The entire slope of the palace eminence is studded with thatched
magazines and out-houses; and these, shame to the Christian monarch,
form the scene of the daily labours of three thousand slaves. In one
quarter are to be seen groups of busy females, engaged in the
manufacture of beer and hydromel. Flat cakes of teff and wheat are
preparing by the hundred under the next roof, and from the dark recesses
of the building arises the plaintive ditty of those who grind the corn
by the sweat of their brow. Here cauldrons of red pepper soup yield up
their potent steam; and in the adjacent compartment, long twisted strips
of old cotton rag are being dipped in bees' wax. Throughout the female
establishment the bloated and cross-grained eunuch presides; and his
unsparing rod admonishes his giggling charges that they are not there to
gaze at the passing stranger.
In the sunny verandah of the wardrobe, tailors and curriers are
achieving all manner of curious amulets and devices--the offspring of a
savage brain. Blacksmiths are banging away at the anvil under the eaves
of the banqueting hall. Turbaned priests, seated in the porch, armed
with a party-coloured cow's tail, indolently drive away the flies from
volumes which are elevated on a rack before their ancient eyes, and
detail the miracles of the saints. Under one shed, notaries are
diligently committing to parchment elaborate inventories of tribute
received. Sacred books are being bound in a second. In a crowded
corner painters are perpetrating on the illuminated page atrocious daubs
of our first father carrying spear and buckler in the Garden of Eden;
and in the long shadow thrown by the slaughterhouse, whence a stream of
blood is ever flowing across the road, carpenters are destroying bad
wood in a clumsy attempt to fashion a gun stock with a farrier's rasp,
for the reception of an old honeycombed barrel which promises to burst
upon the very first discharge.
Governors and nobles, with shields and silver swords, are seated above.
Clamourous paupers, itinerant monks, and applicants for justice, fill
the lower courts. The open _Arada_ before the great-gate is choked with
idlers, gossips, and immoveable beggars, who, from the rising up to the
going down of the sun, maintain one incessant howl of importunity. Oxen
and asses, goats and sheep, have established their head-quarters in
every filthy avenue. Newly-picked bones and bullocks' skulls strew the
rugged descent; and on the last terrace, surrounded by stagnant mire,
behold Ayto Wolda Hana himself, seated in magisterial dignity, arranging
the affairs of the nation. Hundreds tremble at his uncompromising nod;
and appellant and respondent, accuser and accused, alike bared to the
girdle, bend in cringing submission, as in a cracked and querulous voice
the despotic legislator delivers his arbitrary fiat.
During the absence of the Negoos on military expeditions, the most
inquisitorial espionage is exercised over the actions of every
foreigner, and the strictest police established, to insure the safety of
the almost deserted capital. Every avenue is vigilantly guarded, and no
stranger allowed to enter the town without permission of the viceroy.
Children only are suffered to leave the houses after dark; and watchmen,
patrolling in all directions, apprehend every adult who may be found
abroad during the night.
But Ankober was now thronged to overflowing. Brawls disturbed the
streets, and, during the early hours of each evening, drunken parties
were to be seen streaming home from the royal banquet, shouting the war
chorus, and not unfrequently preceded by one of the court buffoons,
engaged in the performance of the most absurd follies, antics, and
grimaces. Day and night the invocations of a host of mendicants arose
from every lane and alley, and the importunity to which we were exposed
on the part of the wealthy had attained the point beyond which it was
scarcely possible to advance. Each ruffian who had destroyed an infant
considered that he possessed an undeniable right to be "decorated from
head to foot, and completely ornamented." Villains, streaming with
rancid butter, entered the Residency, and desired that the "Gyptzis's
bead shop might be opened, as they had brought salt to purchase a
necklace;" whilst the king's three fiddlers, who had each slain a foe
during the foray, appearing with the vaunting green _sareti_, attuned
their voices and their squeaking instruments to the detail of their
prowess, and demanded the merited reward. "The gun is the medicine for
the cowardly Pagan who ascends a tree," was the maxim of many who
aspired to the possession of one of these weapons; and for hours
together men stood before the door with cocks and hens and loaves of
bread, to establish their claim to the possession of "pleasing things."
With the design of aiding his fast-swelling collection of natural
history. Dr Roth had offered rewards to all who chose to contribute,
and the king's pages were kept well supplied with ammunition for the
destruction of birds; but the unconquerable love of sticking a feather
in the hair almost invariably spoiled the specimen. A bat, firmly
wedged between the prongs of a split cane, was one day brought by a boy,
who extended the prize at arm's length: "I've caught him at last," he
exclaimed with exultation--"It is the Devil, who had got into the
monastery of Aferbeine; I've caught the rascal; _min abat_?" "what is
his father?"
After this strong invective, which is indiscriminately applied also as
occasion demands, to man, beast, and every inanimate thing, the youth
was not a little surprised to perceive the naturalist quietly extricate
the much-dreaded animal with his fingers. A party of females, who
carried pitchers of water at their backs, had halted in the road, and
looking over the hedge, were silent spectators of the proceeding.
"_Erag, erag_," they exclaimed with one accord, placing their hands
before their months as they ran horror-stricken from the spot--"_O wai
Gypt_," "Alas, Egyptians! far be such things from us!"
On the festival of Michael the Archangel, whose church immediately
adjoins the palace, the monarch received the holy sacrament in the
middle of the night, and returned thanks for his victory, a chair having
previously been obtained from the Residency to obviate the fatigue
stated to have resulted from former orisons. The holy ark, which had
brought success to his arms, was again placed under the silver canopy,
and thrice carried in solemn procession around the sacred edifice, under
a salute of musketry and ordnance. Large offerings were as usual made
to it, alms distributed among the poor, a new cloth given to each of the
king's slaves, and a feast prepared for every inhabitant of Ankober.
Rejoicings, which had continued throughout the city since the triumphal
entry, were this day renewed with increased energy, even girls and young
children whooping war-songs in celebration of the safe return of the
warriors from battle.
But the voice of lamentation succeeded to the strains of joy. An
eclipse had suddenly inumbrated the moon, and as the black shadow was
perceived stealing rapidly onwards, and casting a mysterious gloom over
the face of nature, late so bright, the exulting Christians were seized
with the direst consternation. The sound of the drum was hushed, and
the wild chorus was heard no more. Believing the orb to be dead, and
that her demise prognosticated war, pestilence, and famine, the entire
town and suburbs became a scene of panic, tumult, and uproar, whilst
women and men, priests and laity, collecting together in the streets and
in the churches, cried aloud upon the "Saviour of the world to take pity
on them--to screen them from the wrath of God--and to cover them with a
veil of mercy, for the sake of Mary, the mother of our Lord."
The pagan Galla, of whom there are many in Ankober, lifting up their
voices, joined in the general petition, and, from not comprehending the
Amharic tongue, placed upon it the most absurd construction. During the
whole period of the moon's obscuration, the wailing continued without
intermission; and when the planet, emerging, sailed again through the
firmament in all her wonted brilliancy, a universal shout of joy burst
from the lips of the savages, in the firm belief that the prayers and
sobs of the multitude had prevailed, and awakened her from the sleep of
death.
His Majesty had been previously apprised of the precise hour and minute
at which the obscuration was to commence and terminate, and his
incredulity in the first instance was followed by equally unfeigned
surprise at the powers of divination displayed. "Eclipses are bad
omens," said the king, when their causes had been explained. "Was
Subagadis not slain on the appearance of one, and did another not bring
defeat to Ras Ali?" The chief smith was, nevertheless, instructed to
make himself thoroughly acquainted with the use of logarithmic tables,
and of "the instruments that read the heavens;" and the royal attention
was temporarily diverted from the study of medicine to the contemplation
of the celestial bodies.
In Shoa, the silver sword is the emblem of rank and authority, and it is
girded on the loins of none but those who enjoy an exalted place in the
sovereign's favour. The forfeiture of government and the loss of the
cumbrous badge go hand in hand, and many are the weary hours of
attendance indispensable towards the restoration of either. On no
foreigner who had yet visited the Christian land had this mark of
distinction been conferred, but the despot now suddenly resolved that
the fluted tulip scabbard should adorn his English guests. "You bring
the stars upon earth, and foretell coming events," said His Majesty, as
he presented these tokens of favour and confidence--"you are my
children; you possess strong medicine. You must wear these swords in
assurance of my permanent love, that your name may be great in the eyes
of all my people."
Volume Two, Chapter XXXII.