Hunting expeditions filled up the leisure hours of the busy monarch.
Standing on the verge of the deep ravine by which the now deserted
fastness of Tegulet is insulated from the plain of Debra Berhan, it was
His Majesty's diversion to project stone balls from his rifle at the
hyenas basking upon huge fragments of fallen rock, which form caverns
one thousand feet below, and choke the bed of the pathless chasm. Then
the steps of the royal cavalcade would be directed to the valley of the
Bereza, where "Satan's horses," in the shape of gigantic adjutants, were
striding over the plain on their long stilt-like legs, with well-filled
pouches dangling beneath their bills. Here, seated upon the green turf,
the Negoos awaited the report of his scouts. Whilst turning the corner
of the numerous abrupt eminences, his ears were ever saluted by loud
cries of "_Abiet! Abiet_!" from the mouth of many a petitioner, and a
very respectable body of plaintiffs and defendants were continually in
attendance.
Judgment was calmly delivered until the arrival of some breathless
horseman with intelligence of the discovery of a colony of baboons,
would arrest the proceedings of the sylvan court. "Sahela Selassie ye
moot?" inquired the sporting monarch on one of these occasions, adjuring
the informant by his own illustrious life; "are they well surrounded?"
"May Sahela Selassie die if they be not," responded the slave, as he
bowed his head to the dust; "hundreds graze in yonder corn-field."
"Then by the death of Woosen Suggud they shall be slain," was the
rejoinder, as His Majesty galloped towards the spot, followed by a train
of attendants carrying every rifle and fowling-piece of which the
imperial armoury could boast.
On the verge of the deep valley we presently descried a countless
pig-faced army, laying waste the rising crops. Lusty veterans, muffled
in long flowing manes, strutted consequentially among the ladies; and
others, squatted upon their hunkers, with many a ghastly grin displayed
their white teeth whilst hunting down the vermin that infested their
rough shaggy coats. Casting aside his chequered robe, the king, with
all the ardour of a schoolboy, dashed into the middle of the amazed
group, and under a running fire from himself and courtiers, the field
was presently strewed with slain and wounded. Mangled wretches were now
to be seen endeavouring to reach the precipitous chasm of the Bereza,
whose white foaming waters were thundering below, whilst the grimacing
survivors, far out of danger, whooped in echoes amid the bush-grown
clefts, to reassemble the discomfited forces.
Return from this brilliant victory was celebrated by the war-chorus,
until the appearance of an _erkoom_ waddling over the ploughed land,
again proved the signal for general pursuit. This gigantic and deformed
bird is of the genus Hornbill, and an abrupt unmeaning excrescence above
his huge jagged forceps, imparts a fancied resemblance to the slaves of
the king, who carry water-jars upon their heads, which has dignified him
with the title of "Abba Gumbo," "the Father of the Pitcher." It has
blue wattles, which, when the bird is worried, become inflamed like
those of the turkey-cock; and from the fact of its always constructing
the door of its nest to the eastward, the Abyssinians assert that it
will never build out of sight of a church.
The plumage throughout is to appearance of a sooty black; but the
expansion of the wings displays an assemblage of snowy quills which form
the pride of the warrior who has slain his enemy in battle. Mules were
abandoned with one accord; and under the encouraging gaze of the despot,
the courtiers, springing into their high-peaked saddles, scoured after
the devoted quarry. Weary with its long flight, the heavy bird alighted
a dozen times, but no rest was ever allowed. Again he was turned, and
again he distanced his pursuers, until beleaguered on all sides, he was
finally speared by the chief smith and body physician, who, as an
equestrian, shone _facile princeps_. His skill rewarded the head of
each hero engaged with the coveted white plume, which is the Amharic
emblem of death.
"My children have never seen the `Devil's sheep,'" gravely observed His
Majesty, as he ascended towards the palace preceded by strains of
martial music. "They live in holes in the rocks under the great
waterfall, and have long snouts. My people are afraid. Take guns in
the morning, and the pages shall show you the road. Now you may eat."
Heavy dew covered the waving grass, as, accompanied by the promised
escort, we proceeded at an early hour to gratify the royal curiosity by
the destruction of the dreaded monster. It proved on realisation to be
an inoffensive badger; and although the sport did not afford very much
diversion, the cataract amply repaid the ride across the meadow.
Leaving the terrace of table-land, the serpentine river, far hid from
sight, winds through a succession of rounded hills towards a precipitous
valley, down which the foaming torrent rushes over a descent of eight
rocky basins. Hemmed in by fantastic pillars of basalt, composed of
irregular disjointed polygons, the dark craggy surface, laid bare by the
violence of ages, is at strange variance with the bright emerald turf
which creeps luxuriantly to the very verge of the frowning abyss; whilst
twelve hundred feet below, the sparry walls suddenly contract to the
breadth of fifteen yards, and the accumulated waters of the cascades,
discharging through this natural flood-gate, boil onwards in their wild
career.
At some distance from this point are the royal iron mines, and near them
a perpendicular crag, which rears its crumbling form from the very
bottom of the vale to the level of the upper stream, marks the
suddenness of the descent. The entire lace of the verdant hills that
repose above the roaring cataract, were covered with thyme and other
aromatic herbs, yielding up their fragrance at every step; and new and
lovely flowers, sparkling under the morning dew, carpeted the slope.
From the very brink of the dizzy torrent, lofty junipers raised their
tall stems, and flung their mossy arms to a vast height, though still
appearing but as small twigs; and the white cloud of foam and spray
which arose from the gloomy chasm, reflecting the prismatic colours of
the rainbow, completed a picture of singular wildness and magnificence.
How different, indeed, is the fate awaiting the waters of one and the
same shower discharged over the high ridge of the Abyssinian Alps! A
drop, falling on the eastern slope of the shed, wends its short course
by the nearest streamlet towards the muddy Hawash; and, if not absorbed
by the thirsty plains of the Adaiel, adds its mite to the lagoon of
Aussa--to filter, perhaps, through some subterranean channel into the
Indian Ocean. But far distant is the pilgrimage that awaits the more
ambitious cloud that sinks on the western side. Joining the Bereza, and
taking the sudden leap over the dazzling cataract of Debra Berhan, it
hurries down the Jumma on its impetuous course to the Bahr el Azreek--
rolls through the golden sands of Damot--and, after visiting Meroe and
Thebes, and all the stately pyramids, either adds its humble tribute to
the blue waves of the Mediterranean, or is sacrificed to the fertility
of the land of Egypt:
"Where with annual pomp,
Rich king of floods! o'erflows the swelling Nile."
Volume Two, Chapter X.