"Reculer pour mieux sauter," is a maxim strictly in accordance with His
Majesty's notions of strategy. Twenty days had elapsed since the return
of the expedition, when the arrival before the palace of six thousand
head of cattle proclaimed the success of a second sweeping foray
directed against the Ekka and Finfinni Galla. A Mohammadan merchant
residing at Roque, the market town and great slave-mart of Yerrur, was
suspected of having with his own hand slain the son of Ayto Besuehnech,
grand-nephew to the king--this youth having pressed on far in advance of
his comrades in pursuit of the retreating pagans. To avenge his
untimely death, a detachment, consisting of five thousand horse, was
despatched under the command of Aytos Berkie, Chilo, and Dogmo, the
government of which latter chief had previously been extended in
acknowledgment of his recent services. They made a forced march through
Bulga, and although foiled in their principal object by the precipitate
flight of the rover whose life they sought, the whole of his family and
followers were massacred, his effects plundered, and his house burnt to
the ground.
The survivors of the Ekka and Finfinni tribes, believing the fatal storm
to be expended, had already returned with the residue of their flocks
and herds, and were actively engaged in restoring their dilapidated
habitations, when the Amhara hordes again burst over their fair valley,
slew six hundred souls, and captured all the remaining cattle, thus
completing the chastisement of these devoted clans, who, notwithstanding
the generous restoration of their enslaved families, had failed to make
submission--and redeeming the royal pledge "to play the rebels another
trick."
The king had not honoured Ankober with his presence since the arrival in
Shoa of the British Embassy, but His Majesty now announced his intention
of entering the capital in triumph. Thinly attended, and unscreened by
the state umbrellas, he issued at sunrise on horseback through the
_sirkosh ber_, the only addition to his usual costume being a plume of
nine feathers stripped from the _Rasa_, or egret, which were worn in the
hair in token of his recent prowess at Boora Roofa. Putting his horse
into a gallop, he never drew bridle until stopped by the Bereza, many
parties under governors of the adjacent districts joining the royal
_cortege_ from various quarters, and swelling the retinue to two
thousand equestrians, who continued at a furious pace to clatter over
the stony ground.
Mosabeit, a village standing on a peninsula formed by the junction of
the Toro Mesk water with the Bereza, imparts its name to this, the most
direct road from Angollala to Ankober. The river forded, the king
mounted his mule, and diverging to the right, passed through a valley
studded with hamlets, the inhabitants of which, male and female, came
forth with many prostrations to the earth, whilst the women raised their
voices together in the usual ringing _heleltee_.
On all occasions of rejoicing and ceremony, whether on the successful
return of the monarch or of the warrior, or on the sight of a passing
procession, the ladies of Abyssinia, with their characteristic love of
noise, thus burst forth into a thrilling clamour of welcome, moving the
tongue with more than ordinary volubility against the palate, and
producing a continuous succession of tremulous notes. One watchful dame
on the outskirts perceives the approach of the cavalcade, and forthwith
gives out her wild screech of warning. In a moment the mountain side is
covered with every female within hearing; the _Hil! lil! lil_!
progresses fast and furious as they bend nearly double to assist in
upraising the yelling chorus; tears stream from their eyes in the
violence of the exertion, and far and near the hills resound with the
gathered volume of their shrill throats.
The king halted for a moment at a pile of stones by the way-side,
covered with rags, feathers, and flowers, to which every devout
Christian adds his tribute whilst saluting it with his lips. It points
to the white-roofed church of Saint Michael the Archangel, peeping
through a dark clump of junipers at some distance from the road, and
many were the fervent kisses of adoration bestowed by the triumphant
warriors. A little beyond, a large black cross on the summit of a
tumulus directs attention to the residence of Ayto Berri,
quarter-master-general of the Amhara forces. Here His Majesty again
diverged, in order to lead the cavalcade through the most thickly
populated tract; and after resting for half an hour in the Ungua-mesk,
one of the many royal meadows, now black with the Galla herds, he turned
suddenly off to the Motatit road, according to his invariable custom,
when proceeding to the capital after a successful foray.
The Arsiamba, styled at its point of intersection with the route usually
pursued, _Ya Wurjoch Maderia_, the "resting-place of merchants," is a
singular cataract rolling over columnar basalt, of which the ribbed
cliffs on either side are thronged by bees. But by far the most
interesting object is a certain white pillar, overgrown with nettles,
standing at the foot of the hills which bound the Ungua-mesk. It is
designated "Graan's stone," and is famous from an existing tradition
that the Moslem invader tied his war-horse to it on the occasion of his
leading the Adaiel to the destruction of Debra Berhan.
Abundantly cultivated, and rich in grazing land, the tract we had passed
over is throughout so destitute of trees and even of bushes, that the
inhabitants employ no other fuel than dried manure. Arrived at the
summit of the Chaka mountain, where straggling _cossos_ break the
monotony of the landscape, many hundred females, assembled from the
numerous villages in the vicinity, lining the surrounding heights, again
kept up one continued cry. It was drowned at intervals by discharges of
musketry which echoed among the broken glens as the despot descended;
and, preceded by a war-dance, wherein all the warriors joined, he
finally took up his quarters for the night in a house separated by a
deep valley from the capital.
Early the ensuing morning we rode out to the Chaffa meadow at the foot
of the palace, to meet and welcome His Majesty, who, after arraying
himself within a marquee erected for his accommodation, shortly appeared
through a gorge in a low range of hills, which was crowned on either
side by matchlock-men of the imperial body-guard. These kept up an
incessant fire as the royal _cortege_ advanced over the grassy plain,
preceded by a band of mounted warriors, who, as on the occasion of the
triumphant entry to Angollala, careered in intersecting circles. The
king bestrode a richly caparisoned mule, and wore a green scarf mantle
of Delhi embroidery. A golden collar encircled his neck, and a massive
silver akodama extended on either side a considerable distance beyond
the temples. The ends of the beam were hung with a profusion of silver
chains a yard in length, whilst a row of spangled pendants across the
brow half obscured the eyes, and imparted a peculiarly savage aspect,
which was enhanced by a large branch of wild asparagus floating above
the curly locks, and by a white and crimson robe drawn across the lower
portion of the face.
As the cavalcade advanced, the braves continued to caracole until
reaching the extremity of the meadow, where the assembled priests and
monks of Ankober, as well as of the neighbouring churches and
monasteries, were drawn up to receive their sovereign. The holy arks
were each screened under the canopy of a large embroidered umbrella; and
that of Saint Michael, the senior, which had accompanied the army into
the field, was carried beneath a _debab_ of solid embossed silver,
decorated with chain pendants and fretwork. Psalms having been chanted
by the turbaned body, who danced vehemently to their own chorus, the
_Alaka_ of the cathedral advancing, laid his hands on the head of the
victorious monarch, and gave his blessing, when the procession moved
slowly forward towards the foot of the hill, singing the death knell of
the pagan,--
"Moolohoy Moolo? Hai hai!
Wokao? Selala dabito!"
The warriors, preceded by the royal band of kettle-drums and wind
instruments, took the lead up the long steep and narrow path, which
winds along the verge of a precipitous ascent to the palace, perched on
the very pinnacle of the cone. A proclamation, through the herald,
having commanded the presence of all the inhabitants of the capital and
of the villages adjacent, every roof, bank, and cliff, was crowded with
women and girls. As the king passed on, they kept up an unceasing
clamour, and it increased to a deafening din as he approached the gate
of the outer enclosure, where a dense mass of curled heads extended
across the entire open area in front of the palisades.
The British escort, drawn up before the lower defences, presented arms
as the monarch passed, and within the stockade stood the high priests of
the five churches, robed and mitred. The clamour, the music, and the
echo of musketry, continued during the tedious ascent of the steep and
difficult path, which, broken into steps, winds betwixt lofty palisades,
through nine gateways and lodges, to the inner enclosure. Here His
Majesty took his seat in a raised alcove, the throne, and the usual
trappings of royalty, being on this occasion new throughout, and more
than wonted cleanliness pervading every quarter of the palace.
Once more the large drum in the middle of the court gave forth its deep
notes. Three hundred concubines, seated in a circle around, again
screamed and clapped their stained hands in deafening concert. A
dancing girl, flanked by two wild braves, whirled in front of the
throne, and in a series of eulogistic rhymes, composed by herself,
chanted a rehearsal of the recent heroic deeds of the puissant monarch,
"who, although invariably triumphant over his heathen foes, had never
decorated his royal brow with a branch greener than that by which it was
now surmounted." Each time she turned towards the crowd, a shrill
clamour of united voices rang forth the chorus to her verse. The
skin-clad warriors leapt and howled;--akodamas, coronets, and silver
swords, glistened in the morning sun; and as the chiefs, governors, and
nobles, formed in a semicircle on either side of the latticed balcony,
stamped and clapped their hands in savage triumph--the populace,
crowding the carpeted yard, and lining every wall, capered, yelled, and
shouted with the wildest enthusiasm. A general war-dance followed the
cessation of the shrill notes of the songstress, and the pageant
concluded with a royal salute, fired by the artillery detachment over
the British flag, which, in honour of His Majesty's arrival, floated far
below in the centre of the capital of Shoa.
Volume Two, Chapter XXXI.