A calamity shortly afterwards overtook the Master of the Horse, whose
spouse--a gift from the monarch to his faithful subject--was seized with
alarming influenza, and became an object of universal attention. The
first intimation of the disorder being serious was received from
himself, when he came one morning to Graham's tent, in order to perform
the interesting operation of shaving with a notched razor that he
invariably patronised, and also to demand how it occurred that our
inquiries were not more frequent. The not dispatching couriers daily to
ascertain how each of your acquaintance fares and has rested, is perhaps
the greatest offence that can be committed against Abyssinian etiquette.
"Send to me" is a caution invariably given; and such being an
indispensable ceremony when people are believed to be well, what must
not be exacted when it is supposed that they are invalids? If hourly
inquiries be not made, the best friends are sure to become the worst;
and in every case the amount of real solicitude felt, is estimated by
the frequency of "amicable correspondence."
"The patient's uvula has been cleverly plucked out with a silken
thread," observed the visitor exultingly, when his toilet was happily
completed:--"the thorax has been well scarified, and furthermore, we are
giving _ya medur oomboi_ [Cucumis Africanus, Linn]. This medicine is
infallible; but remember," he added, lowering his voice, and looking
suspiciously round to see that no eaves-dropper profited by the wisdom
he was about to impart in confidence--"remember that it must be gathered
by a finger on which there is a silver ring, or, by Michael, it
possesses no virtue whatever."
The good lady did not, however, long stand in need either of treatment
or inquiry. She closed her bright eyes shortly after swallowing the
infallible nostrum, administered by her quack husband in a jorum of
oatmeal gruel, stirred with honey and rancid butter to such a
consistency that the spoon would stand--and death left her barely time
for confession and absolution.
Every priest in the neighbourhood was instantly called in to the rescue;
and the _enchifchif_ [i.e. belt of charms and amulets] and _mateb_
having been immersed in water, and restored to the body, the sacrament
was administered; and under the blazing light of the torch, prayers were
chanted for the soul of the deceased until the morning dawned. Then
commenced the frantic shrieks of the female crowd that flocked to the
house of mourning. Cloths were torn in shreds from the bosom, and the
skin plucked from the temples, whilst the low moaning dirge was at
frequent intervals interrupted by the hysterical sob of some new
arrival, who came to add her voice to the dismal coronach, and to excite
renewed bursts of lamentation.
Preceded by the gay orange umbrellas of the church of the "Covenant of
Mercy," the funeral procession wound up the palace hill. A pall of
printed Surat chintz, supported by six bearers, was waved alternately
with a fanning motion, whilst a numerous train of mourners followed,
with loud wails, all having their hands clasped behind their neck in
token of the triumph obtained by Death over Sin. The corpse was laid in
the sacred edifice, surrounded by twelve lighted tapers betokening
purity of life; and when these were nearly consumed, they were lowered
with the bier into the sepulchre. The head was laid to the west, in
order that on the morn of resurrection the face might be towards the
rising sun. A quantity of frankincense was deposited in the grave; and
a copy of the book styled _Lefafa Zadik_, "The supplication of
Righteousness," having been placed on the body, the mortal clay was
returned whence it came, "ashes to ashes, and dust to dust."
Ecclesiastics alone possess the privilege of a last resting-place within
the walls of the church, or on the eastern side, four paces from the
porch. The aristocracy occupy the north, and warriors, women, and
children, the south and west. All who die without confession or
absolution are either interred by the highway-side or in some
unconsecrated ground. Governors, men of rank, and all wealthy commoners
who have not during life worked in wood, iron, or precious metals, are
covered in the sepulchre with the green branches of the juniper; but
smiths and artificers being regarded as sorcerers, every care is taken
to keep them under ground when once deposited, to which end great stones
are heaped over the body, and the earth is well trampled and secured.
Funeral obsequies concluded, the dirge of mourning, as usual, gave place
to the notes of the violin, for harpers and fiddlers usually attend to
the last resting-place the mortal remains of the great, and exert their
utmost endeavours to raise the spirits of the return party by the
liveliest airs. At the funeral feast which followed, oxen and sheep
were freely slaughtered, and charity was liberally distributed, in order
that _requiems_ might be chanted during forty consecutive days for the
soul of the departed.
It has been shown that the Abyssinian Christian, whilst execrating
Mohammadanism, and forswearing all its abominations, can take unto his
bosom four wives and more, and that the solemnisation of matrimony is
almost the only occasion on which the priest is not called in. Such had
ever been the case in the house of the Master of the Horse, who was
nevertheless inconsolable under his present bereavement. Certain
malicious whispers had flown abroad, to the effect that applications of
the cudgel were sometimes resorted to by the epicure in support of his
marital authority; but whether true or without foundation, these
scandalous tales were known to have been circulated by Dinkoo, a
mischief-making brat, with the falsest of tongues, and the offspring of
one whose divorce, from incompatibility of temper, had left the deceased
undisputed mistress of the premises, whereas of the matchless
"_Etagainya_" now no more, the neighbours were ever wont to exclaim,
"Where shall you find her equal?"
At the appointed season, Graham and myself went in compliance with
Abyssinian custom, to pay a visit of condolence, after having with
considerable difficulty succeeded in shaking off the attentions of the
court buffoon, who, with his wonted politeness, exerted somewhat
_mal-a-propos_ to so melancholy an occasion, insisted upon the exercise
of his ingenuity in the comic drama. The widower, enveloped in a black
woollen mantle, was seated in a gloomy corner, the very personification
of mourning--his temples deeply scarified with his little finger nail,
as were those also of the wrinkled old woman who wept beside him. In an
opposite corner, equally the victim of grief, and supported by the
family priest with cross, crutch, and cowl, sat Marietta, a fat daughter
of the former unfortunate union, who, like her mother, had been wedded
and divorced, and having taken shelter again under her father's roof,
was now sobbing aloud.
"God hath taken her," said one of the guests, breaking silence after the
conclusion of the customary salutations. "The life of man is in His
hand."
"Alas!" sobbed the bereaved, "that it had pleased Heaven to spare her
until after you had left Abyssinia, that I alone might have found cause
for affliction. Who could prepare _shiro_, and _wotz_, and _dilli_,
like Etagainya? When was the house ever destitute of _quanta_ or of
_qualima_? [Note 1] and who ever asked for _tullah_ or for _tedj_, that
she did not reply, `_Malto_,' There is abundance? `_Waiye, waiye_,' Woe
is me. Where shall I find her equal? But there could have been no ring
on the finger that gathered the _medanit_!"
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Note 1. _Shiro_, a sauce composed of peas or lentils boiled with grease
and spices. _Wotz_, another, consisting of grease and red pepper.
_Dilli_, a third abominable condiment. _Quanta_, sun-dried flesh.
_Qualima_, sausages.
Volume 3, Chapter XLIV.