Abyssinian despots sully not their dignity by condescending to divulge
even the smallest design to the most confidential of their courtiers.
In elegant Amharic phraseology "the belly of the master is never known;"
and thus it occurred that had any possessed the inclination to predict
the probable period of detention, none could boast the ability. A
fortnight rolled tardily away, and the burning curiosity of the savage
having meanwhile overcome the scruples dictated by state policy, it
became matter of public notoriety that the king had taken up his
residence at the adjacent palace of Machal-wans, where preparations were
actually in progress towards the long-desired audience.
The reappearance of the commander-in-chief of the body-guard, with the
escort of honour, was the first welcome sign of approaching release from
the vile market-town of Alio Amba; and the most illustrious peer of the
realm, attended by a junto of scribes, and a host of reluctant porters,
was not far behind him. Penmanship being so extremely tedious a
process, it is not the court etiquette to endite letters when a verbal
communication will answer the purpose; and the visitors were accordingly
charged with abundant compliments, and with an invitation to behold the
royal person on the ensuing Sabbath, which had been pronounced by the
astrologers "a day of good omens."
"Tarry not by day, neither stay ye by night, for the heart of the father
longeth to see his children. Hasten that he be not again disappointed."
But, unfortunately, the hour selected by the skill of "those who read
the stars" did not find approval in the sight of the guests; and in
order to gratify the royal impatience, it was therefore proposed that
the interview should take place one day earlier. His Majesty, however,
laboured under the effects of _cosso_, a drug resorted to by all who
revel in raw diet; and feeling yet unequal to appear in public, it was
finally arranged that audience should be deferred until the Monday
following. A fresh inventory of boxes was immediately commenced; and,
after much opposition, those intended for presentation to the throne
were separated, and sent off to await arrival at a hamlet distant two
miles from Machal-wans.
The next labour was to dismantle the structure of bales and packages
which during the detention at Alio Amba had been piled in view to the
economy of space, so as to admit of some of the party occupying the tier
next the roof, whilst others had slept in cabins formed below, or upon,
or underneath, the table. But no sooner had the king's baggage departed
than the Wulasma came to announce that there were no more porters, and
that if any thing still remained it must be left behind. Another battle
followed, and a war of words, which lasted a full hour and a half, was
again crowned with victory.
Ayto Kalama Work, who had been the chief instigator of this opposition,
is charged with manifold affairs. Independent of his important duties
at the seat of his authority, where he is responsible for all tribute in
salt, in honey, and in specie, he is entrusted with the treasures lodged
in Ankober, Aramba, Debra Berhan, and Kondie, and is expected to be
present on all state occasions at the palace. To assist in the
discharge of these onerous and multifarious duties, he has many stewards
and subordinates, of whom the chief, who superintends the _ghemdjia_
house, or royal wardrobe, wherein the most costly manufactures are
deposited, had already proceeded in advance to spread the carpets in the
great reception hall. He was accompanied by Deftera Sena, the
secretary, whose business it is to receive and register all transfers to
the state revenues, and who had been for the last fortnight almost
incessantly busied with his pen.
Liberated from irksome captivity, the utmost difficulty was next
experienced in procuring mules--no steps to supply the place of those
destroyed having been taken by the inimical functionaries whose express
duty it was. The few survivors of the late numerous drove were
mustered, but only one proved in a condition to proceed, and it was not
until a messenger had actually set out with a complaint to the king,
that measures were taken to supply the number required. A clamorous mob
now assembled in order to witness the difficulties raised in the way of
the foreigners; and it required the utmost exertion on the part of
Gubaiyo, both with his long stick and still longer tongue, to keep the
idle crowd at a respectful distance.
Mounted at length, the party turned their backs towards the
market-place, and entered upon a circuitous path, winding, by abrupt
declivities and steep ascents, over three mountain torrents, towards the
village of Sallal Hoola, at which the night was to be passed. Kind
nature had everywhere spread the ground with her gifts in inexhaustible
profusion and variety, supplying all the more immediate wants of
mankind, yet enforcing the doom of labour so wisely imposed upon her
lazy children. Rich acres of com by the wayside were interspersed with
quiet hamlets, and with luxuriant meadows abounding in trefoil and a
vast variety of red and white clover. Crystal brooks leapt in numerous
cascades, and hedge-rows gay with endless flowers, the dog-rose and the
fragrant jessamine, imparted to the rural landscape an aspect quite
European.
Southern Abyssinia proper commences with Efat, at the foot of the first
range of hills, which continue to increase both in altitude and
fertility to the summit of the lofty barrier that stretches north and
south to form the brink of the elevated table-land of Shoa. Violent
storms of thunder and lightning, which usher in the rainy season, are
attracted to this region as well by the great elevation of the mountain
as by the highly ferruginous nature of the rocks. It is a land of hill
and valley, smiling under the influence of the copious deluge; and so
striking a contrast does it present to the general character and climate
of the torrid zone, that at first sight the delighted traveller might
believe himself transported by some fairy agency to his northern home.
Ayto Wolda Hana, although loquacious enough, had been somewhat subdued
by the temperature of the low country, to which, as well as to every
thing Mohammadan, he evinced an insuperable disrelish; but once again
within the influence of the cold mountain breeze beyond the limits of
the Wulasma's jurisdiction, and he was in his glory. Two running
footmen kept pace with his gaily-caparisoned mule. Immediately behind
him rode a confidential henchman carrying the emblazoned shield and
decorated lances which denoted his position in society; and in the
height of Highland anarchy the tail of the McGregor was seldom of longer
dimensions than that of the pompous governor of Ankober.
Suddenly leaving the party, the great man was observed to dive into a
village by the road-side, whence in a few minutes he returned, issuing a
variety of orders in a far from melodious tone of voice, which evidently
had reference to the mulberry steed already mentioned as having been
brought from Aden. The animal had not been seen for many days, and
every application regarding it had been so dexterously evaded, that,
although the tail had not been brought in, it was believed to have gone
the way of all flesh. To the surprise of every one, the charger,
prancing and neighing, was now led forth, in the best condition, by one
of the King's grooms. So thoroughly had the worthy functionary been
impressed with the erroneous conviction, that it formed a part of the
present designed for his royal master, that the fortunate beast had been
turned into clover, and duly fed with the choicest barley, whereas all
its companions, although surrounded by plenty, had been suffered to
starve.
At Sallal Hoola, another hovel had been provided by the royal bounty,
smaller in dimensions, more dark, dirty, and dismal, and infinitely
better garrisoned with vermin than the abode wherein the last fortnight
had been passed. Environed by miry swamps and stagnant pools, it
presented an appearance the most gloomy and wretched, whilst the
materials for comfort were, as usual, denied by the officious
functionaries, who had taken care to deposit the baggage most needed in
quarters of the village where, at so late an hour, free access was
impossible. The gloomy recesses of the veranda were crowded with female
slaves, occupied in the various processes of preparing bread, which the
population had been called upon to supply in large quantities to the
palace against the approaching arrival of the foreigners. In one
corner, two old women who alternately plied their pestles to a most
monotonous ditty were pounding grain in a wooden mortar. In another a
group of buxom lasses were rocking themselves to and fro over mills
fashioned like the high-heeled slipper of the days of good Queen Bess,
upon the inclined surface of which they contrived, with a stone and
great personal labour, to convert the grain into a form something
resembling flour. It trickled in a scanty stream into a vessel placed
below the depressed plane for its reception, and was presently wrought
into thick cakes, full a foot and a half in diameter. These were merely
shown to the fire, and a crude substance was thus produced, which by a
well-fed Indian elephant would certainly have been rejected with a
severe admonition to his keeper.
In this dreary and soul-depressing spot, destitute of beds and not
overburdened with food, were experienced the very opposite of the
delights of the Salt Lake--cold, damp, and wet in perfection; but the
glad prospect of an interview with His Majesty on the morrow buoyed up
the spirits of all, and misery was disregarded. Ayto Katama had
proceeded in advance to Machal-wans to seek at the royal hands
permission to fire a salute of twenty-one guns on the British Embassy
reaching the royal lodge--a point previously urged, but without success.
It had already been brought to the King's notice that the foreigners
partook of food which had been prepared by Mohammadans--a proceeding
which in Shoa is reckoned equivalent to a renunciation of Christianity.
Ideas the most extravagant were, moreover, in circulation relative to
the powers of the ordnance imported, the mere report of which was
believed sufficient to set fire to the earth, to shiver rocks, and
dismantle mountain fastnesses. Men were said to have arrived with
"copper legs," whose duty it was to serve these tremendous and terrible
engines; and in alarm for the safety of his palace, capital, and
treasures, the suspicious monarch still peremptorily insisted upon
withholding the desired licence, until he should have beheld the battery
"with his own eyes."
Volume One, Chapter XLV.