Description of Magdala--Climate and Water Supply--The Emperor's
Houses--His Harem and Magazines--The Church--Prison-house--Guards
and Gaol--Discipline--A previous Visit of Theodore to Magdala--Slaughter
of the Gallas--Character and Antecedents of Samuel--Our friends Zenab
the Astronomer, and Meshisha the Lute--player--Day Guards--We build
new Huts--Abyssinian and Portuguese Servants--Our Inclosure is enlarged.
Amba Magdala, distant about 320 [Footnote: According to Mr. C. Markham.]
miles from Zulla, and about 180 from Gondar, arises in the province
of Worahaimanoo, on the border of the Wallo Galla country. The
approach is difficult on account of the steep ascent and narrow
precipitous ravines that separate it from the rivers Bechelo and
Jiddah and from the table-land of Wallo. It stands almost
isolated--amongst gigantic surrounding masses, and viewed from the
western side possesses the appearance of a crescent. On the extreme
left of this curve appears a small flat plateau called Fahla,
connected by a strip of land with a peak higher than the amba itself,
and called Selassié (trinity), on account of the church erected
upon it, and designated by that name. From Selassié to Amba Magdala
itself there is a large plain called Islamgee, several hundred feet
lower than the two peaks it separates. At Islamgee several small
villages had been erected by the peasants who cultivate the land
for the Emperor, the chiefs, and soldiers of the amba. The servants
of the prisoners had also there a spot given to them where they
were allowed to build huts for themselves and cattle. On Saturday
a weekly market, formerly well supplied, was held at the foot of
Selassié. Numerous wells were generally sunk during the dry
season close to the springs of Islamgee, which wells afforded a
small but constant supply of water. From Islamgee the road up to
Magdala is very steep and difficult. To the first gate it follows,
at times very abruptly, the flank of the mountain. To the right,
the sides of the amba rise like a huge wall; below is a giddy abyss.
From the first to the second gate the road is exceedingly narrow
and steep, turning to the right at a sharp angle with the first
part of the road. Small earthworks had been erected on the flanks
near the gates, protecting every weak point; The summit of the ridge
was strongly fenced and loopholed. Two other gates led from the
amba to the foot of the mountain; one had some time before been
closed, but the other, called Kafir Ber, opened in the direction
of the Galla country. The amba is well fortified by nature, and
Theodore, to increase its strength, added some rude fortifications.
The Magdala plateau is oblong and somewhat irregular, about a mile
and a half in length, and on the average about a mile broad. It was
one of the strongest fortresses in Abyssinia, and by its position
between the rich and fertile plateau of Dahonte, Dalanta, and
Worahaimanoo, easily provisioned. Magdala is more than 9,000 feet
above the level of the sea; and enjoys a splendid climate. In the
evenings, almost all the year round, a fire is welcome, and, though
a month or two before the rains the temperature rises somewhat, in
the huts we never found it too hot to be uncomfortable. The high
land that surrounds the amba in the distance is barren and bleak,
due to the great altitude, and many of the peaks in the Galla country
are, for several months in the year, covered with snow or frozen
hail. Water, during and for some months after the rainy season, is
abundant, but from March to the first week in July it gets scarcer
and scarcer, until it is obtained only with difficulty. In order
to remedy this disadvantage, Theodore, with his usual forethought,
had several large tanks constructed on the mountain, and also sunk
wells in promising places. The effort was pretty successful; the
wells gave only a small supply of water, it is true, but it was a
constant one all the year round. The water collected in the tanks
was of very little use. Those reservoirs were not covered after the
rains, and the water, impregnated with all kinds of vegetable and
animal matter, soon became quite unfit to drink. The principal
springs are at Islamgee; there are a few on the amba itself, and
numerous less important ones issue from the sides, not many feet
from the summit, at the base of the ridge itself.
Magdala was not only used by Theodore as a fortress, but also as a
gaol, a magazine, a granary, and as a place of protection for his
wives and family. The King's house and the granary stood almost
in the centre of the amba; in front towards the west a large space
had been left open and clear; behind stood the houses of the officers
of his household; to the left, huts of chiefs and soldiers; to the
right, on a small eminence, the godowns and magazines, soldiers'
quarters, the church, the prison; and behind again another large
open space looking towards the Galla plateau of Tanta.
Theodore's houses had nothing regal about them. They were built
on the same pattern as the ordinary huts of the country, but only
on a larger scale. He himself, I believe, never, or at least very
rarely, lived in them; he preferred his tent at Islamgee, or on
some neighbouring height, to the larger and more commodious abode
on the amba. To his dislike to houses in general, I believe was
added a particular objection to shutting himself up in the fort.
The majority of these houses were occupied by Theodore's wives and
concubines, the eunuchs, and female slaves. The granary and tej
houses were in the same inclosure, but separated from the ladies'
department by a strong fence; the granary consisted of half a dozen
huge huts, protected from the rain by a double roof. They contained
barley, tef, beans, peas, and a little wheat. All the grain was
kept in leather bags piled up until they reached almost to the roof.
It is said that, at the time of the capture of Magdala by our troops,
there was grain in sufficient quantity stored in these granaries
to last the garrison and other inhabitants of the amba for at least
six months. The dwellings of the chiefs and soldiers were built on
the model of the Amhara houses--circular, with a pointed thatched
roof. The huts of the common soldiers were built without order, in
some places in such close proximity that if, as it happened on one
or two occasions, a fire broke out, in a few seconds twenty or
thirty houses were at once burnt to the ground: nothing could
possibly stop the conflagration but rapidly pulling down to leeward
the huts not as yet on fire. The principal chiefs had several houses
for themselves, all in one inclosure, surrounded and separated from
the soldiers' huts by a high and strong fence. Since about a year
before his death Theodore had been gradually accumulating at Magdala
the few remnants of his former wealth. Some sheds contained muskets,
pistols, &c.; others books and paper; others carpets, shamas, silks,
some powder, lead, shot, caps; and the best the little money he
still possessed, the gold he had seized at Gondar, and the property
of his workmen sent over to Magdala for safe custody. All the
store-huts were during the rainy season covered with black woollen
cloth, called màk, woven in the country. Once or twice a week the
chiefs would meet in consultation in a small house erected for that
purpose in the magazine inclosure to discuss public affairs, but,
above all, to assure themselves by personal inspection that the
"treasures" entrusted to their care were in perfect order and in
safe keeping.
The Magdala church, consecrated to the Saviour of the World (Medani
Alum), was not in any respect worthy of such an important place.
It was of recent date, small, unadorned with the customary
representations of saints, of the life of the Apostles, of the
Trinity, of God the Father, and the devil. No St. George was seen
on his white charger, piercing the dragon with his Amhara lance;
no martyr smiled benignly at his fiend-like tormentors. The mud
walls had not even been whitewashed; and every pious soul longed
for the accomplishment of Theodore's promise--the building of a
church worthy of his great name. The inclosure was as bare as the
holy place itself; no graceful juniper, tall sycamore, or dark green
guicho solemnized its precincts, or offered cool shade where the
hundred priests, defteras, and deacons who daily performed service,
could repose after the fatiguing ceremony--the howling and the
dancing to David's psalms. On the same line, but below the hillock
on which stood the church, the Abouna possessed a few houses and a
garden; but, alas for him, his _pied-à-terre_ had for several
years become his prison.
The prison-house, a common gaol for the political offenders, thieves,
and murderers, consisted of five or six huts inclosed by a strong
fence, and surrounded by the private dwellings of the more wealthy
prisoners and guards, extending from the eastern slope of the hillock
to the edge of the precipice and to the open space towards the
south. At the time of our captivity these houses cannot have contained
less than 660 prisoners. Of these, about 80 died of remittent fever,
175 were released by his Majesty, 307 executed, and 91 owed their
liberty to the stormers of Magdala. The prison rules were in some
respects very severe, in others mild and foreign to our civilized
ideas. At sunset every prisoner was ordered into the central
inclosure. As they passed the gate they were counted and their
fetters examined. The women had a hut for themselves; only a late
arrangement, however, as before they had to sleep in the same houses
as the men. The space was very limited and the prisoners were packed
in like herrings in a barrel. Abyssinians themselves, hard-hearted
as they are, described the scene at night as something fearful. The
huts, crowded to excess, were close, the atmosphere fetid, the
stench unbearable. There lay, side by side, the poor, starved
vagabond, chained hands and feet, and often with a large forked
piece of wood several yards long fixed round his neck, and the
warrior who had bled in many a hard-won fight, the governor of
provinces--nay, the sons of kings and conquered rulers themselves.
In the centre the guards, keeping candles lighted all night, laughed
or played some noisy game, indifferent to the sufferings of the
unfortunates they watched. At day-dawn, always about 6 A.M. in that
latitude, the prison-door was opened, and those who were lucky
enough to possess any, repaired to the huts they had erected in the
vicinity of the sleeping-houses, while the poorer crawled about the
prison inclosure, awaiting their pancake loaf with all the impatience
of hungry men, just kept from immediate starvation by the _bounty_
of the Emperor. Others strolled about in couples, begging from their
more favoured companions, or, when leave was granted, went from
house to house imploring alms in the name of the "Saviour of the
World."
The prison guards were the greatest ruffians I have ever seen. They
had been for so many years in contact with misery in its worst shape
that the last spark of human feeling had died out in their callous
hearts. Instead of showing compassion or pity for their prisoners,
many of them innocent victims of a low treachery, they added to
their misery by the harshness and cruelty of their conduct. Had a
chief received at last a small sum of money from his distant province,
he was soon made aware that he must satisfy the greed of his rapacious
gaolers. But that was nothing compared to the moral tortures they
inflicted on their prisoners. Many of them had been for years
confined on the amba, and had brought their families to reside near
them. Woe to the woman who would not listen to the solicitations
of these infamous wretches; threatened and even beaten, few indeed
of the sorrowful wives and daughters held out; others willingly met
advances; and when the chief, the man of rank, or the wealthy
merchant, left his day house, he knew that his wife would immediately
receive her chosen lover, or, what was still more heartrending, a
man she despised but feared.
Such was the daily life of those whose fault was to have given ear
to the fair words of Theodore, an error that weighed heavier upon
them than a crime. But when the Emperor, on his way, stopped a few
days at Magdala, what anxiety, what anguish, reigned in that accursed
place! No day house, no hours spent with the family or the friend,
no food hardly; the prisoners must remain in the night houses, as
the Emperor at any moment might send for some one of them to set
him at liberty, or, more likely, to put an end to his miserable
existence. Let us take, for example, his visit to Magdala in the
first days of July, 1865, on his return from his unsuccessful
campaign in Shoa. No doubt long-continued misfortunes crush the
better qualities of men, and induce them to perform acts at the
mere thought of which in better days they would have blushed. Such
was the case with Beru Goscho, formerly the independent ruler of
Godjam. Since years he had lingered in chains. In the hope of
improving his position, he had the baseness to report to his Majesty
that when a rumour was started that he had been killed in Shoa, a
great many of the prisoners had rejoiced. Theodore, on receiving
this message, gave orders for all the political prisoners who were
only chained by the leg to have hand chains put on--exempting only
from this order his informer Beru Goscho. However, some days later,
this chief having sent a servant to Theodore to ask as a reward to
be allowed to have his wife near him, the Emperor, who did not
approve of treachery in others, pretended to be annoyed at his
request, and gave orders that he should also be put in hand chains.
But this was trifling compared with the massacre of the Gallas,
which happened during that same visit of Theodore. After subduing
the Galla country he required hostages. Accordingly, the Queen
Workite sent him her son, the heir to the throne; and many chiefs,
believing in the high character of Theodore, willingly accompanied
him. The Galla prince had at first been kindly treated; even made
governor of the mountain; but soon, on some pretext or other, he
was disgraced: first made a prisoner at large, and then sent to the
common gaol, to endure chains and misery for years.
Menilek, the grandson of Sehala Selassié, had been since his youth
brought up near the Emperor; he was entrusted with an independent
command, and in order to strengthen his adherence to his cause,
Theodore gave him his daughter in marriage. Under these circumstances,
I can easily fancy the rage and passion of Theodore when, one
morning, he was informed that Menilek had deserted with his followers,
and was already on his way to claim the dominions of his fathers.
The Emperor with a telescope saw on the distant Wallo plain Menilek
received, with honour by the Galla Queen Workite. Blind, with rage,
he had no thought but revenge. He dared not venture to pursue
Menilek and encounter the two allies; at hand he had easy victims--the
Galla prince and his chiefs. Theodore mounted his horse, called his
body-guard, and sent for those men, who had already lingered long
in captivity through trusting to his word, and then followed a scene
so horrible that I dare not write the details. All were killed
some--thirty-two, I believe--and their still breathing bodies hurled
over the precipice. It is probable that shortly afterwards Theodore
regretted having allowed himself to be guided by passion. With
Menilek he had lost Shoa; by the murder of the Galla prince he had
made those tribes his deadly foes. He sent word to the Bishop, "Why,
if I was acting wrongly, did you not come out with the 'Fitta Negust'
(Abyssinian code of law) in your hands, and tell me I was wrong?"
The Bishop's reply was simple and to the point:--"Because I saw
blood written in your face." However, Theodore soon consoled himself.
The rains were late, and water scarce on the amba: the next day it
rained. Theodore, full of smiles, addressed his soldiers, saying,
"See the rain; God is pleased with me because I have killed the
infidels."
Such is Magdala, the sun-burnt barren rock, the arid lonely spot
where we had to undergo nearly two years of captivity in chains.
We furnished our house without much expense; two tanned cows' hides
were all we required. These, together with a few old carpets Theodore
had presented us with at Zagé, was about the extent of our
worldly goods. I had a small folding table and a camp-stool (some
of our kit had arrived a few days before); but our hovel was too
small to admit them and us. The rainy season had fairly set in, and
the broken roof of our godjo was rapidly giving way under the weight
of the wet grass; we propped it up as best we could by means of a
long stick, still it looked very shaky, and leaked worse and worse.
The ground, always damp now, had quite the appearance of an Irish
bog; and if the straw that was placed underneath the skins to make
our bed a little softer was not removed every other day, the steam
rose even through the old carpets that adorned our abode. At last
I could stand it no longer: I was afraid of falling ill. It was bad
enough to be in chains and in a hovel, but sickness into the bargain
would have driven me to despair. I sent my Abyssinian servants to
cut some wood, and made a small raised platform; it was rather
irregular and hard, but I preferred it to sleeping for so long on
the wet ground.
Well do I still remember that long, dreary, rainy season, and with
what impatience we looked for the Feast of the Cross, about the
25th of September; as the natives told us that the rains always
ceased about that time! I had brought with me from Gaffat an Amharic
grammar. "Faute de mieux," I struggled hard to study it, but the
mind was not fitted for such work; and, book in hand, I was in
spirit, thousands of miles away, thinking of home, dreaming awake
of beloved friends, of freedom and liberty. Towards the end of
August, shortly after the return of our ill-fated messenger, we
wrote again and sent another man: by this time we had abundant proof
that Samuel,--formerly our introducer, now our gaoler,--was completely
in our interests; and by his good arrangements the messenger started
without any one knowing of it, and managed to reach Massowah with
his letter.
I have spoken often of Samuel, and shall again and again have to
mention his name in my narrative. He was, from the beginning, mixed
up with the affairs of the Europeans, and I believe at one time he
was rather unfriendly towards them; but since our arrival and during
our captivity, he behaved exceedingly well. He was a shrewd, cunning
man, and one of the first who perceived that Theodore was losing
ground. Outwardly he swore by his name, and kept his confidence;
but all the while he was serving us, and helping us in our
communications with the coast, the rebels, &c. In his youth his
left leg had been broken and badly set; and though Theodore liked
him, he did not give him a military command, but always employed
him in a civil capacity. He did not like to speak of the accident
that occasioned his deformity, and would, if asked, always give an
evasive answer. Pietro, the Italian, was a great gossip, and his
stories could not always be relied upon. His account of the broken
leg was that when Samuel went to Shoa, some Englishman there gave
him a kick which sent him rolling down some small ravine, and in
the fall the leg was broken. It was on account of that blow from
an Englishman, Pietro said, that Samuel hated them all so much, and
was so bitter against them at first. It may be so; but I believe
that he had not been understood.
Samuel fancied that he was a very great man in his own country. His
father had been a small sheik; and Theodore, after Samuel's native
country had rebelled, made him governor of it. With all the appearance
of great humility, Samuel was proud; and by treating him as if he
was in reality a great man, he was as easily managed as a child.
He had suffered from a severe attack of dysentery during our stay
at Kourata. I attended him carefully, and he always felt grateful
for my attentions towards him. When we separated and lived in
different houses, he did not allow the guards to sleep inside our
hut. It is true it would have been difficult; but Abyssinian soldiers
are not particular: they sleep anywhere,--on their prisoner's bed,
if there is no other place, making use of him as a pillow. Of course
Mr. Rassam had none; but he was the great man, the dispenser of
favours. Stern, Cameron, and Rosenthal, being neither rich nor
favourites, had the advantage of the presence of two or three of
those ruffians as their companions every night; nor were those in
the kitchen better off, as some soldiers were always sent in at
night not to watch Kerans and Pietro, but the King's property (our
own kit).
Samuel soon made friends with some of the chiefs. After a while,
two of them were constantly in our inclosure, and, under the pretext
of coming to see Samuel, would spend hours with us. Kerans, a good
Amharic scholar, was the interpreter on those occasions: one of
them, Deftera Zenab, the King's chief scribe, (now tutor to Alamayou,)
is an intelligent; honest man; but he was quite mad on astronomy,
and would listen for hours to anything concerning the solar system.
Unfortunately, either the explanations were faulty or his comprehension
dull as each time he came he wanted the whole dissertation over
again until at last our patience was fairly exhausted, and we gave
him up as a bad job. His other intimate was a good-natured young
man called Afa Negus Meshisha, son of a former governor of the Amba;
Theodore, on the death of the father, had given Meshisha the title,
but nothing more. His forte was playing the lute, or a rude instrument
something like it. Samuel could listen to him for hours; but two
minutes was quite enough to make us run off. He was, however,
useful in his way, as he gave us good information about what was
going on in Theodore's camp,--intelligence which his position as
an occasional member of the council enabled him to obtain.
Such, apart from ourselves, was our only society. It is true that
the Ras and the great men would occasionally call on Mr. Rassam,
much more frequently since he give them arrack and toj, instead of
the coffee he used to offer them at first; but, unless one of them
wanted some medicine, it was very rare that they honoured us with
a visit; they thought that they had done quite enough--indeed
bestowed a great favour, for which we ought to be grateful--if, as
they passed near our hut, they shouted "May God open thee!"
But our enemy was one of the day guards, named Abu Falek, an old
rascal who delighted in making mischief; he was hated by every one
on the mountain, and on that account outwardly respected. The day
he was on guard it was very difficult to write, as he was always
putting his ugly grey head in at the door to see what we were doing.
He did his best to do us harm, but could reach no higher than our
servants: our dollars were too much for him.
Everything has an end. With Maskal (the Feast of the Cross) came
sunshine and pleasant cool weather. We had already been two months
and a half in chains, and we expected that soon some comforting
news would reach us, telling us "Be of good cheer; we are coming."
Since our arrival at Magdala we had not received a single letter:
and more than six months had elapsed without news from our friends,
or any intelligence whatsoever from Europe.
Immediately after the rains, Mr. Rassam had his house repaired and
improved, and a new hut built, as Mrs. Rosenthal was expected to
join our party; Samuel obtained a piece of ground adjoining our
inclosure, which was afterwards included in it, and on which he
built a hut for himself and family. Samuel had several times spoken
to me about pulling down our wretched godjo, and building a larger
hut instead; but I thought it was hardly worth the while, as before
many months some change or the other would take place: another
reason was, that part of the old fence stood in front of my godjo,
and I should hardly have gained more than a foot of ground. Samuel
promised to do his best to have the fence removed if I would build;
I agreed to do so, and he endeavoured to fulfil his part of the
contract, but failed. However, a few weeks later, one of the chiefs,
whom I had attended almost since our arrival, in his first burst
of gratitude at being cured, took upon himself to break down the
fence, and promised to send me his men to help me.
All the materials--wood, bamboos, cow-hides, straw--could be purchased
below the mountain, and in a few days all was ready. I sent word
to my patient, who came at once, with about fifty soldiers, who,
by his orders, broke down the fence, and pulled down my godjo. The
ground was afterwards levelled, the circumference of the hut traced
with a stick, fixed to the centre by a piece of string, and a trench
a foot and a half deep dug. Two strong sticks were placed at the
spot where the door would be, and each soldier, carrying several
of the branches with which the walls are built, placed them in the
ditch, filling up the vacant space with the earth that had been
taken out; they had only to tie, with strips of cow-hide, flexible
branches transversely in order to keep the vertical ones together,
and the first part of the structure was complete. A few days
afterwards they returned, made the framework of the roof, and lifted
it up on the walls; it then only required the thatcher to render
our new abode inhabitable. The servants brought water and made mud,
with which the walls were coated inside, and a week from the day
the godjo had been pulled down, Prideaux and myself were able to
give our house-warming. The soldiers were delighted with their job,
and always came in large numbers when we required their assistance,
as we treated them very liberally: for instance, the materials for
our new hut cost eight dollars, but we spent fourteen dollars in
feasting those who had assisted us. We had now seven feet of ground
each, the table could be placed in the centre, and the folding chair
offered to a visitor. Mr. Rassam had tried, with success, to whitewash
the interior of his hut with a kind of soft white yellowish sandstone,
that could be obtained in the vicinity of the Amba; we, therefore,
also put our servants to work, but first had the mud walls several
times besmeared with cow-dung, in order to make the whitewash adhere.
We enjoyed very much the neat clean appearance of our hut.
Unfortunately, being situate between two high fences and surrounded
by other huts, it was rather dark. To obviate this defect, we cut
out of the walls some of the framework, and made four windows; this
was certainly a great improvement, but at night we felt the cold
bitterly. Luckily, our friend Zenab gave us some parchment; out of
an old box we made some rude frames, and the parchment, previously
well soaked in oil served instead of glass.
We were obliged to keep a large staff of servants, as we had to
prepare everything for ourselves. Some women were engaged to grind
flour for us and the Abyssinian servants; others to bring water or
wood. Men-servants went to the market or to the neighbouring districts
to purchase grain, sheep, honey, &c.; many were employed as messengers
to the coast or to Gaffat. I had with me two Portuguese, who were
the torment of my life, as they were always quarrelling, often
drunk, impertinent, and unwilling to work. The Portuguese lived in
the kitchen, but as they were always fighting with the other servants,
and we were perfectly helpless, and could not possibly enforce our
commands, I had a small hut erected for them. The inclosure had
been enlarged again by the chief, and Cameron had built a log-house
for himself, and Mr. Rosenthal had had one made for his servants;
mine for the Portuguese was built on the same spot, and before the
rainy season I had another one made for the Abyssinians, as they
grumbled and threatened to leave, if they had to spend the rains
in a tent.
All these arrangements took us some time; we had been glad to have
something to do, as the days passed much quicker, and time did not
weigh so heavily upon us. Our Christmas was not very merry, nor did
we on New Year's Day wish one another many returns of a similar
one; but we were on the whole more accustomed to our captivity, and
certainly in many respects more comfortable.