly praiseworthy 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!

Volume 3, Chapter XXIX.

VISIT TO THE KARAIYO GALLA.

As each evening closed, the appearance over the high range of Bulga was
magnificent.  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 towards the lofty cone of Megasus, they revealed in their
track the precipitous and rugged nature of bluffs which had before
presented an unbroken surface.  Rain not unfrequently fell during the
night, and penetrating the flimsy cotton awnings as if they had been
cullenders, rendered an umbrella necessary towards the protection of the
damp pillow.

Resolved to view the mysterious Fantali from the country of the Karaiyo
Galla, whence might be determined the interesting question of its
activity or quiescence, I planned an excursion with Captain Graham to
the lake Muttahara, whose glassy bosom, surrounded by great belts of
yellow grass, and stretching along the western base of the volcano, we
had regarded with intense curiosity, as it sparkled under the beams of
the setting sun.  Absence of water on the road rendered it imperative
that our party should be limited; and the insuperable aversion displayed
by every follower to a second expedition to the low country caused
little disappointment.  Many had already suffered severely from
inflammation of the eyes; and greater difficulty could hardly have been
experienced in obtaining volunteers for the most desperate forlorn
hope--the Aroosi beyond the Hawash, a tribe distinguished for surpassing
ferocity, being declared the bitter enemy of every Christian and
Mohammadan.

The governor had already proceeded in advance, to collect his vassals;
and on the morning fixed for our 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 holiday costume,
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 favourite 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 paramour 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 counteract
a decided disinclination to the society of the husband, evinced by the
inconstant spouse in three several elopements.

Descending by a steep pass through the district of Goorooreza--a perfect
wilderness of rugged mountains--we crossed the river of that name near
its junction with the Casam, and shortly afterwards the Casam itself,
from which all the villages for many miles round derive their supply of
water.  Taking its source in the elevated plains of Germama, this
tributary of the Hawash escapes through the mountains by a deep defile,
worn in the lapse of ages by the autumnal torrents, betwixt Mentshar and
Bulga.  Thence it winds on beneath perpendicular bluffs jutting out from
the high table-land.  Of these the principal is the frowning promontory
of Gougou, which, like a natural fortress, abruptly terminates the Tudla
Mariam plateau, extending to Angollala in one uninterrupted terrace,
celebrated 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 confine the rugged defile to just sufficient width for
the transit of a mule.  The stupendous mass 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 plateau, where, after the arrival of the governor, the
staff was set up for the night at the Moslem village of Seeagur, eleven
miles from Dummakoo.

The threshing-floor whereon our tent was erected, standing upon one of
the many tongues of table-land that intersect the district of Wolagur,
looked down a long lone valley bounded on the opposite side by the
perpendicular wall of Boorkikee, upon the verge of which, surrounded by
a milk-bush hedge, rose the secluded church of Saint George, the last
Christian edifice of Mentshar.  The sudden termination 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 before reaching the Hawash.

Double the number of retainers, both horse and foot, to that which
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 we 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 tract stretches away to
Fantali, beautifully wooded, covered with flocks and herds, and
disclosing in every direction the beehive 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 overran 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 presented to the
monarch on the plains of Angollala, as an earnest of successful foray.
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 farther impost--the principal advantage
derived from their submission being the interposition of a barrier
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 uncultivated plains,
covered with luxuriant shade, and intersected by low ranges of grassy
hills, dotted with spreading trees--altogether a highly enviable site
for a small nomade tribe, although much scourged by the neighbouring
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 muddy
water.

Taking an easterly direction towards Fantali, we passed numerous
well-peopled hamlets, 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 and glare, and the habit of closing
the eyelid to increase the power of vision, the swarthy features of even
the youngest of the blinking inhabitants were deeply furrowed with
premature wrinkles, which, with a turn-up nose, and the greasy
unbecoming Galla costume, rendered those who had numbered many seasons,
truly hideous.

In an easterly direction the course was bounded by the great isolated
crater of Saboo, yawning in the very centre of a well populated plain,
and said to have been in full activity in the time of Sahela Selassie'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 every
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 cowrie shells, was busily engaged by the way-side in
transferring muddy water to her scrip, and looking up, was perfectly
horrified at the appearance of a white face on the opposite border of
the puddle.  For a few seconds her old yellow 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, our path led at
right angles over a tract where broken abysses, lava dykes, and
brilliant belts of verdure, were jumbled together in strange confusion.
At an early hour in the afternoon we reached Inkoftoo, the principal
Karaiyo kraal in the district of Kadecha Dima.  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, roaming 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 encamp, near the borders of the Muttahara lake, whose placid
surface, not less than two miles across, extended almost to the base of
Fantali.  The chief of Inkoftoo 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 clamour 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 towards the Hawash.  It were
difficult to determine whether the fear of the Aroosi or of wild beasts
now predominated in the minds of our Amhara escort.  In spite of a heavy
fall of rain, large watch-fires were kindled in various parts of the
lone bivouac, and not a single eye was closed until the day had fairly
dawned.

Volume 3, Chapter XXX.

THE WILDERNESS OF TABOO.

Extensive morasses, environing the sedge-grown borders of the Muttahara
water, 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-existence of any active volcano for more than thirty years was
confirmed by all.  The Kobedemtoo and the Gobakoobee districts form the
limit of His Majesty's Karaiyo possessions, within a few miles of the
Hawash, and thither we proceeded in the morning.  Arriving near the
mountain Sadeka, one of the outposts of the Aroosi, whence the wooded
line of the river could be traced for miles through the naked plains, I
took the bearings of the conical peak of Serie, and of other conspicuous
landmarks.  But the appearance of a small party of armed savages in the
distance soon induced precipitate retreat on the part of our 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 predatory visit was daily
anticipated; and the caution was in every mouth, "If two warriors be
perceived upon the same horse, 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 represented 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 to
imitate the shell of the tortoise.  Subsisting entirely 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 bordering countries, being obtainable in unlimited quantities
from the lake Laghi, two days' journey from Serie, one of the principal
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 neighbours the Ittoo, a race of mixed Mohammadans and Pagans,
are Chercha and Metokoma.

The rhinoceros was said to abound in the Karaiyo neighbourhood; but
Habti Mariam 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 gathered to recount their recent exploits with the predatory
Aroosi, as well as the particulars attending the slaughter of an
elephant's calf that had fallen under their united lances a few weeks
previously.  A spear wound having stupified the beast, hundreds of
warriors rushed in and overwhelmed it.  Every participator in this
notable achievement, which is one of extremely rare occurrence, now
displayed on his person some distinguishing ornament or feather, whilst
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.
Amongst them were many splendid _sanga_, with wide-spreading horns
upwards of six feet in length; under which they moved as majestically as
the stag "proud of his twelve tynes."

A heavy storm of dust obscured the entire 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 provisions were obtained.  The Amhara
followers, although still restricted by the fast of Hodadi from
participation in animal food, were fain to encase their naked and
blistered 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 upon the wilderness of Taboo,
which was to form the limit of our wanderings.  Shortly after gaining
the summit of the Kozi mountain, the road wound along the very brink of
the crater of Winzegoor, from whose monstrous chasm the entire adjacent
country has been recently overflowed; and three miles beyond it we
halted preparatory to the passage of a dangerous defile, said to teem
with the execrated Aroosi hordes, and to form their favourite ambuscade.
A council of war was held.  The troops being formed into a dense body,
a _woho_ was appointed to prevent straggling, and to command the
rear-guard.  Scouts proceeded in advance to reconnoitre, and the
strictest silence having 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 body
of cavalry 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 Mentshar 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, we
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 perfect 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_ browsed 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 Jujjuba Kulla, harboured a small
herd of elephants, and they were soon perceived luxuriating 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
covered the plain with pools of water, the cavalcade, drenched to the
skin, arrived 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 perpendicular
mountain of Jujjuba Kulla.  One narrow passage, of barely sufficient
width for an elephant, leads to the water, which lies at the bottom of a
deep narrow gully with inaccessible banks.  Rising to the height of two
hundred feet, they are crossed by vermilion bands of lava, honeycombed
with a thousand cavities and fissures, and overgrown in parts with the
most brilliant vegetation.  Enormous blocks of black rock, which choke
this channel for the last hundred yards, form a sort of parapet to the
front of the pool, which measures sixty feet in diameter, and gives "no
bottom."  The still, brimstone-coloured 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 whispering gallery.  Black
martins wheeled over-head--pigeons cooed amid the clefts and crannies--
and hairy baboons grimaced and chattered on the impending cliffs, from
which trailed numberless fantastic roots, laid bare by the torrent that
at certain seasons pours into the well from the ravine above.

There being no other water for many miles around this reservoir, it
forms the resort of all the numerous wild animals in the neighbourhood;
and the narrow passage bore ample testimony to the nocturnal visits of
the elephant and rhinoceros.  The inhabitants of all the adjacent
hamlets deriving their supply hence, the Aroosi frequently lay in ambush
to cut off their watering parties.  Boorchutta is, in fact, the arena of
constant conflicts; and not a month had elapsed since the ruthless
barbarians slaughtered thirty-three Moslems, losing four of their own
number in the skirmish.  Bowers of green boughs were constructed for the
accommodation of the two governors; and the whole of the retainers,
standing to their arms with loins girt, danced and sang throughout the
night around blazing watch-fires, which threw great masses of light into
the shadowy abyss, and imparted the wildest effect to the scene of
blood.

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 rich meadows 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 fealty to Shoa, we did not anticipate that our appearance would
have caused alarm; but the natives believing the party of five hundred
horse and foot to denote an irruption of the Aroosi, drove off their
cattle with all expedition to the summits of the fastnesses, and
abandoning their villages, were to be seen clustering on the heights in
momentary expectation of attack.  Nothing could exceed the luxuriance of
the shady forests of Taboo, which bore evidences throughout of the
presence of the elephant, and abounded in the pie-bald oryx, the agazin,
the hartebeest, and the mhorr--clamourous troops of guinea fowl, which
covered every open glade, completing the contrast to the silent regions
of Shoa, so generally destitute of animal life.

Several splendid antelope had fallen to Graham's rifle and my own,
before the impatient entreaties of the governor compelled us to set out
on our return.  We arrived before sunset at the village of Adelada,
which occupies the summit of a steep saddle-backed hill, and is 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, likewise 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, we
re-ascended to Wolagur, and returned the following day to Dummakoo,
laden with numerous valuable accessions to natural history, and in
possession of as much information as our opportunities enabled us to
collect relative to this interesting but unsettled border.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXI.

THE KINGDOM OF SHOA.

  "Natura beatis
  Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti."

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 ardour of a tropical sun, and the cloudless azure of a
southern sky.  Palaces and fanes, gardens and gushing fountains, have
long since departed; but there still remains a fertile country
possessing vast capabilities, a salubrious and delightful climate, and a
race of beings whose existence under absolute and complete despotism,
presents a striking contrast to that of the idle and improvident Adaiel,
whose pride and whose boast is a banner of independence.

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 distribution of wealth.  A heavy
taxation is levied on the produce of the field.  Monastic and clerical
establishments are fostered to the ruin of the people.  The venal judges
are paid by fees on the suits which they decide; and popular
superstition and imposture possess the royal sanction for abuse.
Nothing 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 have stopped at the
satisfying point "of barren, bare necessity;" and fear and prejudice
unite to deter the inhabitants from visiting foreign climes, so as to
improve their benighted country, by introducing the discoveries in
modern science.

But although thus ignorant of comfort even in their highest enjoyments,
the people are yet considerably emerged from that state of society which
is denominated barbarian, and practise 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 eclipsed the
advances made by any nation hitherto visited on the western coast.
Under certain despotic conditions, private property in the land is every
where established.  There are few forests or wastes, excepting those
impracticable for pasture or cultivation.  The village and the
farm-steading are uniformly secure from predatory bands or hostile
neighbours, and although thickly inhabited, the country is unburdened by
any over-population.

The processes of preparing the ground are somewhat complex; a primitive
plough is in use to the exclusion of the African hoe, and considerable
industry is evinced in collecting and distributing the waters for
artificial irrigation.  The science of husbandry is nevertheless little
understood; the implements of culture are few, and of the rudest
construction; the various modes of assisting nature are unknown; and
unless some civilised power interferes 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 influence of the tropical rains, the climate at
different elevations is of the most varied description.  The high
table-land, which is clothed with moderate vegetation, and destitute of
wood, is at all times cool and healthy, and often extremely cold.  Here
there is no winter,

              "Such as when birds die
  In the deep forest, and the fishes lie
  Stiffened in the translucent ice."

The coolness of the mountain breeze is pleasant and refreshing, and the
timely cessation of the rain allows a healthful rest to vegetation.

The low wooded valleys, on the other hand, are close, unwholesome, and
insufferably hot.  During the cold season the thermometer on the summit
of the range stands at about 30 degrees, 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 degrees, and the total absence of
ventilation 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 beyond 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 situations would have stood prominent as perfect in the creation,
had nature blessed them with a climate corresponding in character to
their lovely appearance.  On the mountain-side, the vegetation is
somewhat inferior in luxuriance--a fact that may be accounted for by the
angle at which the sun's rays meet the ground, their power of imparting
heat varying in proportion.  As the eastern face of the range rises
almost perpendicularly, it can only during half the day receive them at
all, and for many hours in the warmest part of the afternoon, it is thus
entirely in the shade.

On the elevated plateau, a succession of well-watered undulations of
pasture and arable land, extend in endless continuation to the view,
undisturbed by a solitary tree, their scattered villages and farm houses
proclaiming a country which has long enjoyed the blessings of peace.
From the centre of this table-land, the craggy mountains rise in
magnificent ranges, clothed in part with majestic forests, and graced by
the wild rose, the myrtle, the eglantine, and the jessamine; whilst at
its foot repose the rich and smiling valleys, hid in all the luxuriance
of tropical foliage, from the gigantic sycamore, beloved of the heathen
Galla, and measuring upwards of forty feet in circumference, 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 colour, 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 gives 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 produce all the crops known in
Abyssinia, whilst the soil on the surrounding mountain-side, light,
loose, and gravelly, would be found 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 flooding 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 covenant" 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.  Immediately after these down-pourings,
nature, who had remained bound up in the preceding drought, bursts forth
into a thousand 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 rains are over, a heavy dew falls during the night; and
under its vivifying influence the plants continue to shoot forth,
refreshed by the coolness of the morning breeze, and strengthened by the
strong heat of the mid-day sun.  By the provident husbandman two crops
are every year garnered in, without the land being impoverished; and
whilst the corn is being reaped in one field, the seed is but just sown
in another.  The cattle are employed in ploughing up the fertile soil of
one estate, whilst in the next the muzzled ox is trampling out its
recently yielded treasures; and all the various operations 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.

  "Hic ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus aestas,
  Bis gravidae pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbor."

Forty-three species of grain and other useful products are already
cultivated in Abyssinia.  After supplying the immediate wants of the
working classes, and those of a herd of clerical drones who devour the
fruits of their honest labour, there remains a considerable surplus,
which is bartered to the lazy Adaiel for the produce of his salt lake--a
field that without ploughing or sowing yields an inestimable crop.  But
if only a small portion of European knowledge were to be instilled into
the mind of the Christian cultivator, the kingdom of Shoa, possessed of
such unbounded natural advantages, might be rapidly raised from its
present condition, and made one inexhaustible granary for all the best
fruits of the earth.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXII.

TERMINATION OF THE FAST OF LENT.

Immediately upon our return from the eastern frontier, the king sent his
confidential page with a message of congratulation on my recent success
against the much-dreaded buffalo, and requested that we would visit him
early the ensuing morning.  In accordance with the etiquette invariably
observed after a long absence, I laid "pleasing things" on the royal
footstool, together with the trophies of the chase, and His Majesty
listened with great interest to a detail of our adventures among his
Adel subjects.  On my returning thanks for the injunctions issued to the
governor of Berhut and his subordinates, as well as for the royal
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."

During this interview.  His Majesty remained seated on a hassock before
the fire, and had laid aside every portion of his usual reserve.
_Akodamas_, or silver coronets, with chain pendants, of the model worn
by himself on occasions of triumph, and conferred as the last honour
upon those who distinguish themselves in war or in the chase, were now
presented to us, together with massive silver bracelets, accompanied by
many complimentary speeches upon the issue 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 despot.  "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 manufacture followed; and three
horses with plated silver bridles were subsequently presented, which,
although like other royal gifts in Shoa, of ridiculously inferior
quality, were valuable as tokens of favour 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 us 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
brothers."

The tedious fast of Hodadi, which for forty days had been observed in
commemoration of Lent by every individual of the population whose age
exceeded thirteen years, was now about to terminate.  During the three
days which are termed _kenona_, the priests had neither eaten bread nor
drunk water, but had remained in the churches singing and praying
incessantly both day and night.  In accordance with the practice of the
primitive Church, the monarch observed total abstinence throughout this
period, and on Good Friday sent me a message, "that his people would eat
nothing for forty hours, but that as he knew the Gypts did not keep
strong fasts, he had commanded the purveyor-general to send to the
residency the usual daily supplies of bread, beer, and hydromel."

On Easter even we 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
garments, and appeared much enfeebled and emaciated by rigorous
mortification, but was in high spirits at the prospect of speedy release
from the irksome penance.  On this joyful occasion offerings are
invariably made to the throne; and every individual of the crowd
present, whether great or small, advancing in turn, contributed 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 building.

Bands of warriors next entered the carpeted courtyard, howling the
war-chorus; and after the lapse of a few seconds, the gigantic Tunkaiye,
who had earned new laurels, and been severely wounded during a recent
foray against the Gentiles, dashed into the arena on horseback.  Richly
attired, bedizened with feathers, _saretis_, 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 defiance to the enemies of the
state.

Eighty turbaned priests, in solemn procession, next entered the court,
clad in their sacerdotal vestments.  Preceded by the great embroidered
umbrellas of the church dedicated to Saint 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 habiliments of
chequered 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 crucifix; for whilst hating
the Papists with all their hearts, the Abyssinians nevertheless cherish
many of the superstitions and buffooneries of the church of Rome.

Having formed a semicircle before the throne, the priests, although much
exhausted by their long abstinence, continued, during half an hour, to
dance and chant the words of the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the
Romans, "Christ was delivered for our offences, and 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 Abyssinian timbrel.  This is the _sistrum_, an instrument
supposed to be included under the Hebrew term _tzitzelem_, and being
composed of a frame and moveable bars of sonorous metal, it produces
sounds which can best be compared to the rattle of the poker upon the
tongs.

Seven long years are passed in learning to play these instruments, which
are ascribed to Saint Yareed, an Abuna under the Emperor Guebra Maskal,
[i.e. "Servant of the Cross"] and the reputed inventor of church music
in all its various branches.  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 morning until nine, in
every church in the kingdom, a similar clatter and noise is maintained,
for the honour of the Christian religion, not only on the Sabbath, but
on all the numerous holydays and festivals throughout the twelve months.
Howling and screaming are the most appropriate terms by which to
express the hoarse muster of cracked and ill-modulated 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 by which to deter the approach of
those spirits, at least, that are gifted with any musical taste.

The rehearsal of the praises and martial achievements of the reigning
sovereign occupied another half hour, during which the dancing was even
more energetic, and the music more boisterous than ever.  Taking their
seats before the throne, the priests of Saint 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 Medhanalem, Aferbeine, and Saint 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,
dictated to them line by line by one of the Alakas, His Majesty enquired
of me whether similar ceremonies were performed before the sovereigns 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
Saint Thomas's town, as India is invariably styled by the Abyssinians,
or in any other part of the Christian world?

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.  Largesses,
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 ourselves, Tekla Mariam, the state scrivener, had been
carefully extracting, from an endless succession of envelopes and dirty
cotton bags and wrappers, something which he appeared equally desirous
to conceal and to disclose.  Drawing me mysteriously into a dark corner,
he partially revealed a rudely carved block of wood, presenting nothing
very remarkable in its appearance, but evidently much-prized by the
possessor.  "You will have perceived," whispered the learned man, in a
scarcely audible voice--"you will doubtless have perceived that this is
a fac-simile of the table of the law delivered to Moses on the Mount.
It requires nothing but the Ten Commandments; and of 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 together with this munificent design, there was not
one that appeared to possess another hour of natural existence, all
being 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 enclosure, and it appeared
wonderful whence so many sickening objects had been collected.  Yet the
liberality 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 entrusted with the royal commands.

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 Saint 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 slaughtered, were devoured raw in the
various quarters of the city; 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 appetite.  Numbers were soon to be seen ranging the streets in
brutal intoxication; whilst the court buffoon, at the head of a party of
drunken fiddlers, made his way to the dwelling of every person of note,
and recited his praises in a series of extemporaneous 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 members of the
blood-royal, who have shared the dungeon from infancy.  During one week
a public table is kept by the viceroy, to which the town's people of
every grade resorting, drunken brawls and broken heads are diurnal
occurrences.  Oxen, bread, and beer, were liberally supplied, by the
royal command, to the long train of worthless menials at the Residency;
and in such high good humour were the priesthood, that, forgetting all
their former maledictions 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."

Volume 3, Chapter XXXIII.

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, we received a special invitation to
the annual public banquet held in the palace; and, whilst ascending the
hill in full uniform, 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 courtyard,
and a separate repast provided for the members of the British Embassy.
Countless crowds, decked out in their gayest apparel, filled every
avenue and enclosure; and long files of slaves, with jars, baskets, and
trenchers, hurrying to and fro from the kitchens and magazines,
proclaimed the extensive nature of the preparations making for the regal
entertainment.

In the morning 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 strong contrast to the galaxy of light that illumines regal
hospitality in Europe.  Holding high festival to the entire adult
population 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 flanked 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-emblazoned shields, from
each of which depended a velvet scarf or cloak of every colour in the
rainbow.

A low horse-shoe table of wicker-work, supported upon basket pedestals,
extended the entire length of the hall.  Thin unleavened cakes of sour
teff heaped one upon the other served as platters.  Mountains of wheaten
bread piled in close contiguity, and crowned with fragments of stewed
fowls, covered the groaning board.  Bowls containing a decoction of red
pepper, 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 battlefield and at the banquet.  Four
hundred voracious appetites, whetted by forty days of irksome
abstinence, were constantly ministered to by fresh arrivals of quivering
flesh from the courtyard, where oxen in quick succession were being
thrown down and slaughtered in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost.  Barilles and capacious horns filled with hydromel 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 interminable supplies of bread to rebuild the
demolished fabric on the uprising of each satiated group.

Again the great doors were thrown open, and another famished set
entered, amid the increasing din.  Harpers and fiddlers played, danced,
and sang with untiring perseverance; and ever and anon one of the king's
female choristers lifted up her shrill voice with the most extravagant
panegyric on the hospitality and munificence of her royal master, or
burst 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 elephant, but he
  sinks prostrate beneath the guns of the white men--Weiho, weiho,

  "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 vacant space between the tables, is
composed of many wind instruments of various lengths and sizes--the
_embilta_ having a perforation to which the lips are applied as in the
flute, whilst the _malakat_ is fashioned after the form of a trombone.
No performer possesses above one pipe, nor, like the Russian, is he
master of more than one note.  Tune there is none--each playing
according to the dictates of his own taste, unguided by any musical
scale.  After the hoarse and terrible blast of the trumps, the symphony
falls soft upon the ear; and it was on this occasion curiously
contrasted 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
monotonous 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 of the Abyssinian fiddle, whose squeaking voice
presided at this festive board?  Alas! the inharmonious sounds elicited
by the grating contact of the bow might lead to the conclusion that the
unhappy spirit of music was confined in the interior, and uttered harsh
screams and moans as fresh tortures were inflicted upon her agonised
sinews!  A gourd, or a hollow square of wood, is covered with a skin of
parchment as a sounding-board, and furnished with a rude neck and a
single string.  Years of practice have imparted to Daghie, the court
buffoon, an extraordinary degree of excellence; but even he is not
Paganini; and every amateur performer in the realm considering himself
at perfect liberty to scrape throughout the day with soul-harrowing
perseverance, unlucky, indeed, must be pronounced 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 waxed louder and louder within the palace walls, whilst
quarrels and drunken brawls prevailed throughout the city.  The carousal
continued 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 munificent host, scarcely one sober
individual, whether noble or plebeian, was any where to be seen.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXIV.

SAINT GEORGE'S DAY.

At Kondie, in the church dedicated to the patron saint of England, lie
interred the remains of Woosen Suggud, and thither, 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 honoured with a coffin.  Manufactured of sweet wood, and
perforated with many apertures, it is placed on stone trestles amid
clouds of frankincense, and after a season removed into the mausoleum;
the walls of which are usually bedaubed with clumsy designs, intended to
commemorate the exploits in the hunting field, the military actions, and
the heroic achievements of the royal occupant.  His Majesty's orisons at
the shrine of his father being concluded, he turned his steps to the
palace, now fast falling to decay, which formed the scene of the
assassination of the despotic tyrant.  Surrounded by the former capital
of Shoa, it occupies the bleak summit of one of the loftiest mountains
in the range, and commands a magnificent prospect over the greater
portion of Efat.  Mamrat, now diminished from thirteen to one thousand
feet, no longer loomed a giant.  Through the clouds which flitted across
its stern bosom lay revealed the only path by which the royal treasures
are accessible; and the white peak of Woti, rising from dense masses of
timber, and terminating in a basaltic column, now formed the most
conspicuous feature in the rugged landscape.

"You observe those woods," inquired His Majesty, pointing after a long
silence to the gloomy forests which stretched away towards the long
white storehouses of Aramba: "they conceal a cavern into which no
creature can enter and five.  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 wood in
the neighbourhood.  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 re-appeared, 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 take fire, and all
my subjects fear to go thither."

A catastrophe of this nature had recently 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 that himself escaped the much-dreaded censure, the old man evidently
cared 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
inhabitant of the neighbourhood received sentence of imprisonment.

The cold summit of Kondie is clothed with heather and with the _jibera_,
a lofty species of _lobelia_, which attains the height of fifteen or
twenty feet.  As it is believed to exert a prejudicial effect upon the
passer by, and often to cause death, the royal cortege waged active war
against every plant by the way-side--His Majesty in person sustaining a
part in hostilities designed to counteract the evil influence.  Bands of
warriors charging on horseback, delivered their spears simultaneously,
and the doomed tree, if not cut over, was at least transfixed by a score
of shafts.  Excelling in skill, the monarch betted heavily upon every
throw, and rarely did he lose.  At forty yards the lance left his hand
with unerring precision, and perforating the soft pulpy stem immediately
below the bushy head, often passed quite through, to fall on the other
side.

"Where did the commander learn to throw a spear?" he suddenly exclaimed
in merry mood, elevating his voice, and looking round towards the spot
on which I was taking share in the proceedings.  "Now, _Gaita_," he
continued, as I approached, "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."  Frequent practice having rendered me tolerably
expert, my first lance fortunately passed through the stem, and the
second threw its crown upon the ground.  His Majesty was obviously
satisfied; but whilst the mule completely escaped his treacherous
recollection, my "best rifle," alas! had been already doomed to change
hands.  It remained but a brief period in those of the lawful
proprietor, and Ayto Habti, the master armourer, was to be seen the very
next morning engraving on the barrel with punch and hammer certain
ominous Amharic characters, signifying, "Sahela Selassie, who is the
Negoos of Shoa, Efat, and the Galla."

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, he rested a long double-barrelled fowling piece 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.

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 tidings of an engagement between Ras Ali and
Dedjasmach Oubie [see Note 1], which had been 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
rumoured death proving the signal for disorder and retreat, the camp was
left in possession 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 partisans, recovering from their panic,
rallied, and fell with irresistible fury on the victors, who were little
prepared for further hostilities, and the execrated tyrant Oubie, who
carries with him the curses of his oppressed subjects, was, with his two
sons, made prisoner.

Abba Salama, the Abuna, who is equally respected by all parties, was in
the camp of the vanquished, but the holy man found an honourable asylum.
The spiritual despotism exercised by the primate from the first moment
of his arrival in Abyssinia calls vividly to mind the period when the
mandates of the pope were as implicitly obeyed, 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 of the rulers of the land, his holiness is far from being
contemptible as a temporal prince.  The hundred and eighth successor to
Saint Mark the Evangelist, reclining in his humble divan within the
Coptic quarters at Grand-Cairo, surrounded by the dignity of coffee and
pipes, would ill recognise his juvenile delegate at Gondar, where both
these luxuries are held in abomination, could he behold him in the
enjoyment of revenues many times in excess of his own--ordaining 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
destined 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, many of the royal slaves who had voluntarily sold their liberty
during the great famine of Saint Luke, [each year is in Abyssinia
dedicated to one of the four Evangelists, according to the order of the
Gospels,] casting themselves at the footstool of the throne, implored
the restoration of their freedom in consideration of many long years of
servitude.  Enraged at what he termed the ingratitude of those whom he
had fed when they must otherwise have starved, His Majesty, labouring
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 thenceforth the progeny of all his
numerous slaves, whether the offspring of free fathers or of free
mothers, should be accounted his sole property, and forthwith render
themselves to be enrolled by his drivers, in order to have their daily
task allotted.

The capital was in a state of wild confusion 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 civilisation must ever exert
over barbarity and savage ignorance.  Deeming the opportunity
imperative, and considering the chance of success to be well worth the
risk of a misunderstanding with the court, I earnestly entreated His
Majesty to reflect, "that the name of Sahela Selassie, hitherto so
beloved of all, would lose 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 subjects, 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 thraldom of slavery, would
add little to the comfort of the close of his illustrious life."

My petition was accompanied by the enquiry, "how I should be able to
represent his proceedings to the Government by which I had been sent?"
and 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 European children
had made him thoroughly sensible of its injustice and cruelty."  The
offensive proclamation was on the instant annulled; and four thousand
seven hundred unfortunate victims to its promulgation, released from the
house of bondage, and from the degrading shackles of slavery, 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."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1.  Dedjasmach, often contracted to Dedjach, signifies "the warrior
of the door," and is the title of governors under the puppet emperor of
Ethiopia.  As in the Ottoman empire the Pacha is distinguished by the
number of his tails, so is the Dedjasmach by the number of his
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 independence.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXV.

SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE IN SHOA.

The annals of slavery point clearly to war as the principal cause of 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 work for their daily
bread.  Emerged from the limited wants of savage life, man next saw
productions of art, which he eagerly coveted; and lacking habits of
industry by which to earn them for himself, he compelled all whom his
superiority enabled him to bring under subjection to pass their lives in
labouring for his advantage.

In Africa especially, where the human passions are unbridled, and man
emulates the ferocity of the beast of prey, war proves a never-drying
spring of misery and bondage, and slavery is the inevitable lot of all
who are not slain on the battlefield, or massacred in the sacking of
towns and villages.  The weak and unsuccessful warrior, who sues for
mercy beneath the uplifted spear of his opponent, purchases existence at
the expense of liberty; and in time of famine the freeman often becomes
a voluntary slave, in order to avoid the 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, I am at
the point to die--what profit shall this birthright do to me?"

Crime, necessity, insolvency, the inhumanity of a harsh creditor, a
spirit of retaliation in petty disputes, and the sordid love of gain,
for which parents will even sell their own children, severally assist in
feeding the demand for slaves--the law of every African state either
tolerating or directly sanctioning the evil; and wherever the Mohammadan
faith prevails, frequent predatory incursions, characterised by the most
atrocious violence, are made into the territories of all neighbouring
infidels, who 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 reduced 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 destitution, and the desolation, that is daily
entailed by the unceasing bloody struggles betwixt 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 displaying his valour in the field; where
the cherished recollection of hereditary feuds; the love of plunder
inherent in every savage breast, and the bigoted zeal of religious
enthusiasts, all conspire to afford hourly pretexts for war--the sword
of desolation is never suffered to rust within the scabbard.  The fact
of one nation being stronger than another is even sufficient; and whilst
hostilities, originating frequently in the most frivolous provocations,
are prosecuted with relentless fury, robbery on a great and national
scale, forming one of the chief features of African character, is almost
universally prevalent.  Here it is perpetrated by no concealed or
proscribed ruffian; neither is it limited to those poorer tribes who are
exposed to 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.  The most
distinguished warrior chieftains consider it a glory to place themselves
at the head of an expedition undertaken solely for purposes of plunder;
and the crime of stealing human beings in order to sell them into
foreign markets, which, with all its attendant cruelty, is so widely
practised throughout the benighted continent, is one in which the
greatest of her sovereigns do not hesitate to participate.

The following narrative by a native of the village of Suppa, in Enarea,
detailing the history of his capture and subsequent vicissitudes, may be
taken as a fair specimen of the usual circumstances attending the
transfer of the kidnapped victim from one merciless dealer to another,
in his progress to Abyssinia through the interior provinces which form
the focus of slavery in the north-east.

"When twenty years of age, whilst tending my father's flocks, an armed
band of the Ooma Galla, with whom my tribe had long been in enmity,
swept suddenly down, and took myself 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 Toomee Galla, one of the nearest
tribes, for thirty _amoles_ (about six shillings and three-pence
sterling).  The bargain was concluded in the Toomee 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'
journey with a large slave Caravan, and sold privately to the Nono Galla
for a few ells of blue calico.  My companions in captivity 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 by public auction to the Gumbitchu Galla for forty
pieces of salt (value eight shillings and fourpence).  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 afterwards to Roque, the great slave-mart in the Yerrur
district, where I was sold for one hundred _amoles_" being one pound
sterling.

"From Roque I was driven to Alio Amba, in Shoa, where a Mohammadan
subject of Sahela Selassie purchased me in the market of Abd el Russool
for twelve dollars; but after three months, my master falling into
disgrace, the whole of his property was confiscated, and I became the
slave of the Negoos, which I still am, although permitted to reside with
my family, and only called upon to plough, reap, and carry wood.
Exclusive of halts, the journey from my native village occupied fifteen
days.  I was tolerably fed, and not maltreated.  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
extensively engaged as a kidnapper, and in this capacity 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 Abyssinian 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
highways from the interior.  The first is by Ankober to the market-place
of Abd el Russool, where purchases are eagerly made by the caravan
traders from Hurrur, Zeyla, and Tajura; the other by Debra Libanos to
the market of Antzochia adjoining Asselleli, the frontier town on the
north, whence they pass through Upper Abyssinia to Massowah 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 submitting 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 pleasure.  A transit
duty of four pieces of salt is further levied upon every individual,
male or female, of whatever age, exposed for sale or barter; and the
number annually exported by the roads above named being estimated at
from fifteen to twenty thousand, the revenues derived from the traffic
in his fellow-men by the Christian monarch may be averaged at eight
hundred pounds.

His Majesty's household slaves, male and female, exceed eight thousand.
Of the latter, 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 sufficient to compose two small loaves.  Beyond 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; whilst the
whole, after the due performance of their allotted task, are permitted,
according to their respective functions, to hire themselves to private
individuals.

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 exception 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 allowance of food is granted; whereas
the whole time and labour of the slave of the commoner are at the
exclusive disposal of the master, who supports the wife also.  Marriage
between free persons and the slaves of His Majesty are thus by no means
unfrequent; the bondsman, after the performance of his allotted task,
enjoying liberty to return daily to his family, and to appropriate the
residue of his time.

A child born in slavery receives subsistence, in a limited proportion,
from the moment of coming into the world, the liabilities of bondage
being incurred from the cradle.  As a check on those who reside with a
free parent 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 competent age are summoned to their task at one of the
royal establishments; and it too often happens that when incapacitated
by infirmity from further labour, the daily dole is discontinued through
the parsimony of the servants of the crown.

Caravans, consisting of from one hundred 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
promiscuously along the road, males and females 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 distance 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 German crowns; but females
possessing superior 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 Abd el Russool, the disgusting parade of victims, and the
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, excepting
as regards the powers pertaining to it, is in fact little more than
servitude.  The newly-captured become soon reconciled to their lot and
condition, their previous domestic 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 march to the coast with Danakil caravans,
afford indications of being tortured with regret at the loss of their
freedom, and of their native land, or with recollections of the verdant
plains whence avarice and cruelty have torn them.

From the governor to the humblest peasant, every house in Shoa possesses
slaves of both sexes, in proportion to the wealth of the proprietor; and
in so far as an opinion may be formed upon appearances, their condition,
with occasional, but rare exceptions, 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 calculated to create
neither suffering nor exhaustion.  There is no merciless taskmaster 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.  Naturalised in the house of his master, he is
invariably treated with lenity--usually with indulgence--often with
favour; and under a despotic sovereign, to whom servile instruments are
uniformly the most agreeable, the caprices of fortune may prefer the
exile to posts of confidence and emolument, and may even exalt him to
the highest dignities.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXVI.

INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY INTO ABYSSINIA.

Although the history of North-eastern Africa is very imperfectly
recorded, it is certain that Carthage, Egypt, and Ethiopia, early
acquired and long maintained a prevailing influence therein.  The
Carthaginians possessed themselves of nearly the whole of the northern
portion, whilst 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, 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 Christianity and civilisation in Europe and Asia
meanwhile restricting the slave-trade to the African continent.
Although not generally representing the character which their name
implies, the Christians of the Occident and Orient had at least given up
the system amongst themselves; and by the former especially it was very
little practised until after the discovery of America, when it was
revived and encouraged by the Spaniards; and the Negro being considered
better fitted for hard labour than the aborigines of the New World,
Africa began to be regarded as the slave-mart for the whole universe.
About the same period Ethiopia was first invaded by numberless hordes of
Pagan Galla, migrating from the south; and not long afterwards Graan,
the fanatic Mohammadan enemy, commenced the overthrow of this then
powerful empire, which was speedily dismembered, and has never since
been able to regain its former limits.

The heathen intruders 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, greedily availed themselves of the
opportunity afforded 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 then enemies, and partly from being less interested
in slavery than the Moslems, the Christians no longer ventured beyond
the frontiers of the country they retained, and the avenues to the
sea-coast, as well as those through the Galla tribes in the interior,
thus fell together with the whole commerce into the hands of the bigoted
disciples of the Prophet.  They devoted their lives to the purchase and
sale of human flesh, a trade with which they connected the propagation
of their faith, and their market was ever supplied by the out-pouring of
innumerable prisoners of war from the distant nations of the interior.

The origin of the slave-trade in these quarters may thus be referred to
the commencement 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 being 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 intestine
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 encouraged the debasing traffic.  Those provinces especially
which were separated from the principal seat of government not only
afforded a market to numbers of Pagan prisoners, but extended to the
dealer in slaves a safe road by which thousands were annually exported
to Arabia; and Shoa, Efat, Gurague, and Cambat, the southernmost
provinces of Abyssinia, having more especially 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 towards 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 extend their dominions, and to subdue
the nearer tribes of Galla invaders, Christianity 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 north-eastern Africa.  Instead of purchasing slaves at
Ankober, as had been their wont when that capital was still in Pagan
hands, they were compelled, 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 the 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; 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 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 savage
state, must be the accursed of mankind, and entirely beyond the pale of
natural rights.  But the Christians of Western and Northern Abyssinia
condemn this opinion of their brethren in the south and east; and Tekla
Georgis, the late emperor of Gondar, having catechised a number of Shoan
ecclesiastics as to the reason of their countenancing slavery and slave
polygamy, reprobated both proceedings in the severest terms.

The separation of Shoa from the imperial sway of Northern Abyssinia, by
the Galla invasion, was, as may be supposed, far from improving the
morals of the people.  The first rulers of Shoa, aspiring to ascendency
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, confusion, and barbarism; and, however well they might
have felt inwardly disposed to work the reformation of their subjects,
they durst not, in the infancy of their power, attempt the suppression
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 entertainment by the
crown of all foreigners and strangers; to which end a large
establishment being indispensable for the preparation of the daily
maintenance styled "dirgo," they considered that the manual labour could
better be performed by slaves selected from among the thousands that
annually passed through their dominions than by their own free subjects.

The parsimony of their national character also doubtless favoured this
introduction of slavery as a domestic institution.  The sovereign was
above all things desirous of acquiring a reputation for munificence
without actually impairing the state revenues; and he felt anxious at
the same time to pave the road to popularity by relieving his subjects
of that drudgery which would have led to an aversion towards visitors,
highly inimical to the royal interests.  All despotic rulers are prone
to greater confidence in the slave than in the freeman; and Abyssinian
sophistry probably led the first kings of Shoa to argue, that
hospitality extended towards 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.

The unceasing wars, wherein the feudal subjects of Shoa were personally
engaged, being unfavourable for agricultural pursuits, they were not
slow in imitating the example set by their monarch, as well in household
slavery as in slave polygamy.  Both king and people believed that the
wretch exported from Africa was destined to Christian countries beyond
the seas, where the truths of the Gospel would be imparted to him; and
hence the slaveholder in Shoa, although prohibited from dealing in the
flesh and blood of his fellow-creatures as a trade, was permitted to
resell Mohammadan or Pagan purchases, who refused to embrace the
religion of Ethiopia.

Slavery amongst the Galla tribes is cradled and nursed in the unceasing
intestine feuds of that savage and disorganised people; but the
circumstances attending its existence in Gurague, although resting upon
the same basis, are somewhat different in character.  Since the period
that the heathen inroads first cut off that Christian 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 Palestine 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 temporary governor, who is perpetually removed by the
cabals and caprice of the people.  Whilst the Galla make constant
predatory inroads from without, anarchy reigns within.  A multitude of
private feuds animate the turbulent population; and there being neither
king nor laws, it is not surprising that every man should stretch forth
his hand to kidnap his neighbour.  Among the southern portions
especially, in the domicile or in the open street, the stronger seizes
upon the weaker as his bondsman, and sells him to the greedy Mohammadan
dealers, who hover round like a host of hungry vultures, and are ever at
hand with their glittering gewgaws; the innate love of which induces
brother to sell sister, and the parent to carry her own offspring to the
market.

Annually pouring out many thousands of her sons and daughters in every
direction, this wretched Christian province, a prey to lawless violence,
and the theatre of every monstrous and detestable crime, cries aloud for
the intervention of the philanthropist.  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 professing 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 new-born
babe is torn from its parent in the hour of its birth to be ruthlessly
immolated at the shrine of the idol; and the shores of Lake Umo 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 superstitious Moslem slave-driver, to
propitiate the genius of the water!

Volume 3, Chapter XXXVII.

OPERATION OF LEGITIMATE COMMERCE UPON THE SLAVE-TRADE IN NORTH-EASTERN
AFRICA.

A review of the nature and actual extent 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 favour
the continuance of the internal commerce in human flesh--leads naturally
to the consideration of the remedy.  This is no new subject.  It is one
which has been illustrated by the eloquence of British senators, and by
the pen of many private philanthropists, who have devoted their energies
to the restitution of the lost rights of man, and have sought, under
God's blessing, to dry up the baneful springs that for so many ages have
filled to overflowing the 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 interest.  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
revenge, are difficult of eradication; and the easy though infamous
acquisition of property, is a permanent incentive to violence of all
kinds.  The interests, 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 amongst 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 beings are finally consigned, has existed too long in a state
of utter indolence and inactivity, willingly to assist himself many of
the ordinary laborious avocations of life.

Commerce being a school for the improvement of nations, it may safely be
anticipated that the important treaty concluded by Great Britain with
the king of Shoa will tend to the temporal and intellectual advancement
of the now ignorant and degraded natives of the north-eastern interior,
in proportion to the extent of their intercourse 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
continuance 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 untutored 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 effected by a legal trade, must have the important
result of putting an end to the exportation of slaves, which is here
liable not only to the same objections as on the western coast, but to
the still greater evil, that the victims carried away are chiefly
Christians, 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 merchant, 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 disadvantage of a trade which swallows up
the flower of the population; and will open their eyes to the fact, that
temporal wealth, far from being diminished, as they now believe, by the
operation 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 article 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 accessible by means of commerce, and
at the pace of a merchant caravan, will thus be afforded, and a friendly
understanding established, which may be expected to pave the way to the
introduction of more effectual measures towards 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, so long the staple business of all, must favour the speedy
formation of advantageous treaties with many native chiefs for its
entire suppression within their dominions--treaties which could not be
proposed without prejudice so long as the slave-trade, deeply rooted,
continues 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 afforded by legitimate
transit duties; but as establishments 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 slaves are
principally drawn, the mass of the miserable population would hail the
advent of European intervention, towards 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 hostilities 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-interest, and who considers that the importation of slaves has a
tendency to introduce heathenish ceremonies among his subjects.  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 superstitions may be worked upon with the best effect by the fear of
entailing the curses and imprecations of many thousand enslaved
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 every Abyssinian
looks down with abhorrence.  The same voice that at European
intercession commanded the release of many hundred Galla prisoners of
war, could at once order the abrogation of domestic slavery within the
kingdom; but its abolition before the establishment of British commerce
shall have rendered His Majesty independent of the slave-dealing Adaiel
would be delusive.  It would do harm instead of doing good; and whilst
it led to little actual reduction of human misery, it would arouse the
worst passions of the entire surrounding Mohammadan population.  For
Shoa is at this moment solely dependent upon the Danakil trader, not
only for every description of foreign merchandise, but also for salt,
which 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 Abd el 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 receives unbounded homage, render each in fact a
bondsman, he is in no danger of being 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 attended with
universal loss of popularity to the monarch.  No such difficulty would
attend the formation of a treaty of suppression in the northern
provinces of Christian Abyssinia, where slavery in the true acceptation
of the term has no existence, excepting 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 domestic slavery is
neither practised nor advocated by prince or subject, the external
traffic might readily be crushed, and with the greatest advantage,
through the friendly 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 Ethiopic empire.  Access to
hitherto sealed portions of the interior, by which the objects of
humanity would not less be forwarded than those of commerce, science,
and geography, can thus readily be obtained through his assistance.
They offer gold in return for the blessings of Christianity and
civilisation, and are believed to be accessible also from the coast of
the Indian ocean.  But it ought not to be forgotten in England, that,
independently of other considerations, the surest hopes of working any
favourable change in the present degraded state of the Abyssinian
church, or of substantially promoting the views of philanthropy in
Ethiopia Proper, must be considered to rest solely upon the good
feeling, the potent influence, and the professed assistance of his
holiness the Abuna, and that one better disposed is not likely ever to
fill the episcopal throne at Gondar.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXVIII.

COMMERCE WITH THE EASTERN COAST OF AFRICA.

The highlands included betwixt Abyssinia and the equator are
unquestionably among the most interesting regions in Africa, whether
viewed with reference to their climate, 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 civilised 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 naturally
indolent, are without protection, and they possess no stimulus to
industry.  Vice alone flourishes amongst them, and their fair country
forms the very hotbed of the slave-trade.  Hence arise wars and
predatory violence, and hence the injustice and oppression which sweep
the fields with desolation, bind in fetters the sturdy children of the
soil, and cover the population with every sorrow, "with lamentation, and
mourning, and woe."  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 Abyssinia
which are accessible from the shores 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.  In
still later 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 power, of their comparative civilisation, and of their religion,
are found throughout to the present day; and notwithstanding that their
rule had greatly declined when the Portuguese first landed on this part
of Africa, four hundred years ago, it was still strong and extensive,
and constant commercial intercourse was maintained with India.

No portion of the continent has, however, excited less modern interest
than the eastern coast; owing perhaps 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 illiberal
spirit of their government, both civil and ecclesiastic, has 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 highlands, 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 bloodshed; and the once
brilliant establishments reared by the lords of India and Guinea, now
scarcely capable of resisting the attacks of undisciplined barbarians,
here, as elsewhere, exhibit but the wreck and shadow of their former
vice-regal splendour.

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 often found in
parts where others would not deign to traffic; and who, being thus the
pioneer through untried channels to new countries, reaps the 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, in the absence of any rival, the Imam of Muscat is now,
with his daily increasing territories, fast establishing 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 favour an extensive sale of
European commodities.  In Enarea, Caffa, Gurague, Koocha, and Susa,
especially, glass-ware, false jewellery, beads, cutlery, blue calico,
long cloth, chintz, and other linen manufactures, are in universal
demand.  That their wants are neither few nor trifling may be
satisfactorily ascertained, from the fact that the sum of 96,000 pounds
sterling, the produce of the slave-trade from the ports of Berbera,
Zeyla, Tajura, and Massowah, is only one item of the total amount
annually invested in various foreign goods and manufactures, which are
readily disposed 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 successfully perform the
quest into these coy regions--for time and enterprise can alone reveal
them.  But it is notorious that gold and gold dust, ivory, civet, and
ostrich-feathers, peltries, spices [see Note 1], wax, and precious gums,
form a part of the lading of every slave caravan, notwithstanding that a
tedious transport over a long and circuitous 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 labour of transportation.

No quarter of the globe abounds to a greater extent in vegetable and
mineral productions than tropical Africa.  The extent to which it
contributed to the trade of antiquity has been ably investigated by Mr
J.A. Saint John, in his learned enquiry into the manners and customs of
ancient Greece [volume 3, chapter 13].  In the populous, fertile, and
salubrious portions lying immediately north of the equator, the very
highest capabilities are presented for the employment of capital, and
the development of British industry.

Coal has already been found, although at too great a distance inland to
render it of any service without water communication; but we may
reasonably infer that it exists in positions more favourable for the
supply of the steamers employed in the navigation of the Red Sea; and I
received the most positive assurances that it is to be obtained within a
reasonable distance of Massowah.  Cotton of excellent quality grows
wild, and might be cultivated to any extent.  The coffee which is sold
in Arabia as the produce of Mocha is chiefly of wild African 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 indigenous would doubtless be found well adapted for the
higher-flavoured 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
increasing the wants of the natives, 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 not to be
neglected.  The position of the more cultivated tribes inland, the love
of finery displayed by all, the climate, the productions, the
capabilities, the presumed navigable access to the interior, the
contiguity to British Indian possessions, and the proximity of some of
the finest harbours 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
100,000 pounds sterling 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 pedlar, 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 country now pillaged for slaves a cheap and ample
supply of the goods most coveted, must have the effect of excluding the
Mohammadan 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, might rear upon the
timid barter of a rude people the superstructure of a vast commerce.

At a period when the attention of the majority of the civilised world,
and of every well-wisher to the more sequestered members of the great
family of mankind, is so energetically directed towards the removal 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 honourable to those who, by a
well-directed enterprise, should successfully 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 extended 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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1.  Ginger is exported in great quantities from Gurague; and
amongst other indigenous spices, the _kurarima_, which combines the
flavour of the caraway with that of the cardamom.

Volume 3, Chapter XXXIX.

NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER GOCHOB.

To put down the foreign slave-trade, without first devising honest
occupation for a dense, idle, and mischievous population of Africa,
would seal the death-warrant of every captive who, under the present
system, is preserved as saleable booty.  Hence it must be admitted, that
to inculcate industry and to extend cultivation by voluntary labour, are
indispensable stepping-stones towards the ultimate amelioration of a
people who do not at present possess the elements for extended 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 ignorance to that state of
improvement which is essential to fit him for the privileges of a
freeman.

The present very limited exports of this immensely populous continent,
which do not amount in value to those of Cuba, with only twelve hundred
thousand inhabitants, must be reckoned among the chief causes of her
misery and thraldom.  Few, if any, of the commodities bartered with
other nations are the production of capital, labour, or industry, and in
the minds of the whole population the ideas of prosperity and of a
slave-trade are inseparable.  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 afterwards be sold.

"Legitimate commerce," writes Sir Fowell Buxton, "would put down the
slave-trade, by demonstrating the superior value of man as a labourer on
the soil, to man as an object of merchandise.  If conducted on wise and
equitable principles, it might be the precursor, or rather the
attendant, of civilisation, peace, and Christianity 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
commercial system upon just, liberal, and comprehensive principles,
which guarded the native on the one hand, and secured protection to the
honest trader on the other, would therefore confer the richest blessings
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 120 pounds 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 may be inferred that the hire of the freeman would be
in the same ratio; and if so, it is obvious that this cheap labour,
applied to a soil as productive as any in the world, would ensure to
African tropical produce the superiority in every market to which it
might be introduced.

Able advocates of the cause of humanity have upon these grounds clearly
demonstrated, that, in order to suppress completely the foreign traffic
in human flesh, it is only necessary to raise, in any accessible point
affording the readiest outlet, sugar, coffee, and cotton, and to throw
these yearly into the market of the world, already fully supplied by
expensive slave labour.  The creation of this cheap additional produce
would so depress the price current in every other quarter, that the
external slave-trade would no longer be profitable, and would therefore
cease to exist.

The baneful climate of Africa is the obstacle which has hitherto opposed
the introduction of agriculture, 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-eastern coast, where, from no great distance inland to an unknown
extent, the spontaneous gifts of nature are transcendently abundant--the
people are prepared by misfortune to welcome civilised assistance--the
soil is fertile and productive, and the climate, alpine and salubrious,
is highly 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 _embouchure_
is in the territories of the friendly 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, rhinoceros' 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 possession
of Syyud Syyud, the Imam of Muscat, the coast as far as the equator is
in occupation of the Sowahili, a quiet and intelligent race of Moorish
origin, and thence to Zeyla, which is now in the hands of Sheikh Ali
Shermarki, the entire population is Somauli.  The climate, even so far
south as Mombas, is notoriously good; and the government affords a
striking contrast to that of the western coast, where the regions in
corresponding latitudes are subject to bloody despotism, such as is
submitted to by none but the ignorant savage.

Measures at once simple and profitable, 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 McQueen, in his Geographical
Survey, that "rivers are the roads in the torrid zone;" and should the
stream now under consideration fortunately prove fitted for navigation,
the introduction through its means of the essential requisites to the
happiness and the emancipation of the now oppressed continent, could not
fail to confer the most inestimable advantages.

The power of Abyssinia, once so extended 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 communication 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 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 passage 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 eminently fitted to receive, and 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 confer such
inestimable gifts, or more likely to profit by them, when judiciously
bestowed, than Great Britain?  The most civilised nations are those
which possess the deepest interest in the spread of civilisation, and
none more than herself are deeply interested in the speedy suppression
of the traffic in human beings.

No beneficial change can ever be anticipated, so long as the population
of the interior remain cut off from all communication with enlightened
nations--so long as they are visited only by the mercenary rover, and
are hemmed in by fanatic powers, whose policy it is to encourage this
monstrous practice.  The Mohammadans are not only traders for the sake
of slaves almost exclusively, 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,
prejudice, and religion, to exclude foreign influence; and without
roads, or any efficient means for the conveyance of heavy merchandise,
it is not to be expected that the ignorant despot of the interior will
ever think of making his slaves or his subjects cultivate produce of
great bulk and laborious carriage, in order to procure in exchange
articles which he requires, whilst with very trifling labour 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 factories might be formed
is sufficiently proved by experience in various parts of the continent.
Abundance of land now unoccupied could be purchased or rented at a mere
nominal rate, in positions 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, gladly
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.

I trust that these remarks upon the importance of such a communication
as the Gochob may prove to afford to the countries in which it is
situated, will not be considered either tedious or superfluous.  Much
has been written upon the policy which has seen, in many a barbarous
location, the future marts of a boundless and lucrative commerce--the
centres whence its attendant blessings, knowledge, civilisation, and
wealth, would radiate amongst savage hordes.  Here are no deserts, but
nations already prepared for improvement, and countries gifted by nature
with a congenial climate, and with a boundless extent of virgin soil,
where the indigo and the tea-plant flourish spontaneously, and where the
growth of the sugarcane and of every other tropical productions may be
carried to an unlimited extent--regions affording grain in vast
superabundance, and rich in valuable staples--cotton, coffee, spices,
ivory, gold dust, peltries, and drugs.  But although thus surrounded by
natural wealth, and placed within reach of affluence and happiness, the
denizens of these favoured regions imperatively require the fostering
care of British protection, to become either prosperous, contented, or
free.

Volume 3, Chapter XL.

THE SECOND WINTER IN SHOA.

Another dreary season of rain, and of mist, and of heavy fog, 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.  During three long months the weather seldom permitted us to
quit our damp miserable habitation at Ankober, but I found ample
occupation in endeavouring to put into some kind of order the notes from
which these three volumes have been prepared.  My assistants were also
busily engaged in the various departments which I had allotted to them,
and in spite of the gloomy light afforded by oiled parchment, a highly
valuable collection of maps, drawings, and reports, had been completed
before any change was observable in the weather.  Within the memory of
the oldest inhabitant, the floods had never continued longer nor wuth
greater violence.  Morning after morning the heavy white clouds still
clung above the saturated metropolis.  Every hollow footpath had been
converted into a muddy stream, and each deep valley had become a morass,
impassable to the equestrian; whilst the swollen Hawash had inundated
the lowlands for many miles on either side of its serpentine banks.

Amongst the few events which occurred to disturb the monotony of our
second winter in Shoa, was the annual audience given, towards the close
of July, by the king to the Adaiel and Hurrurhi, residing in the market
town of Alio Amba.  Our old acquaintance, Kalama Work, having been
detected in practising extensive peculation, had first undergone
imprisonment in the _madi beit_, under the watchful eye of Wolda Hana,
and was eventually stripped of his property, and turned forth upon the
wide world a beggar.  Abd el Yonag, the Hurrur consul, who possessed in
eminent perfection the arts of fawning and flattery, had, during the
_interregnum_, turned to good account his insatiable taste for power and
intrigue.  He was formally nominated to the vacant government, and when
we entered the raised balcony occupied by 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 courtyard, performing their savage war-dance.  The
precincts of the palace rung to their wild yells; and the vivid
pantomime of throat-cutting and disembowelment 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
ominously 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!" returned the
turbaned pedlar, 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
ripping 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
occupation, by capering through the ranks with his unsheathed
reaping-hook, and chattering in ludicrous imitation of the Moslem
barbarians--his successful mimicry eliciting shouts of applause,
notwithstanding that the reality, as enacted in the hot valleys below,
had, on more occasions than one, been calculated to leave no very
agreeable recollections in the mind of the Amhara audience.

At the motion of the herald, the assembled 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 undeviating
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.--"How have you passed your time?  Are 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 neighbours.  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 own palm; one atrocious old ruffian, who concluded the
ceremony raising himself in his sandals and grasping the fingers of the
king so firmly, that he had nearly succeeded in plucking him from his
elevated throne.

His Majesty, although obviously little pleased at the practical joke,
had sufficient command of temper to take it in good part, but no doubt
inwardly congratulated himself upon the happy termination of the wild
levee.  It had been fully illustrative of the tact and diplomatic
sagacity employed in the maintenance of ascendency over the more
intractable portion of his nominal subjects, and in the cultivation of
amicable political relations with the neighbouring states.  Wulasma
Mohammad, as 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 by-standers as the work of his own
hands.  Great, indeed, must have been the desperation which at the
present day could impel such an attempt at self-destruction on the
frontiers of Shoa.  One mile beyond, in any direction, would of a surety
supply numbers of volunteers for the task, from amongst those whose
throat-cutting proficiency had so creditably been displayed during the
recent pantomime.

Early in the month of August, the festival 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 leading to the church of "Our
Lady" was attacked and defended with heavy clubs, shod with rings of
iron; and after a severe conflict, the servile invaders were finally
driven from the field, with blood streaming from numerous broken heads,
which were brought to the Residency to be repaired.  During the
fortnight's fast that ensued in celebration of the Assumption, the rough
diversion was frequently repeated, and abstinence from food appeared to
have soured the temper of the entire population.  On the succeeding
festival of the Transfiguration, styled "Debra Tabor," the capital was
illuminated.  Whilst 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 impure
bees'-wax shining very luminously through the thick drizzling mist.

One of the principal of the royal storehouses at Channoo, on the
frontier, was at this period struck by lightning, and totally burnt to
the ground.  The king as usual was keeping fast at Machal-wans, and
thither, according to custom, every nobleman and governor in the land
flocked to offer condolence.  Many were the long faces on the road, for
the greatest consternation pervaded 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
mental perturbation and anxiety.

"Alas!" exclaimed the king, when, in accordance with etiquette, we
contributed our 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
Adaiel 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."

Volume 3, Chapter XLI.

THE GOTHIC HALL.

The models and plans of palaces that had been from time to time prepared
by Captain Graham, had imparted to the royal mind a new architectural
impulse; and after much deliberation with himself, he had finally come
to the resolution of expending the timber requisite towards the erection
of a chaste Gothic edifice.  In the selection of the design.  His
Majesty displayed unlooked-for taste; for although as a penman his
talents rank immeasurably in advance of the most accomplished of his
scriveners, his skill as an artist had proved very circumscribed.  It
was nearly exhausted in the delineation of a nondescript bird, perched
upon a tree-top, and did wuth difficulty extend to the one-legged
fowler, gun in hand, who was conjectured to be planning its destruction.
At the royal desire, I had frequently executed likenesses of the court
favourites, and they were invariably acknowledged with much merriment;
but, although repeatedly urged, no persuasion could induce the despot to
sit for his own, from a firm belief in the old superstition, that
whosoever should possess it, could afterwards deal with him as he
listed.

"You are writing a book," he remarked to me on one occasion, with a
significant glance, as I was in the act of completing a full-length
portrait of himself, which I had contrived to make unobserved from his
blind side--"I know this to be the case, because I never inquire what
you are doing that they do not tell me you are using a pen, or else
painting pictures.  This is a good thing, and it pleases me.  You will
speak favourably of myself; but you shall not insert my portrait, as you
have done that of the Negoos of Zingero."  Such was the title with which
His Christian Majesty was invariably pleased to dignify his heathen
brother, Moselekatse, whose acquaintance he had made through the
frontispiece to my "Wild Sports in Southern Africa."

The Abyssinians have from time immemorial expended an entire tree in the
reduction to suitable dimensions of every beam or plank employed in
their primitive habitations; and it is not therefore surprising that
Sahela Selassie should have been equally delighted and astonished at the
economy of time, labour, 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.
Ignorance 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 custom.  But in a country where the absence of timber is so
remarkable and inconvenient, the advantages extended by this novel
implement of handicraft was altogether undeniable.

"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 below
the waters of a river, nor of the carriages 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
completion.  The crowd of idle applicants for justice who daily convened
before the tribunal of "the four chairs" were pressed into the service;
and whenever His Majesty returned from an excursion in the meadow, the
entire cortege might be seen carrying each a stone before his saddle in
imitation of the royal example.  Early one morning Graham received 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 satisfaction the door-frames, which had
previously been prepared by the carpenters of my escort, were
simultaneously raised; and it being ascertained that the sub-conservator
of forests had neglected to make the requisite supplies of timber, the
delinquent was, with his wife and family, sentenced to vacate his
habitation forthwith, and to bivouac _sub divo_ during twenty days upon
the Angollala meadow--a punishment not unfrequently inflicted for venial
derelictions of duty, and attended during the more inclement seasons
with no ordinary 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.  On this
subject his ideas wandered perpetually to the ruins of a certain palace
on the banks of the Nile, which he had visited whilst hunting the wild
buffalo--"It is overgrown with trees and bushes," was his lucid
description, "and it has two hundred windows, and four hundred pillars
of stone, and none can tell whence it came."

On lawful days, however, the soldiers continued to work as diligently as
the quantities of hydromel would permit, with which they were supplied
by the royal munificence; and at length the Gothic hall was complete.
It had been amusing in the interim to watch the persevering industry of
an unfortunate gun-man of the body-guard, who was constructing a hut
immediately below the palace.  Whensoever the vigilant eye of the church
permitted, he would add to the frail wall of his circular dwelling a few
layers of loose stone which, with his own single labour, he had
collected in the meadow; but each morning's dawn revealed to his
sorrowing eyes some monstrous breach in the unstable fabric, which, like
Penelope's web, was never nearer to completion, and his patience being
fairly exhausted, he finally gave up the task in despair.

The novel style of architecture introduced by the Gyptzis, so
immeasurably superior in elegance, stability, and comfort, to anything
before witnessed in Shoa, and combining all these recommendations with
so limited an expenditure of material, afforded an undeniable contrast
to the adjacent tottering pile upon vaults on which Demetrius the
Albanian had expended three years of labour.  Beyond the rude fabrics of
the neighbouring 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 decorate the
throne--gaudy tapestries of crimson velvet loaded with massive silver
ornaments, but ill in keeping with the clumsy mud walls to which they
are appended, and serving to render the latter still more incongruous by
so striking a contrast.  But the new apartments were elegantly furnished
throughout, and with their couches, ottomans, carpets, chairs, tables,
and curtains, had assumed an aspect heretofore unknown in Abyssinia.  "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, we suspended in the centre hall a series of
large coloured 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 ambassador
of Justinian, seated in the open field upon a lofty chariot drawn by
four elephants superbly caparisoned."  [Gibbon.]  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 favourite governor from a remote frontier
province was standing meanwhile with his forefinger in his mouth gazing
in mute amazement at the wonders before him.  "This place is not suited
for the occupation of man," he at length exclaimed in a reverie of
surprise, as the monarch ceased:--"this is a palace designed only for
the residence of the Deity, and of Sahela Selassie."

Volume 3, Chapter XLII.

THE "PRO REX OF EFAT" IN TRIBULATION.

Although we had found small reason to be flattered with our first
reception in the kingdom of Shoa, at the hands of a Christian ruler who
had sought alliance with Great Britain, it was nevertheless matter of
notoriety that no previous visitors had, under any circumstances, been
treated with one-hundredth part of the same courtesy and condescension,
or had experienced such unequivocal marks of confidence and favour.
Formed on the most liberal scale, and supplied with all that was likely
to add to its weight in such a country, the embassy was almost from the
outset admitted to terms of perfect equality with the haughty despot,
yet numberless diplomatic troubles were still interposed by the general
ignorance of the many, and by the envy and jealousy of a few.  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
tribute to the illustrious descendant of the house of Solomon; but the
assertion carried 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
monarch 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 king or queen 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,
exposed us to a train of persecutions, 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_, or _Basanye_ [i.e. "Very well."], although doubtless signifying
assent, did not always bring compliance with even the most trifling
application for assistance.  The king was too polished to say "No," when
he had inwardly 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 considers and claims as his property every thing in
the country over which he wields the arbitrary sceptre, and whose only
idea of wealth, power, and happiness, is centred in individual
existence, can so ill understand the wants of others, that His Majesty's
offences towards his guests, founded in Oriental suspicion, might rather
be termed sins of omission than of commission.

Covetous, and eager for novelties, Sahela 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
distant magazine.  The savage is the same under every possible form, and
in every grade and position--the one stealing what he covets, whilst
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 "pleasing 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 my arrival, requisitions
for our own private 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 candour which ever marks uncivilised man, he
was wont to send underhand communications, or meanly to depute his
emissaries to reveal his desires and his intentions in a manner which,
in so despotic a land, could leave no doubt of authenticity; and an
offer of the article coveted being forthwith made, His Majesty hesitated
not, in the presence of his agents, to deny all cognisance of the
transaction, or to swear by the saints that he never sought the property
tendered for his acceptance.  Persuasion 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 activity than before; and rude taunts of breach of promise, 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 disinclination entertained to "receive the
property 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 favour of the monarch, may
be ranked Wulasma Mohammad, who, in finesse, plausibility, and the
manifold specious devices that are employed to cover total want of
sincerity, can find no equal in the kingdom of Shoa.  Lavish in
professions of friendship, he never suffered to escape an opportunity of
gratifying his inwardly-cherished animosity.  Presents were frequently
exchanged--the sugarcane and the bunch of green gram, which are the
symbols of hearts knit together in the bonds of unity, arrived with the
same regularity as the week, coupled, of course, with a description of
some "pleasing thing" that was not to be found in Goncho.  The lemon,
denoting by its aromatic fragrance the beauties of permanent amity, was
ever sure to follow the receipt of the desired article.

Professions daily grew more profuse, and complimentary inquiries, which
constitute the very essence of friendship, waxed more and more frequent;
but although the regard entertained "amounted even to heaven and earth,"
and although every aid and assistance 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
tedious detention on the frontier at the hands of the despotic
state-gaoler.

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 were in like manner made to the Abogaz
touching his interference in such manners; but as the crafty old fox
screened himself behind total ignorance of the value attached to written
documents, and volunteered better behaviour, the subject was set at
rest.

But although letters were now thoroughly understood to be held in higher
estimation 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 Angollala, representing
that another packet had been secreted during an entire fortnight in the
fortified vaults of Goncho.  After stoutly denying all knowledge of it,
until convicted 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, the Wulasma 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 ladder--"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 appalling
announcement--"Is not he an accursed Moslem?  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 attendance 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 favour."

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 scornfully
upon the ground--"I have done nothing.  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, whereas he who cometh
from beyond is worse than a hyena.'"

But a week had wrought a wonderful change in the sentiments of the
humbled grandee, whose beeves were indeed grazing in the royal pastures,
whilst his jars of old mead reposed 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 Goncho, 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 during a
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 mediators.
"Behold, I am reduced to the condition of a beggar," was his abject
message, "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 me, as a _mamalacha_, a huge Sanga horn, filled to
the brim with the liquor that he loved, and ushered himself in with his
customary string of complimentary enquiries, "_Endiet aderachoon?
Ejegoon dahenaderachoon?  Dahena sanabatachoon?  Dahena karamoon?
Ejegoon dahena natchoon_?"  "How have you passed the night?  Have you
rested very well?  Have you been quite well since our last interview?
How have you spent the rainy season?  Are you in perfect health?"

"Half the people of Habesh," he resumed, in his husky voice, when each
of these points had been satisfactorily disposed of--"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 arguments adduced in support of this position,
and his eloquence proved quite irresistible.  A solemn oath was
therefore administered upon the Koran, by which the suppliant, who
united in his own person all the attributes embraced in this able
classification, became pledged never again to interfere with messengers
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 determine whether the disgrace or the restoration of
the fat frontier functionary created the greater sensation throughout
the realm.

"What can you expect from that besotted old man?" inquired Ayto 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 Negoos was once displeased with me, and that I passed a few
months beneath the grates at Goncho; and furthermore, that when the
royal order came to set me at large, the State-Gaoler was drunk, and
never thought again of his prisoner for a full fortnight?  _Sahela
Selassie ye moot_!  May the king die if it be not so!--the infidel may
swear as long as he pleases, ay, 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?"

Volume 3, Chapter XLIII.

THE BEREAVEMENT.

A calamity shortly afterwards overtook the Master of the Horse, whose
spouse--a gift from the monarch to his faithful subject--was seized with
alarming influenza, and became an object of universal attention.  The
first intimation of the disorder being serious was received from
himself, when he came one morning to Graham's tent, in order to perform
the interesting operation of shaving with a notched razor that he
invariably patronised, and also to demand how it occurred that our
inquiries were not more frequent.  The not dispatching couriers daily to
ascertain how each of your acquaintance fares and has 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 ceremony 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 made, 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 "amicable correspondence."

"The patient's uvula has been cleverly plucked out with a silken
thread," observed the visitor exultingly, when his toilet was happily
completed:--"the thorax has been well scarified, and furthermore, we are
giving _ya medur oomboi_ [Cucumis Africanus, Linn].  This medicine is
infallible; but remember," he added, lowering his voice, and looking
suspiciously round to see that no eaves-dropper profited by the wisdom
he was about to impart in confidence--"remember that it must be gathered
by a finger on which there is a silver ring, or, by Michael, it
possesses no virtue whatever."

The good lady did not, however, long stand in need either of treatment
or inquiry.  She closed her bright eyes shortly 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 neighbourhood was instantly called in to the rescue;
and the _enchifchif_ [i.e. belt of charms and amulets] and _mateb_
having been immersed 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 from the temples, whilst 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 palace hill.  A pall of
printed Surat chintz, supported by six bearers, was waved alternately
with a fanning motion, whilst a numerous train of mourners followed,
with loud wails, all having their hands clasped behind their 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 consumed, they were lowered
with the bier into the sepulchre.  The head was laid to the west, in
order that on the morn of resurrection the face might be towards the
rising sun.  A quantity of frankincense was deposited in the grave; and
a copy of the book styled _Lefafa Zadik_, "The supplication of
Righteousness," having been placed on the body, the mortal clay was
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 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 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 deposited, 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 endeavours 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.

It has been shown that the Abyssinian Christian, whilst execrating
Mohammadanism, and forswearing all its abominations, can take unto his
bosom four wives and more, and that the solemnisation 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 bereavement.  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 authority; but whether true or without foundation, these
scandalous tales were known to have been circulated by Dinkoo, a
mischief-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 the matchless
"_Etagainya_" now no more, the neighbours were ever wont to exclaim,
"Where shall you find her equal?"

At the appointed season, Graham and myself went in compliance with
Abyssinian custom, to pay a visit of condolence, after having with
considerable difficulty succeeded in shaking off the attentions of the
court buffoon, who, with his wonted politeness, exerted somewhat
_mal-a-propos_ to so melancholy an occasion, insisted 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
conclusion of the customary salutations.  "The life of man is in His
hand."

"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
for affliction.  Who could prepare _shiro_, and _wotz_, and _dilli_,
like Etagainya?  When was the house ever destitute of _quanta_ or of
_qualima_?  [Note 1] and who ever asked for _tullah_ or for _tedj_, that
she did not reply, `_Malto_,' There is abundance?  `_Waiye, waiye_,' Woe
is me.  Where shall I find her equal?  But there could have been no ring
on the finger that gathered the _medanit_!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note 1.  _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 condiment.  _Quanta_, sun-dried flesh.
_Qualima_, sausages.

Volume 3, Chapter XLIV.

THE GREAT ANNUAL FORAY.

Another Abyssinian year had floated away upon the stream of time, and
again the return of spring had been celebrated by the green fillet of
_enkotatach_, by the tournament in the bright meadows of Debra Berhan,
and by the plaintive ditty of the king's Guragues, who, with yellow
garlands of the cross-flower wreathed among their raven tresses, once
more chanted away their three days of privileged inebriety.  As
September drew towards 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 endeavours both to mar
the pageant, and to extinguish the evening bonfire raised in honour of
Saint Helena.

But the beat of the _nugareet_, and the voice of the herald beneath the
solitary tree at Angollala, proclaimed the great annual foray as
heretofore; and the plain below 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 command of Besuenech,
now governor of Giddem, 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 Saint 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, 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 thunderbolt that was about to fall, and of which the first
intimation was afforded in the simultaneous invasion of the entire
district.  Overwhelmed by the torrent of desolation 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 trees that they had ascended in the vain hope of eluding
observation.  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 mountain Entotto--the ancient capital of Ethiopia--
and, taking formal possession, appointed the arch-rebel Shambo to the
government, under the title of "_Shoom_ 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 assassinated by his comrade in arms, whose disfigured corse was
subsequently left in retribution to the hyenas; whilst 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 concealed 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; and upwards of one thousand captives, chiefly women and young
girls, swelled the barbaric pomp of triumphal entry to Angollala.

I considered that the opportunity had again arrived, when a remonstrance
from the Embassy would promote the release of these unfortunate slaves;
and after reminding His Majesty of his noble conduct with respect to the
prisoners taken during the preceding foray, I entreated him not to
tarnish, in the eyes of the civilised world, the reputation he had
acquired for mercy, but to prove, by his present conduct, that he was
indeed influenced by the true principles of Christianity.  Under
Providence, my application was again crowned with success, and with a
few exceptions, all were liberated without ransom.  "I listen to your
words," said His Majesty, as he issued the fiat of release, "in order
that the name of Sahela Selassie may not be broken."

Sad indeed are the atrocities perpetrated by the undisciplined armies of
Ethiopia, when disputing the abstruse mysteries 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 symbol of Christianity.

  "Her badge of mercy blazons half their shields;
  Sword hilts are fashion'd as memorials of it:
  This sign of man's forgiveness leads to battle!
  Whilst 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 people of Shoa have fully adopted that spirit of merciless
destruction which impelled the Israelites to destroy their enemies from
the face of the earth.  Considering themselves the lineal descendants of
those heroes of ancient history who were arrayed 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 ruthless 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 agricultural pursuits, by the continual military expeditions which
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 subject 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 willingly returns to his peaceful avocations in the field.  But
these campaigns bring annually a repetition of the most atrocious and
monstrous barbarity, 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 nations 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 utterly obscured.  The ripe crops lay rotting
upon the ground; 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 followed by a foreboding shake of
the head at the daily increasing price of provisions.  The season was
unusually rigorous, and the soaked firewood sputtering upon the hearth,
gave not out one atom of genial heat.  On the bleak summit of the
Abyssinian alps every thing was cold and clammy to the touch; and a
searching 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 miserable than usual.

As the evening of the 6th of December closed in, not a single breath of
air 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 bursting water-spout.  Towards morning there
came on a violent thunder-storm, and for some minutes the entire scene
was fearfully illuminated by the dazzling fire of heaven; and every rock
and cranny re-echoed from the succeeding crash of the hurtling thunder.
Deep darkness again settled over the mountain.  Suddenly the earth
groaned and trembled to its very centre: the hill reeled and tottered
like a drunken man; and a heavy rumbling noise, like the passage of
artillery wheels, was followed by the shrill cry of mortal despair.

Dreadful indeed were the consequences of this shock.  The earth,
saturated with moisture, had slidden like an avalanche from the steep
rugged slopes, and huge boulders, tilted from their muddy beds, were
thrown into the glens below.  Houses and cottages were buried in the
dark _debris_, or shattered to fragments by these monstrous masses
bounding on their course with terrific rapidity.  Large trees were torn
from their roots, and daylight 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 palisades; 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, laid bare the approaches to
the very porch of the banqueting-hall; and palings and palisades, forced
from their deep foundations, lay broken and mingled together, strewed
over the entire face of the eminence.  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 fragile 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 their houses, and huddled
together in shivering groups totally denuded of clothing, had passed the
remnant of the night in all the pangs of cold and terror; whilst in the
market-place lay extended the stark discoloured bodies of numerous
victims that had been already extricated from the slimy ruins, and were
placed in the _Arada_ for recognition by surviving relatives, if any
there were.  The shrieks of the mourners added to the distress 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, beating their
breasts and calling aloud upon Saint Michael the Archangel, and upon
Mary the mother of the Messiah, to intercede for them in this the day of
their affliction.

Sweeping desolation had spread for miles along the great range: houses
with their inmates and household gear had been scattered in fragments
over the mountain-side; and the voice of wailing from the green hill top
and from the sheltered nook, announced the many victims that were thus
immaturely buried in the dark bosom of the earth.  The destruction
varied considerably according to situation 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 immense; and although the tremulous shock had been before
frequently experienced, a similar to the present calamity had not
befallen the country within the memory of man.

For many nights afterwards, as the thick mist still continued to enfold
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 priesthood pealed incessantly from the churches; and groups of
bewildered females, collected in every corner of the streets, bowed
themselves to the ground, whilst calling in strangely wild cadence upon
the Virgin, who is the Mediator, and upon all the saints and guardian
angels, to preserve the believers in Christ from impending ruin--for the
wise men who deal in sorcery had proclaimed 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.

Volume 3, Chapter XLV.

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.  He is ignorant, but not
stupid--to his foes fierce, but not implacable; and although his
manifold good qualities are sullied by the part he sustains in the
odious traffic in his fellow-men--a moral plague which has by its
baneful influence contaminated the whole of this quarter of the globe--
he had, on more occasions than one, evinced an unlooked-for readiness to
open his eyes to his errors.  Possessed of faults inseparable from the
absolute semi-barbarian, he had, nevertheless, been found mild, just,
clement, and almost patriarchal in his government:--he is a monarch whom
experience has proved worthy to reign over a better people, and to be
possessed of an understanding and of latent virtues requiring nought
save cultivation to place him, in a moral and intellectual point of
view, immeasurably in advance of other African potentates.

Whilst indulging in the agreeable conviction that the endeavours of the
British Embassy had been successful in arousing a monarch, who exercises
so wide an influence over the destinies of surrounding millions, to a
sense of the wickedness and degradation attaching in civilised lands to
barter in the flesh and blood of our fellow-men, it occurred to me that
he might be exhorted, with the best prospect of success, to break
through the barbarous precautionary policy under which those members of
the royal house who possess a contingent claim to the crown, and in
other Christian realms would hold the highest offices and honours 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 limited to two, I
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 votive offerings to the church and to the monastery, 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 result to the cause of
humanity.

That singular blending of debauchery and devotion which marks the royal
vigils, has seriously impaired a constitution naturally good.  During a
long succession of years the Psalms of David and the strongest cholera
mixture have equally shared the midnight hours of the king; and although
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 the physicians; and the voice
of wailing and lamentation already filled the precincts of the palace.

Scarcely was it light ere a page came to my tent with an urgent summons
to the sick chamber.  We found the despot pale and emaciated, with
fevered lip and bloodshot eye, reclining upon a couch in a dark corner
of the closed veranda, his head swathed in white cloth, and his
trembling arms supported by bolsters and cushions.  Abba Raguel, the
dwarf Father Confessor, with eyes swollen from watching, was rocking to
and fro, whilst he drowsily scanned an illuminated Ethiopic volume,
containing the lives of the martyrs; and in deep conversation with the
sick monarch was a favourite monk, habited like an Arab Bedouin in a
black goat's hair cameline and a yellow cowl, but displaying the sacred
cross in his right hand.  The loud voice of the 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 believed to be flickering in
the socket, had been thrice led round the royal couch, and, with its
head turned towards 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 burning hand towards us--"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."

A febrifuge having been prepared, we attempted to follow the etiquette
of the Abyssinian court, by tasting the draught prescribed; but the
king, again extending his parched hand, protested against this
necessity.  "What need is there now of this?" he exclaimed
reproachfully: "do not I know that you would administer to Sahela
Selassie nothing that could do him mischief?  My people 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."

I had oftentimes complimented the king upon the mildness and equity of
his rule, and upon 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 favoured a
still stronger appeal to his humanity, to his magnanimity, and to his
piety.  I urged him to take into favourable 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.  I reminded him that it
belongs unto those who wield the sceptre to triumph over prejudices; and
that by the liberation of many innocent captives, of whom, though
possessing 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
himself 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 we all received a welcome summons to witness the redemption of this
solemn pledge.  The balcony of Justice was tricked out in its gala suit;
and priests, governors, sycophants, and courtiers, crowded the yard, as
the despot, restored to health, in the highest spirits and good humour,
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 disapproval at this fresh proof of foreign influence 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 trellises, its
pictures, and its gay curtains, although pronounced entirely unsuited to
Abyssinian habits, had been partially forgiven on the grounds of its
beauty.

But this last innovation was beyond all understanding; and many a stupid
pate was racked in fruitless endeavours to extract consolation in so
momentous a difficulty.  The more liberal party were loud in their
praises of the king and of his generous intentions; and the royal gaze
was with the rest strained wistfully towards 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 brothers of his warrior sire, who had been incarcerated ere he
himself had seen the light.

Stern traces had been left by the constraint 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-gaoler.  Leaning heavily on each
other's shoulders, and linked together by chains, bright and shining
with the friction of years, the captives shuffled onward with cramped
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 despotic relative, whom they had known
heretofore only through his 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 wonder 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 its 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.  Immured 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, whilst they with difficulty maintained an erect position, pain and
withering despondency were indelibly marked in every line of their
vacant and care-furrowed features.

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
presented to the king.  The first glimpse of his wretched relatives had
already dissipated 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 miserable 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 avocations; 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 generosity.

"My children," exclaimed His Majesty, turning towards ourselves, after
the completion of this tardy act of justice to those whose only crime
was their consanguinity 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 civilised
world--"My children, 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 Ethiopia first received her
religion, there yet remains a spark of Christian love in the breast of
the king of Shoa."





*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Highlands of Ethiopia" ***

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