His Majesty had more than once intimated an intention of holding
consultation relative to his projected expedition on the termination of
winter, and early one morning an express courier arrived to desire our
immediate attendance at the palace. Blacksmiths and workers in silver
were as usual plying their craft in the verandah, under the royal eye--
artists were daubing red and yellow paint over the pages of the Psalter,
or illuminating the lives of the saints with white angels and sable
devils--saddles and warlike furniture were in course of repair--spears
were being burnished--gun-locks cleaned--and musket barrels engraved
with the despot's name; but the artificers were all summarily dismissed,
and the king, rising from his seat in the portico, beckoned us to follow
into the audience hall.
"_Gaita_," "master," he cautiously began, "there is yet another subject
upon which I am desirous of taking counsel, and wherein I need your
assistance. It is my intention shortly to undertake an expedition to
the great lake in Gurague. In it be many islands which contain the
treasures of my ancestors. There are jars filled with bracelets of
solid gold. There are forty drums made of elephants' ears, and many
holy arks pertaining unto ancient churches, besides seven hundred choice
Ethiopic volumes, some of which have unfortunately been defaced by the
animals called _ashkoko_ [Hyrax Abyssinicus]. Elephants abound on the
borders. In the trees are found black leopards of a most ferocious
nature, multiplying always among the branches, and never descending upon
the earth; and the waters of the lake, which are smooth as glass, and
without bottom, teem with monstrous _gomari_ [Hippopotamus amphibius],
and with fish of brilliant colours, red, yellow, green, and blue, such
as have never before been seen.
"Moreover there are specifics against small-pox and other dreadful
diseases. No resistance is to be anticipated, for the inhabitants, who
are chiefly Christian monks, have often invited me. I must no longer
delay to recover the lost wealth of my forefathers, and it is fitting
that you, with the British officers who have come hither from a far
country, should accompany me and construct boats. Hereof my people are
ignorant, and your name as well as mine will therefore become great, and
will live in the annals of this kingdom.
"From the summit of a lofty hill near Aimellele, I have beheld through a
telescope the lake and its tall trees, but the elephants came in
numbers. I feared that my people would be destroyed. I ran, and they
all ran with me. Now, what say you? What is your advice in this
matter? Are you able to build boats?"
In furtherance of His Majesty's intentions, I caused models of skin
punts, gun rafts, and a pontoon train, to be prepared upon the most
approved design, with crews and ordnance complete, and advised that
every requisite should be prepared at Ankober whilst leisure served, in
order that he might take the field with ample means at his disposal.
The king expressed himself above all things pleased both with models and
advice, which he declared to come from wise and expert soldiers; but he
was still obviously undecided, and the fear of wild beasts and of the
lone forest at length kicked the vibrating beam. The castle visions of
glory mounted far out of reach, and his fickle ambition evaporated in a
bluster of empty words--
"My people will weep at the carriage of such ponderous engines." "The
preparations must be made on the banks of the Hawash, or on the borders
of the Lake Zooai, where timber grows abundantly. A man of rank, one of
the frontier governors, who resides near Aimellele, should be summoned
as guide to the expedition, and might then be consulted." But the
presence of the great functionary was ever wanting--no further wish
escaped the lips of the vacillating monarch--and engrossed with the
passing whim of the moment, the chivalrous project of the day had
vanished. So passed the dreary winter on. The arrival in the kingdom
of Shoa of the many valuable presents brought by the Embassy, had not
proved more agreeable to the traders from Gondar and Tigre who reside in
Ankober, than to the narrow-minded governor of Alio Amba. These men had
been in the habit of selling glass-ware, cloths, and fire-arms to the
king at a very considerable premium, and now did not fail to repeat and
to improve the absurdities circulated by the mischievous Danakil
regarding the foreign intruders. The Gypzis were pronounced eaters of
serpents, mice, and other reptiles, and had come with the design of
possessing themselves of the country by the aid of magic and medicine.
Great umbrage was taken at our practice of toasting the wretched
half-baked dough which we received, under the denomination of bread,
from the royal stores; and a soldier who carried a metallic pitcher to
the stream, was roundly taxed with having used charms to poison the
water, which was consequently condemned as unfit for use until purified
by the blessing of the priest. Predictions of the impending fate of
Abyssinia were derived from the fact of the foreigners employing
instruments which read the stars; and the despot was repeatedly and
earnestly warned to be upon his guard. But His Majesty cut short these
insinuations by threatening to extract the tongues of three or four of
the maligners, and paid no attention whatever to the threat of
excommunication extended to him by the fanatic clergy of Aramba, who had
declared the ban of the Church to be the just punishment due for the
admission into the empire "of red heretics, who ought carefully to be
shunned, since they practised witchcraft, and by burning the king's
bread threatened to bring a famine upon the land."
Taking their cue from the feelings of the people, the Shoan sorcerers
gave out that Sahela Selassie was to be the last of the Ethiopian
dynasty, descended from the house of Solomon, who should sit upon the
throne of his forefathers, and that a foreign king would come by way of
Alio Amba to usurp the dominion. It is, amusing to trace the progress
of these crafty insinuations among an ignorant and weak-minded people.
In some of the northern provinces it was confidently asserted that the
Sultan of the Mohammadans had already conquered Shoa, and that all the
surrounding Moslem potentates were about to unite with him in a war of
extermination against the Christians; whilst in others it was believed
that an Alaka, or chief of the Gypts from Grand Cairo, had contrived to
smuggle himself into the capital, carrying his sovereign in a box, and
that after consulting the heavenly bodies until a favourable horoscope
was presented, he stamped his foot upon the ground, which opened, and
ten thousand red soldiers, with beards flowing to their girdles,
springing forth out of the chasm, placed the aforesaid monarch upon the
throne. "Now," said the magicians, "will Theodorus arise according to
the tradition, that he will come in the latter days of -Ethiopia, and
create a kingdom of Peace."
Theodorus was one of the emperors who reigned during the fifteenth
century, and was canonised. It is recorded, that during the observance
of his festival the queen-dowager had prepared a great entertainment,
and the guests being all assembled, the heavens rained down a shower of
fishes ready roasted. In the Ethiopic liturgy, the miracle is thus
commemorated. "Peace be upon thee. King of the Agaazi nation,
Theodorus, Son of the Lion; thy memory shall this day be celebrated with
the slaughter of oxen and sheep, with which alone Zion Mogass, thy
mother, kept it not, for the clouds also dropped fishes." It is
confidently believed that this saint will rise again from the dead, and
reign a thousand years, during which period neither war, famine, nor
discord, is to disturb the happiness of Abyssinia.
Volume Two, Chapter V.