BOOK V.

ACCOUNT OF MY JOURNEY FROM MASUAH TO GONDAR--TRANSACTIONS

THERE--MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABYSSINIANS.

CHAP. I.

_Transactions at Masuah and Arkeeko._

Masuah, which means the port or harbour of the Shepherds, is a small

island immediately on the Abyssinian shore, having an excellent

harbour, and water deep enough for ships of any size to the very edge

of the island: here they may ride in the utmost security, from whatever

point, or with whatever degree of strength, the wind blows. As it takes

its modern, so it received its ancient name from its harbour. It was

called by the Greeks _Sebasticum Os_, from the capacity of its port,

which is distributed into three divisions. The island itself is very

small, scarce three quarters of a mile in length, and about half that

in breadth, one-third occupied, by houses, one by cisterns to receive

the rain-water, and the last is reserved for burying the dead.

Masuah, as we have already observed, was one of those towns on the

west of the Red Sea that followed the conquest of Arabia Felix by

Sinan Basha, under Selim emperor of Constantinople. At that time it

was a place of great commerce, possessing a share of the Indian trade

in common with the other ports of the Red Sea near the mouth of the

Indian Ocean. It had a considerable quantity of exports brought to it

from a great tract of mountainous country behind it, in all ages very

unhospitable, and almost inaccessible to strangers. Gold and ivory,

elephants and buffaloes hides, and, above all, slaves, of much greater

value, as being more sought after for their personal qualities than any

other sort, who had the misfortune to be reduced to that condition,

made the principal articles of exportation from this port. Pearls,

considerable for size, water, or colour, were found all along its

coast. The great convenience of commodious riding for vessels, joined

to these valuable articles of trade, had overcome the inconvenience of

want of water, the principal necessary of life, to which it had been

subjected from its creation.

Masuah continued a place of much resort as long as commerce flourished,

but it fell into obscurity very suddenly under the oppression of the

Turks, who put the finishing-hand to the ruin of the India trade in the

Red Sea, begun some years before by the discovery of the Cape of Good

Hope, and the settlements made by the Portuguese on the continent of

India.

The first government of Masuah under the Turks was by a basha sent from

Constantinople, and from thence, for a time, the conquest of Abyssinia

was attempted, always with great confidence, though never with any

degree of success; so that, losing its value as a garrison, and, at the

same time, as a place of trade, it was thought no longer worth while to

keep up so expensive an establishment as that of a bashalik.

The principal auxiliary, when the Turks conquered the place, was a

tribe of Mahometans called Belowee, shepherds inhabiting the coast of

the Red Sea under the mountains of the Habab, about lat. 14°. In reward

for this assistance, the Turks gave their chief the civil government of

Masuah and its territory, under the title of Naybe of Masuah; and, upon

the basha’s being withdrawn, this officer remained in fact sovereign of

the place, though, to save appearances, he held it of the grand signior

for an annual tribute, upon receiving a firman from the Ottoman Porte.

The body of Janizaries, once established there in garrison, were left

in the island, and their pay continued to them from Constantinople.

These marrying the women of the country, their children succeeded

them in their place and pay as Janizaries; but being now, by their

intermarriages, Moors, and natives of Masuah, they became of course

relations to each other, and always subject to the influence of the

Naybe.

The Naybe finding the great distance he was from his protectors, the

Turks in Arabia, on the other side of the Red Sea, whose garrisons

were every day decaying in strength, and for the most part reduced;

sensible, too, how much he was in the power of the Abyssinians, his

enemies and nearest neighbours, began to think that it was better to

secure himself at home, by making some advances to those in whose

power he was. Accordingly it was agreed between them, that one half of

the customs should be paid by him to the king of Abyssinia, who was

to suffer him to enjoy his government unmolested; for Masuah, as I

have before said, is absolutely destitute of water; neither can it be

supplied with any sort of provisions but from the mountainous country

of Abyssinia.

The same may be said of Arkeeko, a large town on the bottom of the bay

of Masuah, which has indeed water, but labours under the same scarcity

of provisions; for the tract of flat land behind both, called Samhar,

is a perfect desert, and only inhabited from the month of November to

April, by a variety of wandering tribes called Tora, Hazorta, Shiho,

and Doba, and these carry all their cattle to the Abyssinian side of

the mountains when the rains fall there, which is the opposite six

months. When the season is thus reversed, they and their cattle are no

longer in Samhar, or the dominion of the Naybe, but in the hands of

the Abyssinians, especially the governor of Tigré and Baharnagash, who

thereby, without being at the expence and trouble of marching against

Masuah with an army, can make a line round it, and starve all at

Arkeeko and Masuah, by prohibiting any sort of provisions to be carried

thither from their side. In the course of this history we have seen

this practised with great success more than once, especially against

the Naybe Musa in the reign of Yasous I.

The friendship of Abyssinia once secured, and the power of the Turks

declining daily in Arabia, the Naybe began by degrees to withdraw

himself from paying tribute at all to the basha of Jidda, to whose

government his had been annexed by the porte. He therefore received the

firman as a mere form, and returned trifling presents, but no tribute;

and in troublesome times, or a weak government happening in Tigrè, he

withdrew himself equally from paying any consideration, either to the

basha in name of tribute, or to the king of Abyssinia, as share of the

customs. This was precisely his situation when I arrived in Abyssinia.

A great revolution, as we have already seen, had happened in that

kingdom, of which Michael had been the principal author. When he was

called to Gondar and made minister there, Tigré remained drained of

troops, and without a governor.

Nor was the new king, Hatzè Hannes, whom Michael had placed upon the

throne after the murder of Joas his predecessor, a man likely to

infuse vigour into the new government. Hannes was past seventy at his

accession, and Michael his minister lame, so as scarcely to be able

to stand, and within a few years of eighty. The Naybe, a man of about

forty-eight, judged of the debility of the Abyssinian government by

those circumstances, but in this he was mistaken.

Already Michael had intimated to him, that, the next campaign, he would

lay waste Arkeeko and Masuah, till they should be as desert as the

wilds of Samhar; and as he had been all his life very remarkable for

keeping his promises of this kind, the stranger merchants had many

of them fled to Arabia, and others to Dobarwa[1], a large town in the

territories of the Baharnagash. Notwithstanding this, the Naybe had not

shewn any public mark of fear, nor sent one penny either to the king of

Abyssinia or the basha of Jidda.

On the other hand, the basha was not indifferent to his own interest;

and, to bring about the payment, he had made an agreement with an

officer of great credit with the Sherriffe of Mecca. This man was

originally an Abyssinian slave, his name Metical Aga, who by his

address had raised himself to the post of Selictar, or _sword-bearer_,

to the Sherriffe; and, in fact, he was absolute in all his dominions.

He was, moreover, a great friend of Michael governor of Tigré, and had

supplied him with large stores of arms and ammunition for his last

campaign against the king at Gondar.

The basha had employed Metical Aga to inform Michael of the treatment

he had received from the Naybe, desiring his assistance to force him

to pay the tribute, and at the same time intimated to the Naybe, that

he not only had done so, but the very next year would give orders

throughout Arabia to arrest the goods and persons of such Mahometan

merchants as should come to Arabia, either from motives of religion or

trade. With this message he had sent the firman from Constantinople,

desiring the return both of tribute and presents.

Mahomet Gibberti, Metical Aga’s servant, had come in the boat with

me; but Abdelcader, who carried the message and firman, and who was

governor of the island of Dahalac, had sailed at same time with me, and

had been spectator of the honour which was paid my ship when she left

the harbour of Jidda.

Running straight over to Masuah, Abdelcader had proclaimed what he had

seen with great exaggeration, according to the custom of his country;

and reported that a prince was coming, a very near relation to the king

of England, who was no trader, but came only to visit countries and

people.

It was many times, and oft agitated (as we knew afterwards) between

the Naybe and his counsellors, what was to be done with this prince.

Some were for the most expeditious, and what has long been the most

customary method of treating strangers in Masuah, to put them to death,

and divide every thing they had among the garrison. Others insisted,

that they should stay and see what letters I had from Arabia to

Abyssinia, lest this might prove an addition to the storm just ready to

break upon them on the part of Metical Aga and Michael Suhul.

But Achmet, the Naybe’s nephew, said, it was folly to doubt but that a

man, under the description I was, would have protections of every kind;

but whether I had or not, that my very rank should protect me in every

place where there was any government whatever; it might do even among

banditti and thieves inhabiting woods and mountains; that a sufficient

quantity of strangers blood had been already shed at Masuah, for the

purpose of rapine, and he believed a curse and poverty had followed

it; that it was impossible for those who had heard the firing of those

ships to conjecture whether I had letters to Abyssinia or not; that

it would be better to consider whether I was held in esteem by the

captains of those ships, as half of the guns they fired in compliment

to me, was sufficient to destroy them all, and lay Arkeeko and Masuah

as desolate as Michael Suhul had threatened to do; nor could that

vengeance cost any of the ships, coming next year to Jidda, a day’s

sailing out of their way; and there being plenty of water when they

reached Arkeeko at the south-west of the bay, all this destruction

might be effected in one afternoon, and repeated once a-year without

difficulty, danger, or expence, while they were watering.

Achmet, therefore, declared it was his resolution that I should be

received with marks of consideration, till upon inspecting my letters,

and conversing with me, they might see what sort of man I was, and upon

what errand I was come; but even if I was a trader, and no priest or

Frank, such as came to disturb the peace of the country, he would not

then consent to any personal injury being done me; if I was indeed a

priest, or one of those Franks, _Gehennim_, they might send me to hell

if they chose; but he, for his part, would not, even then have any

thing to do with it.

Before our vessel appeared, they came to these conclusions; and though

I have supposed that hoisting the colours and saluting me with guns had

brought me into this danger, on the other hand it may be said, perhaps

with greater reason, they were the means Providence kindly used to

save my life in that slaughter-house of strangers.

Achmet’s father had been Naybe before, and, of course, the sovereignty,

upon the present incumbent’s death, was to devolve on him. And what

made this less invidious, the sons of the present Naybe had all been

swept away by the small-pox; so that Achmet was really, at any rate,

to be considered as his son and successor. Add to this, the Naybe had

received a stroke of the palsy, which deprived him of the use of one of

his sides, and greatly impeded his activity, unless in his schemes of

doing ill; but I could not perceive, when intending mischief, that he

laboured under any infirmity. All this gave Achmet sovereign influence,

and it was therefore agreed the rest should be only spectators, and

that my fate should be left to him.

Achmet was about twenty-five years of age, or perhaps younger; his

stature near five-feet four; he was feebly made, a little bent forward

or stooping, thin, long-faced, long-necked; small, but tolerably

well-limbed, agile and active enough in his motions, though of a

figure by no means athletic; he had a broad forehead, thick black

eye-brows, black eyes, an aquiline nose, thin lips, and fine teeth;

and, what is very rare in that country, and much desired, a thick

curled beard. This man was known to be very brave in his person, but

exceedingly prone to anger. A near relation to the Baharnagash having

said something impertinent to him while he was altering the pin of his

tent, which his servant had not placed to his mind, in a passion he

struck the Abyssinian with a wooden mallet, and killed him on the spot

and although this was in the Abyssinian territory, by getting nimbly

on horseback, he arrived at Arkeeko without being intercepted, though

closely pursued almost to the town.

It was the 19th of September 1769 when we arrived at Masuah, very much

tired of the sea, and desirous to land. But, as it was evening, I

thought it adviseable to sleep on board all night, that we might have

a whole day (as the first is always a busy one) before us, and receive

in the night any intelligence from friends, who might not choose to

venture to come openly to see us in the day, at least before the

determination of the Naybe had been heard concerning us.

Mahomet Gibberti, a man whom we had perfectly secured, and who was

fully instructed in our suspicions as to the Naybe, and the manner we

had resolved to behave to him, went ashore that evening; and, being

himself an Abyssinian, having connections in Masuah, dispatched that

same night to Adowa, capital of Tigrè, those letters which I knew were

to be of the greatest importance; giving our friend Janni (a Greek,

confidential servant of Michael, governor of Tigrè) advice that we

were arrived, had letters of Metical Aga to the Naybe and Ras Michael;

as also Greek letters to him from the Greek patriarch of Cairo, a

duplicate of which I sent by the bearer. We wrote likewise to him in

Greek, that we were afraid of the Naybe, and begged him to send to us

instantly some man of confidence, who might protect us, or at least be

a spectator of what should befal us. We, besides, instructed him to

advise the court of Abyssinia, that we were friends of Metical Aga, had

letters from him to the king and the Ras, and distrusted the Naybe of

Masuah.

Mahomet Gibberti executed this commission in the instant, with all the

punctuality of an honest man, who was faithful to the instructions of

his master, and was independent of every person else. He applied to

Mahomet Adulai, (a person kept by Ras Michael as a spy upon the Naybe,

and in the same character by Metical Aga); and Adulai, that very night,

dispatched a trusty messenger, with many of whom he was constantly

provided. This runner, charged with our dispatches, having a friend and

correspondent of his own among the Shiho, passed, by ways best known to

himself, and was safely escorted by his own friends till the fifth day,

when he arrived at the customhouse of Adowa, and there delivered our

dispatches to our friend Janni.

At Cairo, as I have already mentioned, I met with my friend father

Christopher, who introduced me to the Greek patriarch, Mark. This

patriarch had told me, that there were of his communion, to the number

of about twenty, then in Abyssinia; some of them were good men and

becoming rich in the way of trade; some of them had fled from the

severity of the Turks, after having been detected by them in intimacy

with Mahometan women; but all of them were in a great degree of credit

at the court of Abyssinia, and possessing places under government

greatly beyond his expectation. To these he wrote letters, in the

manner of bulls from the pope, enjoining them, with regard to me,

to obey his orders strictly, the particulars of which I shall have

occasion to speak of afterwards.

Janni, then at Adowa in Tigré, was a man of the first character for

good life and morals. He had served two kings of Abyssinia with great

reputation, and Michael had appointed him to the customhouse at Adowa,

to superintend the affairs of the revenue there, while he himself was

occupied at Gondar. To him the patriarch gave his first injunctions as

to watching the motives of the Naybe, and preventing any ill-usage from

him, before the notice of my arrival at Masuah should reach Abyssinia.

Mahomet Adulai dispatched his messenger, and Mahomet Gibberti repaired

that same night to the Naybe at Arkeeko, with such diligence that

lulled him asleep as to any prior intelligence, which otherwise he

might have thought he was charged to convey to Tigrè; and Mahomet

Gibberti, in his conversation that night with Achmet, adroitly

confirmed him in all the ideas he himself had first started in council

with the Naybe. He told him the manner I had been received at Jidda,

my protection at Constantinople, and the firman which I brought from

the grand signior, the power of my countrymen in the Red Sea and India,

and my personal friendship with Metical Aga. He moreover insinuated,

that the coasts of the Red Sea would be in a dangerous situation if

any thing happened to me, as both the sherriffe of Mecca and emperor

of Constantinople would themselves, perhaps, not interfere, but would

most certainly consider the place, where such disobedience should be

shewn to their commands, as in a state of anarchy, and therefore to be

abandoned to the just correction of the English, if injured.

On the 20th, a person came from Mahomet Gibberti to conduct me on

shore. The Naybe himself was still at Arkeeko, and Achmet therefore had

come down to receive the duties of the merchandise on board the vessel

which brought me. There were two elbow chairs placed in the middle

of the market-place. Achmet sat on one of them, while the several

officers opened the bales and packages before him; the other chair on

his left hand was empty.

He was dressed all in white, in a long Banian habit of muslin, and a

close-bodied frock reaching to his ancles, much like the white frock

and petticoat the young children wear in England. This species of

dress did not, in any way, suit Achmet’s shape or size; but, it seems,

he meant to be in gala. As soon as I came in sight of him, I doubled

my pace; Mahomet Gibberti’s servant whispered to me, not to kiss his

hand; which indeed I intended to have done. Achmet stood up, just as I

arrived within arm’s length of him; when we touched each other’s hands,

carried our fingers to our lips, then laid our hands cross our breasts;

I pronounced the salutation of the inferior _Salam Alicum!_ Peace be

between us; to which he answered immediately, _Alicum Salam!_ There is

peace between us. He pointed to the chair, which I declined; but he

obliged me to sit down.

In these countries, the greater honour that is shewn you at first

meeting, the more considerable present is expected. He made a sign to

bring coffee directly, as the immediate offering of meat or drink is an

assurance your life is not in danger. He began with an air that seemed

rather serious: “We have expected you here some time ago, but thought

you had changed your mind, and was gone to India.”--“Since sailing from

Jidda, I have been in Arabia Felix, the Gulf of Mocha, and crossed last

from Loheia.”--“Are you not afraid,” said he, “so thinly attended,

to venture upon these long and dangerous voyages.”--“The countries

where I have been are either subject to the emperor of Constantinople,

whose firman I have now the honour to present you, or to the regency

of Cairo, and port of Janizaries--here are their letters--or to the

sherriffe of Mecca. To you, Sir, I present the sherriffe’s letters;

and, besides these, one from Metical Aga your friend, who, depending on

your character, assured me this alone would be sufficient to preserve

me from ill-usage so long as I did no wrong: as for the dangers of the

road from banditti and lawless persons, my servants are indeed few, but

they are veteran soldiers, tried and exercised from their infancy in

arms, and I value not the superior number of cowardly and disorderly

persons.”

He then returned me the letters, saying, “You will give these to the

Naybe to-morrow; I will keep Metical’s letter, as it is to me, and will

read it at home.” He put it accordingly in his bosom; and our coffee

being done, I rose to take my leave, and was presently wet to the skin

by deluges of orange flower-water showered upon me from the right and

left, by two of his attendants, from silver bottles.

A very decent house had been provided; and I had no sooner entered,

than a large dinner was sent us by Achmet, with a profusion of lemons,

and good fresh water, now become one of the greatest delicacies in

life; and, instantly after, our baggage was all sent unopened; with

which I was very well-pleased, being afraid they might break something

in my clock, telescopes, or quadrant, by the violent manner in which

they satisfy their curiosity.

Late at night I received a visit from Achmet; he was then in an

undress, his body quite naked, a barracan thrown loosely about him; he

had a pair of calico drawers; a white coul, or cotton cap, upon his

head, and had no sort of arms whatever. I rose up to meet him, and

thank him for his civility in sending my baggage; and when I observed,

besides, that it was my duty to wait upon him, rather than suffer him

to give himself this trouble, he took me by the hand, and we sat down

on two cushions together.

“All that you mentioned,” said he, “is perfectly good and well; but

there are questions that I am going to ask you which are of consequence

to yourself. When you arrived at Jidda, we heard it was a great man,

a son or brother of a king, going to India. This was communicated to

me, and to the Naybe, by people that saw every day the respect paid to

you by the captains of the ships at Jidda. Metical Aga, in his private

letter delivered to the Naybe last night by Mahomet Gibberti, among

many unusual expressions, said, The day that any accident befals this

person will be looked upon by me always as the most unfortunate of my

life. Now, you are a Christian, and he is a Mussulman, and these are

expressions of a particular regard not used by the one when writing of

the other. He says, moreover, that, in your firman, the grand signior

stiles you Bey-Adzé, or Most Noble. Tell me, therefore, and tell me

truly, Are you a prince, son, brother, or nephew of a king? Are you

banished from your own country; and what is it that you seek in our’s,

exposing yourself to so many difficulties and dangers?”

“I am neither son, nor brother of a king. I am a private Englishman. If

you, Sidi Achmet, saw my prince, the eldest, or any son of the king of

England, you would then be able to form a juster idea of them, and that

would for ever hinder you from confounding them with common men like

me. If they were to choose to appear in this part of the world, this

little sea would be too narrow for their ships: Your sun, now so hot,

would be darkened by their sails; and when they fired their terrible

wide-mouthed cannon, not an Arab would think himself safe on the

distant mountains, while the houses on the shore would totter and fall

to the ground as if shaken to pieces by an earthquake. I am a servant

to that king, and an inferior one in rank; only worthy of his attention

from my affection to him and his family, in which I do not acknowledge

any superior. Yet so far your correspondents say well: My ancestors

were the kings of the country in which I was born, and to be ranked

among the greatest and most glorious that ever bore the crown and title

of King. This is the truth, and nothing but the truth. I may now, I

hope, without offence, ask, To what does all this information tend?”

“To your safety,” said he, “and to your honour, as long as I command

in Masuah;--to your certain death and destruction if you go among

the Abyssinians; a people without faith, covetous, barbarous, and

in continual war, of which nobody yet has been able to discover the

reason. But of this another time.”

“Be it so,” said I. “I would now speak one word in secret to you, (upon

which every body was ordered out of the room): All that you have told

me this evening I already know; ask me not how: but, to convince you

that it is truth, I now thank you for the humane part you took against

these bloody intentions others had of killing and plundering me on my

arrival, upon Abdelcader governor of Dahalac’s information that I was a

prince, because of the honour that the English ships paid me, and that

I was loaded with gold.”

Ullah Acbar! (in great surprise) “Why, you was in the middle of the sea

when that passed.”

“Scarcely advanced so far, I believe; but your advice was wise, for

a large English ship will wait for me all this winter in Jidda, till

I know what reception I meet here, or in Abyssinia. It is a 64 gun

ship; its name, the Lion; its captain, Thomas Price. I mention these

particulars, that you may inquire into the truth. Upon the first news

of a disaster he would come here, and destroy Arkeeko, and this island,

in a day. But this is not my business with you at present.

“It is a very proper custom, established all over the east, that

strangers should make an acknowledgement for the protection they

receive, and trouble they are to occasion. I have a present for the

Naybe, whose temper and disposition I know perfectly,--(Ullah Acbar!

repeats Achmet).--I have likewise a present for you, and for the Kaya

of the Janizaries; all these I shall deliver the first day I see the

Naybe; but I was taught, in a particular manner, to repose upon you as

my friend, and a small, but separate acknowledgement, is due to you in

that character. I was told, that your agent at Jidda had been inquiring

everywhere among the India ships, and at the broker of that nation,

for a pair of English pistols, for which he offered a very high price;

though, in all probability, those you would get would have been but

ordinary, and much used; now I have brought you this separate present,

a pair of excellent workmanship; here they are: my doubt, which gave

rise to this long private conversation, was, whether you would take

them home yourself; or, if you have a confidential servant that you can

trust, let him take them, so that it be not known; for if the Naybe”----

“I understand every thing that you say, and every thing that you would

say. Though I do not know men’s hearts that I never saw, as you do, I

know pretty well the hearts of those with whom I live. Let the pistols

remain with you, and shew them to nobody till I send you a man to whom

you may say any thing, and he shall go between you and me; for there is

in this place a number of devils, not men; but, _Ullah Kerim_, God is

great. The person that brings you dry dates in an Indian handkerchief,

and an earthen bottle to drink your water out of, give him the pistols.

You may send by him to me any thing you choose. In the mean time, sleep

sound, and fear no evil; but never be persuaded to trust yourself to

the Cafrs of Habesh at Masuah.”

On the 20th of September a female slave came and brought with her the

proper credentials, an Indian handkerchief full of dry dates, and a pot

or bottle of unvarnished potter’s earth, which keeps the water very

cool. I had some doubt upon this change of sex; but the slave, who was

an Abyssinian girl, quickly undeceived me, delivered the dates, and

took away the pistols destined for Achmet, who had himself gone to his

uncle, the Naybe, at Arkeeko.

On the 21st, in the morning, the Naybe came from Arkeeko. The usual

way is by sea; it is about two leagues straight across the bay, but

somewhat more by land. The passage from the main is on the north side

of the island, which is not above a quarter of a mile broad; there is a

large cistern for rain-water on the land-side, where you embark across.

He was poorly attended by three or four servants, miserably mounted,

and about forty naked savages on foot, armed with short lances and

crooked knives.

The drum beat before him all the way from Arkeeko to Masuah. Upon

entering the boat, the drum on the land-side ceased, and those, in

what is called the Castle of Masuah, began. The castle is a small clay

hut, and in it one swivel-gun, which is not mounted, but lies upon the

ground, and is fired always with great trepidation and some danger.

The drums are earthen jars, such as they send butter in to Arabia; the

mouths of which are covered with a skin, so that a stranger, on seeing

two or three of these together, would run a great risk of believing

them to be jars of butter, or pickles, carefully covered with oiled

parchment.

All the procession was in the same stile. The Naybe was dressed in an

old shabby Turkish habit, much too short for him, and seemed to have

been made about the time of Sultan Selim. He wore also upon his head

a Turkish cowke, or high-cap, which scarcely admitted any part of his

head. In this dress, which on him had a truly ridiculous appearance,

he received the caftan, or investiture, of the island of Masuah; and,

being thereby representative of the grand signior, consented that day

to be called Omar Aga, in honour of the commission.

Two standards of white silk, striped with red, were carried before

him to the mosque, from whence he went to his own house to receive

the compliments of his friends. In the afternoon of that day I went

to pay my respects to him, and found him sitting on a large wooden

elbow-chair, at the head of two files of naked savages, who made an

avenue from his chair to the door. He had nothing upon him but a coarse

cotton shirt, so dirty that, it seemed, all pains to clean it again

would be thrown away, and so short that it scarcely reached his knees.

He was very tall and lean, his colour black, had a large mouth and

nose; in place of a beard, a very scanty tuft of grey hairs upon the

point of his chin; large, dull, and heavy eyes; a kind of malicious,

contemptuous, smile on his countenance; he was altogether of a most

stupid and brutal appearance. His character perfectly corresponded

with his figure, for he was a man of mean abilities, cruel to excess,

avaricious, and a great drunkard.

I presented my firman.--The greatest basha in the Turkish empire would

have risen upon seeing it, kissed it, and carried it to his forehead;

and I really expected that Omar Aga, for the day he bore that title,

and received the caftan, would have shewn this piece of respect to his

master. But he did not even receive it into his hand, and pushed it

back to me again, saying, “Do you read it all to me word for word.”--“I

told him it was Turkish; that I had never learned to read a word of

that language.”--“Nor I either,” says he; “and I believe I never

shall.” I then gave him Metical Aga’s letter, the Sherriffe’s, Ali

Bey’s, and the Janizaries letters. He took them all together in both

his hands, and laid them unopened beside him, saying, “You should

have brought a moullah along with you. Do you think I shall read all

these letters? Why, it would take me a month.” And he glared upon me,

with his mouth open, so like an idiot, that it was with the utmost

difficulty I kept my gravity, only answering, “Just as you please; you

know best.”

He affected at first not to understand Arabic; spoke by an interpreter

in the language of Masuah, which is a dialect of Tigré; but seeing I

understood him in this, he spoke Arabic, and spoke it well.

A silence followed this short conversation, and I took the opportunity

to give him his present, with which he did not seem displeased, but

rather that it was below him to tell me so; for, without saying a

word about it, he asked me, where the Abuna of Habesh was? and why he

tarried so long? I said, The wars in Upper Egypt had made the roads

dangerous; and, it was easy to see, Omar longed much to settle accounts

with him.

I took my leave of the Naybe, very little pleased with my reception,

and the small account he seemed to make of my letters, or of myself;

but heartily satisfied with having sent my dispatches to Janni, now far

out of his power.

The inhabitants of Masuah were dying of the small-pox, so that there

was fear the living would not be sufficient to bury the dead. The whole

island was filled with shrieks and lamentations both night and day.

They at last began to throw the bodies into the sea, which deprived us

of our great support, fish, of which we had ate some kinds that were

excellent. I had suppressed my character of physician, fearing I should

be detained by reason of the multitude of sick.

On the 15th of October the Naybe came to Masuah, and dispatched the

vessel that brought me over; and, as if he had only waited till this

evidence was out of the way, he, that very night, sent me word that

I was to prepare him a handsome present. He gave in a long list of

particulars to a great amount, which he desired might be divided into

three parcels, and presented three several days. One was to be given

him as Naybe of Arkeeko; one as Omar Aga, representative of the grand

signior; and one for having passed our baggage _gratis_ and unvisited,

especially the large quadrant. For my part, I heartily wished he had

seen the whole, as he would not have set great value on the brass and

iron.

As Achmet’s assurance of protection had given me courage, I answered

him, That, having a firman of the grand signior, and letters from

Metical Aga, it was mere generosity in me to give him any present at

all, either as Naybe or Omar Aga, and I was not a merchant that bought

and sold, nor had merchandise on board, therefore had no customs to

pay. Upon this he sent for me to his house, where I found him in a

violent fury, and many useless words passed on both sides. At last he

peremptorily told me, That unless I had 300 ounces of gold ready to pay

him on Monday, upon his landing from Arkeeko, he would confine me in a

dungeon, without light, air, or meat, till the bones came through my

skin for want.

An uncle of his, then present, greatly aggravated this affair. He

presented that the Naybe might do what he pleased with his presents;

but that he could not in any shape give away the present due to the

janizaries, which was 40 ounces of gold, or 400 dollars; and this was

all they contented themselves to take, on account of the letter I

brought from the port of janizaries at Cairo; and in this they only

taxed me the sum paid by the Abuna for his passage through Masuah. I

answered firmly,--“Since you have broken your faith with the grand

signior, the government of Cairo, the basha at Jidda, and Metical Aga,

you will no doubt do as you please with me; but you may expect to see

the English man of war, the Lion, before Arkeeko, some morning by

day-break.”--“I should be glad,” said the Naybe, “to see that man at

Arkeeko or Masuah that would carry as much writing from you to Jidda

as would lie upon my thumb nail; I would strip his shirt off first,

and then his skin, and hang him before your door to teach you more

wisdom.”--“But my wisdom has taught me to prevent all this. My letter

is already gone to Jidda; and if, in twenty days from this, another

letter from me does not follow it, you will see what will arrive. In

the mean time, I here announce it to you, that I have letters from

Metical Aga and the Sherriffe of Mecca, to Michael Suhul governor of

Tigrè, and the king of Abyssinia. I, therefore, would wish that you

would leave off these unmanly altercations, which serve no sort of

purpose, and let me continue my journey.” The Naybe said in a low

voice to himself, “What, Michael too! then go your journey, and think

of the ill that’s before you.” I turned my back without any answer or

salutation, and was scarce arrived at home when a message came from

the Naybe, desiring I would send him two bottles of aquavitæ. I gave

the servant two bottles of cinnamon-water, which he refused till I had

first tasted them; but they were not agreeable to the Naybe, so they

were returned.

All this time I very much wondered what was become of Achmet, who, with

Mahomet Gibberti, remained at Arkeeko: at last I heard from the Naybe’s

servant that he was in bed, ill of a fever. Mahomet Gibberti had kept

his promise to me; and, saying nothing of my skill in physic, or having

medicines with me, I sent, however, to the Naybe to desire leave to go

to Arkeeko. He answered me surlily, I might go if I could find a boat;

and, indeed, he had taken his measures so well that not a boat would

stir for money or persuasion.

On the 29th of October the Naybe came again from Arkeeko to Masuah,

and, I was told, in very ill-humour with me. I soon received a message

to attend him, and found him in a large waste room like a barn, with

about sixty people with him. This was his divan, or grand council,

with all his janizaries and officers of state, all naked, assembled in

parliament. There was a comet that had appeared a few days after our

arrival at Masuah, which had been many days visible in Arabia Felix,

being then in its perihelion; and, after passing its conjunction with

the sun, it now appeared at Masuah early in the evening, receding to

its aphelion. I had been observed watching it with great attention; and

the large tubes of the telescopes had given offence to ignorant people.

The first question the Naybe asked me was, What that comet meant, and

why it appeared? And before I could answer him, he again said, “The

first time it was visible it brought the small-pox, which has killed

above 1000 people in Masuah and Arkeeko. It is known you conversed with

it every night at Loheia; it has now followed you again to finish the

few that remain, and then you are to carry it into Abyssinia. What have

you to do with the comet?”

Without giving me leave to speak, his brother Emir Achmet then said,

That he was informed I was an engineer going to Michael, governor of

Tigré, to teach the Abyssinians to make cannon and gunpowder; that the

first attack was to be against Masuah. Five or six others spoke much

in the same strain; and the Naybe concluded by saying, That he would

send me in chains to Constantinople, unless I went to Hamazen, with

his brother Emir Achmet, to the hot-wells there, and that this was

the resolution of all the janizaries; for I had concealed my being a

physician.

I had not yet opened my mouth. I then asked, If all these were

janizaries; and where was their commanding officer? A well-looking,

elderly man answered, “I am Sardar of the janizaries.”--“If you are

Sardar, then,” said I, “this firman orders you to protect me. The Naybe

is a man of this country, no member of the Ottoman empire.” Upon my

first producing my firman to him, he threw it aside like waste-paper.

The greatest Vizir in the Turkish dominions would have received it

standing, bowed his head to the ground, then kissed it, and put it

upon his forehead. A general murmur of approbation followed, and I

continued,--“Now I must tell you my resolution is, never to go to

Hamazen, or elsewhere, with Emir Achmet. Both he and the Naybe have

shewed themselves my enemies; and, I believe, that to send me to

Hamazen is to rob and murder me out of sight.”--“Dog of a Christian!”

says Emir Achmet, putting his hand to his knife, “if the Naybe was to

murder you, could he not do it here now this minute?”--“No,” says the

man, who had called himself Sardar, “he could not; I would not suffer

any such thing. Achmet is the stranger’s friend, and recommended me

to-day to see no injury done him; he is ill, or would have been here

himself.”

“Achmet,” said I, “is my friend, and fears God; and were I not hindered

by the Naybe from seeing him, his sickness before this would have been

removed. I will go to Achmet at Arkeeko, but not to Hamazen, nor ever

again to the Naybe here in Masuah. Whatever happens to me must befal

me in my own house. Consider what a figure a few naked men will make

the day that my countrymen ask the reason of this either here or in

Arabia.” I then turned my back, and went out without ceremony. “A brave

man!” I heard a voice say behind me, “_Wallah Englese!_ True English,

by G--d!” I went away exceedingly disturbed, as it was plain my affairs

were coming to a crisis for good or for evil. I observed, or thought I

observed, all the people shun me. I was, indeed, upon my guard, and did

not wish them to come near me; but, turning down into my own gateway,

a man passed close by me, saying distinctly in my ear, though in a low

voice, first in Tigré and then in Arabic, “_Fear nothing_, or, Be not

afraid.” This hint, short as it was, gave me no small courage.

I had scarcely dined, when a servant came with a letter from Achmet at

Arkeeko, telling me how ill he had been, and how sorry he was that I

refused to come to see him, as Mahomet Gibberti had told him I could

help him. He desired me also to keep the bearer with me in my house,

and give him charge of the gate till he could come to Masuah himself.

I soon saw the treachery of the Naybe. He had not, indeed, forbid me

to go and see his nephew, but he had forbid any boat to carry me;

and this I told the servant, appealing to the Sardar for what I said

in the divan of my willingness to go to Arkeeko to Achmet, though I

positively refused to go to Hamazen. I begged the servant to stop

for a moment, and go to the Sardar who was in the castle, as I had

been very essentially obliged to him for his interposition at a very

critical time, when there was an intention to take away my life. I sent

him a small present by Achmet’s servant, who delivered the message

faithfully, and had heard all that had passed in the divan. He brought

me back a pipe from the Sardar in return for my present, with this

message, That he had heard of my countrymen, though he had never seen

them; that he loved brave men, and could not see them injured; but

Achmet being my friend, I had no need of him. That night he departed

for Arkeeko, desiring us to shut the door, and leaving us another man,

with orders to admit nobody, and advising us to defend ourselves if any

one offered to force entrance, be they who they would, for that nobody

had business abroad in the night.

I now began to resume my confidence, seeing that Providence had still

kept us under his protection; and it was not long when we had an

opportunity to exercise this confidence. About 12 o’clock at night a

man came to the door, and desired to be admitted; which request was

refused without any ceremony. Then came two or three more, in the

name of Achmet, who were told by the servant that they would not be

admitted. They then asked to speak with me, and grew very tumultuous,

pressing with their backs against the door. When I came to them, a

young man among them said he was son to Emir Achmet, and that his

father and some friends were coming to drink a glass of aracky (so they

call brandy) with me. I told him my resolution was not to admit either

Emir Achmet, or any other person at night, and that I never drank

aracky.

They attempted again to force open the door, which was strongly

barricaded. But as there were cracks in it, I put the point of a sword

through one of them, desiring them to be cautious of hurting themselves

upon the iron spikes. Still they attempted to force open the door,

when the servant told them, that Achmet, when he left him the charge

of that door, had ordered us to fire upon them who offered to force

an entrance at night. A voice asked him, Who the devil he was? The

servant answered, in a very spirited manner, That he had greater reason

to ask who they were, as he took them for thieves, about whose names

he did not trouble himself. “However,” says he, “mine is Abdelcader,

(the son of somebody else whom I do not remember). Now you know who I

am, and that I do not fear you; and you, Yagoube, if you do not fire

upon them, your blood be upon your own head. The Sardar from the castle

will soon be up with the rest.” I ordered then a torch to be brought,

that they might have a view of us through the cracks of the door; but

Abdelcader’s threat being fully sufficient, they retired, and we heard

no more of them.

It was the 4th of November when the servant of Achmet returned in

a boat from Arkeeko, and with him four janizaries. He was not yet

well, and was very desirous to see me. He suspected either that he

was poisoned or bewitched, and had tried many charms without good

effect. We arrived at Arkeeko about eleven, passed the door of the

Naybe without challenge, and found Achmet in his own house, ill of an

intermitting fever, under the very worst of regimens.

He was much apprehensive that he should die, or lose the use of his

limbs as Emir Achmet had done: the same woman, a Shiho, and a witch,

was, he said, the occasion of both. “If Achmet, your uncle, had lost

the use of his tongue, said I, it would have saved him a great deal

of improper discourse in the divan.” His head ached violently, and he

could only say, “Aye! aye! the old miscreant knew I was ill, or that

would not have happened.” I gave Achmet proper remedies to ease his

pains and his stomach, and the next morning began with bark.

This medicine operates quickly here; nay, even the bark that remains,

after the stronger spiritous tincture is drawn from it, seems to answer

the purpose very little worse than did the first. I staid here till the

6th in the morning, at which time he was free from the fever. I left

him, however, some doses to prevent its return; and he told me, on the

7th, he would come to Masuah with boats and men to bring us with our

baggage to Arkeeko, and free us from the bondage of Masuah.

Upon the 6th, in the morning, while at breakfast, I was told that three

servants had arrived from Tigrè; one from Janni, a young man and slave,

who spoke and wrote Greek perfectly; the other two servants were Ras

Michael’s, or rather the king’s, both wearing the red short cloak lined

and turned up with mazarine-blue, which is the badge of the king’s

servant, and is called _shalaka_. Ras Michael’s letters to the Naybe

were very short. He said the king Hatzè Hannes’s health was bad, and

wondered at hearing that the physician, sent to him by Metical Aga from

Arabia, was not forwarded to him instantly at Gondar, as he had heard

of his being arrived at Masuah some time before. He ordered the Naybe,

moreover, to furnish me with necessaries, and dispatch me without loss

of time; although all the letters were the contrivances of Janni, his

particular letter to the Naybe was in a milder stile. He expressed

the great necessity the king had for a physician, and how impatiently

he had waited his arrival. He did not say that he had heard any such

person was yet arrived at Masuah, only wished he might be forwarded

without delay as soon as he came.

To us Janni sent a message by a servant, bidding us a hearty welcome,

acknowledging the receipt of the patriarch’s letter, and advising

us, by all means, to come speedily to him, for the times were very

unsettled, and might grow worse.

In the afternoon I embarked for Masuah. At the shore I received a

message from the Naybe to come and speak to him; but I returned for

answer, It was impossible, as I was obliged to go to Masuah to get

medicines for his nephew, Achmet.

CHAP. II.

_Directions to Travellers for preserving Health--Diseases of the

Country--Music--Trade, &c. of Masuah--Conferences with the Naybe._

We arrived in the island at eight o’clock, to the great joy of our

servants, who were afraid of some stratagem of the Naybe. We got every

thing in order, without interruption, and completed our observations

upon this inhospitable island, infamous for the quantity of Christian

blood shed there upon treacherous pretences.

Masuah, by a great variety of observations of the sun and stars, we

found to be in lat. 15° 35´ 5´´, and, by an observation of the second

satellite of Jupiter, on the 22d of September 1769, we found its

longitude to be 39° 36´ 30´´ east of the meridian of Greenwich: the

variation of the needle was observed at mid-day, the 23d of September,

to be 12° 48´ W. From this it follows, that Loheia, being nearly

opposite, (for it is in lat. 15° 40´ 52´´) the breadth of the Red Sea

between Masuah and Loheia is 4° 10´ 22´´. Supposing, then, a degree to

be equal to 66 statute miles, this, in round numbers, will bring the

breadth to be 276 miles, equal to 92 leagues, or thereabouts.

Again, as the generality of maps have placed the coast of Arabia where

Loheia stands, in the 44°, and it is the part of the peninsula that

runs farthest to the westward, all the west coast of Arabia Felix will

fall to be brought farther east about 3° 46´ 0´´.

Before packing up our barometer at Loheia, I filled a tube with clean

mercury, perfectly purged of outward air; and, on the 30th of August,

upon three several trials, the mean of the results of each trial was,

at six in the morning, 26° 8´ 8´´; two o’clock in the afternoon, 26°

4´ 1´´; and, half past six in the evening, 26° 6´ 2´´, fair, clear

weather, with very little wind at west.

At Masuah, the 4th of October, I repeated the same experiment with the

same mercury and tube; the means were as follow: At six in the morning

25° 8´ 2´´; two o’clock in the afternoon, 25° 3´ 2´´; and, at half past

six in the evening, 25° 3´ 7´´, clear, with a moderate wind at west,

so that the barometer fell one inch and one line at Masuah lower than

it was at Loheia, though it often rose upon violent storms of wind and

rain; and, even where there was no rain, it again fell instantly upon

the storm ceasing, and never arrived to the height it stood last at on

the coast of Arabia. The greatest height I ever observed Fahrenheit’s

thermometer in the shade, at Masuah, was on the 22d of October, at two

in the afternoon, 93°, wind N. E. and by N. cloudy; the lowest was on

the 23d, at four in the morning, 82°, wind west. It was, to sense, much

hotter than in any part of Arabia Felix; but we found no such tickling

or irritation on our legs as we had done at Loheia, probably because

the soil was here less impregnated with salt.

We observed here, for the first time, three remarkable circumstances

shewing the increase of heat. I had carried with me several steel

plates for making screws of different sizes. The heat had so swelled

the pin, or _male_ screw, that it was cut nearly one-third through by

the edge of the female. The sealing-wax, of which we had procured a

fresh parcel from the India ships, was fully more fluid, while lying

in our boxes, than tar. The third was the colour of the spirit in the

thermometer, which was quite discharged, and sticking in masses at

unequal heights, while the liquor was clear like spring-water.

Masuah is very unwholesome, as, indeed, is the whole coast of the Red

Sea from Suez to Babelmandeb, but more especially between the tropics.

Violent fevers, called there _nedad_, make the principal figure in this

fatal list, and generally terminate the third day in death. If the

patient survives till the fifth day, he very often recovers by drinking

water only, and throwing a quantity of cold water upon him, even in his

bed, where he is permitted to lie without attempting to make him dry,

or change his bed, till another deluge adds to the first.

There is no remedy so sovereign here as the bark; but it must be given

in very different times and manners from those pursued in Europe.

Were a physician to take time to prepare his patient for the bark,

by first giving him purgatives, he would be dead of the fever before

his preparation was completed. Immediately when a nausea or aversion

to eat, frequent fits of yawning, straitness about the eyes, and an

unusual, but not painful sensation along the spine, comes on, no

time is then to be lost; small doses of the bark must be frequently

repeated, and perfect abstinence observed, unless from copious draughts

of cold water.

I never dared to venture, or seldom, upon the deluge of water, but am

convinced it is frequently of great use. The second or third dose of

the bark, if any quantity is swallowed, never fails to purge; and,

if this evacuation is copious, the patient rarely dies, but, on the

contrary, his recovery is generally rapid. Moderate purging, then, is

for the most part to be adopted; and rice is a much better food than

fruit.

I know that all this is heterodox in Europe, and contrary to the

practice, because it is contrary to system. For my own part, I am

content to write faithfully what I carefully observed, leaving every

body afterwards to follow their own way at their peril.

Bark, I have been told by Spaniards who have been in South America,

purges always when taken in their fevers. A different climate,

different regimen, and different habit of body or exercise, may surely

so far alter the operation of a drug as to make it have a different

effect in Africa from what it has in Europe. Be that as it may, still

I say bark is a purgative when it is successful in this fever; but

bleeding, at no stage of this distemper, is of any service; and,

indeed, if attempted the second day, the lancet is seldom followed by

blood. Ipecacuanha both fatigues the patient and heightens the fever,

and so conducts the patient more speedily to his end. Black spots are

frequently found on the breast and belly of the dead person. The belly

swells, and the stench becomes insufferable in three hours after death,

if the person dies in the day, or if the weather is warm.

The next common disease in the low country of Arabia, the intermediate

island of Masuah, and all Abyssinia, (for the diseases are exactly

similar in all this tract) is the Tertian fever, which is in nothing

different from our Tertian, and is successfully treated here in the

same manner as in Europe. As no species of this disease (at least

that I have seen) menaces the patient with death, especially in the

beginning of the disorder, some time may be allowed for preparation

to those who doubt the effect of the bark in the country. But

still I apprehend the safest way is to give small doses from the

beginning, on the first intermission, or even remission, though this

should be somewhat obscure and uncertain. To speak plainly; when the

stomach nauseates, the head akes, yawning becomes frequent, and not

an excessive pain in the nape of the neck, when a shivering which

goes quickly off, a coldness down the spine, a more than ordinary

cowardliness and inactivity prevails, (the heat of the climate gives

one always enough of these last sensations); I say, when any number of

these symptoms unite, have recourse to the powder of bark infused in

water; shut your mouth against every sort of food; and, at the crisis,

your disease will immediately decide its name among the class of fevers.

All fevers end in intermittents; and if these intermittents continue

long, and the first evacuations by the bark have not been copious and

constant, these fevers generally end in dysenteries, which are always

tedious and very frequently prove mortal. Bark in small quantities,

ipecacuanha, too, in very small quantities so as not to vomit, water,

and fruit not over ripe, have been found the most successful remedies.

As for the other species of dysentery, which begins with a constant

diarrhœa, when the guts at last are excoriated, and the mucus voided

by the stools, this disease is rarely cured if it begins with the

rainy season. But if, on the contrary, it happen either in the sunny

six months, or the end of the rainy ones immediately next to them,

small doses of ipecacuanha either carry it off, or it changes into an

intermitting fever, which yields afterwards to the bark. And it always

has seemed to me that there is a great affinity between the fevers and

dysenteries in these countries, the one ending in the other almost

perpetually.

The next disease, which we may say is endemial in the countries before

mentioned, is called _hanzeer_, the _hogs_ or the _swine_, and is a

swelling of the glands of the throat, and under the arms. This the

ignorant inhabitants endeavour to bring to a suppuration, but in vain;

they then open them in several places; a sore and running follows, and

a disease very much resembling what is called in Europe the Evil.

THE next (though not a dangerous complaint) has a very terrible

appearance. Small tubercules or swellings appear all over the body, but

thickest in the thighs, arms, and legs. These swellings go and come for

weeks together without pain; though the legs often swell to a monstrous

size as in the dropsy. Sometimes the patients have ulcers in their

noses and mouths, not unlike those which are one of the malignant

consequences of the venereal disease. The small swellings or eruptions,

when squeezed, very often yield blood; in other respects the patient is

generally in good health, saving the pain the ulcers give him, and the

still greater uneasiness of mind which he suffers from the spoiling of

the smoothness of his skin; for all the nations in Africa within the

tropics are wonderfully affected at the smallest eruption or roughness

of the skin. A black of Sennaar will hide himself in the house where

dark, and is not to be seen by his friends, if he should have two

or three pimples on any part of his body. Nor is there any remedy,

however violent, that they will not fly to for immediate relief. Scars

and wounds are no blemishes; and I have seen them, for three or four

pimples on their bracelet arm, suffer the application of a red-hot iron

with great resolution and constancy.

These two last diseases yielded, the first slowly, and sometimes

imperfectly, to mercurials; and sublimate has by no means in these

climates the quick and decisive effects it has in Europe. The second is

completely and speedily cured by antimonials.

The next complaint I shall mention, as common in these countries, is

called Farenteit, a corruption of an Arabic word, which signifies the

worm of Pharaoh; all bad things being by the Arabs attributed to these

poor kings, who seem to be looked upon by posterity as the evil genii

of the country which they once governed.

This extraordinary animal only afflicts those who are in constant habit

of drinking stagnant water, whether that water is drawn out from wells,

as in the kingdom of Sennaar, or found by digging in the sand where it

is making its way to its proper level the sea, after falling down the

side of the mountains after the tropical rains. This plague appears

indiscriminately in every part of the body, but oftenest in the legs

and arms. I never saw it in the face or head; but, far from affecting

the fleshy parts of the body, it generally comes out where the bone has

least flesh upon it.

Upon looking at this worm, on its first appearance, a small black head

is extremely visible, with a hooked beak of a whitish colour. Its

body is seemingly of a white silky texture, very like a small tendon

bared and perfectly cleaned. After its appearance the natives of these

countries, who are used to it, seize it gently by the head, and wrap

it round a thin piece of silk or small bird’s feather. Every day, or

several times a-day, they try to wind it up upon the quill as far as

it comes readily; and, upon the smallest resistance, they give over

for fear of breaking it. I have seen five feet, or something more of

this extraordinary animal, winded out with invincible patience in the

course of three weeks. No inflammation then remained, and scarcely

any redness round the edges of the aperture, only a small quantity

of lymph appeared in the hole or puncture, which scarcely issued out

upon pressing. In three days it was commonly well, and left no scar or

dimple implying loss of substance.

I myself experienced this complaint. I was reading upon a sofa at

Cairo, a few days after my return from Upper Egypt, when I felt in

the fore part of my leg, upon the bone, about seven inches below the

center of my knee-pan, an itching resembling what follows the bite of a

muscheto. Upon scratching, a small tumour appeared very like a muscheto

bite. The itching returned in about an hour afterwards; and, being more

intent upon my reading than my leg, I scratched it till the blood came.

I soon after observed something like a black spot, which had already

risen considerably above the surface of the skin. All medicine proved

useless; and the disease not being known at Cairo, there was nothing

for it but to have recourse to the only received manner of treating it

in this country. About three inches of the worm was winded out upon

a piece of raw silk in the first week, without pain or fever: but it

was broken afterwards through the carelessness and rashness of the

surgeon when changing a poultice on board the ship in which I returned

to France: a violent inflammation followed; the leg swelled so as to

scarce leave appearance of knee or ancle; the skin, red and distended,

seemed glazed like a mirror. The wound was now healed, and discharged

nothing; and there was every appearance of mortification coming on. The

great care and attention procured me in the lazaretto at Marseilles, by

a nation always foremost in the acts of humanity to strangers, and the

attention and skill of the surgeon, recovered me from this troublesome

complaint.

Fifty-two days had elapsed since it first begun; thirty-five of which

were spent in the greatest agony. It suppurated at last; and, by

enlarging the orifice, a good quantity of matter was discharged. I had

made constant use of bark, both in fomentations and inwardly; but I did

not recover the strength of my leg entirely till near a year after, by

using the baths of Poretta, the property of my friend Count Ranuzzi, in

the mountains above Bologna, which I recommend, for their efficacy, to

all those who have wounds, as I do to him to have better accommodation,

greater abundance of, and less imposition in, the necessaries of life

than when I was there. It is but a few hours journey over the mountains

to Pistoia.

The last I shall mention of these endemial diseases, and the most

terrible of all others that can fall to the lot of man, is the

Elephantiasis, which some have chosen to call the Leprosy, or Lepra

Arabum; though in its appearance, and in all its circumstances and

stages, it no more resembles the leprosy of Palestine, (which is,

I apprehend, the only leprosy that we know) than it does the gout

or the dropsy. I never saw the beginning of this disease. During

the course of it, the face is often healthy to appearance; the eyes

vivid and sparkling: those affected have sometimes a kind of dryness

upon the skin of their backs, which, upon scratching, I have seen

leave a mealiness, or whiteness; the only circumstance, to the best

of my recollection, in which it resembled the leprosy, but it has

no scaliness. The hair, too, is of its natural colour; not white,

yellowish, or thin, as in the leprosy, but so far from it that, though

the Abyssinians have very rarely hair upon their chin, I have seen

people, apparently in the last stage of the elephantiasis, with a very

good beard of its natural colour.

The appetite is generally good during this disease, nor does any change

of regimen affect the complaint. The pulse is only subject to the same

variations as in those who have no declared nor predominant illness;

they have a constant thirst, as the lymph, which continually oozes

from their wounds, probably demands to be replaced. It is averred by

the Abyssinians that it is not infectious. I have seen the wives of

those who were in a very inveterate stage of this illness, who had

born them several children, who were yet perfectly free and found from

any contagion. Nay, I do not remember to have seen children visibly

infected with this disease at all; though, I must own, none of them had

the appearance of health. It is said this disease, though surely born

with the infant, does not become visible till the approach to manhood,

and sometimes it is said to pass by a whole generation.

The chief seat of this disease is from the bending of the knee

downwards to the ancle; the leg is swelled to a great degree, becoming

one size from bottom to top, and gathered into circular wrinkles, like

small hoops or plaits; between every one of which there is an opening

that separates it all round from the one above, and which is all raw

flesh, or perfectly excoriated. From between these circular divisions

a great quantity of lymph constantly oozes. The swelling of the leg

reaches over the foot, so as to leave about an inch or little more

of it seen. It should seem that the black colour of the skin, the

thickness of the leg, and its shapeless form, and the rough tubercules,

or excrescences, very like those seen upon the elephant, give the

name to this disease, and form a striking resemblance between the

distempered legs of this unfortunate individual of the human species,

and those of the noble quadruped the elephant, when in full vigour.

An infirmity, to which the Abyssinians are subject, of much worse

consequence to the community than the elephantiasis, I mean lying,

makes it impossible to form, from their relations, any accurate account

of symptoms that might lead the learned to discover the causes of this

extraordinary distemper, and thence suggest some rational method to

cure, or diminish it.

It was not from the ignorance of language, nor from want of

opportunity, and less from want of pains, that I am not able to give a

more distinct account of this dreadful disorder. I kept one of those

infected in a house adjoining to mine, in my way to the palace, for

near two years; and, during that time, I tried every sort of regimen

that I could devise. My friend, Dr Russel, physician at Aleppo, (now

in the East Indies), to whose care and skill I was indebted for my

life in a dangerous fever which I had in Syria, and whose friendship I

must always consider as one of the greatest acquisitions I ever made

in travelling, desired me, among other medical inquiries, to try the

effect of the cicuta upon this disease; and a considerable quantity,

made according to the direction of Dr Storke, physician in Vienna, was

sent me from Paris, with instructions how to use it.

Having first explained the whole matter, both to the king, Ras Michael,

and Azage Tecla Haimanout, chief justice of the king’s bench in

Abyssinia, and told them of the consequences of giving too great a

dose, I obtained their joint permissions to go on without fear, and do

what I thought requisite. It is my opinion, says the Azage, that no

harm that may accidentally befal one miserable individual, now already

cut off from society, should hinder the trial (the only one we ever

shall have an opportunity of making) of a medicine which may save

multitudes hereafter from a disease so much worse than death.

It was soon seen, by the constant administration of many ordinary

doses, that nothing was to be expected from violent or dangerous

ones; as not the smallest degree of amendment ever appeared, either

outwardly or inwardly, to the sensation of the patient. Mercury had no

better effect. Tar-water also was tried; and if there was any thing

that produced any seeming advantage, it was whey made of cow’s milk,

of which he was excessively fond, and which the king ordered him to be

furnished with at my desire, in any quantity he pleased, during the

experiment.

The troubles of the times prevented further attention. Dr Storke’s

cicuta, in several instances, made a perfect cure of the hanzeers

improperly opened, though, in several other cases, without any apparent

cause, it totally miscarried. I scarce ever observed mercury succeed in

any complaint.

It is not for me to attempt to explain what are the causes of these

distempers. Those whose studies lead them to such investigations will

do well to attach themselves, for first principles, to the difference

of climate, and the abuses that obtain under them; after this, to

particular circumstances in the necessaries of life, to which nature

has subjected the people of these countries. Under the first, we may

rank a season of six months rains, succeeded, without interval, by a

cloudless sky and vertical sun; and cold nights which as immediately

follow these scorching days. The earth, notwithstanding the heat of

these days, is yet perpetually cold, so as to feel disagreeably to

the soles of the feet; partly owing to the six months rains, when no

sun appears, and partly to the perpetual equality of nights and days;

the thinnest of the cloathing in the better sort, (a muslin shirt)

while the others are naked, and sleep in this manner exposed, without

covering in the cold nights, after the violent perspiration during the

sultry day. These may be reckoned imprudences, while the constant use

of stagnant putrid water for four months of the year, and the quantity

of salt with which the soil of those countries is impregnated, may be

circumstances less conducive to health; to which, however, they have

been for ever subject by nature.

It will be very reasonably expected, that, after this unfavourable

account of the climate, and the uncertainty of remedies for these

frequent and terrible diseases, I should say something of the regimen

proper to be observed there, in order to prevent what it seems so

doubtful whether we can ever cure.

My first general advice to a traveller is this, to remember well what

was the state of his constitution before he visited these countries,

and what his complaints were, if he had any; for fear very frequently

seizes us upon the first sight of the many and sudden deaths we see

upon our first arrival, and our spirits are so lowered by perpetual

perspiration, and our nerves so relaxed, that we are apt to mistake

the ordinary symptoms of a disease, familiar to us in our own country,

for the approach of one of these terrible distempers that are to hurry

us in a few hours into eternity. This has a bad effect in the very

slightest disorders; so that it hath become proverbial--If you think

you shall die, you shall die.

If a traveller finds, that he is as well after having been some time

in this country as he was before entering it, his best way is to make

no innovation in his regimen, further than in abating something in the

quantity. But if he is of a tender constitution, he cannot act more

wisely than to follow implicitly the regimen of sober, healthy people

of the country, without arguing upon European notions, or substituting

what we consider as succedaneums to what we see used on the spot. All

spirits are to be avoided; even bark is better in water than in wine.

The stomach, being relaxed by profuse perspiration, needs something to

strengthen, but not inflame, and enable it to perform digestion. For

this reason (instinct we should call it, if speaking of beasts) the

natives of all eastern countries season every species of food, even the

simplest, and mildest, rice, so much with spices, especially pepper, as

absolutely to blister a European palate.

These powerful antiseptics Providence has planted in these countries

for this use; and the natives have, from the earliest times, had

recourse to them in proportion to the quantity that they can procure.

And hence, in these dangerous climates, the natives are as healthy as

we are in our northern ones. Travellers in Arabia are disgusted at

this seemingly inflammatory food; and nothing is more common than to

hear them say that they are afraid these quantities of spices will

give them a fever. But did they ever feel themselves heated by ever

so great a quantity of black pepper? Spirits they think, substituted

to this, answer the same purpose. But does not the heat of your skin,

the violent pain in your head, while the spirits are filtering through

the vessels of your brains, shew the difference? and when did any ever

feel a like sensation from black pepper, or any pepper ate to excess in

every meal?

I lay down, then, as a positive rule of health, that the warmest dishes

the natives delight in, are the most wholesome strangers can use in

the putrid climates of the Lower Arabia, Abyssinia, Sennaar, and Egypt

itself; and that spirits, and all fermented liquors, should be regarded

as poisons, and, for fear of temptation, not so much as be carried

along with you, unless as a menstruum for outward applications.

Spring, or running water, if you can find it, is to be your only drink.

You cannot be too nice in procuring this article. But as, on both

coasts of the Red Sea you scarcely find any but stagnant water, the way

I practised was always this, when I was at any place that allowed me

time and opportunity--I took a quantity of fine sand, washed it from

the salt quality with which it was impregnated, and spread it upon a

sheet to dry; I then filled an oil-jar with water, and poured into it

as much from a boiling kettle as would serve to kill all the animalcula

and eggs that were in it. I then sifted my dried sand, as slowly as

possible, upon the surface of the water in the jar, till the sand stood

half a foot in the bottom of it; after letting it settle a night, we

drew it off by a hole in the jar with a spigot in it, about an inch

above the sand; then threw the remaining sand out upon the cloth, and

dried and washed it again.

This process is sooner performed than described. The water is as limpid

as the purest spring, and little inferior to the finest Spa. Drink

largely of this without fear, according as your appetite requires. By

violent perspiration the aqueous part of your blood is thrown off;

and it is not spiritous liquor can restore this, whatever momentary

strength it may give you from another cause. When hot, and almost

fainting with weakness from continual perspiration, I have gone into

a warm bath, and been immediately restored to strength, as upon first

rising in the morning. Some perhaps will object, that this heat should

have weakened and overpowered you; but the fact is otherwise; and the

reason is, the quantity of water, taken up by your absorbing vessels,

restored to your blood that finer fluid which was thrown off, and then

the uneasiness occasioned by that want ceased, for it was the want of

that we called uneasiness.

In Nubia never scruple to throw yourself into the coldest river or

spring you can find, in whatever degree of heat you are. The reason

of the difference in Europe is, that when by violence you have raised

yourself to an extraordinary degree of heat, the cold water in which

you plunge yourself checks your perspiration, and shuts your pores

suddenly. The medium is itself too cold, and you do not use force

sufficient to bring back the perspiration, which nought but action

occasioned; whereas, in these warm countries, your perspiration

is natural and constant, though no action be used, only from the

temperature of the medium; therefore, though your pores are shut, the

moment you plunge yourself in the cold water, the simple condition of

the outward air again covers you with pearls of sweat the moment you

emerge; and you begin the expence of the aqueous part of your blood

afresh from the new stock that you have laid in by your immersion.

For this reason, if you are well, deluge yourself from head to foot,

even in the house, where water is plenty, by directing a servant to

throw buckets upon you at least once a-day when you are hottest; not

from any imagination that the water braces you, as it is called, for

your bracing will last you only a very few minutes; but these copious

inundations will carry watery particles into your blood, though not

equal to bathing in running streams, where the total immersion, the

motion of the water, and the action of the limbs, all conspire to

the benefit you are in quest of. As to cold water bracing in these

climates, I am persuaded it is an idea not founded in truth. By

observation it has appeared often to me, that, when heated by violent

exercise, I have been much more relieved, and my strength more

completely restored by the use of a tepid bath, than by an equal time

passed in a cold one.

Do not fatigue yourself if possible. Exercise is not either so

necessary or salutary here as in Europe. Use fruits sparingly,

especially if too ripe. The musa, or banana, in Arabia Felix, are

always rotten-ripe when they are brought to you. Avoid all sort of

fruit exposed for sale in the markets, as it has probably been gathered

in the sun, and carried miles in it, and all its juices are in a state

of fermentation. Lay it first upon a table covered with a coarse cloth,

and throw frequently a quantity of water upon it; and, if you have an

opportunity, gather it in the dew of the morning before dawn of day,

for that is far better.

Rice and pillaw are the best food; fowls are very bad, eggs are worse;

greens are not wholesome. In Arabia the mutton is good, and, when

roasted, may be eaten warm with safety; perhaps better if cold. All

soups or broths are to be avoided; all game is bad.

I have known many very scrupulous about eating suppers, but, I am

persuaded, without reason. The great perspiration which relaxes the

stomach so much through the day has now ceased, and the breathing of

cooler air has given to its operations a much stronger tone. I always

made it my most liberal meal, if I ate meat at all. While at Jidda, my

supper was a piece of cold, roasted mutton, and a large glass of water,

with my good friend Captain Thornhill, during the dog-days.

After this, the excessive heat of the day being past, covering our

heads from the night-air, always blowing at that time from the east and

charged with watery particles from the Indian Ocean, we had a luxurious

walk of two or three hours, as free from the heat as from the noise

and impertinence of the day, upon a terrassed roof, under a cloudless

sky, where the smallest star is visible. These evening walks have

been looked upon as one of the principal pleasures of the east, even

though not accompanied with the luxuries of astronomy and meditation.

They have been adhered to from early times to the present, and we may

therefore be allured they were always wholesome; they have often been

misapplied and mispent in love.

It is a custom that, from the first ages, has prevailed in the east,

to shriek and lament upon the death of a friend or relation, and cut

their faces upon the temple with their nails, about the breadth of a

sixpence, one of which is left long for that purpose. It was always

practised by the Jews, and thence adopted by the Abyssinians, though

expressly forbidden both by the law and by the prophets[2]. At Masuah,

it seems to be particular to dance upon that occasion. The women,

friends, and visitors place themselves in a ring; then dance slowly,

figuring in and out as in a country-dance. This dance is all to the

voice, no instrument being used upon the occasion; only the drum (the

butter-jar before mentioned) is beat adroitly enough, and seems at once

necessary to keep the dance and song in order. In Abyssinia, too, this

is pursued in a manner more ridiculous. Upon the death of an ozoro, or

any nobleman, the twelve judges, (who are generally between 60 and 70

years of age) sing the song, and dance the figure-dance, in a manner

so truly ridiculous, that grief must have taken fast hold of every

spectator who does not laugh upon the occasion. There needs no other

proof the deceased was a friend.

Mahomet Gibberti married at Arkeeko. For fifteen days afterward, the

husband there is invisible to everybody but the female friends of his

wife, who in that sultry country do every thing they can, by hot and

spiced drinks, to throw the man, stewed in a close room, into a fever.

I do believe that Mahomet Gibberti, in the course of these fifteen

days, was at least two stone lighter. It puts me much in mind of some

of our countrymen sweating themselves for a horse-race with a load

of flannel on. I conceive that Mahomet Gibberti, had it not been for

the spice, would have made a bad figure in the match he was engaged

in. One of these nights of his being sequestered, when, had I not

providentially engaged Achmet, his uncle the Naybe would have cut

our throats. I heard two girls, professors hired for such occasions,

sing alternately verse for verse in reply to each other, in the most

agreeable and melodious manner I ever heard in my life. This gave me

great hopes that, in Abyssinia, I should find music in a state of

perfection little expected in Europe. Upon inquiry into particulars

I was miserably disappointed, by being told these musicians were all

strangers from Azab, the myrrh country, where all the people were

natural musicians, and sung in a better stile than that I had heard;

but that nothing of this kind was known in Abyssinia, a mountainous,

barbarous country, without instrument, and without song; and that it

was the same here in Atbara; a miserable truth, which I afterwards

completely verified. These singers were Cushites, not Shepherds.

I, however, made myself master of two or three of these alternate songs

upon the guitar, the wretched instrument of that country; and was

surprised to find the words in a language equally strange to Masuah

and Abyssinia. I had frequent interviews with these musicians in the

evening; they were perfectly black and woolly-headed. Being slaves,

they spoke both Arabic and Tigrè, but could sing in neither; and, from

every possible inquiry, I found every thing, allied to counterpoint,

was unknown among them. I have sometimes endeavoured to recover

fragments of these songs, which I once perfectly knew from memory only,

but unfortunately I committed none of them to writing. Sorrow, and

various misfortunes, that every day marked my stay in the barbarous

country to which I was then going, and the necessary part I, much

against my will, was for self-preservation forced to take in the ruder

occupations of those times, have, to my very great regret, obliterated

long ago the whole from my memory.

It is a general custom in Masuah for people to burn myrrh and incense

in their houses before they open the doors in the morning; and when

they go out at night, or early in the day, they have always a small

piece of rag highly fumigated with these two perfumes, which they stuff

into each nostril to keep them from the unwholesome air.

The houses in Masuah are, in general, built of poles and bent grass, as

in the towns of Arabia; but, besides these, there are about twenty of

stone, six or eight of which are two storeys each; though the second

seldom consists of more than one room, and that one generally not a

large one. The stones are drawn out of the sea as at Dahalac; and in

these we see the beds of that curious mussel, or shell-fish, found to

be contained in the solid rock at Mahon, called _Dattoli da mare_, or

sea-dates, the fish of which I never saw in the Red Sea; though there

is no doubt but they are to be found in the rocky islands about Masuah,

if they break the rocks for them.

Although Masuah is situated in the very entrance of Abyssinia, a

very plentiful country, yet all the necessaries of life are scarce

and dear. Their quality, too, is very indifferent. This is owing to

the difficulty, expence, and danger of carrying the several articles

through the desert flat country, called Samhar, which lies between

Arkeeko and the mountains of Abyssinia; as well as to the extortions

exercised by the Naybe, who takes, under the name of customs, whatever

part he pleases of the goods and provisions brought to that island; by

which means the profit of the seller is so small, as not to be worth

the pains and risk of bringing it: 20 rotol of butter cost a pataka and

a half, 3½ harf; or, in one term, 45½ harf. A goat is half of a pataka;

a sheep, two-thirds of a pataka; the ardep of wheat, 4 patakas; Dora,

from Arabia, 2 patakas.

---- _Venit, vilissima rerum_,

_Hic aqua._

Horat. lib. I. Sat. 6. v. 88.

Water is sold for three diwanis, or paras, the 7 gallons. The same sort

of money is in use at Masuah, and the opposite coast of Arabia; and it

is indeed owing to the commercial intercourse with that coast that any

coin is current in this or the western side. It is all valued by the

Venetian sequin. But glass beads, called Contaria, of all kinds and

colours, perfect and broken, pass for small money, and are called, in

their language, Borjooke.

_TABLE of the relative VALUE of MONEY._

Venetian Sequin, 2¼ Pataka.

Pataka or Imperial Dollar, 28 Harf.

1 Harf, 4 Diwani.

10 Kibeer, 1 Diwani.

1 Kibeer, 3 Borjooke, or Grains.

The Harf is likewise called Dahab, a word very equivocal, as it means,

in Arabic, gold, and frequently a sequin. The Harf is 120 grains of

beads.

The zermabub, or sequin of Constantinople, is not current here. Those

that have them, can only dispose of them to the women, who hang them

about their temples, to their necklaces, and round the necks of their

children. The fraction of the pataka is the half and quarter, which

pass here likewise.

There is a considerable deal of trade carried on at Masuah,

notwithstanding these inconveniencies, narrow and confined as the

island is, and violent and unjust as is the government. But it is all

done in a slovenly manner, and for articles where a small capital is

invested. Property here is too precarious to risk a venture in valuable

commodities, where the hand of power enters into every transaction.

The goods imported from the Arabian side are blue cotton, Surat

cloths, and cochineal ditto, called Kermis, fine cloth from different

markets in India; coarse white cotton cloths from Yemen; cotton

unspun from ditto in bales; Venetian beads, chrystal, drinking, and

looking-glasses; and cohol, or crude antimony. These three last

articles come in great quantities from Cairo, first in the coffee ships

to Jidda, and then in small barks over to this port. Old copper too is

an article on which much is gained, and great quantity is imported.

The Galla, and all the various tribes to the westward of Gondar, wear

bracelets of this copper; and they say at times, that, near the country

of Gongas and Guba, it has been sold, weight for weight, with gold.

There is a shell likewise here, a univalve of the species of volutes,

which sells at a cuba for 10 paras. It is brought from near Hodeida,

though it is sometimes found at Konfodah and Loheia. There are a few

also at Dahalac, but not esteemed: these pass for money among the Djawi

and other western Galla.

The cuba is a wooden measure, containing, very exactly, 62 cubic inches

of rain water. The drachm is called Casla; there is 10 drachms in their

wakea.

Gold, 16 patakas _per_ wakea.

Civet, 1¾ pataka the wakea.

Elephants teeth, 18 patakas for 35 rotol.

Wax, 4 patakas the faranzala.

Myrrh, 3 patakas _per_ ditto.

Coffee, 1 pataka the 6 rotol.

Honey, ¼ of a pataka the cuba.

The Banians were once the principal merchants of Masuah; but the number

is now reduced to six. They are silver-smiths, that make ear-rings and

other ornaments for the women in the continent, and are assayers of

gold; they make, however, but a poor livelihood.

As there is no water in Masuah, the number of animals belonging to it

can be but small. The sea fowl have nothing singular in them, and are

the grey and the white gull, and the small bird, called the sea-lark,

or pickerel. The sky-lark is here, but is mute the whole year, till the

first rains fall in November; he then mounts very high, and sings in

the very heat of the day. I saw him in the Tehama, but he did not sing

there; probably for the reason given above, as there was no rain.

There are no sparrows to be seen here, or on the opposite shore, nor

in the islands. Although there were scorpions in abundance at Loheia,

we found none of them at Masuah. Water and greens, especially of the

melon and cucumber kind, seem to be necessary to this poisonous insect.

Indeed it was only after rains we saw them in Loheia, and then the

young ones appeared in swarms; this was in the end of August. They

are of a dull green colour, bordering upon yellow. As far as I could

observe, no person apprehended any thing from their sting beyond a few

minutes pain.

We left Masuah the 10th of November, with the soldiers and boats

belonging to Achmet. We had likewise three servants from Abyssinia, and

no longer apprehended the Naybe, who seemed, on his part, to think no

more of us.

In the bay between Masuah and Arkeeko are two islands, Toulahout and

Shekh Seide; the first on the west, the other on the south. They are

both uninhabited, and without water. Shekh Seide has a marabout, or

saint’s tomb, on the west end. It is not half a mile in length, when

not overflowed, but has two large points of sand which run far out to

the east and to the west. Its west point runs so near to Toulahout, as,

at low-water, scarce to leave a channel for the breadth of a boat to

pass between.

There is a chart, or map of the island of Masuah, handed about with

other bad maps and charts of the Red Sea, (of which I have already

spoken) among our English captains from India. It seems to be of as

old date as the first landing of the Portuguese under Don Roderigo de

Lima, in the time of David III. but it is very inaccurate, or rather

erroneous, throughout. The map of the island, harbour, and bay, with

the soundings, which I here have given, may be depended upon, as being

done on the spot with the greatest attention.

Achmet, though much better, was, however, not well. His fever had left

him, but he had some symptoms of its being followed by a dysentery. In

the two days I rested at his house, I had endeavoured to remove these

complaints, and had succeeded in part; for which he testified the

utmost gratitude, as he was wonderfully afraid to die.

The Naybe had visited him several times every day; but as I was

desirous to see Achmet well before I left Arkeeko, I kept out of the

way on these occasions, being resolved, the first interview, to press

for an immediate departure.

On the 13th, at four o’clock in the afternoon, I waited upon the Naybe

at his own house. He received me with more civility than usual, or

rather, I should have said, with less brutality; for a grain of any

thing like civility had never yet appeared in his behaviour. He had

just received news, that a servant of his, sent to collect money at

Hamazen, had run off with it. As I saw he was busy, I took my leave of

him, only asking his commands for Habesh; to which he answered, “We

have time enough to think of that, do you come here to morrow.”

On the 14th, in the morning, I waited upon him according to

appointment, having first struck my tent and got all my baggage in

readiness. He received me as before, then told me with a grave air,

“that he was willing to further my journey into Habesh to the utmost

of his power, provided I shewed him that consideration which was due to

him from all passengers; that as, by my tent, baggage, and arms, he saw

I was a man above the common sort, which the grand signior’s firman,

and all my letters testified, less than 1000 patakas offered by me

would be putting a great affront upon him; however, in consideration of

the governor of Tigrè, to whom I was going, he would consent to receive

300, upon my swearing not to divulge this, for fear of the shame that

would fall upon him abroad.”

To this I answered in the same grave tone, “That I thought him very

wrong to take 300 patakas with shame, when receiving a thousand would

be more honourable as well as more profitable; therefore he had nothing

to do but put that into his account-book with the governor of Tigrè,

and settle his honour and his interest together. As for myself, I was

sent for by Metical Aga, on account of the king, and was proceeding

accordingly, and if he opposed my going forward to Metical Aga, I

should return; but then again I should expect ten thousand patakas from

Metical Aga, for the trouble and loss of time I had been at, which he

and the Ras would no doubt settle with him.” The Naybe said nothing

in reply, but only muttered, closing his teeth, _sheitan afrit_, that

devil or tormenting spirit.

“Look you, (says one of the king’s servants, whom I had not heard speak

before) I was ordered to bring this man to my master; I heard no talk

of patakas; the army is ready to march against Waragna Fasil, I must

not lose my time here.” Then taking his short red cloak under his arm,

and giving it a shake to make the dust fly from it, he put it upon

his shoulders, and, stretching out his hand very familiarly, said,

“Naybe, within this hour I am for Habesh, my companion will stay here

with the man; give me my dues for coming here, and I shall carry any

answer either of you has to send.” The Naybe looked much disconcerted.

“Besides, said I, you owe me 300 patakas for saving the life of your

nephew Achmet.”--“Is not his life worth 300 patakas?” He looked very

silly, and said, “Achmet’s life is worth all Masuah.” There was no

more talk of patakas after this. He ordered the king’s servant not to

go that day, but come to him to-morrow to receive his letters, and he

would expedite us for Habesh.

Those friends that I had made at Arkeeko and Masuah, seeing the Naybe’s

obstinacy against our departure, and, knowing the cruelty of his

nature, advised me to abandon all thoughts of Abyssinia; for that,

in passing through Samhar, among the many barbarous people whom he

commanded, difficulties would multiply upon us daily, and, either by

accident, or order of the Naybe, we should surely be cut off.

I was too well convinced of the embarrassment that lay behind me if

left alone with the Naybe, and too determined upon my journey to

hesitate upon going forward. I even flattered myself, that his flock

of stratagems to prevent our going, was by this time exhausted, and

that the morrow would see us in the open fields, free from further

tyranny and controul. In this conjecture I was warranted by the visible

impression the declaration of the king’s servant had made upon him.

On the 15th, early in the morning, I struck my tent again, and had my

baggage prepared, to shew we were determined to stay no longer. At

eight o’clock, I went to the Naybe, and found him almost alone, when he

received me in a manner that, for him, might have passed for civil. He

began with a considerable degree of eloquence, or fluency of speech,

a long enumeration of the difficulties of our journey, the rivers,

precipices, mountains, and woods we were to pass; the number of wild

beasts every where to be found; as also the wild savage people that

inhabited those places; the most of which, he said, were luckily under

his command, and he would recommend to them to do us all manner of

good offices. He commanded two of his secretaries to write the proper

letters, and, in the mean time, ordered us coffee; conversing naturally

enough about the king and Ras Michael, their campaign against Fasil,

and the great improbability there was, they should be successful.

At this time came in a servant covered with dust and seemingly

fatigued, as having arrived in haste from afar. The Naybe, with a

considerable deal of uneasiness and confusion, opened the letters,

which were said to bring intelligence, that the Hazorta, Shiho, and

Tora, the three nations who possessed that part of Samhar through

which our road led to Dobarwa, the common passage from Masuah to

Tigrè, had revolted, driven away his servants, and declared themselves

independent. He then, (as if all was over) ordered his secretaries

to stop writing; and, lifting up his eyes, began, with great seeming

devotion, to thank God we were not already on our journey; for,

innocent as he was, when we should have been cut off, the fault would

have been imputed to him.

Angry as I was at so barefaced a farce, I could not help bursting

out into a violent fit of loud laughter, when he put on the severest

countenance, and desired to know the reason of my laughing at such a

time. It is now two months, answered I, since you have been throwing

various objections in my way; can you wonder that I do not give into

so gross an imposition? This same morning, before I struck my tent, in

presence of your nephew Achmet, I spoke with two Shiho just arrived

from Samhar, who brought letters to Achmet, which said all was in

peace. Have you earlier intelligence than that of this morning?

He was for some time without speaking; then said, “If you are weary

of living, you are welcome to go; but I will do my duty in warning

those that are along with you of their and your danger, that, when

the mischief happens, it may not be imputed to me.” “No number of

naked Shiho,” said I, “unless instructed by you, can ever be found

on our road, that will venture to attack us. The Shiho have no fire

arms; but if you have sent on purpose some of your soldiers that have

fire arms, these will discover by what authority they come. For our

part, we cannot fly; we neither know the country, the language, nor

the watering-places, and we shall not attempt it. We have plenty of

different sorts of fire-arms, and your servants have often seen at

Masuah we are not ignorant in the use of them. We, it is true, may lose

our lives, that is in the hand of the Almighty; but we shall not fail

to leave enough on the spot, to give sufficient indication to the king

and Ras Michael, who it was that were our assassins, Janni of Adowa

will explain the rest.”

I then rose very abruptly to go away. It is impossible to give one,

not conversant with these people, any conception what perfect matters

the most clownish and beastly among them are of dissimulation. The

countenance of the Naybe now changed in a moment. In his turn he burst

out into a loud fit of laughter, which surprised me full as much as

mine, some time before, had done him. Every feature of his treacherous

countenance was altered and softened into complacency; and he, for the

first time, bore the appearance of a man.

“What I mentioned about the Shiho, he then said, was but to try you;

all is peace. I only wanted to keep you here, if possible, to cure my

nephew Achmet, and his uncle Emir Mahomet; but since you are resolved

to go, be not afraid; the roads are safe enough. I will give you a

person to conduct you, that will carry you in safety, even if there

was danger; only go and prepare such remedies as may be proper for the

Emir, and leave them with my nephew Achmet, while I finish my letters.”

This I willingly consented to do, and at my return I found every thing

ready.

Our guide was a handsome young man, to whom, though a Christian,

the Naybe had married his sister; his name was Saloomé. The common

price paid for such a conductor is three pieces of blue Surat cotton

cloth. The Naybe, however, obliged us to promise thirteen to his

brother-in-law, with which, to get rid of him with some degree of good

grace, we willingly complied.

Before our setting out I told this to Achmet, who said, that the

man was not a bad one naturally, but that his uncle the Naybe made

all men as wicked as himself. He furnished me with a man to shew me

where I should pitch my tent; and told me he should now take my final

deliverance upon himself, for we were yet far, according to the Naybe’s

intentions, from beginning our journey to Gondar.

Arkeeko consists of about 400 houses, a few of which are built of

clay, the rest of coarse grass like reeds. The Naybe’s house is of

these last-named materials, and not distinguished from any others in

the town; it stands upon the S. W. side of a large bay. There is water

enough for large ships close to Arkeeko, but the bay being open to the

N. E. makes it uneasy riding in blowing weather. Besides, you are upon

a lee-shore; the bottom is composed of soft sand. In standing in upon

Arkeeko from the sea through the canal between Shekh Seide and the main

land, it is necessary to range the coast about a third nearer the main

than the island. The point, or Shekh Seide, stretches far out, and has

shallow water upon it.

The Cape that forms the south-west side of the large bay is called _Ras

Gedem_, being the rocky base of a high mountain of that name, seen a

considerable distance from sea, and distinguished by its form, which is

that of a hog’s back.

CHAP. III.

_Journey from Arkeeko, over the mountain Taranta, to Dixan._

According to Achmet’s desire, we left Arkeeko the 15th, taking our

road southward, along the plain, which is not here above a mile broad,

and covered with short grass nothing different from ours, only that

the blade is broader. After an hour’s journey I pitched my tent at

Laberhey, near a pit of rain-water. The mountains of Abyssinia have a

singular aspect from this, as they appear in three ridges. The first

is of no considerable height, but full of gullies and broken ground,

thinly covered with shrubs; the second, higher and steeper, still more

rugged and bare; the third is a row of sharp, uneven-edged mountains,

which would be counted high in any country in Europe. Far above the top

of all, towers that stupendous mass, the mountain of Taranta, I suppose

one of the highest in the world, the point of which is buried in the

clouds, and very rarely seen but in the clearest weather; at other

times abandoned to perpetual mist and darkness, the seat of lightning,

thunder, and of storm.

Taranta is the highest of a long, steep ridge of mountains, the

boundary between _the opposite seasons_. On its east side, or towards

the Red Sea, the rainy season is from October to April; and, on the

western, or Abyssinian side, cloudy, rainy, and cold weather prevails

from May to October.

In the evening, a messenger from the Naybe found us at our tent at

Laberhey, and carried away our guide Saloomé. It was not till the next

day that he appeared again, and with him Achmet, the Naybe’s nephew.

Achmet made us deliver to him the thirteen pieces of Surat cloth, which

was promised Saloomè for his hire, and this, apparently, with that

person’s good-will. He then changed four of the men whom the Naybe had

furnished us for hire to carry our baggage, and put four others in

their place; this, not without some murmuring on their part; but he

peremptorily, and in seeming anger, dispatched them back to Arkeeko.

Achmet now came into the tent, called for coffee, and, while drinking

it, said, “You are sufficiently persuaded that I am your friend; if you

are not, it is too late now to convince you. It is necessary, however,

to explain the reasons of what you see. You are not to go to Dobarwa,

though it is the best road, the safest being preferable to the easiest.

Saloomé knows the road by Dixan as well as the other. You will be apt

to curse me when you are toiling and sweating ascending Taranta, the

highest mountain in Abyssinia, and on this account worthy your notice.

You are then to consider if the fatigue of body you then suffer in that

passage is not overpaid by the absolute safety you will find yourselves

in. Dobarwa belongs to the Naybe, and I cannot answer for the orders

he may have given to his own servants; but Dixan is mine, although

the people are much worse than those of Dobarwa. I have written to my

officers there; they will behave the better to you for this; and, as

you are strong and robust, the best I can do for you is to send you by

a rugged road, and a safe one.”

Achmet again gave his orders to Saloomé, and we, all rising, said the

fedtah, or _prayer of peace_; which being over, his servant gave him a

narrow web of muslin, which, with his own hands, he wrapped round my

head in the manner the better sort of Mahometans wear it at Dixan. He

then parted, saying, “He that is your enemy is mine also; you shall

hear of me by Mahomet Gibberti.”

This finished a series of trouble and vexation, not to say danger,

superior to any thing I ever before had experienced, and of which

the bare recital (though perhaps too minute a one) will give but an

imperfect idea. These wretches possess talents for tormenting and

alarming, far beyond the power of belief; and, by laying a true sketch

of them before a traveller, an author does him the most real service.

In this country the more truly we draw the portrait of man, the more

we seem to fall into caricature.

On the 16th, in the evening, we left Laberhey; and, after continuing

about an hour along the plain, our grass ended, the ground becoming

dry, firm, and gravelly, and we then entered into a wood of

acacia-trees of considerable size. We now began to ascend gradually,

having Gedem, the high mountain which forms the bay of Arkeeko, on

our left, and these same mountains, which bound the plain of Arkeeko

to the west, on our right. We encamped this night on a rising-ground

called Shillokeeb, where there is no water, though the mountains were

everywhere cut through with gullies and water courses, made by the

violent rains that fall here in winter.

The 17th, we continued along the same plain, still covered thick with

acacia-trees. They were then in blossom, had a round yellow flower, but

we saw no gum upon the trees. Our direction had hitherto been south. We

turned westerly through an opening in the mountains, which here stand

so close together as to leave no valley or plain space between them but

what is made by the torrents, in the rainy season, forcing their way

with great violence to the sea.

The bed of the torrent was our only road; and, as it was all sand,

we could not wish for a better. The moisture it had strongly imbibed

protected it from the sudden effects of the sun, and produced, all

alongst its course, a great degree of vegetation and verdure. Its banks

were full of rack-trees, capers, and tamarinds; the two last bearing

larger fruit than I had ever before seen, though not arrived to their

greatest size or maturity.

We continued this winding, according to the course of the river, among

mountains of no great height, but bare, stony, and full of terrible

precipices. At half past eight o’clock we halted, to avoid the heat of

the sun, under shade of the trees before mentioned, for it was then

excessively hot, though in the month of November, from ten in the

morning till two in the afternoon. We met this day with large numbers

of Shiho, having their wives and families along with them, descending

from the tops of the high mountains of Habesh, with their flocks to

pasture, on the plains below near the sea, upon grass that grows up in

the months of October and November, when they have already consumed

what grew in the opposite season on the other side of the mountains.

This change of domicil gives them a propensity to thieving and

violence, though otherwise a cowardly tribe. It is a proverb in

Abyssinia, “Beware of men that drink _two_ waters,” meaning these, and

all the tribes of _Shepherds_, who were in search of pasture, and who

have lain under the same imputation from the remotest antiquity.

The Shiho were once very numerous; but, like all these nations having

communication with Masuah, have suffered much by the ravages of the

small-pox. The Shiho are the blackest of the tribes bordering upon the

Red Sea. They were all clothed; their women in coarse cotton shifts

reaching down to their ancles, girt about the middle with a leather

belt, and having very large sleeves; the men in short cotton breeches

reaching to the middle of their thighs, and a goat’s skin cross their

shoulders. They have neither tents nor cottages, but either live in

caves in the mountains under trees, or in small conical huts built with

a thick grass like reeds.

This party consisted of about fifty men, and, I suppose, not more than

thirty women; from which it seemed probable the Shiho are Monogam, as

afterwards, indeed, I knew them to be. Each of them had a lance in his

hand, and a knife at the girdle which kept up the breeches. They had

the superiority of the ground, as coming down the mountain which we

were ascending; yet I observed them to seem rather uneasy at meeting

us; and so far from any appearance of’ hostility, that, I believe, had

we attacked briskly, they would have fled without much resistance.

They were, indeed, incumbered with a prodigious quantity of goats and

other cattle, so were not in a fighting trim. I saluted the man that

seemed to be their chief, and asked him if he would sell us a goat.

He returned my salute; but either could not speak Arabic, or declined

further conversation. However, those of our people behind, that were of

a colour nearer to themselves, bought us a goat that was lame, (dearly

they said) for some antimony, four large needles, and some beads. Many

of them asked us for _kisserah_, or bread. This being an Arabic word,

and their having no other word in their language signifying bread,

convinces me they were Icthyophagi; as, indeed, history says all those

Troglydite nations were who lived upon the Red Sea. It could not indeed

be otherwise: the rich, when trade flourished in these parts, would

probably get corn from Arabia or Abyssinia; but, in their own country,

no corn would grow.

At 2 o’clock in the afternoon we resumed our journey through a very

stony, uneven road, till 5 o’clock, when we pitched our tent at a place

called Hamhammou, on the side of a small green hill some hundred yards

from the bed of the torrent. The weather had been perfectly good since

we left Masuah: this afternoon, however, it seemed to threaten rain;

the high mountains were quite hid, and great part of the lower ones

covered with thick clouds; the lightning was very frequent, broad, and

deep tinged with blue; and long peals of thunder were heard, but at a

distance. This was the first sample we had of Abyssinian bad weather.