All Abyssinian litigants are required to find security. “These

securities must be persons whom the judge is certain of being

able to seize if necessary. If the charge be serious they must

be persons of property, and are liable both for the appearance of

their principals, and for the sentence whatever that may be. This

custom obtains both in civil and criminal law. In default of such

security, each party is chained by the wrist; an additional expense,

as the chains must be hired, and the jailor—that is, the person

to whom he is chained, paid a sum fixed by law. This bail is the

prop of Abyssinian society; no commercial or market transfer takes

place without it. The Abyssinian judge or creditor cares nothing for

the principal in a cause; the bail is seized, and in self-defence

produces his man; and it is an honourable trait that the principal

rarely absconds. A friend will thus become security in a case of

murder, though rendering himself thereby liable to suffer death,

or to pay the price of blood, to them a fortune.

“After both parties have given security the plaintiff only is

allowed to produce his witnesses; the defendant can, when they are

called by name, admit or reject their evidence, in almost every case

great indulgence being shown in this respect. . . . In small affairs,

such as a sudden dispute on the high road, the meeting of an absconded

debtor, or any civil matter, the first decent person to be found is

obliged to act as a temporary judge, if adjured by the ‘death of the

chief’ paramount. He must then place the accused in bonds, which is

done by tying his cloth (_shama_) to that of his accuser, and escort

or send them to the nearest magistrate, who, should the accused demand

it, must in like manner forward him to his immediate master or chief,

where the case is first heard, the plaintiff having right of appeal;

the law in this being, however, highly favourable to the defendant,

the plaintiff not being always disposed for a long journey.”[217]

Every man is his own advocate. Those who wish to read an account of

the proceedings “in court” should refer to “Modern Abyssinia,”

p. 308, or “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 48, 170. The

hearing usually gives occasion for a good deal of eloquence and a

great deal of lying.

There is no sort of general education in Abyssinia. Men of attainments

are found in the upper classes, and some of the higher officials are

capable linguists. But as regards the bulk of the nation learning has

advanced little since the days of Harris. “The stores of literature

being bound up in a dead letter (the Geez language), few excepting the

priests and _defterers_ can decipher them, and many of these learned

men are often more indebted to the memory of their early youth than

to the well-thumbed page in their hand. The ignorance of the nation

is, indeed, truly deplorable; for those children only receive the

rudiments of an education who are designed for the service of the

Church; and, the course of study adopted being little calculated to

expand the mind of the neophyte, a peculiar deficiency is presented

in intellectual features.”[218] Plowden remarked of the priests

that they “teach but one book to the children of the laity,

‘The Psalms of David;’ and without forbidding other learning,

discourage it, confining it as much as possible to the clergy and

the scribes.”[219] Allusion has already been made to the classes

held by the priests in the precincts of the churches.[220] Such

instruction as is obtainable is given, of course, to all pupils

under clerical supervision. There are no secular schools, and at

the present time, as Mr. Vivian remarked, “no one in Abyssinia

ever does get any education beyond learning to read and write, and

quote passages from the Gospels.”[221] Those whose acquirements

exceed this standard are not indebted for them to native teachers.

The habits of the young girls, among the generality of the people,

do not foster any strict notions of morality. Parkyns wrote: “The

boys are turned out wild to look after the sheep and cattle, and the

girls, from early childhood, are sent to fetch water from the well

or brook, first in a gourd, and afterwards in a jar proportioned

to their strength. If the well be far from the village, the girls

usually form parties to go thither and amuse themselves on the road

by singing sentimental or love songs; while, during their halt at

the well for an hour or so, they engage in romps of all kinds, in

which parties of the other sex frequently join. This early licence

lays the foundation for worse, when at a later period they are sent

to the woods to collect fuel.”[222]

Courtship can hardly be said to exist. “In Abyssinia young people

begin to think of marriage at a very early age. I have seen brides

of eight or nine years old; and boys at a proportionally youthful

age are considered marriageable. When a lad wishes to marry he

only inquires for a girl who may possess twice the number of oxen

that he can muster, or their value. His proposals are made to

the girl’s father, and, unless there is some strong motive for

rejecting him, he is accepted, and everything is arranged without

consulting the lady’s taste or asking her consent. They are usually

betrothed three or four months before marriage, during which time the

bridegroom frequently visits his father-in-law elect, and occasionally

propitiates him with presents of honey, butter, a sheep, or a goat;

but he is never allowed to see his intended wife even for a moment,

unless, by urgent entreaty or a handsome bribe, he induces some female

friend of hers to arrange the matter, by procuring him a glance at his

cruel fair one. For this purpose he conceals himself behind a door

or other convenient hiding-place, while the lady, on some pretext

or other, is led past it. Should she, however, suspect a trick,

and discover him, she would make a great uproar, cover her face,

and, screaming, run away and hide herself, as though her sense of

propriety were greatly offended by the intrusion; although previous

to his making the offer she would have thought it no harm to romp

with him, or any other male acquaintance, in the most free and easy

manner. Even after she has been betrothed, she is at home to every

one, except to him who most sighs for the light of her countenance.

“In Tigre, and especially in Shire, there is a superstition that

if a girl leave her father’s house during the interval between

her betrothal and marriage she will be bitten by a snake.

“When the wedding day approaches the girl is well washed,

her hair combed and tressed, and she is rendered in every way as

agreeable as possible. She has then to undergo a course of diet

and medicine.”[223]

Of marriages there are three kinds. The foregoing extract refers

to the usual merely civil contract; for such unions there are

“bridesmen” (_arkees_), who have peculiar privileges in the

community, including that of theft, remain “on duty” after the

nuptials, and occupy the most singular relation to the newly wedded

damsel.[224] There are also bridesmaids, who keep their faces covered

during the wedding, which is a very simple ceremony. Mr. Wylde and an

Italian friend obtained an illicit view of an Abyssinian bride and

bridesmaids, and were rewarded by the sight of some very charming

girls. Both he and Parkyns have written entertaining descriptions

of an Abyssinian marriage of this kind.[225]

Rassam has given the following particulars with regard to such

contracts. “The parties simply swear, in the presence of two

witnesses, that they will live together as husband and wife. This bond

may be dissolved at any time by mutual consent; in that case, the wife

is entitled to retain whatever property she possessed before wedlock,

as also any presents which she may have received from her husband

during coverture, unless a stipulation to the contrary was agreed

to by both sides, on their union. Most Abyssinian marriages are of

this sort, and the generality of the respectable classes so wedded

live together as husband and wife until separated by death.”[226]

Harris wrote: “In Shoa a girl is reckoned according to the value

of her property; and the heiress to a house, a field, and a bedstead

is certain to add a husband to her list before many summers have

shone over her head. Marriage is generally concluded by the parties

declaring, before witnesses, ‘upon the life of the King,’ that

they intend to live happily together, and the property of each

being produced is carefully appraised. A mule or an ass, a dollar,

a shield and a sheaf of spears on the one side,[227] are noted

against the lady’s stock of wheat, cotton, and household gear;

and the bargain being struck, the effects become joint for the time,

until some domestic difference results in either taking up their own,

and departing to seek a new mate.

“Favourite slaves and concubines are respected as much as wedded

wives. No distinction is made betwixt legitimate and illegitimate

children; and, to the extent of his means, every subject follows the

example set by the monarch (Sahela Selassie), who, it has been seen,

entertains upon his establishment, in addition to his lawful spouse,

no fewer than five hundred concubines.

“Few married couples even live long together without violating

their vow; and the dereliction being held of small account, a beating

is the only punishment inflicted upon the weaker party. The jewel

chastity is here in no repute; and the utmost extent of reparation

to be recovered in a court of justice for the most aggravated case

of seduction is but fivepence sterling.

“Morality is thus at the very lowest ebb; for there is neither

custom nor inducement to be chaste, and beads, more precious than

fine gold, bear down every barrier of restraint. Honesty and modesty

both yield to the force of temptation, and pride is seldom offended

at living in a state of indolent dependence upon others. The soft

savage requires but little inducement to follow the bent of her

passions according to the dictates of unenlightened nature; and

neither scruples of conscience nor the rules of the loose society

form any obstacle whatever to their entire gratification.”[228]

Plowden confirms the observation that “no distinction is made

between legitimate and illegitimate children,” and adds, “all

share alike on the decease of their father.”[229]

The reader will have noticed that Rassam’s account of the duration

and even tenour of these alliances does not agree with the comments

made by Harris. Stern observed that the wedded pair “may, perhaps,

become attached to each other and live in peace and conjugal bliss;

or, as it frequently happens, they may become disgusted with each

other after the lapse of a brief period and separate.”[230]

Parkyns wrote:—“The civil marriage may be dissolved on the

shortest notice and for the most trifling reasons. Parties have

only to express their wish to separate, and a division of property

and children takes place. The boys, if there be any, usually go

to the father, and the girls to the mother. This having been done,

the parties are at liberty to contract a second marriage as soon as

they please. It is not an uncommon thing for a man thus separated

from his wife to maintain her in a house near his own, furnish her

with the necessary means of subsistence for herself and family,

and continue apparently in perfect friendship with her, while at

the same time he takes another bride in her place.”[231]

The custom of entering into civil contracts of this kind is of old

standing; for Lobo remarked, “A husband that doth not like his wife

may easily find means to make the marriage void; and, what is worse,

may dismiss the second wife with less difficulty than he took her,

and return to the first; so that marriages in this country are only

for a term of years, and last no longer than both parties are pleased

with each other; which is one instance how far distant these people

are from the purity of the primitive believers, which they pretend to

have preserved with so great strictness. The marriages are, in short,

no more than bargains, made with this proviso that when any discontent

shall arise on either side, they may separate, and marry whom they

please, each taking back what they brought with them.”[232]

According to Mr. Vivian, provision is sometimes made at the time of

the secular marriage for the event of divorce—“a certain sum is

agreed upon for payment by the husband. My friend, the coffee-planter

at Harrar, had to promise to pay £10 to his little Galla wife if

ever he sent her away, but that was considered an exceptionally

heavy fee.”[233]

There are, however, nuptials of greater sanctity. Rassam thus

described them: “The most binding marriage with the Abyssinians

consists of an interchange of vows between the bridegroom and bride,

confirmed by their jointly partaking of the holy Eucharist; in fact,

the union in this case is solemnized much in the same way as in other

Christian Churches. Here, however, as elsewhere, certain breaches

of their mutual vows by either party dissolves the tie and renders

the transgressor legally obnoxious to punishment; but as Abyssinian

law in such matters has been disregarded for centuries, and Might

has taken the place of Right, it follows that an offending husband

generally escapes with impunity; so also does the guilty wife,

if she happens to belong to the family of a powerful chief. Hence,

an unprincipled husband, when tired of his wife, finds no difficulty

whatever in getting rid of her; and such repudiation is undoubtedly

very common. Many cases of the kind fell under my own cognizance,

and, in nearly all, the husbands were leading incontinent lives; on

the other hand, I never heard of a single instance of a wife who had

been sacramentally married proving unfaithful to her husband, even

after his repudiation of her. Most women so situated remain single,

and many become nuns. In consequence of this deplorable state of

things, Abyssinian females generally entertain a great distrust of

the opposite sex, and not one in twenty would willingly contract

the more binding marriage.”[234]

Mr. Vivian confirmed this observation. “Marriage is not popular

with the women,” he wrote, “in either of these countries”

(Abyssinia and Somaliland), “and they will only consent to it

when physical force is actually used.” He added, with regard to

Abyssinia, “The permanent marriage seems to be very rare, only

priests and persons of extraordinary piety indulging in it.”[235]

It is to be hoped that these worthies do not resort to violence in

order to gratify their wish. Plowden said of this form of wedlock,

that “it is usual in old age only to take the sacrament together

in the church, thereby pledging themselves to fidelity.”[236]

Doubtless this account of the Abyssinian usage is correct, for it

agrees with the observations made by Parkyns. “Church marriages,”

he wrote, “are rarely solemnized except between persons, who, having

first been civilly married, and having afterwards lived happily

together till the decline of life, begin to feel that they could

not hope to suit themselves better, and so determine to sanctify the

marriage by going to church and partaking of the Sacrament. The bond

is then considered indissoluble.”[237] Stern stated that the Negus

is in the same position as the clergy with regard to monogamy.[238]

“According to the canons of the Abyssinian Church, the King is

bound by the same marital laws as a priest; and, consequently, if his

wife dies, he dare not marry another. The bereaved predecessors of

Theodoros scrupulously evaded such a contingency by substituting the

regularly stored harem in the place of the one lawful wife.”[239]

Rassam made the following observations on the third form of wedlock:

“This last is little better than concubinage. The contracting

parties merely engage to cohabit during pleasure, and while so living

are regarded as husband and wife. The national Church recognizes

only the sacramental marriage as valid; but the laity, as a rule,

set all ecclesiastical law in such matters at defiance. Hence,

a wealthy Abyssinian Christian, who is debarred by the two higher

degrees of wedlock from having more than one wife, may nevertheless

have as many third-rate wives as he pleases, and cohabit with them

simultaneously. In the course of my inquiries into these matrimonial

customs, and the laws affecting inheritances among this peculiar

people, I applied to the Abouna to aid me in the research. His reply

was, ‘My son, you have asked me questions which I am unable to

answer. This only I can tell you; Abyssinian marriages, with few

exceptions, are so abominably revolting that the issue are all

bastards.’”[240]

From the opinions quoted it may be judged that the inclination

towards conjugal constancy is usually greater in the wife than in

the husband, but this is not invariably the case. Rassam tells the

following story of a couple at Magdala. “The husband was in such

dread of losing his partner, knowing that, as he had been united to

her by the secondary (civil) marriage only, she might leave him any

day, that her refusal to accompany him to the altar, there to partake

of the Lord’s Supper with him, in token of their more indissoluble

union, nearly drove him mad. The matter was eventually referred to

the Abouna, my intervention being also sought, and after considerable

trouble we overcame the obstinacy of the lady, and induced her to be

sacramentally joined to her lovesick lord.”[241] Of course this

may have been only an instance of an Ethiopian woman’s mistrust

of the male sex.

Lobo gave some curious details of the penalties that followed

upon infidelity when he was in the country. “They have here a

particular way of punishing adultery: A woman convicted of that

crime is condemned to forfeit all her fortune, is turned out

of her husband’s house in a mean dress, and is forbid ever to

enter it again. She has only a needle given her to get her living

with. Sometimes her head is shaved, except one lock of hair which

is left her, and even that depends on the will of her husband, who

has it likewise in his choice whether he will receive her again or

not. If he resolves never to admit her, they are both at liberty

to marry whom they will. There is another custom amongst them yet

more extraordinary, which is, that the wife is punished whenever

the husband proves false to the marriage-contract; this punishment

indeed extends no farther than a pecuniary mulct; and what seems more

equitable, the husband is obliged to pay a sum to his wife. When the

husband prosecutes his wife’s gallant, if he can produce any proofs

of a criminal conversation, he recovers, for damages, forty cows,

forty horses, and forty suits of clothes, and the same number of

other things. If the gallant be unable to pay him, he is committed

to prison, and continues there during the husband’s pleasure; who,

if he sets him at liberty before the whole fine is paid, obliges

him to take an oath that he is going to procure the rest, that he

may be able to make full satisfaction. Then the criminal orders

meat and drink to be brought out, they eat and drink together;

he asks a formal pardon, which is not granted at first; however,

the husband forgives first one part of the debt, and then another,

till at length the whole is remitted.”[242]

According to Mr. Wylde, Abyssinian girls have many attractions for

men. “They perfectly understand the utility of ‘feeding the

beast’ with a nice dinner to keep him good-tempered, and from

what I have seen of these young ladies, they do everything they

possibly can to make a man happy, and being good-tempered, jolly

girls, they seldom ‘nag,’ and no wonder the southern Italians

have taken a liking for them, and find themselves perfectly happy in

their society.” He admits that “their great drawback is their

dirtiness;” but adds, “all those that get the chance of being

clean keep themselves very neat and tidy.” However, “nearly all

the lower-class Abyssinian women use oil or fat for their heads;

this they do to keep the small parasites quiet, as they cannot get

about when the head and hair are thickly besmeared and saturated,

and the oil or fat also serves for softening the skin of the face

and preventing it from chapping in the cold weather, or blistering

during the hot season of the year.”[243] Mr. Vivian remarked of

the Ethiopian woman, “though her features are comely, she is not

the sort of person one would care to choose as a companion. For one

thing, I do not suppose that she ever washes herself in her life,

the butter on her hair grows rancid and emits a peculiarly pungent

odour, which affronts the nostrils when you pass her in the desert,

and wherever she goes she carries with her a large black cluster of

flies congregated on her back.”[244] Probably she would “find

herself” under the influence of a cleaner civilization.

Conceptions of medicine among the Abyssinians have changed for the

better during recent years. Harris has given an account of some of the

singular notions and practices which prevailed in his day. He took

a supply of medical stores into the country, and he and the doctor

with the expedition (Assistant-Surgeon Kirk) acted as physicians

extraordinary to the King, with the following results:—

“The most particular inquiries were instituted relative to the

mode of counteracting the influence of the evil eye, and much

disappointment expressed at the unavoidable intimation that the

dispensary of the foreigners contained neither ‘the horn of a

serpent,’ which is believed to afford an invaluable antidote against

witchcraft; no preservative against wounds in the battlefield, nor

any nostrum for ‘those who go mad from looking at a mad dog.’

‘We princes also fear the small-pox,’ said his Majesty, ‘and

therefore never tarry long in the same place. Nagási, my illustrious

ancestor, suffered martyrdom from this scourge. Have you no medicine

to drive it from myself?’

“Vaccine lymph there was in abundance, but neither Christian,

Moslem, nor Pagan had yet consented to make trial of its

virtues. Glasses hermetically sealed, betwixt which the

perishable fluid had been deposited, were exhibited, and its

use expounded. ‘No, no!’ quoth the King, as he delivered the

acquisition to his master of the horse, with a strict injunction to

have it carefully stitched in leather, ‘this is _talakh medanit_,

very potent medicine indeed; and henceforth I must wear it as a

talisman against the evil that beset my forefathers.’

“‘You must now give me the medicine which draws the vicious waters

from the leg,’ resumed his Majesty, ‘and which is better than

earth from Mount Lebanon; the medicine which disarms venomous snakes,

and that which turns the grey hairs black; the medicine to destroy

the worm in the ear of the Queen which is ever burrowing deeper;

and, above all, the medicine of the seven colours, which so sharpens

the intellect as to enable him who swallows enough of it to acquire

every sort of knowledge without the slightest trouble. Furthermore,

you will be careful to give my people _none of this_.’”[245]

Plowden, writing of the _defterers_, said: “They are often

more learned than the priests, and equally take advantage of the

general ignorance. Their principal gain is by writing amulets and

charms against every disease, almost against death. . . . They also

profess medicine, and as they do not much analyze the effects of

their drugs, many an unfortunate falls a victim to some poisonous

plant administered as a love philtre. Most of them are hangers-on

of the different churches; they are generally cunning, debauched,

and mischief-makers.”[246]

Mr. Wylde, speaking of the Abyssinian clergy of the present time,

says, “They know that the days are gone by when every one came

to them for some charm or a little holy water to cure a complaint;

the very practical nineteenth-century doctor is to be found, and not

only the congregation has deserted to the modern school of medicine,

but the priest himself will trust in the new treatment in preference

to running the risk in getting cured by faith or unfiltered holy

water.”[247]

A peculiar disease is found in Abyssinia, chiefly but not

exclusively among the women. Dufton describes a typical case: “I

had the satisfaction of seeing in Gaffat a case of _bouda_. This

term is given to a phenomenon of mental abstraction, which the

natives explain as ‘being possessed by the devil.’ The case

I am about to mention happened to a female in the service of one

of the Europeans. Her symptoms began in a kind of fainting fit,

in which the fingers were clenched in the palms of the hands, the

eyes glazed, the nostrils distended, and the whole body stiff and

inflexible. Afterwards she commenced a hideous laugh in imitation

of the hyena, and began running about on all fours; she was then

seized by the bystanders, and a _bouda_ doctor having been called

in, this individual began questioning her as to the person who had

possessed her with this hyena devil. She said he was a man living

in Gooderoo, south of Abyssinia, and also told how long the spirit

would be in possession, and what was required to expel him. Great

care must be taken of persons thus afflicted, as cases of this kind

sometimes end in death. All their demands for dress, food, trifles of

any sort, must be strictly attended to. In the height of the frenzy

they will sometimes carry out the idea of their hyena identity to

such an extent as to attack any animal that may happen to be in the

way. One woman fancied she would like a little donkey-flesh; so to

gratify her strange taste she seized hold by her teeth to the hinder

part of one which happened to be near. Off went the astonished beast

at a pace that nothing in the form of persuasion will lead him to

adopt for the gratification of man. Off, too, clinging tight with

her teeth to his haunches, went the frenzied girl. Only force would

induce her to forego the tender morsel.

“They have several cures for this strange attack; but the

never-failing one is a mixture of some obscene filth, which is

concealed in some part of the house, whereupon the woman is said

to go directly, on all fours, to where it is and swallow it. This

would seem incredible, but thousands of corroborative facts, known

to Abyssinian residents, put it beyond a doubt.

“The power of possessing persons with the devil is attributed

mostly to Jewish blacksmiths; and women and children are terrified

when they meet, in a solitary place, a blacksmith who is a Jew. These

sorcerers are also said to be endued with the power of changing the

shape of the object of their incantations.”[248]

Stern has given some interesting particulars with regard to these

seizures. “During the rainy season, when the weather, like the

mind, is cheerless and dull, the _boudas_, as if in mockery of the

universal gloom, celebrate their saturnalia. In our small settlement,

the monotony of our existence was constantly diversified by a _bouda_

scene. Towards the close of August, when every shrub and tree began to

sprout and blossom, the disease degenerated into a regular epidemic;

and in the course of an evening two, three, and not unfrequently every

hut occupied by natives would ring with that familiar household cry. A

heavy thunderstorm, by some mysterious process, seemed invariably

to predispose the people to the _bouda’s_ torturing influence.

“I remember one day, about the end of August, we had a most terrific

tempest. . . . The noise and tumult of the striving elements had

scarcely subsided, when a servant of Mr. Mayer, a stout, robust, and

masculine woman, began to exhibit the _bouda_ symptoms. She had been

complaining the whole noon of languor, faintness, and utter incapacity

for all physical exertion. About sunset her lethargy increased,

and she gradually sank into a state of apparent unconsciousness. Her

fellow-servants, who were familiar with the cause of the complaint,

at once pronounced her to be possessed. To outwit the conjuror,

I thought it advisable to try the effect of strong liquid ammonia

on the nerves of the Evil One. The place being dark, faggots were

ignited; and in their bright flickering light we beheld a mass of

dark figures squatted on the wet floor around a rigid, motionless,

and apparently dead woman. I instantly applied my bottle to her nose;

but although the potent smell made all near raise a cry of terror,

it produced no more effect on the passive and insensible patient

than if it had been water from the newly formed rivulets.”

The landlord of the settlement, “an amateur exorcist, almost by

instinct, as if anticipating something wrong in that part of his

domains occupied by the Franks, made his appearance in the very nick

of time. This bloated and limping dotard, who had wasted his youth

and manhood in folly and vice, for which, in his old age, he sought

to atone by discarding one after the other of his former wives,

and by poring over the legends of saints and martyrs, no sooner

hobbled into the hut than the possessed woman, as if struck by a

magnetic wire, burst into loud fits of laughter and the paroxysms of

a raving maniac. Half a dozen stalwart fellows caught hold of her,

but frenzy imparted a vigour to her frame which even the united

strength of these athletes was barely sufficient to keep under

control. She tried to bite, kick, and tear every one within reach;

and when she found herself foiled in all those mischievous attempts,

she convulsively grasped the unpaved wet floor, and, in imitation of

the hyena, gave utterance to the most discordant sounds. Manacled

and shackled with leather thongs, she was now partly dragged and

partly carried to an open grassy spot; and there under the starry

vault of heaven, and in the presence of a considerable number of

people, the conjurer, in a businesslike manner, began his exorcising

art. The poor sufferer, as if conscious of the dreaded old man’s

presence, struggled frantically to escape his skill; but the latter,

disregarding her entreaties and lamentations, her fits of unnatural

gaiety and bursts of thrilling anguish, with one hand laid an amulet

on her heaving bosom, whilst, with the other, he made her smell a

rag, in which the root of a strong scented plant, a bone of a hyena,

and some other abominable unguents were bound up. The mad rage of

the possessed woman being instantaneously hushed by this operation,

the conjurer addressed himself to the _bouda_ (evil spirit), and,

in language not fit for ears polite, requested him to give his

name.” The demon is always masculine, whatever may be the sex of

the person possessed. Question and answer followed, and finally

the “conjurer” formally exorcised the demon. “‘I command

thee in the name of the Blessed Trinity, the twelve apostles, and

the three hundred and eighteen bishops at the council of Nicaea,

to leave this woman, and never more to molest her.’

“The _bouda_ did not feel disposed to obey the conjurer; but on

being threatened with a repast of glowing coals, which the majority

do not relish, he became docile, and in a sulky and ventriloquizing

tone of voice, promised to obey the request.

“Still anxious to delay his exit, he demanded something to eat;

and to my utter disgust, his taste was as coarse as the torments

inflicted on the young woman were ungallant. Filth and dirt of the

most revolting description, together with an admixture of water, were

the choice delicacies he selected for his supper. This strange fare,

which the most niggardly hospitality could not refuse, several persons

hastened to prepare, and when all was ready, and the earthen dish had

been hidden in the centre of a leafy shrub, the conjurer said to the

_bouda_, ‘As thy father did, so do thou.’ These words had scarcely

escaped the lips of the exorcist, when the possessed person leaped

up, and, crawling on all fours, sought the dainty repast which she

lapped with a sickening avidity and greediness. She now laid hold of

a stone, which three strong men could scarcely lift, and raising it

aloft in the air, whirled it madly round her head for two seconds,

and then fell senseless on the ground. In half an hour she recovered,

but was quite unconscious of what had transpired.

“Three other women had similar attacks that same evening, and

that, too, without any premonitory symptoms. I tried to deceive one,

and instead of the disgusting concoction, put a wooden dish with

bread and water in her way; but on smelling it she shrank from its

contents, and rapidly crept on till the strong effluvia brought her

to the spot where the loathsome viands were concealed. . . .

“Next in importance to the _bouda_ is the _zar_. This malady

is exclusively confined to unmarried women, and has this peculiar

feature, that during the violence of the paroxysm it prompts the

patient to imitate the sharp discordant growl of the leopard. I

recollect that the first time I saw a case of this description,

it gave me a shock which made my blood run cold. The sufferer was

a handsome, gay, and lively girl, a little above fifteen. In the

morning she was engaged as usual in her work, when a quarrel ensued

between her and other domestics. The fierce dispute, though of

a trifling character, roused the passions of the fiery Ethiopian

to such a pitch that it brought on an hysterical affection. The

natives all cried, ‘She is possessed,’ and certainly her ghastly

smile, nervous tremor, wild stare, and unnatural howl, justified the

notion. To expel the _zar_, a conjurer, as in the _bouda_ complaint,

was formerly considered indispensable; but by dint of perseverance

the medical faculty of the country, to their infinite satisfaction,

have at length made the happy discovery that a sound application

of the whip is quite as potent an antidote against this evil as the

necromancer’s spell.”[249]

Parkyns said that he had seen “above a hundred” cases

of _bouda_. He alluded to the superstition with regard to

blacksmiths. “In Abyssinia their trade is hereditary, and considered

as more or less disgraceful, from the fact that blacksmiths are,

with very rare exceptions, believed to be all sorcerers, and are

opprobriously called _bouda_. . . .

“Few people will venture to molest or offend a blacksmith,

fearing the effects of his resentment. The greater part of the

‘possessed’ are women; and the reason of their being attacked

is often that they have despised the proffered love of some _bouda_,

or for other similar cause.

“It is a custom in Abyssinia to conceal the real name by which

a person is baptized, and to call him only by a sort of nickname,

which his mother gives him on leaving the church. . . . The reason for

the concealment of the Christian name is that the _bouda_ cannot act

upon a person whose real name he does not know. Should he, however,

have obtained the true name of his victim, he takes a particular kind

of straw, and muttering something over it, bends it into a circle,

and places it under a stone. The person thus doomed is taken ill

at the very moment of the bending of the straw; and should it by

accident snap under the operation, the result of the attack will be

that the patient dies.

“This malady and the Tigritiya are no doubt often purposely

counterfeited by servant-maids to evade their work, and by others

to excite pity, attract attention, and get themselves pulled about

by the men. . . .

“The first case which I ever saw, and which I consequently watched

very attentively and noted down, was that of a servant-woman at

Rohabaita. The first day she complained of general languor, and of

a stupid heavy feeling about the head. Towards evening this seemed

to increase, when she cried a little, but was perfectly reasonable,

and excused herself by saying that it was only because she felt

low and melancholy. An hour after this, however, she burst out into

hysterical laughter, and complained of violent pain in the stomach

and bowels. It was at this stage that the other servants began to

suspect that she was under the influence of the _bouda_. In a short

time she became quiet, and by degrees sank into a state of lethargy,

approaching to insensibility. Either from excellent acting and great

fortitude, or from real want of feeling, the various experiments

which we made on her seemed to have no more effect than they would

have had on a mesmeric somnambulist. We pinched her repeatedly;

but pinch as hard as we could, she never moved a muscle of her face,

nor did she otherwise express the least sensation. I held a bottle

of strong sal-volatile under her nose, and stopped her mouth, and

this having no effect, I steeped some rag in it and placed it in

her nostrils; but although I am sure that she had never either seen,

smelt, or heard of such a preparation as liquid ammonia, it had no

more effect on her than rosewater. She held her thumbs tightly bent

inside her hands, as if to prevent their being seen. On my observing

this to a bystander, he told me that the thumbs were the _bouda’s_

particular perquisite, and that he would allow no person to take

them. Consequently, several persons tried to open her hand and get at

them; but she resisted with what appeared to me wonderful strength

for a girl, and bit their fingers till in more than one instance

she drew blood. I, among others, made the attempt, and though I got

a bite or two for my pains, yet either the devil had great respect

for me as an Englishman and a good Christian, or she had for me as

her master, for the biting was all a sham, and struck me as more

like kissing than anything else, compared with the fearful wounds

she had inflicted on the rest of the party.

“I had a string of amulets which I usually wore, having on it many

charms for various maladies; but I was perfectly aware that none for

the _bouda_ was among them. Still, hoping thereby to expose the cheat,

I asserted that there was a very celebrated one, and laid the whole

string on her face, expecting that she would pretend to feel the

effects, and act accordingly; but to my surprise and disappointment,

she remained quite motionless. Several persons had been round the

village to look for some talisman, but only one was found. On its

being applied to her mouth, she for an instant sprang up, bit at it,

and tore it, but then laughed, and said it was weak, and would not

vex _him_. . . . I deluged her with bucketfuls of water, but could

not even elicit from her a start or a pant, an effect usually produced

by water suddenly dashed over a person. At night she could not sleep,

but became more restless, and spoke several times. She once remarked,

in her natural tone of voice, that she was not ill, nor attacked by

the _bouda_, but merely wished to return to Adoua. She said this so

naturally that I was completely taken off my guard, and told her that

of course she might go, but that she must wait till the morrow. The

other people smiled, and whispered me that it was only a device of

the _bouda’s_ to get her into the forest, and there devour her.

“Singular coincidences not unfrequently occur in such a way as to

encourage superstitious persons in their credulity; and, strange to

say, that very night, for the first and last time that I ever heard

him during my stay at Rohabaita, the hyena kept howling and laughing

close to the village. . . .

“At night I ordered the people to close the door of the hut, and

lie across it, some inside and some out. These precautions, however,

did not satisfy them; and they insisted on having the young woman

bound hand and foot, as the only means of preventing her escape. She

lay pretty still, merely moaning, and occasionally starting up when

the hyena called. I was lying on a couch, she and the other people

on the floor. Determined to see the issue of the affair, I watched

her narrowly, and when the guard dropped off to sleep, one by one,

I pretended to do so likewise. She also was perfectly still for near

an hour, and I fancied that she too had fallen asleep, when suddenly,

the hyena calling close by, she, to my astonishment, rose without her

bonds, which I had seen, as I imagined, securely fastened. She then

crept on all-fours towards the door, which she succeeded in partly

opening. I was just going to spring on her when one of the heavily

sleeping guards made a noise, which sounded something like a grunt or

a snore, and it appeared to me that she stifled a laugh. This led me

to believe more and more that she was shamming; but I said nothing,

and she returned of her own accord to her place. Although she did

not sleep during the whole night, yet she remained still as long as

the people were quiet, only moaning a little whenever any one, by

yawning or otherwise, showed signs of waking. Next day she appeared

a little better, and talked more rationally, but still very wildly,

and would neither eat nor drink. Once we allowed her to leave the hut

for a moment, on pretence of necessity, and she went quietly enough;

but on her return being delayed longer than we considered right,

parties were sent out in quest of her, and after a long search she

was discovered more than a mile from the hut, and making for the

thickest of the jungle.

“The second night was passed much as the former one; but the

following day we prevailed on her to take a little bread. On

swallowing a piece about the size of a nut she became very sick;

and a draught of water produced a similar result. A better night

seemed to do her good, for on the following day she managed to eat

a little, and by slow degrees recovered her health.

“Since this occurrence I have witnessed many hoaxes easy to

discover, but also many which I could never see through, although

I tried every method that my small stock of ingenuity could invent.

“I remember once a poor weakly girl on whom I had tried several

false charms, but without her moving. She was lying, apparently

senseless, in the inner court of a house at Adoua, and numbers of

persons were passing to and fro to see her, when, suddenly starting

up, she screamed and struggled with so much strength, that, on

seizing her by the legs and shoulders, I and three other powerful

men could scarcely keep her down. A man near me said, ‘I am sure

some one has with him a strong charm; if so, let him produce it.’

All denied the fact; but just then a stranger entered from the outer

court, when she cried out, ‘Let me alone, and I will speak.’

This man was an Amhara soldier, perfectly unknown to all of us,

but who, hearing one of our people inquire for charms in a house

where he was drinking, had volunteered to try one which he wore,

and which he declared to be very potent. On placing the amulet near

her, she yelled and screamed horribly. The owner (addressing her as

a woman) said, ‘Will you declare yourself if I take it away?’

She howled still more at this insult, as she called it, and said,

‘I am no woman.’ The question was then repeated several times

in the masculine, but she invariably attempted to evade a direct

answer, till, as if worn out, she exclaimed, ‘I will tell all;

only take it far from me!’ It was accordingly removed to some

distance from her, and she immediately sank down as if exhausted.”

When the cure had made some progress, “the _bouda_, anxious to

delay his exit as long as possible, demanded food (as he always

does) before leaving her. A basin was fetched, in which was put a

quantity of any filth that could be found (of fowls, dogs, etc.),

and mixed up with a little water and some ashes. I took the basin

myself, and hid it where I was positive she could not see me place

it, and covered it up with some loose stones which were heaped in

the corner. The _bouda_ was then told that his supper was prepared,

and the woman rose and crawled down the court on all fours, smelling

like a dog on either side, till, passing into the yard where the

basin was, she went straight up to it, and, grubbing it out from

the place where it was hidden, devoured its abominable contents with

the utmost greediness. The _bouda_ was then supposed to leave her,

and she fell to the ground, as if fainting. From this state she

recovered her health in a few days.

“I had forgotten to mention that one of the principal symptoms

is a great longing for charcoal, of which the patient will eat any

quantity she can obtain. The first proof of the devil’s leaving

her is her allowing her thumbs to be taken hold of.”

On another occasion Parkyns, suspecting a hoax, concocted a charm

which was composed of two or three bits of dry bamboo roots wrapped

in a piece of paper, an old leaf or two, some pipe-ashes, and a tuft

of hair cut from the tail of his dog. Then “proceeding to the

place where the sufferer lay, I ordered a large-mouthed jar to be

filled with dry mules’ dung and lighted. When this had been done,

and the smoke began to rise in clouds, I put into it a small quantity

of my charm, with every appearance of caution and care, which done,

we seized the unfortunate victim, and with some difficulty forced

her head close to the jar’s mouth, and then rolled a _quarry_

(_shama_) round it and the jar, so as at once to keep her fast,

and prevent the escape of the smallest quantity of smoke. As may be

imagined, in a moment she began to cough violently, and at last,

being almost suffocated, cried out, ‘Let me off, for pity’s

sake; I am not ill, but only shamming.’ I solemnly asserted this

to be only a device of the Evil One to get away from the charm,

and held on, till her cries for pity, for the sake of the Virgin,

of Oubi, etc., becoming more confused, and her cough more violent,

I feared lest she might suffer too much if kept longer.

“That magic vessel was preserved in a conspicuous situation in the

hut where the women worked till I left the place; and I must say that

the attacks of _bouda_ were less frequent after this occurrence than

before; though I still had occasional cases where the sunken eye and

vacant stare cheated me into tenderness of heart, and I refrained

from the use of my singular but most efficacious remedy.”

Parkyns has also given an account of a similar disorder called

_tigritiya_, which may be the same as the _zar_ mentioned by Stern,

though from the description, it appears to be more serious. The

_tigritiya_, says Parkyns, is the near relation of the _bouda_,

“but generally a far more disagreeable and dangerous devil than

he. His dependents are supposed to be found in great numbers in

Godjam, which province, indeed, is celebrated for sorcerers of all

kinds. The first symptoms usually are the gradual wasting away of the

attacked person, without any cause being apparent either to herself

or her relatives. At last, however, after dieting, and the ordinary

medicines have been unsuccessfully tried, it becomes a matter of

suspicion to her friends, who determine, on ascertaining, whether or

no she be afflicted with this devil. The first thing to be observed

is to feed her daintily and dress her neatly. As her complaint and

this treatment advance, she becomes peevish and fretful, and is

always longing for something or other. Whatever she demands must

be procured, else she will become sulky, and, covering up her head,

remain sometimes for days without eating or speaking. Ornaments of

all kinds require to be borrowed for her, often at much trouble to

her unfortunate relations; for she is rarely satisfied unless she

gets an assortment of those worn by both sexes, even to the lion’s

skin of a warrior; and these are frequently almost impossible to

procure. With some persons it is necessary to have recourse to music

before the real cause of their complaint can be discovered. Drums

and other musical instruments are collected outside the chamber door,

and the musicians suddenly strike up all together, when the patient

is not expecting it. If her illness be of an ordinary kind, she will,

of course, beg of them to desist, but, if possessed, she will leap

or fall from her couch to the ground, and commence shrugging her

shoulders and swinging her head to and fro in time with the music;

beginning with a slight movement, but gradually increasing in pace

as she appears to become excited, till at last her motions are

so violent that a spectator is led to fear for the safety of her

neck. It is truly wonderful to see a sick person whom you have just

beheld stretched on a bed, a weak, emaciated bag of bones, apparently

without strength to rise, keeping up this very fatiguing motion with

a velocity and power of endurance that would be astonishing even in

an ordinarily strong person. On the music’s ceasing she rests, and

then begins to speak, telling _his_ name (that is, the devil’s)

and his family; and it is usually after this that she demands the

trinkets, specifying each article that she requires, and making their

production the condition of her dancing again. She, as I before said,

generally contrives to name objects that are most difficult to obtain,

such as the silver-ornamented velvet worn only by great war-chiefs;

and much sorrow and trouble does this cause to her relations, for

she will not be persuaded to show any sign of animation if a single

article she has named be not forthcoming; and on her dancing and

singing is supposed chiefly to depend her chance of recovery.

“The mode of ejecting the Old Gentleman from his temporary

possession is something similar to what we have already

described. After the patient has been induced to dance pretty

frequently, it is to be hoped that the devil is put into a tolerably

good humour, which desideratum can only be obtained by making

frequent and polite inquiries when he will be pleased to have

music, and by promptly procuring everything he may demand, by the

mouth of the possessed, whether it be food or wearing apparel. The

auspicious moment arriving, the friends of the sufferer inquire of

her when he will be disposed to quit his present residence and go

to his own place. The first time this question is ventured upon,

the spirit generally replies that he is not yet satisfied with

the entertainment he has received at their hands, and seizes the

opportunity of demanding something more. After a time, however, if

things go on well, he fixes a day for taking his leave, usually the

seventh after the day on which he makes his announcement. The happy

time having arrived, a large party is assembled in some wild spot

in the country, and there must be feasting, dancing, and music, as

before, but, if possible, carried on with more than usual spirit. The

patient joins in with the rest; and the devil, when satisfied,

announces his intention to depart. This he signifies through the

medium of his victim, who takes off her finery; then, bowing her

head, she kisses her hands in token of farewell, and starts off,

running at a pace which few men could equal. She cannot, however,

keep it up for more than from fifty to a hundred yards, when she

falls to the ground senseless. At this moment the spirit is supposed

to have left her; and lest he should find himself worse off outside

than in, and, changing his mind, return to her, five or six active

young men are prepared beforehand, and as soon as she starts they

follow her, and, coming up with her just as she is falling, place

themselves in threatening attitudes round her body, one holding a

drawn sword, another firing a charge of powder out of a matchlock,

and a third brandishing a lance. This is supposed to intimidate the

fiend, and prevent his return, should he be so disposed.

“The woman, who but a moment before was outdoing all the party,

both in the dance and in running, now lies stretched on the ground

helpless and emaciated, as if after a long illness. She faintly calls

for water, which is given her; and when a little restored, she is

asked her name, which she answers correctly; and as a conclusive proof

of her freedom from the power of the Evil One, she is requested to

repeat the formerly so much dreaded words—‘_B’ism Ab, ou Weld,

ou Menfus Kouddos_’ (in the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Ghost). A sheep or a fowl is killed, broiled on the

embers, and eaten with bread. The patient’s friends partake of

this food when the devil goes out of her. The bones and remains of

the meat are burned with fire, and the fragments of the bread buried

in the ground. These are so left for the devil, that if he should

come back to the place he may remain and feed, and not go on and

bother the woman. Thus is the cure complete, though it often takes

a considerable time to effect it.”

The characteristics of the disease have been mentioned fully because

they seem to have some bearing on certain Biblical episodes.

Sometimes, in the case of _bouda_, recourse is had to a very simple

and direct method of cure. Parkyns wrote:—“Many instances

have been related to me, wherein the friends of the possessed,

having procured charms of sufficient power to force the spirit to

declare his name and residence, but not equal to turning him out,

went at once to the place indicated, and, seizing on the blacksmith,

brought him forcibly to their home, where, having fed him well,

he was commanded to quit his victim, and at the same time his life

was threatened, lances being pointed at his breast.”[250] It is

not stated whether this procedure is effective.

Mr. Wylde dismissed the demon lightly:—“The _bouda_, or evil

spirit, that attacks some of the young women, nearly always

ugly virgins or hysterical and plain-looking girls that men

will never notice, is to my mind the greatest fraud of all their

superstitions. Every one has written about it, and I am afraid

that they have drawn a good deal on their imagination, and the

missionaries who have visited the country have, perhaps, been quite

as bigoted as the people they have tried to describe. I believe

that these peculiar fits which the women have, when they do all

sorts of filthy things, are nothing more than hysteria; many women

even in civilized countries are not responsible for their actions

when suffering from these complaints, and people who are inclined

to believe in the miraculous take for granted what the ignorant

peasantry say. I have seen several young women suffering from the

‘_bouda_’ and a bucket of cold water that I have thrown over

them, and a good smacking from my servant, has soon sent the devil

away, and the only after effect has been that they have been sulky,

because they were not made much of.”[251]

Parkyns was not a missionary, and he was a shrewd and levelheaded

observer. His comments are to the point:—“To many of my readers

it will doubtless appear, and very naturally, that all these

symptoms are impostures resorted to by the pretended sufferers as a

means of procuring the borrowed finery, and enjoying the gaieties

and festivities which are considered as the means of curing the

disorder. This sounds very probable; and I cannot deny that such is

my own opinion, though there are still some points which have rather

puzzled me. First, as in the _bouda_, the extraordinary talent for

acting which they display, and then the fact that the imposture

has not been discovered and published centuries ago, but that it

is still believed by the very people among whom it has so long been

and still daily continues to be practised. How is it possible that a

woman, who in her youthful days may have been guilty of such a hoax,

should suffer herself to be imposed upon and led into so much trouble

and expense by her children afterwards? And yet this is of common

occurrence. From this last remark let it not be supposed that young

women are the only sufferers; men and women of all ages are liable,

though the young of the fair sex are perhaps the most frequently

possessed.

“One of my servants, who, by the great anxiety he showed in watching

and tending the patients, was evidently convinced of the truth of

their sufferings, had himself been attacked many years before,

and assured me that after his recovery he had not the slightest

recollection of anything that had taken place while the fit was

on him, but that his friends had told him all about it. How was

it possible that this man, supposing his own illness to have been

feigned, could be cheated by the same means?

“Lastly, the most puzzling thing of all is when a person acts

sickness to such perfection that Azrael himself is deceived, and,

mistaking the feigned malady for a real one, finishes it by seriously

taking away the life of the shammer.

“The following case will illustrate what I mean. I had a servant

named Bairou, a youth of about nineteen, who, from having been

several years in the service of Europeans, had acquired a few of their

notions; and, among others, had learnt to ridicule the superstitions

of his countrymen. He had a sister who had been ill for several

months, and no one knew what her complaint was. At his request I

went to visit her more than once, but was unable to do anything for

her. The fact is, my doctoring is on a very limited scale; and, as

even the most eminent physicians agree that the greatest difficulty

is to ascertain what is really the matter with the patient, I stood

very little chance with Bairou’s sister, who complained of nothing,

and showed no marked signs of ailing except in entire prostration of

strength, and a rapid falling off of flesh. She gradually got worse,

till one day her brother came to me and requested me to lend him my

ornaments, and also to beg some more from my friends at the camp. I

asked whether he was going to be ‘arkee’ to some friend about to

marry; but he answered with a melancholy smile that he wanted them

for his sister; as, having tried everything else, their friends had

proposed to see if she were possessed, and he, though not believing

in such nonsense, was willing to allow them to try the experiment,

lest, if anything happened to her, they should upbraid him afterwards

for having caused her death by his obstinacy and incredulity.

“I, of course, quite approved of his determination, and easily

succeeded in obtaining the articles required of me. She was dressed

up in the borrowed finery as she lay on the couch; and at a signal

the musicians outside commenced playing. At the first notes her

eyes began to brighten, and, raising herself up for the first

time during many days, she swayed her body to and fro for a few

moments, after the manner of one possessed; but, becoming quickly

exhausted, she sank back, saying, with a faint smile, ‘It is too

late now!’ She repeated these words twice; they were the last I

ever heard her utter. Three hours after she was a corpse. Was this,

too, a sham? Or what may it be called? Possibly some freak of her

disordered imagination.”[252]

Stern had the tendency to moralize which prevailed at the time when he

wrote, but there can be little doubt that he offered a sound opinion

in the following passage:—“In bringing this demoniacal subject

to a close, I am forcibly reminded of the words, ‘Be sure your sin

will find you out.’ That there is something in these diseases and

in their mode of cure which transcends ordinary disorders no one

who has stood beside a frantic and agonized patient and wondered

at the sudden and more than dramatic transition from raving frenzy

to childlike docility can well deny; but without deciding whether

it is epilepsy, catalepsy, or hysteria, I am quite sure that fiends

and spirits have less to do with the matter than the irregular life

and dissolute course which so many pursue.”[253]

It would, indeed, be a matter for astonishment if marked nervous

affections did not occur in a country where, among the people of

both sexes, unwholesome diet and parasitical irritation so often

combine their results with those of sensual habits of body and mind

acquired early in life.

It has already been said that the Abyssinian soldier wears

no uniform, and is not easily distinguished by his appearance

from the civilian. But there is a distinct military class, with

characteristics of its own. “There is no harder worker,” said

Mr. Wylde, “than the Abyssinian peasant, and no more harmless and

hospitable person when left alone and properly treated[254]; and no

more truculent, worthless, conceited, lazy, and useless individual

than the Abyssinian soldier, who formerly did nothing but prey upon

the defenceless cultivator. Circumstances are now altering this,

but before the country settles down to modern civilization and

makes any great strides forward, a civil revolution must take place,

which may not be far distant.”[255] The same writer has pointed

out that the soldiery “were called into existence by Abyssinia

being surrounded by Mohammedan enemies, and little by little they

increased and multiplied till they got out of all proportion to

the wants of a peaceful country.” The king’s exchequer cannot

provide pay for these men, so, to keep them quiet, they are allowed

to live by exaction. Mr. Wylde’s strictures apply to the “lazy,

loafing lot of mercenaries who have never done anything in their

lives except fighting and looting, men without homes and without

territory, ready to fight for those who give the highest pay, and who

do not value the lives of their fellow-Christians at the price of a

sheep or a jar of hydromel;” and he adds, “I am writing only of

the mercenary soldier whose father and grandfather, perhaps, were

the same, and not of the bulk of the fighting force of the country,

who are yeomen farmers and their servants, or the peasants and their

families.”[256]

The state of feeling between the peasantry and the soldiery might

have serious consequences if the Abyssinian monarch undertook an

important campaign outside his territory. “The great danger to an

unpopular king attempting such an expedition would be, in the absence

of the army, a rising of an oppressed peasantry, backed up by some

European Power, to put down the military party. The arming of the

peasantry and farmer class with modern weapons has not altogether

been a blessing to the present ruler, and may end not only in his

downfall, but in that of the barons as well.”[257]

The fighting value of the Abyssinian army is by no means a _quantité

négligeable_ in the politics of Eastern Africa, and it would be very

easy to underrate it. Mr. Wylde, in his narrative of the battle of

Adoua, has given a very complete account of the numbers, armament

and temper of the Negus’s forces, and he does not agree with the

estimate formed by Mansfield Parkyns of their personal valour.[258]

He has also described the tactics which they customarily adopt

in attacking, and has made some interesting observations on the

employment of artillery, mounted infantry, and cavalry in the

country.”[259]

The limitations to the activity of the forces are chiefly determined

by commissariat difficulties. “The Abyssinian hordes are the same

as the locust, they live on what they can get from the surrounding

country; and when they have devoured everything, they have to move

on to another place where supplies are procurable. At the outside

an Abyssinian who is not one of the regular soldiers can keep the

field for a couple of months, and then he has to take one transport

animal with him, with a boy or girl, generally the latter, to look

after his riding animal and to cook his food. The regular troops are

the same; they have to bring supplies with them, which they get from

their leaders before they set out on the campaign; after these are

finished, unless fresh supplies come forward, they have to live on

the country.”[260]

Probably the most recently published paper dealing with the Abyssinian

army is the despatch, dated June 2, 1904, of Colonel Rochfort,

C.B., R.A., included in the official account of the operations in

Somaliland.[261] Colonel Rochfort accompanied the forces which his

Majesty Menelek II., on the invitation of the British Government,

sent in 1903, “to intercept the Mullah’s retreat, should he

attempt to escape to the south or west.” As might be imagined from

the nature of the document, it contains no descriptive account of

the Abyssinian Expedition, and very little critical comment upon

it. But the following particulars may serve to convey some idea of

Abyssinian operations in the field at the present time. The strength

of the force first employed was about five thousand men, nearly all

of whom were mounted on mules. It left Harrar for its destination

(the Webi Shebeli, near Hilowen) on February 18, 1903, under the

command of Fituari Gabri.

Surprise parties were sent out to visit all wells within reach

to the north, and “the Abyssinians carried out these raids

with considerable dash and some success, showing their mobility

by the ease with which they covered long distances, sometimes a

hundred miles in forty-eight hours; but as at this time they had no

special arrangements for carrying water, their scope was necessarily

restricted.

“During these operations the main body was attacked by a

considerable number of Dervishes. The attack was delivered in

thick bush on the arrival of the force in bivouac, and before the

zareba was formed; it was pushed home with resolution, but repulsed

with loss. The pursuit was carried out with vigour, and the Dervish

casualties were estimated at three hundred. The Abyssinians returned

their loss at thirty-one killed and wounded. The Abyssinians were

now living on the country, and exigencies of supply rendered it

necessary to move down stream to Mekunna. . . .

“On the morning of May 28 the Abyssinians left Hahi, and after a

series of forced marches surprised the Habr Suliman section of the

Bagheri tribe on the morning of May 31 at Jeyd, which is thirty

miles south of Bur. The Dervishes suffered heavy losses, and all

their camels and stock were captured. . . . This terminated the

first phase of the operations, and the force returned to Harrar.”

Later, the Negus consented to send another expedition, and

“expressed the wish for an increase in the number of medical

officers to accompany his force, and also suggested the issue of

water-bottles to his men. At the conclusion of the first phase of the

operations I had represented to the War Office that the absence of

any special arrangements for carrying water had seriously affected

the mobility of the Abyssinians; this want was now remedied by the

issue of one thousand twelve-gallon tanks; pumps and waterproof

sheets for improvising drinking-troughs were also supplied by his

Majesty’s Government.

“There is no organized system of supply in the Abyssinian army,

and hitherto arrangements made individually to carry one month’s

supply on a mule or donkey had been found sufficient to enable

expeditions to reach a district from which supplies could be drawn;

such a course did not meet the conditions under which the present

force was about to act, owing to the distance to be covered, the

necessity for carrying water, and the total absence of any grain,

either on the road or in the probable zone of operations. After

some unavoidable delay, arrangements were improvised for carrying

two months’ supply,[262] and his Highness Ras Makunnan,[263]

who personally interested himself in the despatch of the force,

subsequently supplemented this supply by sending three small convoys

as transport became available. The force commenced concentration in

the neighbourhood of Harrar on November 27, 1903. . . . The advanced

party reached Wardair on January 12, 1904. . . . The resources of the

country in the neighbourhood of the River Fafan and the arrival of two

more small convoys enabled the force to keep the field until March 28,

1904, when the Abyssinian commander (Fituari Gabri) was advised that

the retreat of the Mullah through the Sorl, pursued by the British

columns, rendered the presence of the Abyssinian expedition no longer

necessary, and the force marched for Harrar.”[264]

Those who wish to acquaint themselves with the home life of the

Abyssinian people should read the works of Mansfield Parkyns and

Mr. Augustus Wylde. The latter has given especially full details

of the surroundings and habits of the middle and lower classes of

the nation.

Mr. Wylde has chapters on “Shooting in Abyssinia” and “Outfit

and Rifles.” His book also contains an appendix on “Animals met

with in Abyssinia and on the Borders,” ranging in its scope from

lions to sand-martins. There are several passages dealing with sport

and natural history in Parkyns’s volume, and Mr. Vivian’s work

contains observations on the same subjects.

Stecker’s scientific notes have been frequently mentioned. His

brief but pithy treatise amply repays study. Harris’s “Highlands

of Ethiopia” has valuable appendices on the climate, geology,

botany, and zoology of the southern provinces (Vol. II).

Probably no country at the present time offers a better field for

research, sport, and exploration than Abyssinia.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 123: “The Highlands of Æthiopia,” by Major

W. Cornwallis Harris, of the H.E.I.C.’s Engineers, 1844,

vol. iii. pp. 3, 4.]

[Footnote 124: “Wanderings among the Falashes,” p. 185.]

[Footnote 125: “Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 352, 353.]

[Footnote 126: Ib. p. 16.]

[Footnote 127: “The Highlands of Æthiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 84-86.]

[Footnote 128: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 157.]

[Footnote 129: Mansfield Parkyns wrote: “The ordination of priests

and deacons is, I believe, tolerably simple; for instance, I have

been told that, on the arrival of the present Abouna from Egypt,

the candidates, who are only required to be able to read a little,

were collected in a mass near the place where he was. The bishop then

went through some ceremony, and ended by pronouncing a blessing,

and blowing in the direction of the assembled crowd, who were thus

all ordained. Among these was a woman with her child in her arms,

who had come thither from motives of curiosity. She, too, was

of course ordained; but I don’t remember hearing that she ever

officiated. If a priest be married previous to his ordination, he

is allowed to remain so; but no one can marry after having entered

the priesthood.” (“Life in Abyssinia,” p. 294.)]

[Footnote 130: See p. 240.]

[Footnote 131: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 307, 308.]

[Footnote 132: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 321.]

[Footnote 133: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 214 _seq._]

[Footnote 134: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 201,

202. Major Harris inspected the Cathedral of St. Michael at

Ankóber, and in his description of it wrote, “In the holy of

holies is deposited the sacred _tabot_, consecrated at Gondar by

the delegate of the Coptic patriarch; and around the veil that fell

before this mysterious emblem there hung in triumph four sporting

pictures from the pencil of Alken, which had been presented to the

king. They represented the great Leicestershire steeple-chase, and

Dick Christian, with his head in a ditch, occupied by far the most

prominent niche in the Cathedral of St. Michael!”]

[Footnote 135: Dufton, “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 90.]

[Footnote 136: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 233 _seq._]

[Footnote 137: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 297 _seq._]

[Footnote 138: “Life in Abyssinia,” pp. 160, 161.]

[Footnote 139: Ib. p. 277.]

[Footnote 140: “Life of Bruce,” by Major Head, p. 266.]

[Footnote 141: “Abyssinia,” p. 276 _seq._]

[Footnote 142: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 139.]

[Footnote 143: Ib. p. 138.]

[Footnote 144: Major Head, “Life of Bruce,” p. 265.]

[Footnote 145: Ib. p. 268.]

[Footnote 146: “Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 361, 362.]

[Footnote 147: The Alaka is the superior of a monastery or other

head of an ecclesiastical establishment.]

[Footnote 148: Major Harris, “The Highlands of Ethiopia,”

vol. iii. pp. 134, 135.]

[Footnote 149: “Abyssinia,” p. 283.]

[Footnote 150: “British Mission to Abyssinia,” pp. 225, 226.]

[Footnote 151: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. i. p. 227. Cf. p. 107 of this book.]

[Footnote 152: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. pp. 133,

134.]

[Footnote 153: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. i. p. 217.]

[Footnote 154: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. i. p. 217. Stern did not observe this separation of the sexes.]

[Footnote 155: “Abyssinia,” p. 277.]

[Footnote 156: “Abyssinia,” p. 288.]

[Footnote 157: Cf. p. 224.]

[Footnote 158: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 132.]

[Footnote 159: This appendix of Major Harris’s book was evidently

prepared with care, and it is therefore surprising to find the saints,

whose deeds are commemorated on October 4, described as “Papa and

Mamma”! Presumably the explanation is that there was humour among

the compositors of the year 1844, and that the compiler neglected

his proof-reading.]

[Footnote 160: “Abyssinia,” pp. 280, 285.]

[Footnote 161: “Life in Abyssinia,” pp. 277, 278.]

[Footnote 162: A province of Abyssinia.]

[Footnote 163: “Abyssinia Described,” by J. C. Hotten, p. 160.]

[Footnote 164: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 139.]

[Footnote 165: Parkyns, “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 294.]

[Footnote 166: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 218.]

[Footnote 167: Harris, “The Highlands of Ethiopia,”

vol. iii. p. 141.]

[Footnote 168: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 181.]

[Footnote 169: “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 91.]

[Footnote 170: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 163.]

[Footnote 171: “Abyssinia Described,” p. 164.]

[Footnote 172: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 164.]

[Footnote 173: “Abyssinia Described,” p. 159.]

[Footnote 174: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 91.]

[Footnote 175: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 131.]

[Footnote 176: Ib.]

[Footnote 177: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 289.]

[Footnote 178: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 148.]

[Footnote 179: Ib.]

[Footnote 180: This was the “Sultan Segued” who caused the still

existing bridge over the Blue Nile to be built. See p. 147.]

[Footnote 181: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 186.]

[Footnote 182: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 295.]

[Footnote 183: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 306.]

[Footnote 184: P. 136.]

[Footnote 185: “Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia,”

1520-27, translated and edited by Lord Stanley of Alderley, Hakluyt

Society, 1881.]

[Footnote 186: “History of Ethiopia,” made English by J. P. Gent,

1684.]

[Footnote 187: The reader need hardly be reminded that the same

interdiction is in force elsewhere. It is the refusal of the

_connubium_ that renders the British population in the East of London

and elsewhere unable to assimilate the large colonies of Jews who

have lately immigrated into this country, and in great part causes

the difficulties of the “Alien Question.” The subject has been

treated in Major Evans Gordon’s very interesting book, “The

Alien Immigrant” (1903).]

[Footnote 188: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 187.]

[Footnote 189: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 145.]

[Footnote 190: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” pp. 185, 186.]

[Footnote 191: “Abyssinia,” p. 329.]

[Footnote 192: Major Head’s “Biography,” p. 162.]

[Footnote 193: Major Head’s “Biography of Bruce,” pp. 162, 163.]

[Footnote 194: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 186.]

[Footnote 195: See “Wanderings among the Falashas,” chap. xiv. _et

seq._]

[Footnote 196: Hotten, p. 166.]

[Footnote 197: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 188.]

[Footnote 198: Greenberg and Co., 80, Chancery Lane, London.]

[Footnote 199: Hotten, pp. 167, 168.]

[Footnote 200: Dufton, “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 143.]

[Footnote 201: The ancient city of Axum is remarkable for the

ruins and other traces of an early and extinct civilization which

it contains. These have been the occasion of much speculation among

archæologists. An account of the obelisks and other remains was given

by Bruce; Mr. Wylde has made some interesting comments on the subject

in his chapter on Axum; many writers on Abyssinia have referred to

it at some length; and the late Mr. Theodore Bent dealt with the

antiquities of the place in “The Sacred City of the Ethiopians”

(Longmans, Green and Co., 1893).]

[Footnote 202: Augustus Wylde, “Modern Abyssinia,” pp. 18, 407.]

[Footnote 203: See p. 143.]

[Footnote 204: Hotten, p. 167.]

[Footnote 205: Plowden, quoted by Hotten, p. 166. Plowden’s

description applies to the fifties of the nineteenth century.]

[Footnote 206: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. i. p. 209.]

[Footnote 207: “According to Abyssinian tradition, the King

of Tigre, soon after his conversion to Christianity, crossed the

Taccazze, and invaded Simien and Amhara. Here he met a people who were

neither Pagans nor Christians, a marvel which aroused the monarch’s

curiosity, and he inquired what they believed; to which, in a laconic

style, they replied in their own dialect, _Kam Ant_, _i.e._ ‘as

thou,’ from whence they obtained their present appellation.”]

[Footnote 208: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 42 _seq._]

[Footnote 209: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 144.]

[Footnote 210: “Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 393.]

[Footnote 211: Hotten, p. 120.]

[Footnote 212: Ib. p. 186.]

[Footnote 213: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 366.]

[Footnote 214: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” chap. ix; Hotten,

p. 121.]

[Footnote 215: See, _e.g._ “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 368.]

[Footnote 216: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 310.]

[Footnote 217: Hotten, p. 183 _seq._]

[Footnote 218: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. iii. p. 184.]

[Footnote 219: Hotten, p. 158.]

[Footnote 220: See, _e.g._ p. 121.]

[Footnote 221: “Abyssinia,” p. 204.]

[Footnote 222: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 254.]

[Footnote 223: “Life in Abyssinia,” pp. 255, 256.]

[Footnote 224: Parkyns, pp. 266, 267.]

[Footnote 225: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 181 _seq._ “Life in

Abyssinia,” p. 256 _seq._]

[Footnote 226: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. ii. p. 219.]

[Footnote 227: In matters of detail this account applies, of course,

to Abyssinia in the first half of the nineteenth century.]

[Footnote 228: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,”

vol. iii. pp. 166-168.]

[Footnote 229: Hotten, p. 137.]

[Footnote 230: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 119.]

[Footnote 231: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 268.]

[Footnote 232: Johnson’s translation.]

[Footnote 233: “Abyssinia,” p. 232.]

[Footnote 234: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. ii. pp. 215, 216.]

[Footnote 235: “Abyssinia,” p. 231.]

[Footnote 236: Hotten, p. 137.]

[Footnote 237: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 268.]

[Footnote 238: See p. 223.]

[Footnote 239: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 118.]

[Footnote 240: “The British Mission to Abyssinia,”

vol. ii. pp. 219, 220.]

[Footnote 241: Ib. vol. ii. p. 216.]

[Footnote 242: Johnson’s translation.]

[Footnote 243: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 245 _seq._]

[Footnote 244: “Abyssinia,” p. 231.]

[Footnote 245: “The Highlands of Ethiopia,” vol. ii. p. 156

_seq._]

[Footnote 246: Hotten, p. 166.]

[Footnote 247: “Modern Abyssinia,” 1901, p. 143.]

[Footnote 248: “A Journey through Abyssinia,” p. 167 _seq._]

[Footnote 249: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 154 _seq._]

[Footnote 250: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 300 _seq._]

[Footnote 251: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 385.]

[Footnote 252: “Life in Abyssinia,” p. 318 _seq._]

[Footnote 253: “Wanderings among the Falashas,” p. 161.]

[Footnote 254: Compare Consul Plowden’s remarks quoted on p. 70

of this book.]

[Footnote 255: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 3.]

[Footnote 256: Ib., p. 165.]

[Footnote 257: “Modern Abyssinia,” p. 224.]

[Footnote 258: Compare, _e.g._, his remark on p. 223, “They have

any amount of pluck,” with Parkyns’s comments quoted on p. 24

of this book.]

[Footnote 259: _E.g._ p. 222.]

[Footnote 260: Ib., p. 216.]

[Footnote 261: Eyre and Spottiswoode.]

[Footnote 262: Cf. p. 308.]

[Footnote 263: Mr. Wylde describes the Ras as “by far the cleverest

and most enlightened man that the country possesses.” He is a

possible successor to the Abyssinian throne.]

[Footnote 264: Colonel Rochfort’s Report.]

APPENDIX

Abyssinia is a deeply interesting country from the point of view of

geographical distribution, and it is much to be regretted that Dr.

A. J. Hayes did not have the opportunity of collecting insects on a

large scale. The animals of the southern half of Arabia are Ethiopian

in character; but in the Abyssinian mountains we may expect to find,

and we do find, a certain amount of Oriental affinity.

The valuable little collection of insects made by Dr. Hayes has been

presented by him to the Hope Department of the Oxford University Museum,

where the specimens can be seen and studied by every naturalist

interested in the great problems of distribution. The attention of the

donor was directed to the Oxford Museum by Mr. W. L. S. Loat, who has

himself contributed a large amount of valuable material. Dr. Hayes’

collection was made, in February 1903, in the vicinity of Lake Tsana,

at a height of about 6500 feet. A complete list is furnished below. Dr.

Dixey has kindly determined and made remarks upon the _Pierinae_.

=LEPIDOPTERA.=

NYMPHALIDAE.

DANAINAE: 1 _Limnas chrysippus_ (Linn.) ♀. The ground colour

of the pale tint characteristic of Oriental

specimens and usually replaced by a much darker

shade in African.

DANAINAE: 2 _L. chrysippus_ (Linn.) var. _alcippus_ (Cram.)

♂♂. Typical.

NYMPHALINAE: 1 _Neptis agatha_ (Cram.).

1 _Precis cebrene_ (Trim.).

PAPILIONIDAE.

PIERINAE: 1 _Catopsilia florella_ (Fabr.) ♂.

2 _Colias electra_ (Linn.) ♂ ♀.

3 _Terias brigitta_ (Cram.) ♂ ♂ ♀.

Dry season forms; not extreme.

3 _Eronia leda_ (Boisd.) ♂ ♀ ♀.

One of these females has an orange apical patch

on the forewing, almost as distinct as that of

the male.

1 _Pinacopteryx_ sp. ?

A female, rather worn; simulating _Mylothris

agathina_ ♀.

Probably a new species, but being in poor

condition and a single specimen it would not

be advisable to describe it.

1 _Belenois severina_ (Cram.) ♀. Dry season form.

1 _Phrissura_ sp. ♂.

A male, of the _P. sylvia_ group. This form of

_Phrissura_ has not previously been recorded

from any part of East Africa.

PAPILIONINAE: 8 _Papilio demodocus_ (Esp.).

=HYMENOPTERA.=

1 _Dorylus fimbriatus_ (Shuck.) ♂.

=COLEOPTERA.=

LAMELLICORNIA.

SCARABAEIDAE: 1 _Oniticellus inaequalis_ (Reiche).

Only known from Abyssinia.

CETONIIDAE: 1 _Pachnoda abyssinica_ (Blanch.).

1 _Pachnoda stehelini_ (Schaum).

Both Abyssinian species.

PHYTOPHAGA.

CASSIDIDAE: 1 _Aspidomorpha punctata_ (Fab.).

HETEROMERA.

CANTHARIDAE: 2 _Mylabris_, probably a new species.

=NEUROPTERA.=

1 _Nemoptera_, probably a new species.

=ORTHOPTERA.=

ACRIDIIDAE: 1 _Cyrtacanthacris_ sp.

1 _Phymateus brunneri?_ (Bolivar).

1 _Phymateus leprosus_ (Fab.).

1 _Petasia anchoreta_ (Bolivar).

MANTIDAE: 1 _Sphodromantis bioculata_ (Burm.).

1 _Chiropus aestuans?_ (Sauss.).

In addition to the above, Dr. Hayes presented three insects captured by

him at Gedaref in the Soudan, including a pair of a magnificent new

species of Buprestid beetle of the genus _Sternocera_, taken _in coitu_.

This species has recently been described, from Dr. Hayes’ specimen and

two others in the British Museum, by Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, who has

given it the name _Sternocera druryi_ (“Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.” Oct.,

1904, p. 247). The third insect is an example of a Cantharid beetle,

which does great damage to the crops at Gadarif. Its determination as

_Mylabris hybrida_ (Bohem.) is therefore a matter of some importance.

THE END

* * * * *

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.

[Illustration: THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN

_By permission of the Egyptian Government._

_London: Smith, Elder & Co._

_Stanford’s Geogl. Estabt., London._]

[Illustration: LAKE TSANA

_By permission of the Egyptian Government._

_London: Smith, Elder & Co._

_Stanford’s Geogl. Estabt., London._]

Transcriber's Note:

pg 70 (footnote 41) Changed: Abyssinnia and its people to: Abyssinia

pg 91-92 (footnote 61) Changed: equitidœ to: equitidæ

pg 91-92 (footnote 61) Changed: nectariniœ to: nectariniæ

pg 96 Changed: plently of fish to: plenty

pg 271 Changed: been complied by to: compiled

pg 293 Changed: general langour to: languor

pg 311 (footnote 262) Changed: Cp. to: Cf.

Minor punctuation changes have been done silently.

Spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.