Ethiops, one of the twelve descendants of Cush, the son of Ham, said to
have been begotten and buried at Axum, is regarded by the Abyssinians as
their great progenitor. Shortly after the Flood, the grandson of Noah
is believed to have advanced from the low country, then under the
dominion of the sea and the marsh, until, after crossing a tract little
fitted for the occupation of the shepherd, he ascended the highlands of
Ethiopia, which afforded an inviting habitation to the parent stock,
from which have emanated the different shoots of African population.
Like most other Abyssinian legends, this version is somewhat at variance
with received history, which assigns to Arabia the original seat of the
Cushites. The strange medley of colour and feature observable at the
present day, does not, however, overturn the theory of origin. The
habits of the people and the peculiarly varied climate of their country,
together with the usual result of mingling intercourse with the fairer
and more beautiful among the various hordes of slaves which have for
ages streamed through the land from the ravaged interior, are in
themselves fully sufficient to account for the diversity.
The connection with Arabia, commencing at a period the most remote, is
known to have existed for many centuries. Armies from both nations
respectively visited each other in wrath--merchants reciprocally
sustained the intercourse. Later still, the family of the false Prophet
found an asylum among the mountains of a country which, as a Christian
state that was not overwhelmed by the resistless flood of Islamism,
stands alone in the history of Eastern nations; and to the present day
many peculiarities in the language, the laws, and the customs of both,
continue to mark a common origin. Existing usages would also tend to
confirm what was asserted in the days of Diodorus, that Egypt was
originally colonised from Ethiopia, the very soil being brought down
from the highlands by the floods of the Nile.
Caucasian features predominate amongst the Amhara, notwithstanding that
the complexion passes through every shade, from an olive brown to the
jet black of the Negro. An approximation to the thick lip and flattened
nose is not unfrequently to be seen; but the length and silkiness of the
hair invariably marks the wide difference that exists between the two
races. The men are tall, robust, and well formed; and the women,
although symmetrically made, are scarcely less masculine. They are
rarely beautiful; and their attempts are indeed ingenious to render
hideous the broad unmeaning expanse of countenance bestowed upon them by
nature.
All savages esteem certain deformities to be perfection, and strive, by
augmenting the wildness of their aspect, to enhance the beauty of their
persons. Having first eradicated the eyebrows, the Amhara damsel paints
a deep narrow curved line in their room with a strong permanent blue
dye; thus imparting a look of vacancy and foolishness, which in the
high-born dame is heightened by plastering the cheeks to the very eyes
with a pigment of red ochre and fat. If not close shaven and encircled
by a narrow greasy fillet of rag, the head is adorned with many minute
rows of elaborate curls, which diverge from a common centre, and are
besmeared with stale butter until the wig has assumed the appearance of
an ordinary English beehive.
The costume consists of a wide sack chemise with full sleeves, confined
round the waist by a narrow girdle, and surmounted by a long winding
sheet thrown over the head, and descending to the heels--very coarse and
strong, and, like Ruth's veil, fully capable of containing six measures
of wheat. Large black wooden studs in the lobe of the ear are on high
days and holydays replaced by masses of silver or pewter, resembling a
pile of hand-grenades, or the teething rattles employed in nurseries.
Bracelets and anklets of the same metals, which, from their clumsiness,
are aptly denominated "fetters," are worn by those who can afford such
extravagance. Blue and gold-coloured beads are ingeniously wrought into
a necklace by the wealthier, who never appear without a bandoleer of
potent amulets, terminating in a huge bell-rope tassel; and the lady of
rank completes her toilet by dyeing her hands and feet red with the bulb
called _ensosela_, securely plugging up the nostrils with lemon-peel or
some aromatic herb, so that the end of the bouquet may dangle before the
mouth.
From the king to the peasant the costume of the men consists of a large
loose web of coarse cotton cloth, enveloping the entire person in
graceful folds, but well-nigh incapacitating the wearer from exertion.
Frequently disarranged, and falling ever and anon upon the ground, the
troublesome garment must be constantly tucked up and folded anew about
the shoulders, from which it is removed in deference to every passing
superior. A cotton waistcloth of many yards in length is swathed about
the loins, and a pair of very wide loose trousers, termed _senaphil_,
hang barely to the knee.
The sword, the spear, and the buckler, are the national weapons, and the
first is girded to the loins of every male subject in the kingdom, be
his profession what it may. Barely two feet in length, and highly
curved, it rather resembles a sickle than an implement of war. It
serves equally at the banquet and in the field; but being firmly lashed
to the right side, protrudes most incommodiously behind, and is not to
be detached from the scabbard unless by much grunting and personal
exertion. The serf still appears in the raw fleece of the sheep, which
he shifts according to the vicissitudes of the weather,
"With the unfashion'd fur
Rough-clad, devoid of every finer art.
And elegance of life;"
but during the journey or the foray, a cloak, composed of the prepared
skin of the lion, the leopard, or the ocelot, is thrown over the
shoulder of the better classes. Neither shoes nor sandals are ever
employed. The despot and the wandering mendicant are alike bare-footed,
and, unless by the clergy or the inmate of the monastery, no covering is
worn over the head. A wooden skewer, displaying either a feather or a
sprig of wild asparagus, is stuck in the hair of two-thirds of the
nation, and the arm of every man of any note is encumbered either with
an infinity of copper rings forming a gauntlet, with ponderous ivory
armlets, or with a mass of silver which might serve as a shackle to a
wild colt.
In the absence of a razor, the men scrupulously denude their cheeks and
chin with a pair of very indifferent scissors--a mode of proceeding
which serves greatly to enhance the dirty appearance of their unwashed
faces. Water, not less than coffee and tobacco, being studiously
avoided, as savouring too strongly of abhorred Islamism, the Christian
contents himself with rubbing his eyes in the morning with the dry
corner of his discoloured robe; but the greatest attention is paid to
the management of the hair with which nature has so liberally supplied
him, and many hours are daily expended in arranging the mop into various
and quaint devices. At one time-worn hanging in long clustering
ringlets over the cheeks and neck--at another, frizzed into round matted
protuberances; to-day fancifully tricked and trimmed into small rows of
minute curls like a counsellor's peruke, and to-morrow boldly divided
into four large lotus-leaved compartments.
During the period of mourning, which extends to one year, black or
yellow garments, or the ordinary apparel steeped in mire, must be worn;
and on the demise of a relative or friend, both sexes scarify the cheeks
by tearing from below each temple a circular piece of skin about the
size of a sixpence; to accomplish which, the nail of the little finger
is purposely suffered to grow like an eagle's talon. An ecclesiastical
remonstrance to the throne, representing this practice to be in direct
violation of the written law, "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your
flesh for the dead," long since obtained the promulgation of a royal
edict directing its discontinuance; but it is still universally
practised, and throughout the kingdom there is scarcely an individual to
be seen, whether male or female, who has not at some period of life been
thus horribly disfigured.
The _mateb_, a small encircling cord of deep blue silk, chosen in
reference to the smiling sky above, is the badge of debased Christianity
throughout the land, and those who accidentally appear in public without
it are severely censured by their pastors. Like other Eastern nations,
the Amhara have no family name. They soon ripen and grow old. Girls
become mothers at the early age of twelve, and are decayed before the
summer of life has well commenced.
It has been conjectured by Pliny, that the Orientals received their
first hints in architecture from the swallow, and that, in imitation of
the abode of the feathered instructor, their primeval essays were made
in clay. Whence the Abyssinians obtained their ideas on the subject it
were difficult to tell, but it is certain that they have made little
progress whether in execution or in design. Their houses, constructed
as in the earliest days, are still a mere framework of stakes sparingly
bedaubed with a rude coating of mud. Here thieves can readily break
through and steal; and of such a flimsy nature are the materials
employed, that the morning sun often rises a witness to the truth of the
scriptural metaphor, "He built his house upon the sand, and it was swept
away by the rising flood."
The windows, when any windows there be, are mere perforations in the
wall, furnished with clumsy shutters, but unprovided with any
transparent substance; and thus, if the ponderous door is closed against
the searching fog, or the cutting wintry blast, all possibility of
admitting light is precluded; whilst, excepting through the crevices in
the plank, and the apertures of the cracked walls, there exists no exit
for the smoke of the sunken wood fire, which thus fills the solitary
apartment, blackens the low roof, and occasions frequent attacks of
ophthalmia. Throughout, the most slovenly appearance pervades the
dreary interior. Furniture is limited to a small wicker table, a
bullock's hide, and a rickety bedstead abounding in vermin; and whilst
the universal objection to the use of water, whether as regards the
person or the apparel of the inmates, enhances the gloomy vista of
cobweb desolation, dirt and filth choke up the surrounding enclosure.
The absence of drains or sewers compels the population of the towns and
villages to live in the miasma of decomposing matter and stagnant water.
The comfort of space is never consulted--stables and outhouses are far
beyond the notions of the proprietor; and in the absence of all tidiness
or comfort in the arrangement of the yards, the unseemly dunghill, which
in other countries is carried away to improve the soil, is here suffered
to accumulate and rot before the entrance. Poisoning the atmosphere
with its baneful exhalations, it is periodically swept away by the
descending torrents to feed the rank weeds which fatten in the mire; but
no attempt is to be seen at the small trim garden, or neat rustic porch,
even in the lone farm-steadings which are scattered throughout the
country. All alike present a dreary look of desertion. The poultry,
and the mules, and the farm-stock, and the inhabitants, all reside under
the same roof. Bare walls and slovenly thatch rise from a straggling
wattle stockade, which environs the premises to preserve the inmates
from the nocturnal attacks of the prowling hyena, and to impart the
fullest idea of confinement and misery. Few trees break the monotony of
the scene. No busy hum of glad labour is to be heard--no bustle or
noise among the elders--no merry game or amusement among the children;
and thus to the European visitor the whole appears strange, savage, and
unnatural.
With doors allowing free ingress to every injurious current, with roofs
admitting the tropical rain, and sunken floors covered with unwholesome
damp, it is only surprising that many more of the people of Shoa are not
martyrs to disease. It is now nine years since an epidemic called
_ougaret_ made its appearance at the capital, and, as might have been
anticipated, spread with fearful virulence in the foul city. The iron
drum of misfortune was heard by the credulous pealing over the land; and
although a black bull was led through the streets, followed by the
inhabitants carrying stones upon their heads in token of repentance, and
the sacrifice of atonement was duly performed, one half of the whole
population were speedily swept away. The monarch sought strict
seclusion in the remote palace at Machal-wans, where he would see no
person until the plague was stayed; and those who survived of his
terror-stricken subjects fled for a season from a hill which was
declared by the superstitious priesthood to have been blasted by a curse
from heaven.
Volume 3, Chapter XIX.