An extremely steep and infamous road, intersected by numerous mountain
torrents, brought us the following day to Aramba. After crossing the
district of Arraba Amba, which pays tribute to the crown in agates,
whereof numbers of the form adapted for gun-flints are picked up on the
face of the soil, the path wound above three miles along the channel of
the river Shonkorghie, or "Sugar-sides," which takes its source in the
Turmaber range, and during the rains becomes quite impassable. On its
borders the blackberry and the corinda abounded, both in full fruit.
The scenery was especially beautiful; and in a romantic glen, partially
secluded by a grove of tall trees, among which the green and crimson
"zoreet" displayed its gorgeous plumage, stood the picturesque church
and monastery of "Our Lady."
Aramba was taken from the Areeo Galla by Abiye, third monarch of Shoa;
and now containing a large portion of the treasures amassed by Sahela
Selassie and his ancestors, is garrisoned by a strong detachment of
gunmen, and entrusted to the custody of a governor, and of a Shalaka, or
captain of a thousand. No stranger is permitted to enter the village
without first giving the personal security of one of the inhabitants;
and access is not under any circumstances allowed to the stronghold,
which occupies the apex of a rocky ridge, possessing great natural
strength. Here, in a succession of long barn-like buildings, are
consigned to mould and cobwebs, and jealously guarded, every civilised
invention received by the despot, which could in any way tend to the
advancement or improvement of his people.
Our camp was formed on a small level terrace, of which the precipitous
brink overlooked a deep dark valley containing the sources of the Aramba
water, each flowing through a narrow rocky ravine. Extensively
cultivated, and echoing to the shrill voice of the partridge, it is
studded with cottages, above the white roofs of which the wreaths of
curling smoke rose in agreeable relief against the sombre side of the
wood-clothed mountain that bounded the prospect. Woti, towering amid
dense forests of timber, and appearing to bear on its venerable summit
the crumbling ruins of a giant castle, shut in the view on one side,
whilst on the other, far beyond a remarkable pyramidical hill called
Koka, could be traced the jungly banks of the Awadee, gradually fading
into the blue perspective of the Adel desert.
We experienced every civility at the hands of the governor and Shalaka;
the latter of whom insisted on mounting guard over our tents in a small
temporary bower erected as a defence against the nocturnal cold.
Supplies of every description were furnished in regal profusion; and the
voracity of the Abyssinian followers, to whom the excursion had proved
one continued feast, was most severely put to the test. The king's
orders, which, in consequence of the excessive cheapness of all the
necessaries of life, entail small burden upon the host, threw open the
doors at every stage, and afforded the most lavish commissariat; and
although the donors in most instances refused our money, they yet
accepted presents of tenfold value in their estimation, which amply
remunerated them for the tax imposed by the despotic Negoos.
But different indeed would be the reception afforded to the man who
should venture to wander through the country without the royal
assistance. A well-stocked purse, or a well-filled portmanteau, would
not invariably produce a salutary effect, since the savage has always
some plan in contrivance, by which to obtain possession of any curious
article exposed to his admiring gaze, without imparting aught of value
in return; and in Shoa a display of force is frequently requisite to
extort that for which the most liberal payment has previously been
tendered. Coupled with the desire to obtain property, there ever exists
an innate disinclination to part with the most trifling commodity; and
even among the higher classes, a stick or a spear is sometimes
peremptorily refused to parties who have previously loaded the ingrate
with the richest imaginable presents.
Our last march lay over the mountain mass of which Mamrat forms the main
feature. The ascent in many parts is extremely tedious; and deep dells,
intersecting the road, are traversed each by a clear streamlet, leaping
from rock to rock in its downward course to vales far concealed from
view. A singular bird's-eye view of Goncho, the state prison, was
obtained from a natural terrace on which, environed by dark juniper
trees, stands the church of Kidana Meherat, "the Covenant of Mercy."
This very common title is due to an opinion entertained by the
Abyssinian fathers, that God appeared to the Virgin Mary in Paradise,
and formed a covenant with her for the redemption of mankind.
The voice of the mourners was soon after heard at the house of Ayto
Manor, late governor of the district, who, to the great concern of the
king, had recently departed this life. In boyhood a playfellow of
Sahela Selassie, the young prince had sworn that, on his accession to
the throne, he would not forget him, and throughout his long reign he
had proved true to his word. Although the deceased had, by his disputes
with the merchants of Hurrur, forfeited the government of Alio Amba, the
most lucrative in the realm, he was immediately invested with another.
Year after year, too, honours and wealth had been heaped upon him from
the throne, in gratitude for which he willed to his liberal master the
entire of his accumulated property, without making any provision for his
own children, who, in the ordinary course of things, are permitted to
reside twelve months on the father's estate before it reverts to the
crown.
A great portion of the latter part of the road lay through the mighty
forests of Mamrat, of which the scenery was rendered singularly
beautiful by the admixture of vernal and autumnal tints, produced at
this season by the great proportion of evergreens. The shadowy and
sombre juniper, fashioned like the tall cedars of Lebanon, and the fresh
and lively "zigba," "So massy, vast, yet green in her old age," wave
stage above stage from the gloomy depths of the valley, to the very
pinnacle of the mountain, amid the moss-grown forms of the silver-haired
"woira." The imperial purple lory, with myriads of brilliant birds,
darted through the cool recesses; the bell voice of the campanero tolled
with monotonous regularity, and many a clear and sparkling rivulet
bounded over its broken channel.
Deep-seated in this retirement lies the monastery of Mantek, said to
have been founded a thousand years. It is inhabited solely by
_Tabeeban_--men strongly suspected of being Jews in disguise--cunning
workers in iron, wood, and clay, who are regarded as sorcerers, and -
shunned accordingly by all save the king, to whom they are endeared.
The austerities practised by this fraternity, "in order to obtain
righteousness before God," are perhaps as severe as any recorded in
monkish annals. An oath is taken, under a curse, never to look at a
female, nor to hear her voice, nor to eat a morsel of bread which has
been prepared by woman's hands, and excommunication for twenty years is
the penalty attached to the infringement of the vow. No fire is kindled
either on Saturday or on the Sabbath; the most meagre diet is observed
throughout the residue of the week; many sit up to their necks in water
for days together: at appointed periods all lash their naked bodies with
rods of sharp thorns; and whilst every brother sleeps in a sitting
posture upon a hard clay bench, with his loins girt about by a tough
cord, the _Alaka_, their superior, does penance continually in a massive
iron chain.
A tree, which points to the monastery of Aferbeine, was adorned by the
followers as they passed with the variegated feathers of the _zoreet_,
and with fragments detached from their soiled cotton garments. The
portals of this convent are guarded by a blind dwarf, two feet four
inches in stature, who never moves from his post save on men's
shoulders. Among the unwashed tenants of the cloister, there was one
who did not disdain to stroll forth, that he might greet the triumphant
Gyptzis. Father Stephanos was perhaps the least bigoted of his
profession, but he possessed his full share of ignorance and
superstition. Leviathan he believed to be a monstrous serpent, carrying
the world on its back. None possessed firmer faith in the winged
chariot of Ethiopia, in which the celestial ark of the covenant is
recorded to have been brought from the Holy Temple; and he further
laboured under the happy delusion, that a fire kindled above his
secluded convent, must, _par excellence_, be fully as conspicuous at
Jerusalem, as the beacons in Palestine by which Saint Helena announced
at Constantinople her discovery of the Cross!
Old Osman, too, with the aid of his ivory-headed crutch, limped forth
from his cell in the outskirts of Ankober, to inquire how his white
friends "from beyond the world of waters had entered and passed their
time?"--A rover in Gurague, he had dealt largely in human flesh, and
seen much of the unexplored interior, but finally followed the example
of Habakkuk, the Arabian merchant, who, in the days of Tekla Haimanot
the ecclesiastic, and during the reign of King Naod, was brought to
embrace Christianity, and became _Etchegue_, or Superior of all the
monasteries. A proselyte to the religion of Ethiopia, Osman had
renounced the false prophet, and put away every Mohammadan abomination,
coffee only excepted. Without the sober berry, he averred life to be a
very burden; and the clergy were fain to close their eyes upon the
malpractices of one, whose geographical information, united with great
abilities as a spy, had exalted him to the highest place in the royal
favour.
A frequent visitor at the residency, the garrulous monk had opposed
strenuous arguments to my projected war against the elephants, herds of
which he represented to be so numerous around the lake Zooai, that
caravans are afraid to traverse the dense forest unless provided with a
number of young goats, to whose bleat the colossus entertains an
unconquerable antipathy. "Take my kid with you," he advised: "on no
account omit this, or the monsters will assuredly trample you." He had
been reminded that "the battle is not always to the strong," but he
invariably shook his head; and even now that the chorus of victory was
ringing in his ears, and the tail of the fallen actually in his hand, he
continued at intervals to ejaculate, with upturned eyes, "No; I like it
not."--"By Mary! it doth not please me."
In the environs of the capital a vast concourse of people had assembled
to welcome our safe return from the hunting-field; and as the ivory
trophies of the chase were borne through the crowd upon the shoulders of
six men, great were the demonstrations of astonishment and commendation
evinced at the successful issue of an expedition so universally
ridiculed at its departure. Women and girls shouted in the
market-place. Visits of congratulation were forthwith paid by all our
friends and well-wishers; whilst the few who had spread disparaging
reports, and who still continued to dislike the presence of the British
in Abyssinia, evinced by their silence the envy and jealousy to which
the unprecedented exploit had given birth in their breasts. Amongst
those who felt more particularly annoyed and chagrined was Sertie Wold,
the Purveyor General, who had not long before hunted the wilderness of
Giddem for two successive months, with a retinue of more than three
thousand spearmen and many fusiliers, and who had during that period
enjoyed very superior opportunities to ourselves, without however being
able to achieve the object of his highest ambition--the death of an
elephant.
Volume Two, Chapter XLIV.