Thus far the greatest irregularity and confusion had prevailed among the
Amhara troops, alike during the march and the encampment. A council of
war was daily convened, when each leader made his report and received
verbal instructions for his guidance; but no order of any sort was
promulgated until the moment before it was to be carried into effect,
and all depended rather upon the whim and caprice of the monarch than
upon the exigencies of the service. The first intimation of intended
march was conveyed by the royal drums sounding suddenly to saddle a
quarter of an hour before the advance, which, as the state pavilion went
down, was announced by a flourish of horns.
But notwithstanding that the strictest silence had been observed on the
subject by the Negoos, as well as by all who might have been unavoidably
admitted to his confidence, strong surmises were entertained that a
foray from Karabarek was to be the order of the following day; and about
two hours after midnight, the sudden and unusual cessation of the psalm
singing, followed by the heavy tramp past our tents of Ayto Shishigo's
detachment of Shoa-Meda horse, confirming the opinion, the hum of the
surrounding body, like that of a disturbed hive of bees, continued until
dawn. No sooner was it light than His Majesty rode silently forth from
his enclosure without beat of the _nugareet_, and thousands instantly
flocked towards the royal person. The state umbrellas were encased in
white bags, and the usual cumbrous Abyssinian robe, which effectually
impedes all rapid movement, was on this occasion cast aside. Short wide
trousers of various hues hung loosely to the knee. A thick white cloth
girded up the loins. The skins of wild beasts, the lion, the panther,
and the ocelot, alone hung over the brawny shoulder of the warrior; and,
with exception of about two hundred musqueteers with bayonets fixed,
every man-at-arms was equipped with spear, sword, and buckler, a mounted
henchman behind many leading a spare charger.
At first starting the crush and confusion was truly terrific. Horses
and mules rearing, kicking, and plunging, with lances bristling, and
shields thumping in every direction, threatened instant destruction to
each component member of the dense mass, which, crowded and locked fast
together, streamed at a rapid trot after the king without the slightest
order or regularity, save such as was preserved by the exertions of the
shield-bearers who rode immediately behind. The occasional passage of
ploughed land, producing a suffocating cloud of dust, served still more
to increase the confusion, which had reached its climax when a rivulet
intersected the line of march. Steep perpendicular banks and
treacherous channels opposing the extended front of the legion, and
checking advance, a simultaneous exertion was made to gain the only
practicable fords, which were in an instant filled to choking. The
fiercest struggle for extrication ensued. Numbers floundering in the
soft mud, or borne out of their saddles by the pressure of the crowd,
were trampled under foot, whilst those who bestrode the stoutest steeds,
clearing the way before them by sheer strength, forced their weaker
neighbours to incline to the right and to the left, like frail reeds
before the rush of the mountain deer.
The morning was bitterly cold. The hoar-frost lay thick and white upon
the meadows; and as the rabble host trampled over the crisp grass
towards the high range of Garra Gorphoo, which, at the distance of a few
miles, rose to the height of twelve or fifteen hundred feet, the breath
arose heavy from the nostril of man and beast, like a cloud of smoke,
mixing with the dark columns of dust which followed the clattering hoofs
of neighing war-steeds. During the first hour's advance up the valley,
reports were continually being brought in, and messenger after messenger
galloping off in every direction; and as the foot of the mountain was
gained, Ayto Berkie, with a large detachment of the men of Bulga,
leaving the main body, moved upon the left, whilst the king struck up
the steep face of the range in the centre of an extended line of men,
who scoured every hill and hollow, and beat every nook and corner at a
rapid pace.
Stretching thirty miles in length by about twelve or fifteen in breadth,
the mountains of Garra Gorphoo, covered throughout with one sheet of
rich cultivation, form the water-shed between the Nile and the Hawash.
The various rivulets that on either side wind down towards the parent
streams, intersect it into hundreds of verdant valleys, on the swelling
slopes of which the white-roofed houses of secluded Galla hamlets peep
forth among dark green groves of juniper and acacia, that add beauty to
the fair prospect. These tropical highlands are inhabited by the Sertie
tribe, who, long in a state of open rebellion, had rendered themselves
doubly obnoxious to the despot, by attacking a detachment of Amhara the
preceding year, of whom, whilst entangled in a morass near the foot of
the range, eight hundred men were slain. The day of retribution had at
length arrived. The object of the expedition, hitherto so carefully
concealed, was now fully developed; and the military dispositions for
sweeping destruction appeared to be right skilfully made.
Hurrying onward with ominous rapidity, slaughtering all who fell in
their path, and with their weapons goading forward the herds of sleek
cattle which teemed in every valley, the wild host now poured like an
overwhelming torrent down the flowery slopes--now breasted the steep
sunny acclivity like flames driven before the wind--and now wound in
Indian file along the edges of cliffs affording scanty footing for a
wild cat, where the loose soil, crumbling at every step, left the naked
precipitous rock as the only available passage. Far and wide the crops
were laid prostrate, as if beaten down under the violence of the
hurricane; and before ten o'clock, the highest pinnacle of the green
range having been crowned, a wide prospect burst upon the eye. A
succession of richly cultivated plains dotted over with clusters of
conical white houses, in parts surrounded by clumps of tall junipers,
stretched away from the foot, the very picture of peace and plenty.
Embosomed between the isolated peaks of Yerrur, Sequala, and the
far-famed Entotto, lay the wide plain of Germama, thickly peopled by the
Ekka and Finfinni Galla, upon whose doomed heads the thunderbolt was
next to fall; and full in its centre two placid silver lakes, like great
mirrors, reflected back the rays of the morning sun across sheets of
luxuriant cultivation, extending for miles, nearly ready for the sickle.
Far beyond, the long wooded line of the Hawash, rolling its troubled
waters towards the plain of the Adaiel, loomed indistinctly through the
haze; and in the extreme distance, the lofty blue range of the Aroosi
and Ittoo Galla, skirting the mysterious regions of Gurague, bounded the
almost interminable prospect.
The morning mist, loaded with dust raised by the tramp of the Amhara
steeds over acres of ploughed land, hung heavy on the slopes, and
partially screening the approach of the locust army, conspired to
enhance its success. Twenty thousand brawny warriors, in three
divisions, covering many miles of country, and linked by detachments in
every direction, pressed on towards the inviting goal--their hearts
burning with the implacable hatred of hostile barbarians, and panting to
consummate their bloody revenge. Taken entirely by surprise, their
devoted victims lay helplessly before them, indulging in fatal dreams of
happiness and security, alas! too speedily to be dispelled. Hundreds of
cattle grazed in tempting herds over the flowery meads. Unconscious of
danger, the unarmed husbandman pursued his peaceful occupation in the
field; his wife and children carolled blithely over their ordinary
household avocations; and the ascending sun shone bright on smiling
valleys, which, long before his going down, were left tenanted only by
the wolf and the vulture.
Preceded by the holy ark of Saint Michael, veiled under its scarlet
canopy, the king still led the van, closely attended by the father
confessor, and by a band of priests, with whom having briefly conferred,
he turned towards the expectant army, and pronounced the ominous words
which were the well-known signal for carrying fire and sword through the
land--"May the God who is the God of my forefathers strengthen and
absolve!" Rolling on like the waves of the mighty ocean, down poured
the Amhara host among the rich glades and rural hamlets, at the heels of
the flying inhabitants--trampling under foot the fields of ripening
corn, in parts half reaped, and sweeping before them the vast herds of
cattle which grazed untended in every direction. In the extreme
distance their destructive progress was still marked by the red flames
that burst forth in turn from the thatched roofs of each invaded
village; and the havoc committed many miles to the right by the division
of Abogaz Maretch, who was advancing parallel to the main body, and had
been reinforced by the detachment under Ayto Shishigo, became equally
manifest in numerous columns of white smoke, towering upwards to the
azure firmament in rapid succession.
We followed close in the train of the Negoos, who halted for a few
minutes on the eastern face of the range; and the eye of the despot
gleamed bright with inward satisfaction, whilst watching through a
telescope the progress of the flanking detachments, as they poured
impetuously down the steep side of the mountain, and swept across the
level plain with the fury of the blast of the Sirocco. A rapid detour
to the westward in an hour disclosed the beautifully secluded valley of
Finfinni, which, in addition to the artificial advantage of high
cultivation, and snug hamlets, boasted a large share of natural beauty.
Meadows of the richest green turf, sparkling clear rivulets leaping down
in sequestered cascades, with shady groves of the most magnificent
juniper lining the slopes, and waving their moss-grown branches above
cheerful groups of circular wigwams, surrounded by implements of
agriculture, proclaimed a district which had long escaped the hand of
wrath. This had been selected as the spot for the royal plunder and
spoliation; and the troops, animated by the presence of the monarch, now
performed their bloody work with a sharp and unsparing knife--firing
village after village, until the air was dark with smoke, mingled with
the dust raised by the impetuous rush of man and horse.
The luckless inhabitants, taken quite by surprise, had barely time to
abandon their property, and fly for their lives to the fastness of
Entotto, which reared its protecting form at the distance of a few
miles. The spear of the warrior searched every bush for the hunted foe.
Women and girls were torn from their hiding places to be hurried into
hopeless captivity- Old men and young were indiscriminately slain among
the fields and groves; flocks and herds were driven off in triumph, and
house after house was sacked and consigned to the flames. Each grim
Amhara warrior vied with his comrade in the work of retributive
destruction amongst the execrated Galla. Whole groups and families were
surrounded and speared within the walled courtyards, which were soon
strewed with the bodies of the slain. Wretches who betook themselves to
the open plain, were pursued and hunted down like wild beasts; and
children of three and four years of age, who had been placed in the
trees with a hope that they might escape observation, were included in
the inexorable massacre, and pitilessly shot among the branches. In the
course of two hours the division left the desolated valley laden with
spoil, and carrying with them numbers of wailing females and orphan
children, together with the barbarous trophies that had been stripped
from the mangled bodies of their victims.
The hoarse scream of the vulture as she wheeled in funereal circles over
this appalling scene of carnage and devastation, and the crackling of
falling roofs and rafters from the consuming houses, alone disturbed the
grave-like silence of the dreary and devoted spot, so lately resounding
to the fiendish shouts and war-whoops of the excited warriors, and to
the unpitied groans of their helpless captives. And as the exulting
barbarians, followed by the curses of many homeless fugitives in
Entotto, crossed the last range, gloomy columns of smoke, rising thick
and dense to the darkened heavens, for miles in every direction,
proclaimed that this recently so flourishing and beautiful location had,
in a few brief hours, been utterly ruined, pillaged, and despoiled, as
far as the means of ruthless man could effect its destruction.
The royal division crossed the deep vale of Finfinni by a most dangerous
and difficult defile, leading over the bed of the principal torrent,
which winds through an extensive belt of dark juniper forest, of truly
magnificent growth. Lofty pine-like trees, hoary with the moss of
centuries, towered above banks that rose some hundred feet almost
perpendicularly, and were clothed throughout with tangled undergrowth.
A huge fragment of porphyry, nearly choking the straitened descent,
afforded barely sufficient room for the passage of a single horseman,
whilst a succession of slippery rocks and treacherous pools filled up
the channel to the opposite bank, steep, abrupt, and wooded.
Loud shouts drowned the pleasing murmur of a splashing waterfall; and so
great was the confusion caused by the crush of men, horses, and mules,
mingled with frightened droves of oxen and sheep, all struggling
tumultuously towards the only outlet, that many accidents occurred.
Horses and riders were forced over the precipice--others were trampled
under foot by the overwhelming rush from behind, and a handful of
resolute men might with ease have kept at bay the whole rabble army of
the invader. But the Abyssinian system of warfare consists in surprise
and murder, not in battle or fair conflict. The king continued to
advance rapidly without the smallest check, and being escorted only by a
few fusiliers of the body-guard, carrying each two rounds of ammunition,
was necessarily much exposed; but confident in the terror with which his
meteor-like descent would inspire his unwary foes, no dispositions were
made for the security of his person, in the event of resistance or
surprise.
Emerging from the forest which extended two miles beyond the Finfinni
defile, the scattered forces began to rendezvous around the state
umbrellas, now unfurled, to which they were directed by the incessant
beating of kettle-drums. Whilst the work of destruction still continued
to rage on all sides, herd after herd of lowing beeves came pouring
towards the royal standard, and each new foraging party brought with it
fresh groups of captive women and girls. Some of the more braggart
warriors affecting inability to return their blood-stained blades to the
scabbard, pompously carried them in the hand unsheathed; and even the
boyish arms of some of the most effeminate of the royal pages had proved
victorious over a defenceless victim. The slaughter had been immense.
Every desolated court-yard was crowded with the bodies of the slain--
childhood and decrepit age had fared alike; and the murderers,
unconscious of the disgrace attaching to unmanly deeds, unblushingly
heralded their shame.
Detailing their deeds of cruelty, they basked in the smiles of their
savage and approving monarch, whose only eye became at times frightfully
wild with excitement, although his demeanour throughout the long day of
horrors was cool and self-possessed, from the experience that he had
acquired during eighty-four similar forays.
After a brief halt, the march was resumed through the country of the
Ekka Galla, which was clean swept with the besom of destruction; and the
distinguishing green sprig of asparagus in the woolly heads of
successful cavaliers became more and more numerous as the eventful day
drew on to its close. The sun at length disappeared behind the western
mountains, towards which the course of the army was directed; and night,
casting her mantle over the dismal scene, stayed the arm of the warrior.
During fourteen hours passed in the saddle, above fifty miles of
country had been passed over; and the weary forces finally halted in the
Ekka valley, without possessing the smallest idea of the position of the
rear division, with the tents and baggage, to the leader of which no
clue had been afforded as to the royal intentions.
Horses and mules were now turned loose among the standing beans; and
several thousand head of cattle, tired to death with the distance they
had been driven from their wonted pastures, were, with infinite
difficulty, collected in a hollow, girdled on three sides by a deep
ravine. It was closed on the fourth by a steep acclivity, on the summit
of which the king, surrounded by his chieftains, took up his position
for the night. His Majesty, although fasting throughout the day, sent
his only loaf to be eaten by "his children;" and looking forth upon the
fruits of his masterly foray, seemed, in the contemplation of the
amassed herds, to be insensible alike to the cold wintry blast, and to
the long calls of hunger. 4 A wilder scene can scarcely be imagined than
that presented by the nocturnal bivouac of the locust-like army of the
Amhara, flushed by its recent success. Loud whoops and yells, arising
from every quarter of the wide valley, mingled with the incessant lowing
of kine, the bleating of sheep, the shrill neighing of the war-steed,
and the occasional wailing of some captive maid. Groups of grim
warriors, their hands embrued in the innocent blood of infancy, and
their stern features lighted by the fitful flame, chuckling over the
barbarous spoils they had won, vaunted their inhuman exploits, as they
feasted greedily on raw and reeking carcasses. Spears and bucklers
gleamed brightly around hundreds of bale-fires, composed of rafters
stripped from the surrounding houses; and the whole distant landscape,
red from the lurid glare reflected by scores of crackling hamlets,
completed a picture worthy the pencil of the artist who delights in the
delineation of brutal revelry. No sentry paced the environs of the
straggling encampment--no watchword challenged the tramp of the
man-at-arms. The deep hum of thousands gradually waned and died away,
and each composed himself to slumber on the spot where his carousal had
been held. A pall constructed with spears supporting a cotton robe,
screened the person of the Negoos; and so long as the biting cold would
permit, we slept at broken intervals upon the bare ground, amid the
gorged and weary warriors, the saddle of each serving for a pillow--
"The earth our bed, our canopy the sky."
Volume Two, Chapter XXIV.