"Natura beatis
Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti."
Although the majestic fabrics, the pillars of porphyry, and the
Corinthian domes of early writers, now exist only in the tradition,
Ethiopia yet retains the fresh vegetation of a northern soil, the
vivifying ardour of a tropical sun, and the cloudless azure of a
southern sky. Palaces and fanes, gardens and gushing fountains, have
long since departed; but there still remains a fertile country
possessing vast capabilities, a salubrious and delightful climate, and a
race of beings whose existence under absolute and complete despotism,
presents a striking contrast to that of the idle and improvident Adaiel,
whose pride and whose boast is a banner of independence.
Whatever Abyssinia may once have been, it is not to be expected that she
should, under a great lapse of time, again take place among those
countries which are peculiarly happy, opulent, or abundant. All her
prevailing customs and practices are utterly at variance with existing
laws for the creation, consumption, and distribution of wealth. A heavy
taxation is levied on the produce of the field. Monastic and clerical
establishments are fostered to the ruin of the people. The venal judges
are paid by fees on the suits which they decide; and popular
superstition and imposture possess the royal sanction for abuse.
Nothing useful is ever taken into consideration; here are no roads or
bridges to facilitate traffic, no schools for the instruction of the
rising generation. The improvements of life have stopped at the
satisfying point "of barren, bare necessity;" and fear and prejudice
unite to deter the inhabitants from visiting foreign climes, so as to
improve their benighted country, by introducing the discoveries in
modern science.
But although thus ignorant of comfort even in their highest enjoyments,
the people are yet considerably emerged from that state of society which
is denominated barbarian, and practise a species of agriculture which
the fertility of the soil has heretofore blessed with an abundant
return. Throughout the kingdom the eye is greeted by extensive
cultivation; and the art of husbandry in Shoa has far eclipsed the
advances made by any nation hitherto visited on the western coast.
Under certain despotic conditions, private property in the land is every
where established. There are few forests or wastes, excepting those
impracticable for pasture or cultivation. The village and the
farm-steading are uniformly secure from predatory bands or hostile
neighbours, and although thickly inhabited, the country is unburdened by
any over-population.
The processes of preparing the ground are somewhat complex; a primitive
plough is in use to the exclusion of the African hoe, and considerable
industry is evinced in collecting and distributing the waters for
artificial irrigation. The science of husbandry is nevertheless little
understood; the implements of culture are few, and of the rudest
construction; the various modes of assisting nature are unknown; and
unless some civilised power interferes for good, a great length of time
must necessarily elapse before the habits and prejudices of the
uncultivated nation can be overcome for its own advantage.
Situated in the middle of the torrid zone, and composed of groups and
ranges of lofty mountains overlooking wide plains and deep valleys,
equally under the influence of the tropical rains, the climate at
different elevations is of the most varied description. The high
table-land, which is clothed with moderate vegetation, and destitute of
wood, is at all times cool and healthy, and often extremely cold. Here
there is no winter,
"Such as when birds die
In the deep forest, and the fishes lie
Stiffened in the translucent ice."
The coolness of the mountain breeze is pleasant and refreshing, and the
timely cessation of the rain allows a healthful rest to vegetation.
The low wooded valleys, on the other hand, are close, unwholesome, and
insufferably hot. During the cold season the thermometer on the summit
of the range stands at about 30 degrees, a thin coating of ice covers
the pools, and the country is white under a mantle of hoar frost.
Below, the quicksilver mounts to 90 degrees, and the total absence of
ventilation renders the heat still more oppressive. At the termination
of the rains, Fever, with all her attendant horrors, spreads her
pestilential wings over the most beautiful locations; and during the
month of September even the wild birds for a time forsake the poisoned
atmosphere, to seek the more congenial breezes of the upper regions.
The amazing fertility of the vales is beyond all conception. Every
species of crop attains the most gigantic proportions. The rich soil
and the nurturing shelter, the abundant supply of water, and the ardent
rays of the sun, all combine to crown the hopes of the husbandman; and
these situations would have stood prominent as perfect in the creation,
had nature blessed them with a climate corresponding in character to
their lovely appearance. On the mountain-side, the vegetation is
somewhat inferior in luxuriance--a fact that may be accounted for by the
angle at which the sun's rays meet the ground, their power of imparting
heat varying in proportion. As the eastern face of the range rises
almost perpendicularly, it can only during half the day receive them at
all, and for many hours in the warmest part of the afternoon, it is thus
entirely in the shade.
On the elevated plateau, a succession of well-watered undulations of
pasture and arable land, extend in endless continuation to the view,
undisturbed by a solitary tree, their scattered villages and farm houses
proclaiming a country which has long enjoyed the blessings of peace.
From the centre of this table-land, the craggy mountains rise in
magnificent ranges, clothed in part with majestic forests, and graced by
the wild rose, the myrtle, the eglantine, and the jessamine; whilst at
its foot repose the rich and smiling valleys, hid in all the luxuriance
of tropical foliage, from the gigantic sycamore, beloved of the heathen
Galla, and measuring upwards of forty feet in circumference, to the
light and elegant acacia, which distils the much-prized gum.
On the table-land the best soil is found on the sheltered hill-side, of
a rich brown colour, and along the river bank where there is a loamy
alluvial deposit. Black earth is occasionally met with on the
mountains, where it may probably have originated in the decomposition of
those forests to which tradition gives existence in ancient days, but of
which no other vestige now remains. In the valleys, those which form
the governments of Giddem and Geshe especially, the richest black soil
prevails throughout; and blessed with an abundant supply of rain, and
with a mild genial climate, they produce all the crops known in
Abyssinia, whilst the soil on the surrounding mountain-side, light,
loose, and gravelly, would be found well adapted for the growth of
coffee and tea.
Abyssinia is happy in a most copious supply of water, the gates of
heaven being opened twice during the year to the flooding of every river
and streamlet, and to the complete soaking of the earth. The "rain of
bounty" commences in February, and lasts for thirty days, and the "rain
of covenant" setting in before the termination of June, pours down with
extreme violence throughout July, August, and September--at which period
is produced that never-failing increase of the Nile to which Egypt is
also indebted for her fertility. Immediately after these down-pourings,
nature, who had remained bound up in the preceding drought, bursts forth
into a thousand interesting forms. Pastures and meadows are clothed in
cheering green; the hills and dales are adorned with myriads of
beautiful and sweet-scented flowers, and the sides of the mountain
ranges become one sheet of the most luxuriant cultivation.
Long after the rains are over, a heavy dew falls during the night; and
under its vivifying influence the plants continue to shoot forth,
refreshed by the coolness of the morning breeze, and strengthened by the
strong heat of the mid-day sun. By the provident husbandman two crops
are every year garnered in, without the land being impoverished; and
whilst the corn is being reaped in one field, the seed is but just sown
in another. The cattle are employed in ploughing up the fertile soil of
one estate, whilst in the next the muzzled ox is trampling out its
recently yielded treasures; and all the various operations of husbandry,
from the breaking up of the ground to the final winnowing of the corn,
may be simultaneously witnessed on one and the same farm.
"Hic ver assiduum, atque alienis mensibus aestas,
Bis gravidae pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbor."
Forty-three species of grain and other useful products are already
cultivated in Abyssinia. After supplying the immediate wants of the
working classes, and those of a herd of clerical drones who devour the
fruits of their honest labour, there remains a considerable surplus,
which is bartered to the lazy Adaiel for the produce of his salt lake--a
field that without ploughing or sowing yields an inestimable crop. But
if only a small portion of European knowledge were to be instilled into
the mind of the Christian cultivator, the kingdom of Shoa, possessed of
such unbounded natural advantages, might be rapidly raised from its
present condition, and made one inexhaustible granary for all the best
fruits of the earth.
Volume 3, Chapter XXXII.