The court had meanwhile removed to Angollala; but a paternal letter from
the royal pen awaited the return of the Embassy to the capital. "Are my
children well?--have they entered in safety? I have heard with joy of
your success. Horsemen were dispatched, and they brought me the glad
tidings that you had killed. Hasten hither, that I may confer upon you
the reward due unto those who have slain forty Galla in the battle."
No time was lost in accepting this invitation, and a guard of honour met
us on the road. Together with sheep and oxen from the king, and
barilles of hydromel from the queen, visits of congratulation were
received from all the principal courtiers present. Amongst others, came
Ayto Egazoo, whose hospitality had been extended to us on our way to
Giddem; and Ayto Zowdoo [i.e. My crown] formerly governor of the
important province of Geshe on the northern frontier, who was dismissed
for bravely fighting against the Worra Kaloo, on the occasion when the
son of Birroo Lubo fell--an event which, although highly gratifying to
His Majesty, policy had induced him to punish by the imprisonment and
disgrace of all the principal Amhara engaged. Both of these visitors
had, with sorrowful hearts, taken leave of us on our departure; and they
now repeated the inward conviction entertained, that the animals against
which rash war was to be waged, would have "consumed the assailants"--a
persuasion which had led them to cherish not the smallest hope of seeing
any one of us again. But greater than all was the delight of the chief
smith, when he gave his assurance, after a careful admeasurement, that
the circumference of the ivory trophies then lying in the tent for
presentation to his royal master, yielded two full spans in excess of
any tusk in the royal magazines. A band of fusiliers were at dawn the
ensuing morning directed to escort us to the presence; and whilst
ascending the hill through the various courtyards, they chanted the war
chorus of death before the spoils of the vanquished elephant. A
successful expedition against the Loomi Galla having recently returned,
the walls of the reception-hall were decorated with numerous trophies
hanging above scrolls of parchment closely written with blessings from
the priesthood. But the whole court was in deep mourning, in
consequence of the demise of Ayto Baimoot, the chief eunuch, who was
nurse to the king in infancy, and had been through after-life his
principal adviser. Heads were close shaven, temples scarified; and
those immediately about the royal person were clothed in sackcloth and
ashes.
"Your joy is my joy," exclaimed His Majesty, so soon as the usual
salutations had been concluded, "and I am delighted when my children are
happy. I feared that the elephants would destroy you; but you have
achieved a triumph which none other have accomplished during the reign
of Sahela Selassie."
The ivory was now laid at the feet of the king, who listened with great
interest and seeming astonishment to the detail of our proceedings, and
to the assurance that the monarch of the forest might always be
vanquished by a single bullet, if properly directed. A long confession
of the personal dread entertained of the elephant by His Majesty was
followed by an anecdote formerly touched upon at Machal-wans, of his own
discomfiture, and that of his entire host, by a herd encountered during
a foray against the Metcha Galla, when, being firmly convinced that the
army would be destroyed, he had deemed it prudent to retreat with all
expedition. "I ran," he repeated several times with emphasis--"I ran,
and every one of my followers did the same. You evidently understand
the mode of dealing with these monsters; but if ten thousand of my
people ventured to oppose a troop, the elephants would consume them
all."
After this candid avowal on the part of the despot, I took the
opportunity of intimating that a strong desire had been entertained to
bring from Giddem the spoils also of a wild buffalo, but that Ayto
Tsanna declared to me that His Majesty, during an expedition made some
years previously, had fairly exterminated the species.
"_Oonut now_," "that is true," he replied, "and you must not attempt to
kill the `Gosh,' for it is a most ferocious and dangerous beast. What
answer should I give if my children were to be demolished by buffaloes
in the kingdom of Shoa? They consume men and horses. When I slew a
buffalo in Giddem, there were ten men and ten horses destroyed. They
reside in the thickets where they cannot be seen; and putting their
heads to the ground, annihilate all who approach their lair. As soon as
they have killed a horse, we close round them in vast numbers, and
overwhelm them with spears and guns; but you are few, and cannot attempt
this."
As this paternal remonstrance might be traced to a desire on the part of
the monarch to place his own exploit in a superior point of view, I
changed the subject by an assurance of the uniform kindness and
hospitality that we had experienced on the road, at the hands of Ayto
Tsanna, and at those of the Emabiet in Mahhfood more especially; and
each pause was followed by an ejaculation from the royal lips: "Did I
not command him? Is not Birkenich my daughter?"
Certain rewards and immunities are in Shoa attached to the destruction
of enemies of the state, and of formidable wild beasts, which are
regulated according to a fixed scale, and never withheld. These His
Majesty now signified his intention of conferring; and one of the
ministers of the crown entering the hall, accordingly proceeded, by the
royal command, to invest the victors with the decorations due to the
downfall of an elephant.
"You have each slain forty Galla," repeated the king, "and are
henceforth entitled to wear upon the right arm this _bitowa_, or silver
gauntlet, surmounted by this _choofa_, or silver bracelet; and on the
left shoulder the spoils of a he lion, in token of your prowess, that it
may be manifest unto all men."
His Majesty then with his own hand presented newly-plucked sprigs of
wild asparagus, to be worn in the hair during forty days, and to be
replaced at the expiration of that period by the _erkoom_ feather. Thus
honoured, we took our way down through the court-yards of the palace, a
band of warriors again preceding, who discharged their muskets at
intervals, whilst they chanted the Amhara war chorus, and danced the
death triumph.
The rebellion of the Loomi, which had now with infinite difficulty been
quelled, affords an excellent commentary upon the nature of Sahela
Selassie's Galla tenures. A portion of this tribe had failed to pay
their tribute to the now disgraced governor of Mentshar, who was wounded
in the attempt to levy it, and the royal forces took the field against
them. Botha, who presided over a portion of the Yerrur district, was
also a defaulter, though not in open revolt; but at the entreaty of his
brother Dogmo, a faithful vassal of the king, he came in with his
arrears as the army drew nigh; and having been mildly reproached for the
delay, was dismissed with pardon. No sooner, however, had he left the
camp, than he went over to the Galla on the plain of the Hawash, and
aided the Loomi in a projected attack upon the Amhara. Upon this
defection, Shambo, his elder brother, became apprehensive of
consequences; for he conceived it by no means improbable that he might
be held responsible for an offence in which he had no participation, as
in the case of Summad Negoos, late governor of Geshe, who is to this day
a state prisoner in consequence of his brother Negooso going over to the
ruler of Argobba. He therefore determined to renounce his allegiance,
but deferred the execution of his design until after joining Ayto
Shishigo, who commanded the troops acting against the Loomi; and it
being then proposed to burn a village on the summit of an adjacent hill,
belonging to the tribe of Botha, he immediately took part with the
enemy, and heading an onset in person, slew a vast number of the
Christians.
One half of the Loomi hamlets were already in flames, but the work of
destruction was now discontinued; and the royal forces retreating in
disorder, were again attacked by the rebel brothers, and defeated with
great loss within sight of the camp at Cholie. Perceiving his warriors
flying in all directions, the king seized spear and shield, and
commanded his steed to be saddled, to the end that he might take the
field in person. But a wily monk, believing that His Majesty felt no
real anxiety to place himself in a position of such imminent peril,
threatened him with excommunication if he stirred, and thus the day was
irretrievably lost.
Hawash Oosha [i.e. "The dog of the Hawash"], who governs the subjugated
sections of the Aroosi, Soddo, Liban, and Jille tribes, having meanwhile
joined the insurgents, the whole Galla border was in arms. This
powerful chieftain, who was for many years the open enemy of the despot,
had been finally gained over to the royal interest by large presents,
and by the espousal of his daughter; since which period he has held, in
nominal subjection to the crown, an important portion of the plain of
the Hawash. He soon repented him of the part he had taken in the
present insurrection; and the usual dissensions arising among the
rebels, a deputation, assured of personal safety, fell on the ground
before the footstool of the throne with overtures of future fealty. But
the country was rich in flocks and herds; and under the peculiar
circumstances of aggravation attending the revolt, the delegates were
commanded to arise, and to return whence they came, with an assurance to
the contrite rebel that his fair plains were shortly to be the scene of
pillage and desolation.
Two successful inroads followed close upon this threat, and ample
vengeance was taken. The wealth of the Pagans was transferred to the
royal meadows. Women wrung their hands in captivity, and a black and
burning monument attested the lava-like course of the chastising hordes.
The season of retribution again drew nigh, and Shambo and Botha
trembled at the fate that awaited them. The powerful intercession of
the church was sought with bribes, and obtained. A hooded monk from the
cloisters of Affaf Woira stood before the throne with a peace-offering
from those who supplicated pardon, and clemency was graciously extended.
As the Embassy entered the palace-court at the royal invitation, the
traitors were perceived prostrate on their faces, heaping dust upon
their heads in token of abject humiliation. The fear of the heavy
fetters of Goncho was before their eyes; and the half inebriated state
gaoler scowled at them like a basilisk from the ladder of the balcony.
But for once he was cheated of his prey. Five hundred head of choice
black cattle, which the caitiffs had treacherously swept from those
whose cause they so lately espoused, were accepted as the price of
pardon; and with an eloquent harangue from the throne, setting forth the
duties of a liege subject, Shambo and Botha were dismissed in peace.
Volume Two, Chapter XLV.