Our First House at Magdala--The Chief has a "little Business"
with us--Feelings of an European when being put in Chains--The
Operation described--The Prisoner's Toilet--How we Lived--Our
first Messenger a Failure--How we obtained Money and Letters--A
Magdala Diary--A Rainy Season in a Godjo.
It was already dark when we had arrived the evening before. Our
first thought in the morning was to examine our new abode. It
consisted of two circular huts, surrounded by a strong thorny fence,
adjoining the Emperor's Enclosure. The largest hut was in a bad
state of repair; and as the roof, instead of being supported by a
central pole, had about a dozen of lateral ones forming as many
separate divisions, we made it over to our servants and to our
balderaba Samuel. The one we kept for ourselves had been built by
Ras Hailo, at one time a great favourite of Theodore, but who had
unfortunately fallen under his displeasure. Ras Hailo was not chained
during the time he remained in that house: for a time he was even
"pardoned," and made chief of the mountain. But Theodore, after a
while, again deprived him of his command and confidence, and sent
him to the common gaol, chained like the other prisoners. For an
Abyssinian house it was well built; the roof was almost the best I
saw in the country, being made with small bamboos closely arranged
and bound with rings of the same material. After Ras Hailo had been
sent to the gaol, his house had been made over to the favourite of
the day, Ras Engeddah; but, according to custom, Theodore took it
away from him to lodge his English guests.
For us it was small: we were eight, and the place could not contain
easily more than four. The evenings and nights were bitterly cold,
and the fire occupying the centre of the room, some of us had to
lay half the body in a recess that leaked, and half in the room.
At first we felt our position bitterly. The rainy season had set
in, and hailstorms occurred almost every day. Many of us (Prideaux
and myself amongst them) had not even a change of clothes, no
bedding, nor anything to cover ourselves with during the long cold
damp nights; and I always shall remember with feelings of gratitude
the Samaritan act of Samuel, who, pitying me, kindly lent me one
of his shamas.
We had hardly any money, and we had not the remotest idea from
whence we could obtain any. Though there was some talk of rations
being supplied from the Imperial stores, the former captives only
laughed at the idea; they knew, from bitter experience, that prisoners
on Amba Magdala "were expected to give, but never to receive." The
event proved that their surmises were right: we never received
anything from the man who on all occasions loudly proclaimed himself
our friend but a small jar of tej, that for some months was daily
sent to Samuel: (I believe all the time it was intended for him;
at all events, he and his friends drank it;) and on great feast
days a couple of lean, hungry-looking cows, of which, I am delighted
to say, I declined a share.
To the European, accustomed to find at his door every necessary of
life, the fact that not a shop exists throughout the breadth and
width of Abyssinia may appear strange; but still it is so. We had,
therefore, to be our own butchers and bakers, and as for what is
called grocery stores, we had simply to dispense with them. Our
food was abominably bad; the sheep we purchased were little better
than London cats; and as no flour-mill is to be found in Abyssinia,
far less any bakers, we were obliged to purchase the grain, beat
it to remove the chaff, and grind it between two stones--not the
flat grinding-stones of Egypt or India, but on a small curved piece
of rock, where the grain is reduced to flour by means of a large
hard kind of pebble held in the hand. It was brown bread with a
vengeance. On the mountain we might buy eggs and fowls; but as the
first were generally bad when sold to us, we soon got disgusted
with them; and though we put up with the fowls as a change of diet,
their toughness and leanness would have made them rejected everywhere
else. Being the rainy reason, we had great difficulty in purchasing
a little honey. Wild coffee was now and then obtainable; but it
made, in the absence of sugar, and with or without smoky milk, such
a bitter, nauseous compound, that, after a while, I and others
preferred doing without it. Such was then the amount of "luxuries"
we had to depend on during our long captivity,--coarse, vitreous-looking,
badly-baked bread; the ever-returning dish of skinny, tough mutton,
the veteran cock, smoked butter, and bitter coffee. Tea, sugar,
wine, fish, vegetables, &c., were not, either for love or money,
to be obtained anywhere. The coarseness and uniformity of our food,
however, was as nothing compared with our dread of being starved
to death; for even the few and inferior articles I have mentioned
would fail us when our money was expended.
I was very badly off for clothes. Before leaving Debra Tabor, I was
told to leave everything behind in the charge of the Gaffat people,
and only take with me the few things I required for the road. My
only pair of shoes, what from rain, sun, and climbing, had become
so thoroughly worn-out, and so hard, as to bring on a wound that
took months to heal, so that until the arrival of one of my servants
from the coast, many months afterwards, I had to walk, or rather
crawl, about on naked feet.
Life in common among men of different tastes and habits is, indeed,
dreadful. There we were, eight Europeans, all huddled up in the
same small place, a waiting-room, a dining-room, a dormitory; most
of us entire strangers before, and only united by one bond--common
misfortune. Adversity is but little fitted to improve the temper:
on the contrary, it breaks down all social habits; the more so if
education and birth do not enable the sufferer to contend against
the greatest difficulties. We feared above all things that familiarity
which creeps on so naturally between men of totally different social
positions, and leads to harsh words and contempt. We had to live
on terms of equality with one of the former servants of Captain
Cameron; we had to be quiet if some remained talking part of the
night, and put up silently with the defects of others in the hope
that our own might meet with the same leniency.
A party of soldiers, varying from fifteen to twenty, came every
evening a little before dusk, and pitched a small black tent almost
opposite our door. As it frequently rained at night, the greater
number of the soldiers remained in the tent; only two or three,
supposed to be watching, went to sleep under the shelter of a
projecting part of the roof. They did not disturb us, and, if we
went out after dark, they merely watched where we went, but did not
follow. In the daytime we had four guards, two taking it in turn
to watch the gate of our inclosure. These men were never changed
during all the time of our stay; but we had not much reason to be
satisfied with the selection made, as, with one exception, our day
guards were fearful rascals and dangerous spies.
We had already spent three days at Magdala, and were beginning to
hope that our punishment would be limited to "simple imprisonment,"
when about noon on the 16th we perceived the chief, accompanied by
a large escort, coming in the direction of our prison. Samuel was
sent for, and a long consultation took place between him and the
chief outside the gate. We were yet in ignorance of what was going
on, and felt rather uncomfortable when Samuel returned to us with
a serious countenance, and told us that we must all go into the
room, as the chief had a "little business" with us. We obeyed, and
shortly afterwards the Ras (Head of the mountain), the five members
of council, and about eight or ten more presented themselves. The
Ras and the principal chiefs, all armed to the teeth, squeezed
themselves into the room, the others remaining outside. The ordinary
Abyssinian conversation--that is to say, a great deal of talking
about religion, looking pious, taking God's and the King's name in
vain every minute--opened the proceedings. I was sitting near the
door, and as the conversation did not interest me much, I was looking
at the motley crowd outside, when all at once I perceived that two
or three men were carrying large bundles of chains. I pointed them
out to Mr. Rassam, and asked him if he believed they intended them
for us; he spoke to Samuel in Arabic on the subject, and the
affirmative answer he received revealed to us the subject of the
long consultation that had taken place outside.
The Ras now dropped the desultory conversation he had been holding
since his arrival, and in quiet terms informed us that it was the
custom of the mountain to chain every prisoner sent there; that he
had received no instructions from the Emperor, and would at once
despatch a messenger to inform him that he had put us in irons, and
he had no doubt that before long his master would send orders for
our fetters to be removed, but that in the meanwhile we must submit
to the rules of the amba; he added that in our case it was with
regret that he felt himself obliged to enforce them. The poor fellow
really meant well; he was kind-hearted and, for an Abyssinian, had
gentlemanly manners; he had some hope that Theodore might have by
that time regretted the unnecessary and cruel order, and would
perhaps seize the opportunity he thus offered him and cancel it.
I may as well add here that, not many months afterwards, the Ras
was accused of being in correspondence with the king of Shoa; he
was taken in irons to the camp, where he shortly afterwards died
from the consequences of the many tortures inflicted upon him.
The chains were brought, and the real business of the day began;
one after another we had to submit to the operation, the former
captives being first served and favoured with the heaviest chains.
At last my turn came. I was made to sit down on the ground, tuck
up my trousers, and place my right leg on a large stone that had
been brought for the purpose. One of the rings was then placed on
my leg a couple of inches above the right ankle, and down came,
upon the thick cold iron, a huge sledge-hammer: every stroke vibrated
through the whole limb, and when the hammer fell not quite straight
it pressed the iron ring against the bone, causing most acute pain.
It took about ten minutes to fix on properly the first ring; it was
beaten down until a finger could just be introduced between the
ring and the flesh, and then the two pieces, where they overlapped
one another, were hammered down until they perfectly joined. The
operation was then performed on the left leg. I was always afraid
of the blacksmith missing the iron and smashing my leg to pieces.
All at once I felt as if the limb was being torn asunder; the ring
had broken just when the operation was nearly completed. For the
second time I had to submit to the hammering process, and this time
the fetter was rivetted to the entire satisfaction of the smith and
chief.
I was now told that I might rise and go to my seat; but that was
no easy matter, and, having no practice in this, for me, quite new
way of locomotion, I could hardly take the necessary three or four
steps. Although I was in great bodily pain, and felt deeply the
degradation we were subjected to, I would not give the officers of
the man who was thus ill-treating us cause to believe that I cared
in the least about it. On rising to my legs I lifted up my cap and
shouted, to their great astonishment, "God save the Queen," and
went on laughing and chatting as if I felt perfectly happy. As every
detail of our life was reported to Theodore, and my contempt for
his chains was public, he was at once informed of it: but he only
mentioned the fact twenty-one months afterwards, when he alluded
to it in conversation with Mr. Waldmeier, to whom he said that every
one allowed themselves to be chained without saying a word; that
even Mr. Rassam had smiled upon them; but that the doctor and Mr.
Prideaux had looked at them with anger.
After the operation was over, and the witnesses of the scene had
each favoured us with a "May God open thee," the messenger the
chiefs were sending to Theodore (a fellow named Lib, a great spy,
and confidant of the Emperor; the same who had brought our _lettres
de cachet_,) was introduced to receive any message Mr. Rassam
desired to convey to his Majesty. That gentleman, in quiet and
courteous words, reproached his Majesty for his treachery, and cast
upon him the onus of the consequences such unfair treatment would
most likely bring upon him. Unfortunately Samuel, always timid, and
at this time almost dead with fright, as he did not know whether
chains were not in reserve for him also, declined to interpret, and
simply sent the ordinary compliments instead.
When our gaolers had withdrawn, we looked at one another, and the
sight was so ridiculous, so absurd, that for all our sorrow we could
not help laughing heartily. The chains consisted of two heavy rings
connected together by three small thick links, leaving just a span
between one ring and the other; and these we wore for nearly
twenty-one months! At first we could not walk at all; our legs were
bruised and sore from the hammering on, and the iron pressing on
the ankles was so painful that we were obliged to tie bandages under
the chains during the daytime. At night I always took off the
bandages, as the constant impediment to the circulation they
occasioned, caused the feet to swell; yet at night we felt the
weight and pressure even more than during the day: our legs seemed
for a long time never to get rest; we could not move them about,
and when in our sleep we turned from one side to the other, the
links, by striking the bone of the leg, caused such acute pain as
to awake us at once. Though after a time we got more accustomed to
them, and could walk about our small inclosure with more ease, still
every now and then we had to remain quiet for some days, as the
legs got sore, and small ulcers appeared on the parts where the
greatest pressure bore. Even since they have been removed, for
months my legs were weaker than before, the ankles smaller, and the
feet somewhat enlarged.
The evening we were put in chains we had to cut open our trousers
as the only way of getting them off. During their former captivity
at Magdala, Messrs. Cameron, Stern and others, either wore petticoats
or native drawers, which they had been taught to pass between the
leg and the chain. But we had no material at hand to make the first,
and as for passing even the thinnest cambric through the rings in
the swollen condition of the limb, that was quite out of the question.
Necessity, it is said, is the mother of invention: at all events I
invented the "Magdala trousers." On taking off mine that evening,
I cut them near the outward seam, and collecting all the buttons I
could obtain, had them sewed on, and button-holes made along the
Beam as near to one another as my limited supply allowed. Some weeks
afterwards I was able, with the assistance of a native, to pass
through the rings calico drawers; and as my legs grew thinner, in
time, I was able to put on trousers made of thin Abyssinian cotton
cloth; and such is the force of habit and practice, that at last I
could take off or put on my trousers as quickly almost as if my
legs were free.
We had gone to bed early that evening, not knowing what to do, when
we heard a discussion going on outside our hut between Samuel and
the chief of the guard that night, named Mara, a descendant of some
Armenian and a great worshipper of his Imperial master. Samuel at
last came in and told us that he had endeavoured to persuade the
officer not to disturb us, but that he insisted on examining our
chains to see if they were all right. We declined at first to submit
to the inspection, and only consented, in order to get rid of the
fellow, to shake our chains under the shama with which we were
covered, as he passed from one to another.
As we expected to be at least six months in Magdala--giving time
for the news to reach England, and the troops to arrive that we
felt certain would immediately be despatched to set us free and
punish the despot--Mr. Rassam endeavoured, through Samuel, to obtain
a few more huts for our accommodation. Samuel spoke to the Ras and
to the other chiefs, and they agreed to give us a small hut and two
godjos, (small huts, the roof formed by the ends of the twigs being
tied together at the free extremity, and the whole covered with
straw,) when they would have collected wood enough to make a new
fence. In the meanwhile two of us, Pietro and Mr. Kerans, were
induced to live in the kitchen, where they would have more room and
leave more space for ourselves.
Our first thought on reaching Magdala was to communicate the
intelligence to our friends and to Government; since we had been
chained we knew that every hour lost was a day added to our discomfort
and misery, and that we ought to lose no time in sending a trusty
messenger to Massowah. It was always very difficult for us to
write, but more so in the beginning, as we were afraid even of
Samuel, afterwards so useful in all that concerned our messengers.
All the country up to Lasta still recognized Theodore, and we were
obliged to be very guarded in our expressions, in case the letter
should fall into the hands of some of his chiefs and be forwarded
to him. On the 18th, our packet was ready; but, strange to say, it
was the only time our letter came to grief. We could only trust
servants that had been some time with us,--at least, so we thought
at the time,--and therefore selected an old servant of Cameron who
had been formerly, on several occasions, employed as messenger. He
was a good man, a first-rate walker, but very quarrelsome; and to
spite his adversary was capable of anything. To accompany him through
the rebel country we obtained a servant from a political prisoner,
Dejatch Maret: they were to travel together and return with an
answer from Mr. Munzinger. Soon after, leaving Magdala, the two
began to quarrel, and on reaching the rebels' outposts, a question
of precedence between them led to the discovery of our packet; both
messengers were seized, tied with ropes for a few days, and when
released, our man was told to go back, and the letters were burnt.
Afterwards we made better arrangements: the messengers carried in
their belts the letters which were of a dangerous nature; otherwise
we sewed them up in leather, in the shape of the amulets and charms
worn by the natives, or had them stitched between patches on old
trousers, or near the seams. Those writing from the coast used the
same precautions; and though we must have sent about forty messengers
with letters during our captivity, without mentioning those employed
elsewhere, they all, with the one exception I have mentioned, reached
in safety.
Next came the question so vital to us, how to get money. It so
happened that Theodore, about that time, gave a thousand dollars
to each of his workmen. Many of them, judging from the political
condition of the country that the Emperor's power would soon fall
entirely, were desirous of sending their money out of the country,
and as we were only too anxious to get some, the matter was easily
arranged to our mutual satisfaction. We sent servants to Debra
Tabor; and as the road was still safe, and we had, by suitable
presents, made friends of the chiefs of the districts that lay in
the way, the servants were not molested or plundered. They carried
the dollars either in bags, on mules, laden at the same time with
grain or flour which the Gaffat people now and then sent us, or
tied in the long cotton sash that Abyssinians wear as a belt.
Directions were also given to Mr. Munzinger to forward money to
Metemma, from whence we could draw it by sending servants. It was
only during the second year of our captivity that we experienced
any serious difficulty on that score. The Emperor's power became
more and more limited; rebels and thieves infested the roads; the
route between Metemma and Magdala was closed; the Gaffat people had
none to spare; and at one time it seemed as if it was perfectly
impossible for messengers to reach us. Though for months we were
rather hard up, what by employing servants of political prisoners,
friends or relatives of the rebels, by using the influence of the
Bishop, or through the protection of Wagshum Gobazé, money again
found its way to Magdala, and relieved us from our apprehensions.
Theodore knew indirectly that we sent servants to the coast, but
as it is the custom to allow prisoners' servants to go to their
masters' families to beg for them, he could not well forbid us; the
more so as he never gave us anything. If messengers had fallen into
his hands he would probably have plundered the money, but not injured
them. As for letters it was quite a different affair: if those we
wrote had by accident come into his possession, he would have made
short work of the messenger, and most certainly of us also.
It might appear strange that the Abyssinians--a race of thieves--should
have proved themselves so honest on these occasions, and not absconded
with the couple of hundred dollars entrusted to them: a fortune for
a poor servant. Though it would be ungrateful to run down these
men, who exposed themselves to great perils, often travelled the
whole distance from Massowah to Magdala at night, and who, I may
say, saved us from starvation; still I believe that they acted more
on the old adage that honesty is the best policy, than from any
innate virtue. First, they were handsomely rewarded, well treated,
and expected a further reward (which they very properly received)
should fortune once more smile upon us; Secondly, all the great
rebel chiefs befriended us, and we should have had but to communicate
with them directly, or, better still, through the Bishop; for them
to have at once seized the delinquent, deprived him of his ill-gotten
wealth, and punished him severely. This they knew perfectly well.
Looking back, I cannot imagine how I got through the long, dreary
days of idleness, always the same, for twenty-one months. Chains
were nothing compared to the fearful want of occupation. Suppose
we had kept a daily diary, the entries would have been generally
as follows:--"Took a bath (a painful operation, as the chains,
unsupported by the bandages, hurt fearfully); small boy helps to
pass my trousers between the chains. To-day, being dry, we crawled
up and down our fifteen yards' walk. Breakfast; felt happier that
task over. Sick came for medicine. As I am doctor and apothecary,
prescribed and made the medicine myself. Samuel, or some trusty
native friend who knows that my tej is ripe, came for a glass or
two. Go now and smoke a pipe with Cameron. Lay down and read
McCulloch's _Commercial Dictionary_; very interesting book,
but sends me to sleep. Afternoon, lay down and got up again; tried
once more the _Commercial Dictionary_. Dinner (I wonder what
age the cock we ate had reached); crawled about for, an hour between
the huts; lay down, took Gadby's _Appendix_; but as I knew it
by heart, even his curious descriptions have no more attraction.
Small boy lighted the fire; the wood was green, the smoke fearful.
Had a game of whist with Rassam and Prideaux. I do not suppose they
would play with our dirty cards in a guard-room. Lost twenty points.
Small boy took off the trousers. The guards were cursing us because
they had to sleep outside in the rain. Bravo, Samuel, you are a
friend indeed!"
This imaginary page I might repeat _ad infinitum_. As a change,
sometimes we wrote to our friends, or received letters and some
scraps of newspapers--delightful days; few and far between. On
Sundays we had divine service; Mr. Stern, though sick and weary,
always did his utmost to comfort and encourage us. Such was, as a
rule, our daily life: it is true we had our exciting times, perhaps
too much of it at the end; we had also, now and then, a few other
occupations, such as building a new hut, making a small garden,
settling a quarrel amongst the servants: details that will come in
our narrative as we proceed. I mentioned that the chiefs had
promised to enlarge our fence; they kept to their word. Four or
five days after we had undergone the chaining operation, they made
us another visit, consulted, discussed for a long time, and at last
agreed to make a small break in the fence and inclose the three
huts they had promised us. Samuel, who had the distribution of the
new premises, gave the small house to Rassam, took one of the godjos
for himself, and gave the third one to Prideaux and myself. Kerans
and Pietro were still to remain in the kitchen, so that our first
house was left to Messrs. Cameron, Stern, and Rosenthal.
On the 23rd July, 1866, Prideaux and myself entered our new abode:
and, without exaggeration, if a dog were tied up in a similar shed
in England I may say that the owner would be prosecuted by the
Society for the Protection of Animals. As it was, we were only too
happy to get it, and at once went to work--not to make it comfortable,
that was quite out of the question, but--to try to keep out the
rain.