The fear and anxiety of Ozoro Esther, upon smaller occasions, was

excessive, and fully in proportion in the greater that now existed;

many promises of Michael’s favour, of riches, greatness, and

protection, followed every instance of my care and attention towards

my patients. She did not eat or sleep herself; and the ends of her

fingers were all broke out into pustules, from touching the several

sick persons. Confu, the favourite of all the queen’s relations,

and the hopes of their family, had symptoms which all feared would

be fatal, as he had violent convulsions, which were looked upon as

forerunners of immediate death; they ceased, however, immediately on

the eruption. The attention I shewed to this young man, which was

more than overpaid by the return he himself made on many occasions

afterwards, was greatly owing to a prepossession in his favour, which I

took upon his first appearance. Policy, as may be imagined, as well as

charity, alike influenced me in the care of my other patients; but an

attachment, which providence seemed to have inspired me with for my own

preservation, had the greatest share in my care for Ayto Confu.

Though it is not the place, I must not forget to tell the reader, that,

the third day after I had come to Koscam, a horseman and a letter had

arrived from Michael to Hagi Saleh, ordering him to carry me to Koscam,

and likewise a short letter written to me by Negadè Ras Mahomet, in

Arabic, as from Ras Michael, very civil, but containing positive orders

and _command_, as if to a servant, that I should repair to the Iteghè’s

palace, and not stir from thence till future orders, upon any pretence

whatever.

I cannot say but this positive, peremptory dealing, did very much shock

and displease me. I shewed the letter to Petros, who approved of it

much; said he was glad to see it in that stile, as it was a sign the

Ras was in earnest. I shewed it to Ayto Aylo, who said not much to it

either the one way or the other, only he was glad that I had gone to

Koscam before it came; but he taxed Ozoro Esther with being the cause

of a proceeding which might have been proper to a Greek or slave,

but was not so to a free man like me, who came recommended to their

protection, and had, as yet, received no favour, or even civility.

Ozoro Esther laughed heartily at all this, for the first time she had

shewn any inclination to mirth; she confessed she had sent a messenger

every day, sometimes two, and sometimes three, ever since Welled

Hawaryat had died, and by every one of them she had pressed the Ras to

enjoin me not to leave Koscam, the consequence of which was the order

above mentioned; and, in the evening, there was a letter to Petros from

Anthulé, Janni’s son-in-law, a Greek, and treasurer to the king, pretty

much to the same purpose as the first, and in no softer terms, with

direction, however, to furnish me with every thing I should want, on

the king’s account.

One morning Aylo, in presence of the queen, speaking to Ozoro Esther

of the stile of the Ras’s letter to me, she confessed her own anxiety

was the cause, but added, “You have often upbraided me with being, what

you call, an unchristian enemy, in the advices you suppose I frequently

give Michael; but now, if I am not as good a friend to Yagoube, who has

saved my children, as I am a steady enemy to the Galla, who murdered

my husband, say then Esther is not a Christian, and I forgive you.”

Many conversations of this kind passed between her and me, during the

illness of Ayto Confu. I removed my bed to the outer door of Confu’s

chamber, to be ready whenever he should call, but his mother’s anxiety

kept her awake in his room all night, and propriety did not permit

me to go to bed. From this frequent communication began a friendship

between Ozoro Esther and me, which ever after subsisted without any

interruption.

Our patients, being all likely to do well, were removed to a large

house of Kasmati Eshté, which stood still within the boundaries of

Koscam, while the rooms underwent another lustration and fumigation,

after which they all returned; and I got, as my fee, a present of

the neat and convenient house formerly belonging to Basha Eusebius,

which had a separate entry, without going through the palace. Still I

thought it better to obey Ras Michael’s orders to the letter, and not

stir out of Koscam, not even to Hagi Saleh’s or Ayto Aylo’s, though

both of them frequently endeavoured to persuade me that the order had

no such strict meaning. But my solitude was in no way disagreeable to

me. I had a great deal to do. I mounted my instruments, my thermometer

and barometer, telescopes and quadrant. Again all was wonder. It

occasioned me many idle hours before the curiosity of the palace was

satisfied. I saw the queen once every day at her levee, sometimes in

the evening, where many priests were always present. I was, for the

most part, twice a-day, morning and evening, with Ozoro Esther, where I

seldom met with any.

One day, when I went early to the queen, that I might get away in

time, having some other engagements about noon, just as I was taking

my leave, in came Abba Salama. At first he did not know me from the

change of dress; but, soon after recollecting me, he said, as it were,

passing, “Are you here? I thought you was with Ras Michael.” I made him

no answer, but bowed, and took my leave, when he called out, with an

air of authority, Come back, and beckoned me with his hand.

Several people entered the room at that instant, and I stood still in

the same place where I was, ready to receive the Iteghé’s orders: she

said, “Come back, and speak to Abba Salama.” I then advanced a few

paces forward, and said, looking to the Iteghé, “What has Abba Salama

to say to me?” He began directing his discourse to the queen, “Is he a

priest? Is he a priest?” The Iteghè answered very gravely, “Every good

man is a priest to himself; in that sense, and no other, Yagoube is a

priest.”--“Will you answer a question that I will ask you?” says he to

me, with a very pert tone of voice. “I do not know but I may, if it is

a discreet one,” said I, in Tigrè. “Why don’t you speak Amharic?” says

he to me in great haste, or seeming impatience. “Because I cannot speak

it well,” said I. “Why don’t you, on the other hand, speak Tigré to

me? it is the language the holy scriptures are written in, and you, a

priest, should understand it.”--“That is Geez,” says he; “I understand

it, though I don’t speak it.”--“Then,” replied I, “Ayto Heikel,” the

queen’s chamberlain, who stood behind me, “shall interpret for us; he

understands all languages.”

“Ask him, Heikel,” says he, “how many Natures there are in Christ.”

Which being repeated to me, I said, “I thought the question to be put

was something relating to my country, travels, or profession, in which

I possibly could instruct him; and not belonging to his, in which

he should instruct me. I am a physician in the town, a horseman and

soldier in the field. Physic is my study in the one, and managing my

horse and arms in the other. This I was bred to; as for disputes and

matters of religion, they are the province of priests and schoolmen.

I profess myself much more ignorant in these than I ought to be.

Therefore, when I have doubts I propose them to some holy man like

you, Abba Salama, (he bowed for the first time) whose profession these

things are. He gives me a rule and I implicitly follow it.” “Truth!

truth!” says he; “by St Michael, prince of angels, that is right; it

is answered well; by St George! he is a clever fellow. They told me he

was a Jesuit. Will you come to see me? Will you come to see me? You

need not be afraid when you come to _me_.” “I trust,” said I, bowing,

“I shall do no ill, in that case shall have no reason to fear.” Upon

this I withdrew from among the crowd, and went away, as an express then

arrived from Ras Michael.

It was on the 8th or 9th of March I met him at Azazo. He was dressed in

a coarse dirty cloth, wrapt about him like a blanket, and another like

a table-cloth folded about his head: He was lean, old, and apparently

much fatigued; sat stooping upon an excellent mule, that carried him

speedily without shaking him; he had also sore eyes. As we saw the

place where he was to light by four cross lances, and a cloth thrown

over them like a temporary tent, upon an eminence, we did not speak to

him till he alighted. Petros and the Greek priest, besides servants,

were the only people with me, Francis[15] had joined us upon our

meeting the Ras.

We alighted at the same time he did, and afterwards, with anxiety

enough we deputed the Greek priest, who was a friend of Michael, to

tell him who I was, and that I was come to meet him. The soldiers made

way, and I came up, took him by the hand, and kissed it. He looked me

broad in the face for a second, repeated the ordinary salutation in

Tigrè. “How do you do? I hope you are well;” and pointed to a place

where I was to sit down. A thousand complaints, and a thousand orders

came immediately before him, from a thousand mouths, and we were

nearly smothered; but he took no notice of me, nor did he ask for one

of his family. In some minutes after came the king, who passed at

some distance to the left of him; and Michael was then led out of the

shelter of his tent to the door, where he was supported on foot till

the king passed by, having first pulled off the towel that was upon his

head, after which he returned to his seat in the tent again.

The king had been past about a quarter of a mile, when Kefla Yasous

came from him with orders to the Ras, or rather, as I believe, to

receive orders from him. He brought with him a young nobleman, Ayto

Engedan, who, by his dress, having his upper garment twisted in a

particular manner about his waist, shewed that he was carrier of a

special message from the king. The crowd by this time had shut us quite

out, and made a circle round the Ras, in which we were not included.

We were upon the point of going away, when Kefla Yasous, who had seen

Francis, said to him, “I think Engedan has the king’s command for you,

you must not depart without leave.” And, soon after, we understood

that the king’s orders were to obtain leave from the Ras, to bring me,

with Engedan, near, and in sight of him, without letting me know, or

introducing me to him. In answer to this, the Ras had said, “I don’t

know him; will people like him think this right? Ask Petros; or why

should not the king call upon him and speak to him; he has letters to

him as well as to me, and he will be obliged to see him to-morrow.”

Engedan went away on a gallop to join the king, and we proceeded after

him, nor did we receive any other message either from the king or the

Ras. We returned to Koscam, very little pleased with the reception

we had met with. All the town was in a hurry and confusion; 30,000

men were encamped upon the Kahha; and the first horrid scene Michael

exhibited there, was causing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of

the Galla, whom he had taken prisoners, to be pulled out, and the

unfortunate sufferers turned out to the fields, to be devoured at night

by the hyæna. Two of these I took under my care, who both recovered,

and from them I learned many particulars of their country and manners.

The next day, which was the 10th, the army marched into the town

in triumph, and the Ras at the head of the troops of Tigrè. He was

bareheaded; over his shoulders, and down to his back, hung a pallium,

or cloak, of black velvet, with a silver fringe. A boy, by his right

stirrup, held a silver wand of about five feet and a half long, much

like the staves of our great officers at court. Behind him all the

soldiers, who had slain an enemy and taken the spoils from them, had

their lances and firelocks ornamented with small shreds of scarlet

cloth, one piece for every man he had slain.

Remarkable among all this multitude was Hagos, door-keeper of the

Ras, whom we have mentioned in the war of Begemder. This man, always

well-armed and well-mounted, had followed the wars of the Ras from his

infancy, and had been so fortunate in this kind of single combat, that

his whole lance and javelin, horse and person, were covered over with

the shreds of scarlet cloth. At this last battle of Fagitta, Hagos

is said to have slain eleven men with his own hand. Indeed there is

nothing more fallacious than judging of a man’s courage by these marks

of conquest. A good horseman, armed with a coat of mail, upon a strong,

well-fed, well-winded horse, may, after a defeat, kill as many of these

wretched, weary, naked fugitives, as he pleases, confining himself to

those that are weakly, mounted upon tired horses, and covered only with

goat’s-skins, or that are flying on foot.

Behind came Gusho of Amhara, and Powussen, lately made governor of

Begemder for his behaviour at the battle of Fagitta, where, as I have

said, he pursued Fasil and his army for two days. The Ras had given him

also a farther reward, his grand-daughter Ayabdar, lately recovered

from the small-pox, and the only one of my patients that, neither by

herself, her mother, nor her husband, ever made me the least return.

Powussen was one of the twelve officers who, after being delivered to

Lubo by the Galla, together with Mariam Barea, had fled to Michael’s

tent, and were protected by him.

One thing remarkable in this cavalcade, which I observed, was the

head-dress of the governors of provinces. A large broad fillet was

bound upon their forehead, and tied behind their head. In the middle of

this was a horn, or a conical piece of silver, gilt, about four inches

long, much in the shape of our common candle extinguishers. This is

called _kirn_, or horn, and is only worn in reviews or parades after

victory. This I apprehend, like all other of their usages, is taken

from the Hebrews, and the several allusions made in scripture to it

arise from this practice:--“I said unto fools, Deal not foolishly; and

to the wicked, Lift not up the horn”--“Lift not up your horn on high;

speak not with a stiff neck[16]”--“For promotion cometh,” &c.--“But

my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn”--“And the horn

of the righteous shall be exalted with honour.” And so in many other

places throughout the Psalms.

Next to these came the king, with a fillet of white muslin about three

inches broad, binding his forehead, tied with a large double knot

behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. About him were the

great officers of state, such of the young nobility as were without

command; and after these, the household troops.

Then followed the Kanitz Kitzera, or executioner of the camp, and his

attendants; and, last of all, amidst the King’s and the Ras’s baggage,

came a man bearing the stuffed skin of the unfortunate Woosheka upon a

pole, which he hung upon a branch of the tree before the king’s palace

appropriated for public executions.

Upon their arrival at Gondar, all the great men had waited both upon

the Ras and the King. Aylo had been with them, and Ozoro Esther was

removed to Gondar; but, by my advice, had left the child at Koscam. Her

son Confu, though recovered of the small-pox, had evident signs of a

dysentery, and took no care of himself in point of regimen, or avoiding

cold.

It was now the 13th of March,and I had heard no word from Ozoro Esther,

or the Ras, though removed to a house in Gondar near to Petros. I had

gone every day once to see the children of Koscam; at all which times I

had been received with the greatest cordiality and marks of kindness by

the Iteghé, and orders given for my free admittance upon all occasions

like an officer of her household. As to the rest, I never was in

appearance more neglected, than in this present moment, by all but the

Moors. These were very grateful for the successful attention I had

shewed their children, and very desirous to have me again among them.

Hagi Saleh, in particular, could not satiate himself with cursing the

ingratitude of these cafers, and infidels, the Christians. He knew what

had passed at Koscam, he saw what he thought likely to happen now, and

his anger was that of an honest man, and which perhaps many former

instances which he had been witness of might have justified, but in the

present one he was mistaken.

In the evening, Negadè Ras Mahoment came to my house; he said Mahomet

Gibberti was arrived, had been twice on private business with the Ras,

but had not yet delivered him his presents; and he had not informed

me of this, as he thought I was still at Koscam, and that Saleh his

brother knew nothing of it, as he had not seen him since he came home.

He also informed me that Ayto Aylo was with the Ras twice the day after

he entered Gondar, and once with Mahomet Gibberti: all this was about

me; and that, at Ayto Aylo’s proposal, it was agreed that I should be

appointed Palambaras, which is master of the king’s horse. It is a very

great office, both for rank, and revenue, but has no business attending

it; the young Armenian had before enjoyed it. I told Mahomet, that,

far from being any kindness to me, this would make me the most unhappy

of all creatures; that my extreme desire was to see the country, and

its different natural productions; to converse with the people as a

stranger, but to be nobody’s master nor servant; to see their books;

and, above all, to visit the sources of the Nile; to live as privately

in my own house, and have as much time to myself as possible; and

what I was most anxious about at present, was to know when it would be

convenient for them to admit me to see the Ras, and deliver my letters

as a stranger.

Mahomet went away, and returned, bringing Mahomet Gibberti, who told

me, that, besides the letter I carried to Ras Michael from Metical

Aga his master, he had been charged with a particular one, out of the

ordinary form, dictated by the English at Jidda, who, all of them,

and particularly my friends Captain Thornhill, and Capt. Thomas Price

of the Lyon, had agreed to make a point with Metical Aga, devoted to

them for his own profit, that his utmost exertion of friendship and

interest, should be so employed in my recommendation, as to engage

the attention of Ras Michael to provide in earnest for my safety and

satisfaction in every point.

This letter I had myself read at Jidda; it informed Michael of the

power and riches of our nation, and that they were absolute masters of

the trade on the Red Sea, and strictly connected with the Sherriffe,

and in a very particular manner with him, Metical Aga; that any

accident happening to me would be an infamy and disgrace to him, and

worse than death itself, because, that knowing Michael’s power, and

relying on his friendship, he had become security for my safety, after

I arrived in his hands; that I was a man of consideration in my own

country, servant to the king of it, who, though himself a Christian,

governed his subjects Mussulmen and Pagans, with the same impartiality

and justice as he did Christians. That all my desire was to examine

springs and rivers, trees and flowers, and the stars in the heavens,

from which I drew knowledge very useful to preserve man’s health and

life; that I was no merchant, and had no dealings whatever in any sort

of mercantile matters; and that I had no need of any man’s money, as he

had told Mahomet Gibberti to provide for any call I might have in that

country, and for which he would answer, let the sum be what it would,

as he had the word of my countrymen to repay it, which he considered

better than the written security of any other people in the world.

He then repeated very nearly the same words used in the beginning of

the letter; and, upon this particular request, Metical Aga had sent

him a distinct present, not to confound it with other political and

commercial affairs, in which they were concerned together.

Upon reading this letter, Michael exclaimed, “Metical Aga does not

know the situation of this country. Safety! where is that to be found?

I am obliged to fight for my own life every day. Will Metical call

this safety? Who knows, at this moment, if the king is in safety, or

how long I shall be so? All I can do is to keep him with me. If I

lose my own life, and the king’s, Metical Aga can never think it was

in my power to preserve that of his stranger.”--“No, no,” says Ayto

Aylo, who was then present, “you don’t know the man; he is a devil on

horseback; he rides better, and shoots better, than any man that ever

came into Abyssinia; lose no time, put him about the king, and there

is no fear of him. He is very sober and religious; he will do the king

good.” “Shoot!” says Michael, “he won’t shoot at me as the Armenian

did; will he? will he?” “Oh,” continued Aylo, “you know these days are

over. What is the Armenian? a boy, a slave to the Turk. When you see

this man, you’ll not think of the Armenian.” It was finally agreed,

that the letters the Greeks had received should be read to the king;

that the letters I had from Metical Aga to the Ras should be given to

Mahomet Gibberti, and that I should be introduced to the King and the

Ras immediately after they were ready.

The reader may remember that, when I was at Cairo, I obtained

letters from Mark, the Greek patriarch, to the Greeks at Gondar; and

particularly one, in form of a bull, or rescript, to all the Greeks

in Abyssinia. In this, after a great deal of pastoral admonition, the

patriarch said, that, knowing their propensity to lying and vanity,

and not being at hand to impose proper penances upon them for these

sins, he exacted from them, as a proof of their obedience, that they

would, with a good grace, undergo this mortification, than which there

could be no gentler imposed, as it was only to speak the truth. He

ordered them in a body to go to the king, in the manner and time they

knew best, and to inform him that I was not to be confounded with the

rest of white men, such as Greeks, who were all subject to the Turks,

and slaves; but that I was a free man, of a free nation; and the best

of them would be happy in being my servant, as one of their brethren,

Michael, then actually was. I will not say but this was a bitter pill;

for they were high in office, all except Petros, who had declined all

employment after the murder of Joas his master, whose chamberlain he

was. The order of the patriarch, however, was fairly and punctually

performed; Petros was their spokesman; he was originally a shoemaker at

Rhodes, clever, and handsome in his person, but a great coward, though,

on such an occasion as the present, forward and capable enough.

I think it was about the 14th that these letters were to be all read.

I expected at the ordinary hour, about five in the afternoon, to be

sent for, and had rode out to Koscam with Ayto Heikel, the queen’s

chamberlain, to see the child, who was pretty well recovered of all

its complaints, but very weak. In the interim I was sent for to the

Ras, with orders to dispatch a man with the king’s present, to wait for

me at the palace, whither I was to go after leaving Michael. It was

answered, That I was at Koscam, and the errand I had gone on mentioned;

which disappointment, and the cause, did no way prejudice me with the

Ras. Five in the evening was fixed as the hour, and notice sent to

Koscam. I came a little before the time, and met Ayto Aylo at the door.

He squeezed me by the hand, and said, “Refuse nothing, it can be all

altered afterwards; but it is very necessary, on account of the priests

and the populace, you have a place of some authority, otherwise you

will be robbed and murdered the first time you go half a mile from

home: fifty people have told me you have chests filled with gold, and

that you can make gold, or bring what quantity you please from the

Indies; and the reason of all this is, because you refused the queen

and Ozoro Esther’s offer of gold at Koscam, and which you must never do

again.”

We went in and saw the old man sitting upon a sofa; his white hair was

dressed in many short curls. He appeared to be thoughtful, but not

displeased; his face was lean, his eyes quick and vivid, but seemed

to be a little sore from exposure to the weather. He seemed to be

about six feet high, though his lameness made it difficult to guess

with accuracy. His air was perfectly free from constraint, what the

French call _degageé_. In face and person he was liker my learned and

worthy friend, the Count de Buffon, than any two men I ever saw in the

world. They must have been bad physiognomists that did not discern his

capacity and understanding by his very countenance. Every look conveyed

a sentiment with it: he seemed to have no occasion for other language,

and indeed he spoke little. I offered, as usual, to kiss the ground

before him; and of this he seemed to take little notice, stretching out

his hand and shaking mine upon my rising.

I sat down with Aylo, three or four of the judges, Petros, Heikel the

queen’s chamberlain, and an Azage from the king’s house, who whispered

something in his ear, and went out; which interruption prevented me

from speaking as I was prepared to do, or give him my present, which

a man held behind me. He began gravely, “Yagoube, I think that is

your name, hear what I say to you, and mark what I recommend to you.

You are a man, I am told, who make it your business to wander in the

fields in search after trees and grass in solitary places, and to sit

up all night alone looking at the stars of the heavens: Other countries

are not like this, though this was never so bad as it is now. These

wretches here are enemies to strangers; if they saw you alone in your

own parlour, their first thought would be how to murder you; though

they knew they were to get nothing by it, they would murder you for

mere mischief.” “The devil is strong in them,” says a voice from a

corner of the room, which appeared to be that of a priest. “Therefore,”

says the Ras, “after a long conversation with your friend Aylo, whose

advice I hear you happily take, as indeed we all do, I have thought

that situation best which leaves you at liberty to follow your own

designs, at the same time that it puts your person in safety; that you

will not be troubled with monks about their religious matters, or in

danger from these rascals that may seek to murder you for money.”

“What are the monks?” says the same voice from the corner; “the monks

will never meddle with such a man as this.”--“Therefore the king,”

continued the Ras, without taking any notice of the interruption,

“has appointed you Baalomaal, and to command the Koccob horse, which

I thought to have given to Francis, an old soldier of mine; but he is

poor, and we will provide for him better, for these appointments have

honour, but little profit.” “Sir,” says Francis, who was in presence,

but behind, “it is in much more honourable hands than either mine or

the Armenian’s, or any other white man’s, since the days of Hatzè

Menas, and so I told the king to-day.” “Very well, Francis,” says the

Ras; “it becomes a soldier to speak the truth, whether it makes for

or against himself. Go then to the king, and kiss the ground upon

your appointment. I see you have already learned this ceremony of

our’s; Aylo and Heikel are very proper persons to go with you. The

king expressed his surprise to me last night he had not seen you; and

there too is Tecla Mariam, the king’s secretary, who came with your

appointment from the palace to-day.” The man in the corner, that I

took for a priest, was this Tecla Mariam, a scribe. Out of the king’s

presence men of this order cover their heads, as do the priests, which

was the reason of my mistake.

I then gave him a present, which he scarce looked at, as a number of

people were pressing in at the door from curiosity or business. Among

these I discerned Abba Salama. Every body then went out but myself,

and these people were rushing in behind me, and had divided me from

my company. The Ras, however, seeing me standing alone, cried, “Shut

the door;” and asked me, in a low tone of voice, “Have you any thing

private to say?” “I see you are busy, Sir,” said I; “but I will speak

to Ozoro Esther.” His anxious countenance brightened up in a moment.

“That is true,” says he, “Yagoube, it will require a long day to settle

that account with you: Will the boy live?” “The life of man is in the

hand of God,” said I, “but I should hope the worst is over;” upon which

he called to one of his servants, “Carry Yagoube to Ozoro Esther.”

It is needless for me to take up the reader’s time with any thing but

what illustrates my travels; he may therefore guess the conversation

that flowed from a grateful heart on that occasion. I ordered her

child to be brought to her every forenoon, upon condition she returned

him soon after mid-day. I then took a speedy leave of Ozoro Esther,

the reason of which I told her when she was following me to the door.

She said, “When shall I lay my hands upon that idiot Aylo? The Ras

would have done any thing; he had appointed you Palambaras, but, upon

conversing with Aylo, he had changed his mind. He says it will create

envy, and take up your time. What signifies their envy? Do not they

envy Ras Michael? and where can you pass your time better than at

court, with a command under the king.” I said, “All is for the best,

Aylo did well; all is for the best.” I then left her unconvinced, and

saying, “I will not forgive this to Ayto Aylo these seven years.”

Aylo and Heikel had gone on to the palace, wondering, as did the whole

company, what could be my private conference with Michael, which, after

playing abundantly with their curiosity, I explained to them next day.

I went afterwards to the king’s palace, and met Aylo and Heikel at

the door of the presence-chamber. Tecla Mariam walked before us to

the foot of the throne; after which I advanced and prostrated myself

upon the ground. “I have brought you a servant,” says he to the king,

“from so distant a country, that if you ever let him escape, we shall

never be able to follow him, or know where to seek him.” This was said

facetiously by an old familiar servant; but the king made no reply, as

far as we could guess, for his mouth was covered, nor did he shew any

alteration of countenance. Five people were standing on each side of

the throne, all young men, three on his left, and two on his right. One

of these, the son of Tecla Mariam, (afterwards my great friend) who

stood uppermost on the left hand, came up, and taking hold of me by the

hand, placed me immediately above him; when seeing I had no knife in my

girdle, he pulled out his own and gave it to me. Upon being placed, I

again kissed the ground.

The king was in an alcove; the rest went out of sight from where the

throne was, and sat down. The usual questions now began about Jerusalem

and the holy places--where my country was? which it was impossible to

describe, as they knew the situation of no country but their own--why

I came so far?--whether the moon and the stars, but especially the

moon, was the same in my country as in theirs?--and a great many such

idle and tiresome questions. I had several times offered to take my

present from the man who held it, that I might offer it to his Majesty

and go away; but the king always made a sign to put it off, till, being

tired to death with standing, I leaned against the wall. Aylo was fast

asleep, and Ayto Heikel and the Greeks cursing their master in their

heart for spoiling the good supper that Anthulè his treasurer had

prepared for us. This, as we afterwards found out, the king very well

knew, and resolved to try our patience to the utmost. At last, Ayto

Aylo stole away to bed, and every body else after him, except those

who had accompanied me, who were ready to die with thirst, and drop

down with weariness. It was agreed by those that were out of sight, to

send Tecla Mariam to whisper in the king’s ear, that I had not been

well, which he did, but no notice was taken of it. It was now past ten

o’clock, and he shewed no inclination to go to bed.

Hitherto, while there were strangers in the room, he had spoken to

us by an officer called Kal Hatzè, _the voice or word of the king_;

but now, when there were nine or ten of us, his menial servants,

only present, he uncovered his face and mouth, and spoke himself.

Sometimes it was about Jerusalem, sometimes about horses, at other

times about shooting; again about the Indies; how far I could look

into the heavens with my telescopes: and all these were deliberately

and circumstantially repeated, if they were not pointedly answered. I

was absolutely in despair, and scarcely able to speak a word, inwardly

mourning the hardness of my lot in this my first preferment, and

sincerely praying it might be my last promotion in this court. At last

all the Greeks began to be impatient, and got out of the corner of the

room behind the alcove, and stood immediately before the throne. The

king seemed to be astonished at seeing them, and told them he thought

they had all been at home long ago. They said, however, they would not

go without me; which the king said could not be, for one of the duties

of my employment was to be charged with the door of his bed-chamber

that night.

I think I could almost have killed him in that instant. At last Ayto

Heikel, taking courage, came forward to him, pretending a message from

the queen, and whispered him something in the ear, probably that the

Ras would take it ill. He then laughed, said he thought we had supped,

and dismissed us.

CHAP. IX.

_Transactions at Gondar._

We went all to Anthuse’s house to supper in violent rage, such anger

as is usual with hungry men. We brought with us from the palace three

of my brother Baalomaals, and one who had stood to make up the number,

though he was not in office; his name was Guebra Mascal, he was a

sister’s son of the Ras, and commanded one third of the troops of

Tigré, which carried fire-arms, that is about 2000 men. He was reputed

the best officer of that kind that the Ras had, and was a man about 30

years of age, short, square, and well made, with a very unpromising

countenance; flat nose, wide mouth, of a very yellow complexion, and

much pitted with the small-pox; he had a most uncommon presumption upon

the merit of past services, and had the greatest opinion of his own

knowledge in the use of fire-arms, to which he did not scruple to say

Ras Michael owed all his victories. Indeed it was to the good opinion

that the Ras had of him as a soldier that he owed his being suffered

to continue at Gondar; for he was suspected to have been familiar with

one of his uncle’s wives in Tigré, by whom it was thought he had a

child, at least the Ras put away his wife, and never owned the child to

be his.

This man supped with us that night, and thence began one of the most

serious affairs I ever had in Abyssinia. Guebra Mascal, as usual,

vaunted incessantly his skill in fire-arms, the wonderful gun that he

had, and feats he had done with it. Petros said, laughing, to him,

“You have a genius for shooting, but you have had no opportunity to

learn. Now, Yagoube is come, he will teach you something worth talking

off.” They had all drank abundantly, and Guebra Mascal had uttered

words that I thought were in contempt of me. I believe, replied I

peevishly enough, Guebra Mascal, I should suspect, from your discourse,

you neither knew men nor guns; every gun of mine in the hands of my

servants shall kill twice as far as yours, for my own, it is not worth

my while to put a ball in it: When I compare with you, the end of a

tallow-candle in my gun shall do more execution than an iron ball in

the best of yours, with all the skill and experience you pretend to.

He said I was a Frank, and a liar, and, upon my immediately rising up,

he gave me a kick with his foot. I was quite blind with passion, seized

him by the throat, and threw him on the ground stout as he was. The

Abyssinians know nothing of either wrestling or boxing. He drew his

knife as he was falling, attempted to cut me in the face, but his arm

not being at freedom, all he could do was to give me a very trifling

stab, or wound, near the crown of the head, so that the blood trickled

down over my face. I had tript him up, but till then had never struck

him. I now wrested the knife from him with a full intention to kill

him; but Providence directed better. Instead of the point, I struck

so violently with the handle upon his face as to leave scars, which

would be distinguished even among the deep marks of the small-pox. An

adventure so new, and so unexpected, presently overcame the effects

of wine. It was too late to disturb anybody either in the palace or

at the house of the Ras. A hundred opinions were immediately started;

some were for sending us up to the king, as we were actually in the

precincts of the palace, where lifting a hand is death. Ayto Heikel

advised that I should go, late as it was, to Koscam; and Petros, that

I should repair immediately to the house of Ayto Aylo, while the two

Baalomaals were for taking me to sleep in the palace. Anthulè, in

whose house I was, and who was therefore most shocked at the outrage,

wished me to stay in his house, where I was, from a supposition that I

was seriously wounded, which all of them, seeing the blood fall over

my eyes, seemed to think was the case, and he, in the morning, at

the king’s rising, was to state the matter as it happened. All these

advices appeared good when they were proposed; for my part, I thought

they only tended to make bad worse, and bore the appearance of guilt,

of which I was not conscious.

I now determined to go home, and to bed in my own house. With that

intention, I washed my face and wound with vinegar, and found the

blood to be already staunched. I then wrapt myself up in my cloak, and

returned home without accident, and went to bed. But this would neither

satisfy Ayto Heikel nor Petros, who went to the house of Ayto Aylo,

then past midnight, so that early in the morning, when scarce light, I

saw him come into my chamber. Guebra Mascal had fled to the house of

Kefla Yasous his relation; and the first news we heard in the morning,

after Ayto Aylo arrived, were, that Guebra Mascal was in irons at the

Ras’s house.

Every person that came afterwards brought up some new account; the

whole people present had been examined, and had given, without

variation, the true particulars of my forbearance, and his insolent

behaviour. Every body trembled for some violent resolution the Ras was

to take on my first complaint. The town was full of Tigrè soldiers, and

nobody saw clearer than I did, however favourable a turn this had taken

for me in the beginning, it might be my destruction in the end.

I asked Ayto Aylo his opinion. He seemed at a loss to give it me; but

said, in an uncertain tone of voice, he could wish that I would not

complain of Guebra Mascal while I was angry, or while the Ras was

so inveterate against him, till some of his friends had spoken, and

appeared, at least, his first resentment. I answered, “That I was of a

contrary opinion, and that no time was to be lost: remember the letter

of Mahomet Gibberti; remember his confidence yesterday of my being

safe where he was; remember the influence of Ozoro Esther, and do not

let us lose a moment.” “What, says Aylo to me in great surprise, are

you mad? Would you have him cut to pieces in the midst of 20,000 of

his countrymen? Would you be dimmenia, that is, guilty of the blood

of all the province of Tigrè, through which you must go in your way

home?” “Just the contrary, said I, nobody has so great a right over

the Ras’s anger as I have, being the person injured; and, as you and I

can get access to Ozoro Esther when we please, let us go immediately

thither, and stop the progress of this affair while it is not yet

generally known. People that talk of my being wounded expect to see me,

I suppose, without a leg or an arm. When they see me so early riding

in the street, all will pass for a story as it should do. Would you

wish to pardon him entirely?”--“That goes against my heart, too, says

Aylo, he is a bad man.”--“My good friend, said I, be in this guided by

me, I know we both think the same thing. If he is a bad man, he was

a bad man before I knew him. You know what you told me yourself of

the Ras’s jealousy of him. What if he was to revenge his own wrongs,

under pretence of giving me satisfaction for mine? Come, lose no time,

get upon your mule, go with me to Ozoro Esther, I will answer for the

consequences.”

We arrived there; the Ras was not sitting in judgment, he had drank

hard the night before, on occasion of Powussen’s marriage, and was not

in bed when the story of the fray reached him. We found Ozoro Esther

in a violent anger and agitation, which was much alleviated by my

laughing. On her asking me about my wound, which had been represented

to her as dangerous, “I am afraid, said I, poor Guebra Mascal is worse

wounded than I.” “Is he wounded too? says she; I hope it is in his

heart.” “Indeed, replied I, Madam, there are no wounds on either side.

He was very drunk, and I gave him several blows upon the face as he

deserved, and he has already got all the chastisement he ought to have;

it was all a piece of folly.” “Prodigious! says she; is this so?” “It

is so, says Aylo, and you shall hear it all by-and-by, only let us

stop the propagation of this foolish story.”

The Ras in the instant sent for us. He was naked, sitting on a stool,

and a slave swathing up his lame leg with a broad belt or bandage. I

asked him calmly and pleasantly if I could be of any service to him?

He looked at me with a grin, the most ghastly I ever saw, as half

displeased. “What! says he, are you all mad? Aylo, what is the matter

between him and that miscreant Guebra Mascal?”--“Why, said I, I am

come to tell you that myself; why do you ask Ayto Aylo? Guebra Mascal

got drunk, was insolent, and struck me. I was sober, and beat him, as

you will see by his face; and I have now come to you to say I am sorry

that I lifted my hand against your nephew; but he was in the wrong, and

drunk; and I thought it was better to chastise him on the spot, than

trust him to you, who perhaps might take the affair to heart, for we

all know your justice, and that being your relation is no excuse when

you judge between man and man.” “I order you, Aylo, says Michael, as

you esteem my friendship, to tell me the truth, really as it was, and

without disguise or concealment.”

Aylo began accordingly to relate the whole history, when a servant

called me out to Ozoro Esther. I found with her another nephew of

the Ras, a much better man, called Welleta Selassé, who came from

Kefla Yasous, and Guebra Mascal himself, desiring I would forgive and

intercede for him, for it was a drunken quarrel without malice. Ozoro

Esther had told him part. “Come in with me, said I, and you shall see

I never will leave the Ras till he forgive him.” “Let him punish him,

says Welleta Selassé, he is a bad man, but don’t let the Ras either

kill or maim him.” “Come, said I, let us go to the Ras, and he shall

neither kill, maim, nor punish him, if I can help it. It is my first

request; if he refuses me I will return to Jidda; come and hear.”

Aylo had urged the thing home to the Ras in the proper light--that

of my safety. “You are a wise man, says Michael, now perfectly cool,

as soon as he saw me and Welleta Selassé. It is a man like you that

goes far in safety, which is the end we all aim at. I feel the affront

offered you more than you do, but will not have the punishment

attributed to you; this affair shall turn to your honour and security,

and in that light only I can pass over his insolence.” “Welleta

Selassé, says he, falling into a violent passion in an instant, What

sort of behaviour is this my men have adopted with strangers? and _my

stranger_, too, and in the king’s palace, and the king’s servant? What!

am I dead? or become incapable of governing longer?” Welleta Selassé

bowed, but was afraid to speak, and indeed the Ras looked like a fiend.

“Come, says the Ras, let me see your head.” I shewed him where the

blood was already hardened, and said it was a very slight cut. “A cut,

continued Michael, over that part, with one of our knives, is mortal.”

“You see, Sir, said I, I have not even clipt the hair about the wound;

it is nothing. Now give me your promise you will set Guebra Mascal at

liberty; and not only that, but you are not to reproach him with the

affair further than that he was drunk, not a crime in this country.”

“No, truly, says he, it is not; but that is, because it is very rare

that people fight with knives when they are drunk. I scarce ever heard

of it, even in the camp.” “I fancy, said I, endeavouring to give a

light turn to the conversation, they have not often wherewithal to get

drunk in your camp.” “Not this last year, says he, laughing, there were

no houses in the country.” “But let me only merit, said I, Welleta

Selassé’s friendship, by making him the messenger of good news to

Guebra Mascal, that he is at liberty, and you have forgiven him.” “At

liberty! says he, Where is he?” “In your house, said I, somewhere, in

irons.” “That is Esther’s intelligence, continued the Ras; these women

tell you all their secrets, but when I remember your behaviour to them

I do not wonder at it, and that consideration likewise obliges me to

grant what you ask. Go, Welleta Selassé, and free that dog from his

collar, and direct him to go to Welleta Michael, who will give him his

orders to levy the meery in Woggora; let him not see my face till he

returns.”

Ozoro Esther gave us breakfast, to which several of the Greeks came.

After which I went to Koscam, where I heard a thousand curses upon

Guebra Mascal. The whole affair was now made up, and the king was

acquainted with the issue of it. I stood in my place, where he shewed

me very great marks of favour; he was grave, however, and sorrowful, as

if mortified with what had happened. The king ordered me to stay and

dine at the palace, and he would send me my dinner. I there saw the

sons of Kasmati Eshté, Aylo, and Engedan, and two Welleta Selassés;

one the son of Tecla Mariam, the other the son of a great nobleman

in Goiam, all young men, with whom I lived ever after in perfect

familiarity and friendship. The two last were my brethren Baalomaal, or

gentlemen of the king’s bed-chamber.

They all seemed to have taken my cause to heart more than I wished

them to do, for fear it should be productive of some new quarrel.

For my own part, I never was so dejected in my life. The troublesome

prospect before me presented itself day and night. I more than twenty

times resolved to return by Tigrè, to which I was more inclined by

the loss of a young man who accompanied me through Barbary, and

assisted me in the drawings of architecture which I made for the king

there, part of which he was still advancing here, when a dysentery,

which had attacked him in Arabia Felix, put an end to his life[17] at

Gondar. A considerable disturbance was apprehended upon burying him

in a church-yard. Abba Salama used his utmost endeavours to raise the

populace and take him out of his grave; but some exertions of the Ras

quieted both Abba Salama and the tumults.

I began, however, to look upon every thing now as full of difficulty

and danger; and, from this constant fretting and despondency, I found

my health much impaired, and that I was upon the point of becoming

seriously ill. There was one thing that contributed in some measure

to dissipate these melancholy thoughts, which was, that all Gondar

was in one scene of festivity. Ozoro Ayabdar, daughter of the late

Welled Hawaryat, by Ozoro Altash, Ozoro Esther’s sister, and the

Iteghè’s youngest daughter, consequently grand-daughter to Michael, was

married to Powussen, now governor of Begemder. The king gave her large

districts of land in that province, and Ras Michael a large portion

of gold, muskets, cattle, and horses. All the town, that wished to

be well-looked upon by either party, brought something considerable

as a present. The Ras, Ozoro Esther, and Ozoro Altash, entertained

all Gondar. A vast number of cattle was slaughtered every day, and

the whole town looked like one great market; the common people, in

every street, appearing loaded with pieces of raw beef, while drink

circulated in the same proportion. The Ras insisted upon my dining with

him every day, when he was sure to give me a headache with the quantity

of mead, or hydromel, he forced me to swallow, a liquor that never

agreed with me from the first day to the last.

After dinner we slipt away to parties of ladies, where anarchy

prevailed as complete as at the house of the Ras. All the married women

ate, drank, and smoaked like the men; and it is impossible to convey

to the reader any idea of this bacchanalian scene in terms of common

decency. I found it necessary to quit this riot for a short time, and

get leave to breathe the fresh air of the country, at such a distance

as that, once a day, or once in two days, I might be at the palace, and

avoid the constant succession of those violent scenes of debauchery of

which no European can form any idea, and which it was impossible to

escape, even at Koscam.

Although the king’s favour, the protection of the Ras, and my obliging,

attentive, and lowly behaviour to every body, had made me as popular as

I could wish at Gondar, and among the Tigrans fully as much as those of

Amhara, yet it was easy to perceive, that the cause of my quarrel with

Guebra Mascal was not yet forgot.

One day, when I was standing by the king in the palace, he asked,

in discourse, “Whether I, too, was not drunk in the quarrel with

Guebra Mascal, before we came to blows?” and, upon my saying that I

was perfectly sober, both before and after, because Anthulè’s red

wine was finished, and I never willingly drank hydromel, or mead, he

asked with a degree of keenness, “Did you then soberly say to Guebra

Mascal, that an end of a tallow candle, in a gun in your hand, would

do more execution than an iron bullet in his?”--“Certainly, Sir, I did

so.”--“And why did you say this?” says the king dryly enough, and in a

manner I had not before observed. “Because, replied I, it was truth,

and a proper reproof to a vain man, who, whatever eminence he might

have obtained in a country like this, has not knowledge enough to

entitle him to the trust of cleaning a gun in mine.”--“O! ho! continued

the king; as for his knowledge I am not speaking of that, but about his

gun. You will not persuade me that, with a tallow candle, you can kill

a man or a horse.”--“Pardon me, Sir, said I, bowing very respectfully,

I will attempt to persuade you of nothing but what you please to be

convinced of: Guebra Mascal is my equal no more, you are my master,

and, while I am at your court, under your protection, you are in place

of my sovereign, it would be great presumption in me to argue with you,

or lead to a conversation against an opinion that you profess you are

already fixed in.”--“No, no, says he, with an air of great kindness,

by no means, I was only afraid you would expose yourself before bad

people; what you say to me is nothing.”--“And what I say to you, Sir,

has always been as scrupulously true as if I had been speaking to the

king my native sovereign and master. Whether I can kill a man with

a candle, or not, is an experiment that should not be made. Tell me,

however, what I shall do before you that you may deem an equivalent?

Will piercing the table, upon which your dinner is served, (it was of

sycamore, about three quarters of an inch thick), at the length of this

room, be deemed a sufficient proof of what I advanced?”

“Ah, Yagoube, says the king, take care what you say. That is indeed

more than Guebra Mascal will do at that distance; but take great

care; you don’t know these people; they will lie themselves all day;

nay, their whole life is one lie; but of you they expect better, or

would be glad to find worse; take care.” Ayto Engedan, who was then

present, said, “I am sure if Yagoube says he can do it, he will do

it; but how, I don’t know. Can you shoot through my shield with a

tallow candle?”--“To you, Ayto Engedan, said I, I can speak freely;

I could shoot thro’ your shield if it was the strongest in the army,

and kill the strongest man in the army that held it before him. When

will you see this tried?”--“Why now, says the king; there is _nobody

here_.”--“The sooner the better, said I; I would not wish to remain for

a moment longer under so disagreeable an imputation as that of lying,

an infamous one in my country, whatever it may be in this. Let me send

for _my_ gun; the king will look out at the window.”--“_Nobody_, says

he, knows any thing of it; _nobody will come_.”

The king appeared to be very anxious, and, I saw plainly, incredulous.

The gun was brought; Engedan’s shield was produced, which was of

strong buffalo’s hide. I said to him, “This is a weak one, give me one

stronger.” He shook his head, and said, “Ah, Yagoube, you’ll find it

strong enough; Engedan’s shield is known to be no toy.” Tecla Mariam

brought such a shield, and the Billetana Gueta Tecla another, both of

which were most excellent in their kind. I loaded the gun before them,

first with powder, then upon it slid down one half of what we call a

farthing candle; and, having beat off the handles of three shields,

I put them close in contact with each other, and set them all three

against a post.

“Now, Engedan, said I, when you please say--Fire! but mind you have

taken leave of your good shield for ever.” The word was given, and the

gun fired. It struck the three shields, neither in the most difficult

nor the easiest place for perforation, something less than half way

between the rim and the boss. The candle went through the three shields

with such violence that it dashed itself to a thousand pieces against a

stone-wall behind it. I turned to Engedan, saying very lowly, gravely,

and without exultation or triumph, on the contrary with absolute

indifference, “Did not I tell you your shield was naught?” A great

shout of applause followed from about a thousand people that were

gathered together. The three shields were carried to the king, who

exclaimed in great transport, I did not believe it before I saw it, and

I can scarce believe it now I have seen it. Where is Guebra Mascal’s

confidence now? But what do either he or we know? “We know nothing.” I

thought he looked abashed.

“Ayto Engedan, said I, we must have a touch at that table. It was said,

the piercing that was more than Guebra Mascal could do. We have one

half of the candle left still; it is the thinnest, weakest half, and I

shall put the wick foremost, because the cotton is softest.” The table

being now properly placed, to Engedan’s utmost astonishment the candle,

with the wick foremost, went through the table, as the other had gone

through the three shields. “By St Michael! says Engedan, Yagoube,

hereafter say to me you can raise my father Eshté from the grave, and

I will believe you.” Some priests who were there, though surprised

at first, seemed afterward to treat it rather lightly, because they

thought it below their dignity to be surprised at any thing. They said

it was done (mucktoub) by writing, by which they meant magic. Every

body embraced that opinion as an evident and rational one, and so the

wonder with them ceased. But it was not so with the king: It made the

most favourable and lasting impression upon his mind; nor did I ever

after see, in his countenance, any marks either of doubt or diffidence,

but always, on the contrary, the most decisive proofs of friendship,

confidence, and attention, and the most implicit belief of every thing

I advanced upon any subject from my own knowledge.

The experiment was twice tried afterwards in presence of Ras Michael.

But he would not risk his good shields, and always produced the

table, saying, “Engedan and those foolish boys were rightly served;

they thought Yagoube was a liar like themselves, and they lost their

shields; but I believed him, and gave him my table for curiosity only,

and so I saved mine.”

As I may now say I was settled in this country, and had an opportunity

of being informed of the manners, government, and present state of

it, I shall here inform the reader of what I think most worthy his

attention, whether ancient or modern, while we are yet in peace,

before we are called out to a campaign or war, attended with every

disadvantage, danger, and source of confusion.

CHAP. X.

_Geographical Division of Abyssinia into Provinces._

At Masuah, that is, on the coast of the Red Sea, begins an imaginary

division of Abyssinia into two, which is rather a division of language

than strictly to be understood as territorial. The first division is

called _Tigré_, between the Red Sea and the river Tacazzé. Between that

river and the Nile, westward, where it bounds the Galla, it is called

_Amhara_.

Whatever convenience there maybe from this division, there is neither

geographical nor historical precision in it, for there are many little

provinces included in the first that do not belong to Tigré; and, in

the second division, which is Amhara, that which gives the name is but

a very small part of it.

Again, in point of language, there is a variety of tongues spoken in

the second division besides that of Amhara. In Tigrè, however, the

separation as to languages holds true, as there is no tongue known

there but Geez, or that of the Shepherds.

Masuah, in ancient times, was one of the principal places of residence

of the Baharnagash, who, when he was not there himself, constantly left

his deputy, or lieutenant. In summer he resided for several months in

the island of Dahalac, then accounted part of his territory. He was,

after the King and Betwudet, the person of the greatest consideration

in the kingdom, and was invested with sendick and nagareet, the

kettle-drum, and colours, marks of supreme command.

Masuah was taken, and a basha established there soon after, as we have

seen in the history, in the reign of Menas, when the Baharnagash, named

Isaac, confederated with the Turkish basha, and ceded to him a great

territory, part of his own government, and with it Dobarwa, the capital

of his province, divided only by the river Mareb from Tigré. From

this time this office fell into disrepute in the kingdom. The sendick

and nagareet, the marks of supreme power, were taken from him, and he

never was allowed a place in council, unless specially called on by the

king. He preserves his privilege of being crowned with gold; but, when

appointed, has a cloak thrown over him, the one side white, the other a

dark blue, and the officer who crowns him admonishes him of what will

befal him if he preserves his allegiance, which is signified by the

white side of the cloak; and the disgrace and punishment that is to

attend his treason, and which has fallen upon his predecessors, which

he figures to him by turning up the colour of mourning.

Besides the dignity attending this office, it was also one of the most

lucrative. Frankincense, myrrh, and a species of cinnamon, called by

the Italians Cannella, with several kinds of gums and dyes, all very

precious, from Cape Gardefan to Bilur, were the valuable produce of

this country: but this territory, though considerable in length, is not

of any great breadth; for, from south of Hadea to Masuah, it consists

in a belt seldom above forty miles from the sea, which is bounded by a

ridge of very high mountains, running parallel to the Indian Ocean and

the Red Sea, as far as Masuah.

After Azab begin the mines of fossile salt, which, cut into square,

solid bricks of about a foot long, serve in place of the silver

currency in Abyssinia; and from this, as from a kind of mint, great

benefit accrues also.

From Masuah the same narrow belt continues to Suakem; nay, indeed,

though the rains do not reach so far, the mountains continue to the

Isthmus of Suez. This northern province of the Baharnagash is called

the Habab, or the land of the Agaazi, or Shepherds; they speak one

language, which they call Geez, or the language of the Agaazi. From the

earliest times, they have had letters and writing among them; and no

other has ever been introduced into Abyssinia, to this day, as we have

already observed.

Since the expulsion of the Turks from Dobarwa and the continent of

Abyssinia, Masuah has been governed by a Naybe, himself one of the

Shepherds, but Mahometan. A treaty formerly subsisted, that the king

should receive half of the revenue of the customhouse in Masuah; in

return for which he was suffered to enjoy that small stripe of barren,

dry country called Samhar, inhabited by black shepherds called Shiho,

reaching from Hamazen on the north to the foot of the mountain Taranta

on the south; but, by the favour of Michael, that is, by bribery and

corruption, he has possessed himself of two large frontier towns, Dixan

and Dobarwa, by lease, for a trifling sum, which he pays the king

yearly; this must necessarily very much weaken this state, if it should

ever again have war with the Turks, of which indeed there is no great

probability.

The next province in Abyssinia, as well for greatness as riches,

power, and dignity, and nearest Masuah, is Tigrè. It is bounded by the

territory of the Baharnagash, that is, by the river Mareb on the east,

and the Tacazzè upon the west. It is about one hundred and twenty miles

broad from E. to W. and two hundred from N. to S. This is its present

situation. The hand of usurping power has abolished all distinction on

the west-side of the Tacazzè; besides, many large governments, such as

Enderta and Antalow, and great part of the Baharnagash, were swallowed

up in this province to the east.

What, in a special manner, makes the riches of Tigré, is, that it

lies nearest the market, which is Arabia; and all the merchandise

destined to cross the Red Sea must pass through this province, so

that the governor has the choice of all commodities wherewith to make

his market. The strongest male, the most beautiful female slaves, the

purest gold, the largest teeth of ivory, all must pass through his

hand. Fire-arms, moreover, which for many years have decided who is

the most powerful in Abyssinia, all these come from Arabia, and not one

can be purchased without his knowing to whom it goes, and after his

having had the first refusal of it.

Siré, a province about twenty-five miles broad, and not much more

in length, is reckoned as part of Tigré also, but this is not a new

usurpation. It lost the rank of a province, and was united to Tigré for

the misbehaviour of its governor Kasmati Claudius, in an expedition

against the Shangalla in the reign of Yasous the Great. In my time,

it began again to get into reputation, and was by Ras Michael’s own

consent disjoined from his province, and given first to his son Welled

Hawaryat, together with Samen, and, after his death, to Ayto Tesfos,

a very amiable man, gallant soldier, and good officer; who, fighting

bravely in the king’s service at the battle of Serbraxos, was there

wounded and taken prisoner, and died of his wounds afterwards.

After passing the Tacazzè, the boundary between Sirè and Samen, we come

to that mountainous province called by the last name. A large chain of

rugged mountains, where is the Jews Rock, (which I shall often mention

as the highest), reaches from the south of Tigré down near to Waldubba,

the low, hot country that bounds Abyssinia on the north. It is about 80

miles in length, in few places 30 broad, and in some much less. It is

in great part possessed by Jews, and _there_ Gideon and Judith, king

and queen of that nation, and, as they say, of the house of Judah,

maintain still their ancient sovereignty and religion from very early

times.

On the N. E. of Tigré lies the province of Begemder. It borders upon

Angot, whose governor is called Angot Ras; but the whole province now,

excepting a few villages, is conquered by the Galla.

It has Amhara, which runs parallel to it, on the south, and is

separated from it by the river Bashilo. Both these provinces are

bounded by the river Nile on the west. Begemder is about 180 miles

in its greatest length, and 60 in breadth, comprehending Lasta, a

mountainous province, sometimes depending on Begemder, but often in

rebellion. The inhabitants are esteemed the best soldiers in Abyssinia,

men of great strength and stature, but cruel and uncivilized; so that

they are called, in common conversation and writing, the peasants, or

barbarians of Lasta; they pay to the king 1000 ounces of gold.

Several small provinces are now dismembered from Begemder, such as

Foggora, a small stripe reaching S. and N. about 35 miles between

Emfras and Dara, and about 12 miles broad from E. to W. from the

mountains of Begemder to the lake Tzana. On the north end of this

are two small governments, Dreeda and Karoota, the only territory in

Abyssinia that produces wine, the merchants trade to Caffa and Narea,

in the country of the Galla. We speak of these territories as they are

in point of right; but when a nobleman of great power is governor of

the province of Begemder, he values not lesser rights, but unites them

all to his province.

Begemder is the strength of Abyssinia in horsemen. It is said, that,

with Lasta, it can bring out 45,000 men; but this, as far as ever

I could inform myself, is a great exaggeration. They are exceeding

good soldiers when they are pleased with their general, and the cause

for which they fight; otherwise, they are easily divided, great many

private interests being continually kept alive, as it is thought

industriously, by government itself. It is well stocked with cattle of

every kind, all very beautiful. The mountains are full of iron-mines;

they are not so steep and rocky nor so frequent, as in other provinces,

if we except only Lasta, and abound in all sort of wild fowl and game.

The south end of the province near Nefas Musa is cut into prodigious

gullies apparently by floods, of which we have no history. It is the

great barrier against the encroachments of the Galla; and, by many

attempts, they have tried to make a settlement in it, but all in vain.

Whole tribes of them have been extinguished in this their endeavour.

In many provinces of Abyssinia, favour is the only necessary to procure

the government; others are given to poor noblemen, that, by fleecing

the people, they may grow rich, and repair their fortune. But the

consequence of Begemder is so well known to the state, as reaching so

near the metropolis, and supplying it so constantly with all sorts of

provisions, that none but noblemen of rank, family, and character, able

to maintain a large number of troops always on foot, and in good order,

are trusted with its government.

Immediately next to this is Amhara, between the two rivers Bashilo

and Geshen. The length of this country from E. to W. is about 120

miles, and its breadth something more than 40. It is a very mountainous

country, full of nobility; the men are reckoned the handsomest in

Abyssinia, as well as the bravest. With the ordinary arms, the lance

and shield, they are thought to be superior to double the number of any

other soldiers in the kingdom. What, besides, added to the dignity of

this province, was the high mountain of Geshen, or the grassy mountain,

whereon the king’s sons were formerly imprisoned, till surprised and

murdered there in the Adelan war.

Between the two rivers Geshen and Samba, is a low, unwholesome,

though fertile province, called Walaka; and southward of that is

Upper Shoa. This province, or kingdom, was famous for the retreat it

gave to the only remaining prince of the house of Solomon, who fled

from the massacre of his brethren by Judith, about the year 900, upon

the rock of Damo. Here the royal family remained in security, and

increased in number, for near 400 years, till they were restored.

From thenceforward, as long as the king resided in the south of

his dominions, great tenderness and distinction was shewn to the

inhabitants of this province; and when the king returned again to

Tigrè, he abandoned them tacitly to their own government.

Amha Yasous, prince at this day, and lineal descendant of the governor

who first acknowledged the king, is now by connivance sovereign of that

province. In order to keep himself as independent and separate from

the rest of Abyssinia as possible, he has sacrificed the province of

Walaka, which belonged to him, to the Galla, who, by his own desire,

have surrounded Shoa on every side. But it is full of the bravest,

best horsemen, and best accoutred beyond all comparison of any in

Abyssinia, and, when they please, they can dispossess the Galla. Safe

and independent as the prince of Shoa now is, he is still the loyalist,

and the friend to monarchy he ever was; and, upon any signal distress

happening to the king, he never failed to succour him powerfully with

gold and troops, far beyond the quota formerly due from his province.

This Shoa boasts, likewise, the honour of being the native country of

Tecla Haimanout, restorer of the line of Solomon, the founder of the

monastery and Order of the monks of Debra Libanos, and of the power and

wealth of the Abuna, and the clergy in general, of Abyssinia.

Gojam, from north-east to south-east, is about 80 miles in length, and

40 in breadth. It is a very flat country, and all in pasture; has few

mountains, but these are very high ones, and are chiefly on the banks

of the Nile, to the south, which river surrounds the province; so that,

to a person who should walk round Gojam, the Nile would be always on

his left hand, from where it went south, falling out of the lake Tzana,

till it turns north through Fazuclo into the country of Sennaar and

Egypt.

Gojam is full of great herds of cattle, the largest in the high parts

of Abyssinia. The men are in the lowest esteem as soldiers, but the

country is very populous. The Jesuits were settled in many convents

throughout the province, and are no where half so much detested. The

monks of Gojam are those of St Eustathius, which may be called the Low

Church of Abyssinia. They are much inclined to turbulence in religious

matters, and are, therefore, always made tools by discontented people,

who have no religion at all.

On the south-east of the kingdom of Gojam is Damot. It is bounded by

the Temci on the east, by the Gult on the west, by the Nile on the

south, and by the high mountains of Amid Amid on the north. It is about

40 miles in length from north to south, and something more than 20 in

breadth from east to west. But all this peninsula, surrounded with the

river, is called Gojam, in general terms, from a line down through the

south end of the lake to Miné, the passage of the Nile in the way to

Narea.

It is surprising the Jesuits, notwithstanding their long abode in

Gojam, have not known where this neighbouring country of Damot was

situated, but have placed it south of the Nile. They were often,

however, in Damot, when Sela Christos was attempting the conquest and

conversion of the Agows.

On the other side of Amid Amid is the province of the Agows, bounded

by those mountains on the east; by Burè and Umbarma, and the country

of the Gongas, on the west; by Damot and Gafat upon the south, and

Dingleber on the north.

All those countries from Abbo, such as Goutto, Aroosi, and Wainadega,

were formerly inhabited by Agows; but, partly by the war with the

Galla beyond the Nile, partly by their own constant rebellions, this

territory, called Maitsha, which is the flat country on both sides of

the Nile, is quite uninhabited, and at last hath been given to colonies

of peaceable Galla, chiefly Djawi, who fill the whole low country to

the foot of the mountains Aformasha, in place of the Agows, the first

occupiers.

Maitsha, from the flatness of the country, not draining soon after the

rains, is in all places wet, but in many, miry and marshy; it produces

little or no corn, but depends entirely upon a plant called Ensete[18],

which furnishes the people both with wholesome and delicate food

throughout the year. For the rest, this province abounds in large fine

cattle, and breeds some indifferent horses.

Upon the mountains, above Maitsha, is the country of the Agows, the

richest province still in Abyssinia, notwithstanding the multitude

of devastations it has suffered. They lie round the country above

described, from Aformasha to Quaquera, where are the heads of two large

rivers, the Kelti and Branti. These are called the Agows of Damot, from

their nearness to that province, in contradistinction to the Agows of

Lasta, who are called Tcheratz-Agow, from Tchera, a principal town,

tribe, and district near Lasta and Begemder.

The Gafats, inhabiting a small district adjoining to the Galla, have

also distinct languages, so have the Galla themselves, of whom we have

often spoken; they are a large nation.

From Dingleber all along the lake, below the mountains bounding Guesgué

and Kuara, is called Dembea. This low province on the south of Gondar,

and Woggora the small high province on the east, are all sown with

wheat, and are the granaries of Abyssinia. Dembea seems once to have

been occupied entirely by the lake, and we see all over it marks that

cannot be mistaken, so that this large extent of water is visibly

upon the decrease; and this agrees with what is observed of stagnant

pools in general throughout the world. Dembea is called Atté-Kolla,

_the king’s food_, or maintenance, its produce being assigned for the

supplying of the king’s household. It is governed by an officer called

Cantiba; it is a lucrative post; but he is not reckoned one of the

great officers of the empire, and has no place in council.

South from Dembea is Kuara, a very mountainous province confining upon

the Pagan blacks, or Shangalla, called Gongas and Guba, the Macrobii

of the ancients. It is a very unwholesome province, but abounding in

gold, not of its own produce, but that of its neighbourhood, these

Pagans--Guba, Nuba, and Shangalla. Kuara signifies the sun, and Beja

(that is Atbara, and the low parts of Sennaar, the country of the

Shepherds, adjoining) signifies the _moon_, in the language of these

Shangalla. These names are some remains of their ancient superstitions.

Kuara was the native country of the Iteghè, or queen-regent, of Kasmati

Eshté, Welled de l’Oul, Gueta, Eusebius, and Palambaras Mammo.

In the low country of Kuara, near to Sennaar, there is a settlement of

Pagan blacks called Ganjar. They are mostly cavalry, and live entirely

by hunting and plundering, the Arabs of Atbara and Fazuclo. Their

origin is this: Upon the invasion of the Arabs after the coming of

Mahomet, the black slaves deserted from their masters, the Shepherds,

and took up their habitation, where they have not considerably

multiplied, otherwise than by the accession of vagrants and fugitives,

whom they get from both kingdoms. They are generally under the command

of the governor of Kuara, and were so when I was in Abyssinia, though

they refused to follow their governor Coque Abou Barea to fight against

Michael, but whether from fear or affection I know not; I believe the

former.

The governor of Kuara is one of the great officers of state, and, being

the king’s lieutenant-general, has absolute power in his province, and

carries _sendick_ and _nagareet_. His kettle-drums are silver, and his

privilege is to beat these drums even in marching through the capital,

which no governor of a province is permitted to do, none but the king’s

nagareets or kettle-drums being suffered to be beat there, or any where

in a town where the king is; but the governor of Kuara is intitled to

continue beating his drums till he comes to the foot of the outer stair

of the king’s palace. This privilege, from some good behaviour of the

first officer to whom the command was given, was conferred upon the

post by David II. called Degami Daid, who conquered the province from

the _Shepherds_, its old inhabitants.

Nara, and Ras el Feel, Tchelga, and on to Tcherkin, is a frontier

wholly inhabited by Mahometans. Its government is generally given

to a stranger, often to a Mahometan, but one of that faith is

always deputy-governor. The use of keeping troops here is to defend

the friendly Arabs and Shepherds, who remain in their allegiance

to Abyssinia, from the resentment of the Arabs of Sennaar, their

neighbours; and, by means of these friendly Arabs and Shepherds,

secure a constant supply of horses for the king’s troops. It is a

barren stripe of a very hot, unwholesome country, full of thick woods,

and fit only for hunting. The inhabitants, fugitives from all nations,

are chiefly Mahometans, but very bold and expert horsemen, using no

other weapon but the broad sword, with which they attack the elephant

and rhinoceros.

There are many other small provinces, which occasionally are annexed,

and sometimes are separated, such as Guesgué, to the eastward of Kuara;

Waldubba, between the rivers Guangue and Angrab; Tzegadé and Walkayt

on the west side of Waldubba; Abergalè and Selawa in the neighbourhood

of Begemder; Temben, Dobas, Giannamora, Bur, and Engana, in the

neighbourhood of Tigré, and many others: Such at least was the state

of the country in my time, very different in all respects from what

it has been represented. As to the precedency of these provinces we

shall further speak, when we come to mention the officers of state and

internal government in this country.

CHAP. XI.

_Various Customs in Abyssinia similar to those in Persia, &c.--A bloody

Banquet described, &c._

For the sake of regularity, I shall here notice what might clearly

be inferred from what is gone before. The crown of Abyssinia is

hereditary, and has always been so, in one particular family, supposed

to be that of Solomon by the queen of Saba, Negesta Azab, or queen of

the south. It is nevertheless elective in this line; and there is no

law of the land, nor custom, which gives the eldest son an exclusive

title to succeed to his father.

The practice has indeed been quite the contrary: when, at the death

of a king, his sons are old enough to govern, and, by some accident,

not yet sent prisoners to the mountain, then the eldest, or he that is

next, and not confined, generally takes possession of the throne by the

strength of his father’s friends; but if no heir is then in the low

country, the choice of the king is always according to the will of the

minister, which passes for that of the people; and, his inclination

and interest being to govern, he never fails to choose an infant

whom thereafter he directs, ruling the kingdom absolutely during the

minority, which generally exhausts, or is equal to the term of his life.

From this flow all the misfortunes of this unhappy country. This very

defect arises from a desire to institute a more than ordinary perfect

form of government; for the Abyssinians first position was, “Woe be

to the kingdom whose king is a child;” and this they know must often

happen when succession is left to the course of nature. But when there

was a choice to be made out of two hundred persons all of the same

family, all capable of reigning, it was their own fault, they thought,

if they had not always a prince of proper age and qualification to rule

the kingdom, according to the necessities of the times, and to preserve

the succession of the family in the house of Solomon, agreeable to the

laws of the land. And indeed it has been this manner of reasoning,

good at first view, though found afterwards but too fallacious, which

has ruined their kingdom in part, and often brought the whole into the

utmost hazard and jeopardy.

The king is anointed with plain oil of olives, which, being poured upon

the crown of his head, he rubs into his long hair indecently enough

with both his hands, pretty much as his soldiers do with theirs when

they get access to plenty of butter.

The crown is made in the shape of a priest’s mitre, or head-piece; it

is a kind of helmet, covering the king’s forehead, cheeks, and neck. It

is lined with blue taffety; the outside is half gold and half silver,

of the most beautiful filligrane work.

The crown, in Joas’s time, was burnt, with part of the palace, on that

day when Ras Michael’s dwarf was shot in his own house before him.

The present was since made by the Greeks from Smyrna, who have large

appointments here, and work with very great taste and elegance, though

they have not near so much encouragement as formerly.

Upon the top of the crown was a ball of red glass, or chrystal, with

several bells of different colours within it. It seems to me to have

formerly been no better than part of the stopper of a glass-decanter.

Be that as it may, it was lost in Yasous’s time at the defeat of

Sennaar; It was found, however, by a Mahometan, and brought by

Guangoul, chief of the Bertuma Galla, to the frontiers of Tigrè, where

Michael, governor of that province, went with an army in great ceremony

to receive it, and, returning with it, gave it to king Yasous, making

thereby a great advance towards the king’s favour.

Some people[19], among the other unwarranted things they have advanced,

have said, That, at the king’s coronation, a gold ear-ring is put into

his ears, and a drawn sword into his hand, and that all the people fall

down and worship him; but there is no such ceremony in use, and

exhibitions of this kind, made by the king in public, at no period seem

to have suited the genius of this people. Formerly his face was never

seen, nor any part of him, excepting sometimes his foot. He sits in a

kind of balcony, with lattice-windows and curtains before him. Even

yet he covers his face on audiences or public occasions, and when in

judgment. On cases of treason, he sits within his balcony, and speaks

through a hole in the side of it, to an officer called Kal-Hatzè,

the “voice or word of the king,” by whom he sends his questions,

or any thing else that occurs, to the judges who are seated at the

council-table.

[Illustration:

1 _Crown_

2 _Standard_

3 _Shield outside_

4 _Shield inside_

5 _Javelins_

6 _Ornament after victory of all Kasmatis_

7 _Silver disc worn on festivals by

soldiers of quality._

London. Publish’d Dec{^r.} 1{^st.} 1789 by G. Robinson & Co.]

The king goes to church regularly, his guards taking possession of

every avenue and door through which he is to pass, and nobody is

allowed to enter with him, because he is then on foot, excepting two

officers of his bed-chamber who support him. He kisses the threshold

and side-posts of the church-door, the steps before the altar, and then

returns home: sometimes there is service in the church, sometimes there

is not; but he takes no notice of the difference. He rides up stairs

into the presence-chamber on a mule, and lights immediately on the

carpet before his throne; and I have sometimes seen great indecencies

committed by the said mule in the presence-chamber, upon a Persian

carpet.

An officer called Serach Massery, with a long whip, begins cracking

and making a noise, worse than twenty French postillions, at the door

of the palace before the dawn of day. This chases away the hyæna and

other wild beasts; this, too, is the signal for the king’s rising, who

sits in judgment every morning fasting, and after that, about eight

o’clock, he goes to breakfast.

There are six noblemen of the king’s own choosing, who are called

Baalomaal[20], or gentlemen of his bed-chamber; four of these are

always with him. There is a seventh, who is the chief of these, called

Azeleffa el Camisha, groom of the robe, or stole. He is keeper of

the king’s wardrobe, and the first officer of the bed-chamber. These

officers, the black slaves, and some others, serve him as menial

servants, and are in a degree of familiarity with him unknown to the

rest of the subjects.

When the king sits to consult upon civil matters of consequence, he is

shut up in a kind of box opposite to the head of the council table.

The persons that deliberate sit at the table, and, according to their

rank, give their voices, the youngest or lowest officer always speaking

first. The first that give their votes are the Shalaka, or colonels

of the household-troops. The second are the great butlers, men that

have the charge of the king’s drink. The third is the Badjerund, or

keeper of that apartment in the palace called the _lion’s house_; and

after these the keeper of the banqueting-house. The next is called

Lika Magwass, an officer that always goes before the king to hinder

the pressure of the crowd. In war, when the king is marching, he rides

constantly round him at a certain distance, and carries his shield, and

his lance; at least he carries a silver shield, and a lance pointed

with the same metal, before such kings as do not choose to expose their

person. That, however, was not the case in my time, as the king carried

the shield himself, black and unadorned, of good buffalo’s hide, and

his spear sharp-pointed with iron. His silver ornaments were only used

when the campaign was over, when these were carried by this officer.

Great was the respect shewed formerly to this king in war, and even

when engaged in battle with rebels, his own subjects.

No prince ever lost his life in battle till the coming of the Europeans

into Abyssinia, when both the excommunicating and murdering of their

sovereigns seem to have been introduced at the same time. The reader

will see, in the course of this history, two instances of this respect

being still kept up: the one at the battle of Limjour, where Fasil,

pretending that he was immediately to attack Ras Michael, desired that

the king might be dressed in his insignia, lest, not being known, he

might be slain by the stranger Galla. The next was after the battle

of Serbraxos, where the king was thrice in one day engaged with the

Begemder troops for a considerable space of time. These insignia, or

marks of royalty, are a white horse, with small silver bells at his

head, a shield of silver, and a white fillet of fine silk or muslin,

but generally the latter, some inches broad, which is tied round the

upper part of the head over his hair, with a large double or bow-knot

behind, the ends hanging down to the small of his back, or else flying

in the air.

After the Lika Magwass comes the Palambaras; after him the Fit-Auraris;

then the Gera Kasmati, and the Kanya Kasmati, their names being derived

from their rank or order in encamping, the one on the right, the other

on the left of the king’s tent; Kanya and Gera signifying _the right_

and _the left_; after them the Dakakin Billetana Gueta, or the under

chamberlain; then the secretary[21] for the king’s commands; after

him the right and left Azages, or generals; after them Rak Massery,

after him the basha, after him Kasmati of Damot, then of Samen, then

Amhara, and, last of all, Tigrè, before whom stands a golden cup upon a

cushion, and he is called Nebrit, as being governor of Axum, or keeper

of the book of the law supposed to be there.

After the governor of Tigrè comes the Acab Saat, or guardian of the

fire, and the chief ecclesiastical officer of the king’s household.

Some have said that this officer was appointed to attend the king at

the time of eating, and that it was his province to order both meat and

drink to be withdrawn whenever he saw the king inclined to excess. If

this was really his office, he never used it in my time, nor, as far

as I could learn, for several reigns before. Besides, no king eats in

public, or before any person but slaves; and he never would chuse that

time to commit excess, in which he might be controuled by a subject,

even if it was that subject’s right to be present when the king eats,

as it is not.

After the Acab Saat comes the first master of the household; then the

Betwudet, or Ras; last of all the king gives his sentence, which is

final, and sends it to the table, from the balcony where he is then

sitting, by the officer called, as aforementioned, Kal-Hatzè.

We meet in Abyssinia with various usages, which many have hitherto

thought to be peculiar to those ancient nations in which they were

first observed; others, not so learned, have thought they originated in

Abyssinia. I shall first take notice of those that regard the king and

court.

The kings of Persia[22], like these we are speaking of, were eligible

in one family only, that of the Arsacidæ, and it was not till that race

failed they chose Darius. The title of the king of Abyssinia is, _King

of Kings_; and such Daniel[23] tells us was that of Nebuchadnezzar. The

right of primogeniture does not so prevail in Abyssinia as to exclude

election in the person of the younger brothers, and this was likewise

the case in Persia[24].

In Persia[25] a preference was understood to be due to the king’s

lawful children; but there were instances of the natural child being

preferred to the lawful one. Darius, tho’ a bastard, was preferred

to Isogius, Xerxes’s lawful son, and that merely by the election of

the people. The same has always obtained in Abyssinia. A very great

part of their kings are adulterous bastards; others are the issue of

concubines, as we shall see hereafter, but they have been preferred to

the crown by the influence of a party, always under name of the Voice

of the People.

Although the Persian kings[26] had various palaces to which they

removed at different times in the year, Pasagarda, the metropolis

of their ancient kings, was observed as the only place for their

coronation; and this, too, was the case of Abyssinia with their

metropolis of Axum.

The next remarkable ceremony in which these two nations agreed, is that

of adoration, inviolably observed in Abyssinia to this day, as often as

you enter the sovereign’s presence. This is not only kneeling[27], but

an absolute prostration. You first fall upon your knees, then upon the

palms of your hands, then incline your head and body till your forehead

touch the earth; and, in case you have an answer to expect, you lie in

that posture till the king, or somebody from him, desires you to rise.

This, too, was the custom of Persia; Arrian[28] says this was first

instituted by Cyrus, and this was precisely the posture in which they

adored God, mentioned in the book of Exodus.

Though the refusal of this ceremony would, in Abyssinia and Persia, be

looked upon as rebellion or insult, yet it seems in both nations to

have met with a mitigation with regard to strangers, who have refused

it without giving any offence. I remember a Mahometan being twice

sent by the prince of Mecca into Abyssinia during my stay there, who,

neither time, would go farther than to put his hands across upon his

breast, with no very great inclination of his head; and this I saw was

not thought so extraordinary as to give offence, as it was all he did

to his own sovereign and master.

We read, indeed, of a very remarkable instance of the dispensing with

that ceremony being indirectly, yet plainly, refused in Persia to

strangers. Conon[29], the Athenian, had occasion for an interview with

Artaxerxes, king of Persia, upon matters of great concern to both

states; “You shall be introduced to the king by me, says the Persian

minister to Conon, without any delay; do you only first consider with

yourself, whether it is really of any consequence that you should

speak with the king yourself, or whether it would not be as well

for you to convey to him, by letter, any thing you have to say; for

it is absolutely necessary, if you are introduced into the king’s

presence, that you fall down upon your face and worship him. If this

is disagreeable or offensive to you, your business shall nevertheless

be equally well and quickly done by me.” To which Conon very sensibly

replied, “For my part, it never can be offensive _to me_ to shew every

degree of respect possible to the person of a king. I only am afraid

that this salutation may be misinterpreted by my citizens, who, being

themselves a sovereign state, may look upon this submission of their

ambassador as a reproach to themselves, and inconsistent with their

independency.” Conon, therefore, desired to wave his introduction, and

that his business might be done by letters, which was complied with

accordingly.

I have already mentioned transiently the circumstance of the king not

being seen when sitting in council. The manner of it is this: When

he had business formerly, he sat constantly in a room of his palace,

which communicated with the audience and council by two folding doors

or large windows, the bottom of which were about three steps from

the ground. These doors, or windows, were latticed with cross bars of

wood like a cage, and a thin curtain, or veil of taffety silk was hung

within it; so that, upon darkening the inner chamber, the king saw

every person in the chamber without, while he himself was not seen at

all. Justin[30] tells us, that the person of the king of Persia was hid

to give a greater idea of his majesty; and under Deioces, king of the

Medes, a law was made that nobody might look upon the king; but the

constant wars in which Abyssinia has been engaged, since the Mahometans

took possession of Adel, have occasioned this troublesome custom to

be wholly laid aside, unless on particular public occasions, and at

council, when they are still observed with the ancient strictness. And

we find, in the history of Abyssinia, that the army and kingdom have

often owed their safety to the personal behaviour and circumstance of

the king distinguishing and exposing himself in battle, which advantage

they must have lost had the ancient custom been observed. However, to

this day, when he is abroad riding, or sitting in any of his apartments

at home where people are admitted, his head and forehead are perfectly

covered, and one of his hands covers his mouth, so that nothing but his

eyes are seen; his feet, too, are always covered.

We learn from Apuleus, that this was a custom in Persia; and this gave

an opportunity to the magi to place Oropastus, the brother of Cambyses,

upon the throne, instead of Merdis who should have succeeded; but the

covering of the face made the difference pass unperceived.

It is the constant practice in Abyssinia to beset the king’s doors and

windows within his hearing, and there, from early morning to night, to

cry for justice as loud as possible, in a distressed and complaining

tone, and in all the different languages they are masters of, in order

to their being admitted to have their supposed grievances heard. In a

country so ill governed as Abyssinia is, and so perpetually involved

in war, it may be easily supposed there is no want of people, who have

real injuries and violence to complain of: But if it were not so,

this is so much the constant usage, that when it happens (as in the

midst of the rainy season) that few people can approach the capital,

or stand without in such bad weather, a set of vagrants are provided,

maintained, and paid, whose sole business it is to cry and lament,

as if they had been really very much injured and oppressed; and this

they tell you is for the king’s honour, that he may not be lonely by

the palace being too quiet. This, of all their absurd customs, was the

most grievous and troublesome to me; and, from a knowledge that it was

so, the king, when he was private, often permitted himself a piece of

rather odd diversion to be a royal one.

There would sometimes, while I was busy in my room in the rainy season,

be four or five hundred people, who all at once would begin, some

roaring and crying, as if they were in pain, others demanding justice,

as if they were that moment suffering, or if in the instant to be put

to death; and some groaning and sobbing as if just expiring; and this

horrid symphony was so artfully performed that no ear could distinguish

but that it proceeded from real distress. I was often so surprised as

to send the soldiers at the door to bring in one of them, thinking him

come from the country, to examine who had injured him; many a time he

was a servant of my own, or some other equally known; or, if he was a

stranger, upon asking him what misfortune had befallen him, he would

answer very composedly, Nothing was the matter with him; that he had

been sleeping all day with the horses; that hearing from the soldiers

at the door I was retired to my apartment, he and his companions had

come to cry and make a noise under my window, to do me _honour_ before

the people, for fear I should be melancholy, by being too quiet when

alone; and therefore hoped that I would order them drink, that they

might continue with a little more spirit. The violent anger which this

did often put me into did not fail to be punctually reported to the

king, at which he would laugh heartily; and he himself was often hid

not far off, for the sake of being a spectator of my heavy displeasure.

These complaints, whether real or feigned, have always for their

burden, _Rete O Jan boi_, which, repeated quick, very much resembles

Prete Janni, the name that was given to this prince, of which we never

yet knew the derivation; its signification is, “Do me justice, O my

king!”

Herodotus[31] tells us, that in Persia, the people, in great crowds and

of both sexes, come roaring and crying to the doors of the palace; and

Intaphernes is also said to come to the door of the king making great

lamentations.

I have mentioned a council of state held in Abyssinia in time of danger

or difficulty, where the king sitting invisible, though present, gives

his opinion by an officer called Kal-Hatzè. Upon his delivering the

sentence from the king the whole assembly rise, and stand upon their

feet; and this they must have done the whole time the council lasted

had the king appeared there in person. According to the circumstances

of the time, the king goes with the majority, or not; and if, upon

a division, there is a majority against him, he often punishes the

majority on the other side, by sending them to prison for voting

against his sentiments; for tho’ it is understood, by calling of the

meeting, that the majority is to determine as to the eligibility of the

measure, the king, by his prerogative, supersedes any majority on the

other side, and so far, I suppose, has been an encroachment upon the

original constitution. This I understand was the same in Persia.

Xerxes[32], being about to declare war against the Greeks, assembled

all the principal chiefs of Asia in council. “That I may not, says

he, be _thought_ to _act_ only by my own judgment, I have called you

together. At the same time, I think proper to intimate to you, that it

is your duty to obey my will, rather than enter into any deliberation

or remonstrances of your own.”

We will now compare some particulars, the dress and ornaments of the

two kings. The king of Abyssinia wears his hair long; so did the

ancient kings of Persia. We learn this circumstance from Suetonius

and Aurelius Victor[33]. A comet had appeared in the war with Persia,

and was looked upon by the Romans as a bad omen. Vespasian laughed at

it, and said, if it portended any ill it was to the king of Persia,

because, _like him_, it wore long hair.

The diadem was, with the Persians, a mark of royalty, as with the

Abyssinians, being composed of the same materials, and worn in the

same manner. The king of Abyssinia wears it, while marching, as a

mark of sovereignty, that does not impede or incommode him, as any

other heavier ornament would do, especially in hot weather. This

fillet surrounds his head above the hair, leaving the crown perfectly

uncovered. It is an offence of the first magnitude for any person, at

this time, to wear any thing upon his head, especially white, unless

for Mahometans, who wear caps, and over them a large white turban; or

for priests, who wear large turbans of muslin also.

This was the diadem of the Persians, as appears from Lucian[34], who

calls it a white fillet about the forehead. In the dialogue between

Diogenes and Alexander, the head is said to be tied round with a white

fillet[35]; and Favorinus, speaking of Pompey, whose leg was wound

round with a white bandage, says, It is no matter on what part of the

body he wears a diadem. We read in Justin[36], that Alexander, leaping

from his horse, by accident wounded Lysimachus in the forehead with

the point of his spear, and the blood gushed out so violently that it

could not be stanched, till the king took the diadem from his head, and

with it bound up the wound; which at that time was looked upon as an

omen that Lysimachus was to be king, and so it soon after happened.

The kings of Abyssinia anciently sat upon a gold throne, which is a

large, convenient, oblong, square seat, like a small bed-stead, covered

with Persian carpets, damask, and cloth of gold, with steps leading up

to it. It is still richly gilded; but the many revolutions and wars

have much abridged their ancient magnificence. The portable throne

was a gold stool, like that curule stool or chair used by the Romans,

which we see on medals. It was, in the Begemder war, changed to a very

beautiful one of the same form inlaid with gold. Xerxes is said to have

been spectator of a naval fight sitting upon a gold stool[37].

It is, in Abyssinia, high-treason to sit upon any seat of the king’s;

and he that presumed to do this would be instantly hewn to pieces,

if there was not some other collateral proof of his being a madman.

The reader will find, in the course of my history, a very ridiculous

accident on this subject, in the king’s tent, with Guangoul, king of

the Bertuma Galla.

It is probable that Alexander had heard of this law in Persia, and

disapproved of it; for one day, it being extremely cold, the king,

sitting in his chair before the fire, warming and chaffing his legs,

saw a soldier, probably a Persian, who had lost his feeling by extreme

numbness. The king immediately leaped from his chair, and ordered

the soldier to be set down upon it. The fire soon brought him to his

senses, but he had almost lost them again with fear, by finding himself

in the king’s seat. To whom Alexander said, “Remember, and distinguish,

how much more advantageous to man my government is than that of the

kings of Persia[38]. By sitting down on my seat, you have saved your

life; by sitting on theirs, you would infallibly have lost it.”

In Abyssinia it is considered as a fundamental law of the land, that

none of the royal family, who has any deformity or bodily defect, shall

be allowed to succeed to the crown; and, for this purpose, any of the

princes, who may have escaped from the mountain of Wechnè, and who are

afterwards taken, are mutilated in some of their members, that thus

they may be disqualified from ever succeeding. In Persia the same was

observed. Procopius[39] tells us, that Zames, the son of Cabades, was

excluded from the throne because he was blind of one eye, the law of

Persia prohibiting any person that had a bodily defect to be elected

king.

The kings of Abyssinia were seldom seen by their subjects. Justin[40]

says, the Persians hid the person of their king to increase their

reverence for his majesty. And it was a law of Deioces[41], king of

the Medes, that nobody should be permitted to see the king; which

regulation was as ancient as the time of Semiramis, whose son, Ninyas,

is said to have grown old in the palace, without ever having been known

by being seen out of it.

This absurd usage gave rise to many abuses. In Persia[42] it produced

two officers, who were called the king’s eyes, and the king’s ear, and

who had the dangerous employment, I mean dangerous for the subject, of

seeing and hearing for their sovereign. In Abyssinia, as I have just

said, it created an officer called the king’s mouth, or voice, for,

being seen by nobody, he spoke of course in the third person, “_Hear

what the king says to you_”, which is the usual form of all regal

mandates in Abyssinia; and what follows has the force of law. In the

same stile, Josephus thus begins an edict of Cyrus king of Persia,

“Cyrus the king says[43],”--And speaking of Cambyses’s rescript,

“Cambyses the _king says thus_,”--And Esdras also, “Thus saith Cyrus

king of Persia[44],”--And Nebuchadnezzar says to Holofernes, “Thus

saith the Great King, Lord of the whole earth[45];”--and this was

probably the origin of _edicts_, when writing was little used by

sovereigns, and little understood by the subject.

Solemn hunting-matches were always in use both with the kings of

Abyssinia and those of Persia[46]. In both kingdoms it was a crime for

a subject to strike the game till such time as the king had thrown his

lance at it. This absurd custom was repealed by Artaxerxes Longimanus

in one kingdom[47], and by Yasous the Great in the other, so late as

the beginning of the last century.

The kings of Abyssinia are above all laws. They are supreme in all

causes ecclesiastical and civil; the land and persons of their subjects

are equally their property, and every inhabitant of their kingdom is

born their slave; if he bears a higher rank it is by the king’s gift;

for his nearest relations are accounted nothing better. The same

obtained in Persia. Aristotle calls the Persian generals and nobles,

slaves of the great king[48]. Xerxes, reproving Pytheus the Lydian

when seeking to excuse one of his sons from going to war, says, “You

that are my slave, and bound to follow me with your wife and all your

family[49].”--And Gobryas[50] says to Cyrus, “I deliver myself to you,

at once your companion and your slave.”

There are several kinds of bread in Abyssinia, some of different

sorts of teff, and some of tocusso, which also vary in quality. The

king of Abyssinia eats of wheat bread, though not of every wheat, but

of that only that grows in the province of Dembea, therefore called

the king’s food. It was so with the kings of Persia, who ate wheat

bread, Herodotus says, but only of a particular kind, as we learn from

Strabo[51].

I have shewn, in the course of the foregoing history, that it always

has been, and still is the custom of the kings of Abyssinia, to marry

what number of wives they choose; that these were not, therefore,

all queens; but that among them there was one who was considered

particularly as queen, and upon her head was placed the crown, and she

was called Iteghè.

Thus, in Persia, we read that Ahasuerus loved Esther[52], who had found

grace in his sight more than the other virgins, and he had placed a

golden crown upon her head. And Josephus[53] informs us, that, when

Esther[54] was brought before the king, he was exceedingly delighted

with her, and made her his lawful wife, and when she came into the

palace he put a crown upon her head: whether placing the crown upon the

queen’s head had any civil effect as to regency in Persia as it had in

Abyssinia, is what history does not inform us.

I have already observed, that there is an officer called Serach

Massery, who watches before the king’s gate all night, and at the

dawn of day cracks a whip to chace the wild beasts out of the town.

This, too, is the signal for the king to rise, and sit down in his

judgment-seat. The same custom was observed in Persia. Early in the

morning an officer entered the king’s chamber, and said to him “Arise,

O king! and take charge of those matters which Oromasdes has appointed

you to the care of.”

The king of Abyssinia never is seen to walk, nor to set his foot

upon the ground, out of his palace; and when he would dismount from

the horse or mule on which he rides, he has a servant with a stool,

who places it properly for him for that purpose. He rides into the

anti-chamber to the foot of his throne, or to the stool placed in the

alcove of his tent. We are told by Athenaeus[55], such was the practice

in Persia, whose king never set his foot upon the ground out of his

palace.

The king of Abyssinia very often judges capital crimes himself. It is

reckoned a favourable judicature, such as, Claudian says, that of a

king in person should be, “_Piger ad pœnas, ad præmia velox_.” No man

is condemned by the king in person to die for the first fault, unless

the crime be of a horrid nature, such as parricide or sacrilege. And,

in general, the life and merits of the prisoner are weighed against

his immediate guilt; so that if his first behaviour has had more merit

towards the state than his present delinquency is thought to have

injured it, the one is placed fairly against the other, and the accused

is generally absolved when the sovereign judges alone.

Herodotus[56] praises this as a maxim of the kings of Persia in capital

judgments, almost in the very words that I have just now used; and he

gives an instance of it:--Darius had condemned Sandoces, one of the

king’s judges, to be crucified for corruption, that is, for having

given false judgment for a bribe. The man was already hung up on the

cross, when the king, considering with himself how many good services

he had done, previous to this, the only offence which he had committed,

ordered him to be pardoned.

The Persian king, in all expeditions, was attended by judges. We find

in Herodotus[57], that, in the expedition of Cambyses, ten of the

principal Egyptians were condemned to die by these judges for every

Persian that had been slain by the people of Memphis. Six judges always

attend the king of Abyssinia to the camp, and, before them, rebels

taken on the field are tried and punished on the spot.

People that the king distinguished by favour, or for any public

action, were in both kingdoms presented with gold chains, swords, and

bracelets[58]. These in Abyssinia are understood to be chiefly rewards

of military service; yet Poncet received a gold chain from Yasous the

Great. The day before the battle of Serbraxos, Ayto Engedan received a

silver bridle and saddle, covered with silver plates, from Ras Michael;

and the night after that battle I was myself honoured with a gold chain

from the king upon my reconciliation with Guebra Mascal, who, for

his behaviour that day, had a large revenue most deservedly assigned

to him, and a considerable territory, consisting of a number of rich

villages, a present known to be more agreeable to him than a mere mark

of honour.

A stranger of fashion, particularly recommended as I was, not needy

in point of money, nor depending from day to day upon government for

subsistence, is generally provided with one or more villages to

furnish him with what articles he may need, without being obliged to

have recourse to the king or his ministers for every necessary. Amha

Yasous, prince of Shoa, had a large and a royal village, Emfras, given

him to supply him with food for his table; he had another village in

Karoota for wine; a village in Dembea, the king’s own province, for his

wheat; and another in Begemder for cotton cloths for his servants; and

so of the rest. After I was in the king’s service I had the villages

that belonged to the posts I occupied; and one called Geesh, in which

arises the sources of the Nile, a village of about 18 houses, given me

by the king at my own request; for I might have had a better to furnish

me with honey, and confirmed to me by the rebel Waragna Fasil, who

never suffered me to grow rich by my rents, having never allowed me to

receive but two large jars, so bitter with lupines that they were of no

sort of use to me. I was a gentle master, nor ever likely to be opulent

from the revenues of that country; and more especially so, as I had

under me, as my lieutenant[59], an officer commanding the horse, whose

thoughts were much more upon Jerusalem and the holy sepulchre than any

gains he could get in Abyssinia by his employments.

Thucydides[60] informs us, that Themistocles had received great gifts

from Artaxerxes king of Persia, when settled at Magnesia; the king

had given him that city for bread, Lampsacus for wine, and Myuns

to furnish him with victuals. To these Athenaeus adds two more,

Palæscepsis and Percope, to yield him clothing and furniture. This

precisely, to this day, is the Abyssinian idea, when they conceive

they are entertaining men of rank; for strangers, that come naked

and vagabond among them, without name and character, or means of

subsistence, such as the Greeks in Abyssinia, are always received as

beggars, and neglected as such, till hunger sets their wits to work to

provide for the present exigency, and low intrigues and practices are

employed afterwards to maintain them in the little advancements which

they have acquired, but no honour or confidence follows, or very rarely.