In the winter, during the cessation from work, Socinios called Paez

from Gorgora to Coga, where he enlarged the territory the Jesuits

then had at Fremona. After which he declared to him his resolution

to embrace the Catholic religion; and, as Paez says, presented him

with two letters, one to the king of Portugal, the other to the pope:

the first dated the 10th of December 1607, the latter the 14th of

October of the same year. These letters say not a word of his intended

conversion, nor of submission to the see of Rome; but complain only of

the disorderly state of his kingdom, and the constant inroads of the

Galla, earnestly requesting a number of Portuguese soldiers to free

them from their yoke, as formerly, under the conduct of Christopher de

Gama, they had delivered Abyssinia from that of the Moors.

While these things passed at Coga, two pieces of intelligence were

brought to the king, both very material in themselves, but which

affected him very differently. The first was, that the traitor Za

Selassé, while making one of his incursions into Gojam, had fallen into

an ambush laid for him by the Toluma Galla, guardians of that province

on the banks of the Nile, and that these Pagans had slain him and cut

off his head, which they then presented to the king, who ordered it to

be exposed on the lance whereon it was fixed, in the most conspicuous

place in the front of his palace.

This was the end of Ras Za Selassé, a name held in detestation to

this day throughout all Abyssinia. Though his death was just such as

it ought to have been, yet, as it was in an advanced time of life, he

still became a hurtful example, by shewing that it was possible for a

man to live to old age in the continual practice of murder and treason.

He was of low birth, as I have already observed, of a Pagan nation

of Troglodytes, of the lowest esteem in Abyssinia, employed always

in the meanest and most servile occupations, in which capacity he

served first in a private family. Being observed to have an active,

quick turn of mind, he was preferred to the service of Melec Segued,

upon whose death he was so much esteemed by his son Jacob, for the

expertness and capacity he shewed in business, that he gave him large

possessions, and appointed him afterwards to several ranks in the army;

having regularly advanced through the subordinate degrees of military

command, always with great success, he was made at last general; and

being now of importance sufficient to be able to ruin his benefactor,

he joined Ras Athanasius, who had rebelled against Jacob, by whom he

was taken prisoner, and, being mercifully dealt with, only banished

to Narea. From this disgraceful situation he was freed by Za Denghel,

who conferred upon him the most lucrative important employment in

the state. In return, he rebelled against Za Denghel; and at Bartcho

deprived him of his kingdom and life. Upon Jacob’s accession he was

appointed Betwudet, the first place in Ethiopia, after the king,

and governor of Gojam, one of the largest and richest provinces in

Abyssinia. But he soon after again forsook Jacob, swore allegiance to

Socinios, and joined him.

Not content with all this, he began to form some new designs while

with the court at Coga; and, having said to some of the king’s

servants, over wine, that it was prophesied to him he should kill

three kings, which he had verified in two, and was waiting for the

third, this speech was repeated to Socinios, who ordered Za Selassé to

be apprehended; and, though he most justly deserved death, the king

mercifully commuted his punishment to banishment to the top of Oureé

Amba, which signifies the Great Mountain upon the high ridge, called

_Gusman_, near the banks of the Nile; and, though close confined in

the caves on the top of that mountain, after a year’s imprisonment he

escaped to Walaka, and there declared himself captain of a band of

robbers, with which he infested the province of Gojam, when he was

slain by a peasant, and his head cut off and sent to Socinios, who very

much rejoiced in the present, and disposed of it as we have mentioned.

The second piece of intelligence the emperor received was that in the

mountains of Habab, contiguous to Masuah, where is the famous monastery

of the monks of St Eustathius, called _Bisan_; a person appeared

calling himself Jacob, son of Sertza Denghel, and pretending to have

escaped from the battle of Lebart; thus, taking advantage of the

circumstance of Jacob’s body not having been found in the field among

the dead after that engagement, he pretended he had been so grievously

wounded in the teeth and face that it was not possible to suffer the

deformity to appear; for which reason, as he said, but, as it appeared

afterwards, to conceal the little resemblance he bore to Jacob, he

wrapped about his head the corner of his upper cloth, and so concealed

one side of his face entirely.

All Tigré hastened to join this impostor as their true sovereign;

who, finding himself now at the head of an army, came down from the

mountains of Bisan, and encamped in the neighbourhood of Dobarwa upon

the Mareb, where he had a new accession of strength.

The shape of the crown in Abyssinia is that of the hood, or capa, which

the priests wear when saying mass. It is composed of silver, sometimes

of gold, sometimes of both metals, mixed and lined with blue silk. It

is made to cover part of the forehead, both cheeks, and the hind-part

of the neck likewise to the joining of the shoulders. A crown of this

shape could not but be of great service in hiding the terrible scars

with which the impostor’s face was supposed to be deformed. He had

accordingly got one made at Masuah, beat very thin out of a few ounces

of gold which he had taken from a caravan that he had robbed. He wore

it constantly upon his head as a token that he was not a candidate for

the crown, but real sovereign, who had worn that mark of power from his

infancy.

The news of this impostor, with the usual exaggeration of followers,

soon came to Sela Christos, governor of Tigré, who, seeing that the

affair became more serious every day, resolved to attempt to check it.

He conceived, however, he had little trust to put in the troops of

his province, who all of them were wavering whether they should not

join the rebel. His sole dependence, then, was upon the troops of his

own household, veteran soldiers, well paid and cloathed, and firmly

attached to his person, and likewise upon the Portuguese. Above all,

being himself a man of consummate courage and prudence, he was far from

judging of the power of his enemy by the multitude of rabble which

composed it.

As soon as the armies came in presence of each other, Jacob offered

the governor battle. But no sooner did the impostor’s troops see the

eagerness with which the small but chosen band rushed upon them, than

they fled and dispersed; and though Sela Christos had taken every

precaution to cut off the pretended Jacob from his usual sculking

places, it was not possible to overtake or apprehend him; for he

arrived in safety in one of the highest and most inaccessible mountains

of the district, whence he looked down on Sela Christos and his army

without apprehension, having behind him a retreat to the more distant

and less known mountains of Hamazen, should his enemies press him

further.

As long as Sela Christos remained with his little army in that country,

the impostor Jacob continued on the highest part of the mountains,

accompanied only by two or three of his most intimate friends, who

being people whose families dwelt in the plain below, brought him

constant intelligence of what passed there.

Sela Christos, wishing by all means to engage the enemy, marched into

a considerable plain called _Mai-aquel_; but, seeing on every side the

top of each mountain guarded by troops of soldiers, he was afraid he

had advanced too far; and, apprehensive lest he should be inclosed in

the midst of a multitude so posted, he began to think how he could best

make his retreat before he was surrounded by so numerous enemies. But

they no sooner saw his intention by the movement of his army, than,

leaving their leader as a spectator above, they fell on all sides upon

Sela Christos’s troops, who, having no longer any safety but in their

arms, began to attack the hill that was next them, which they stormed

as they would do a castle. Finding the small resistance that each of

these posts made, the governor divided his small army into so many

separate bodies, leaving his cavalry in the plain below, who, without

fighting, were only employed in slaughtering those his troops had

dislodged from their separate posts.

The day after, the impostor assembling his scattered troops, retreated

towards the sea into the territory of Hamazen, between the country of

the Baharnagash and the mountains of the Habab.

Sela Christos, finding that, while he pursued his victory in these

distant parts, the spirit of rebellion increased nearer home, resolved

to inform the king his brother of the unpromising state of his affairs

in Tigré, and the great necessity there was of his presence there.

Nor did Socinios lose a moment after receiving this intelligence from

Sela Christos, although it had found him, in one respect, very ill

prepared for such an undertaking; for he had sent all his horse from

Coga upon an expedition against the Shangalla and Gongas, nations on

the north-west border of this kingdom; so that, when he marched from

Wainadega, his cavalry amounted to 530 men only, besides a small

reinforcement brought by Emana Christos, governor of Amhara.

It was at Aibo the king turned off the road to Tigré towards Begemder,

and that day encamped at Wainadega. From Wainadega he advanced to

Davada; and, crossing the Reb, he turned off by the way of Zang, and

encamped at Kattamè. He then proceeded to Tzamè, and arrived at Hader.

At this place some spies informed him that an advanced party of the

Galla Marawa were strongly lodged in a hill not far off. Upon receiving

this notice, Socinios ordered his army to refresh themselves, to

extinguish all lights, and march with as little noise as possible.

While it was scarce dawn of day, a strong detachment of the king’s

army surrounded the hill where the Galla were, and found there a small

number of these savages placed like piquets to give the alarm and

prevent surprise. Eleven Galla were slain, and their heads cut off and

carried to the king, the first fruits of his expedition.

Resolving to profit by this early advantage, Socinios followed with all

diligence, and came in sight of the army of the enemy, without their

having taken the smallest alarm. They were lying closely and securely

in their huts that they had made. A large ravine full of trees and

stumps divided the two armies, and in part concealed them from each

other. The king ordered Emana Christos, and Abeton Welleta Christos,

to pass the ravine with the horse, and fall upon the Galla suddenly,

throwing the heads of those of the advanced guard they had cut off on

the ground towards them.

Before the king’s horse had passed the ravine, the Galla were alarmed,

and mounted on horseback. As they never fight in order, it required no

time to form; but they received the king’s cavalry so rudely, that,

though Emana Christos and the young prince behaved with the utmost

courage, they were beat back, and obliged to fly with considerable

loss, being entangled in the bushes. No sooner did the king observe

that his horse were engaged, than he ordered his troops to pass

the ravine to support them, and was desirous to bring on a general

engagement. But a panic had seized his troops. They would not stir, but

seemed benumbed and overcome by the cold of the morning, spectators of

the ruin of the cavalry.

Emana Christos, and those of the cavalry that had escaped the massacre,

had repassed the ravine, and dispersed themselves in the front of the

foot; while the victorious Marawa, like ignorant savages, pushed their

victory to the very front of the king’s line. Socinios, ordering all

the drums of the army to beat and trumpets to sound, to excite some

spirit in his troops, advanced himself before any of his soldiers, and

slew the first Galla within his reach with his own hands. The example

and danger the king exposed himself to, raised the indignation of

the troops. They poured in crowds, without regarding order, upon the

Marawa, great part of whom had already passed the ravine, and all that

had passed it were cut to pieces.

The Galla, unable to stand this loss, fled from the field, and

immediately after left Begemder. The want of horse on the king’s part

saved their whole army from the destruction which would infallibly have

been the consequence of a vigorous pursuit, through a country where

every inhabitant was an enemy. The king after this returned to his

palace at Coga to finish the business he had in hand.

In the mean time, a report was spread through all Tigré, that the king

had been defeated by the Galla, and that Ras Sela Christos had repaired

to Gondar in consequence of that disaster. The impostor Jacob lost no

time in taking advantage of this report. He descended from his natural

fortress, and, in conjunction with the governor of Axum, slew several

people, and committed many ravages in Siré. The Ras no sooner learned

that he was encamped on plain ground, than he presented himself with

the little army he had before; and, though the odds against him were

excessive, yet by his presence and conduct, the rebels, though they

fought this time with more than ordinary obstinacy, were defeated with

great loss, and their leader, the supposed Jacob, forced again to his

inaccessible mountains.

Socinios having now finished the affairs which detained him at Coga,

and being informed that the southern Galla, resenting the defeat of

the Marawa, had entered into a league to invade Abyssinia with united

forces, and a complete army to burn and lay waste the whole country

between the Tacazzé and Tzana, and to attack the emperor in his capital

of Coga, which they were determined to destroy, sent orders to Kasmati

Julius, his son-in-law, to join him immediately with what forces

he had, as also to Kesla Christos; and, being joined by both these

officers and their troops, he marched and took post at Ebenaat in the

district of Belessen, in the way by which the Galla intended to pass to

the capital, and he resolved to await them there.

The Galla advanced in their usual manner, burning and destroying

churches and villages, and murdering without mercy all that were so

unfortunate as to fall into their hands. The king bore these excesses

of his enemy with the patience of a good general, who saw they

contributed to his advantage. He therefore did not offer to check any

of their disorders, but by not resisting rather hoped to encourage

them. He had an army in number superior, and this was seldom the case;

but in quality there was no comparison, five of the king’s troops being

equal to twenty of the enemy, and this was the general proportion in

which they fought. He, therefore, contented himself with choosing

proper ground to engage, and improving it by ambushes such as the

nature of the field permitted or suggested.

It was the 7th of January 1608, early in the morning, that the Galla

presented themselves to Socinios in battle, in a plain below Ebenaat,

surrounded with small hills covered with wood. The Galla filled the

whole plain, as if voluntarily devoting themselves to destruction, and

from the hills and bushes were destroyed by fire-arms from enemies

they did not see, who with a strong body took possession of the place

through which they entered, and by which they were to return no more.

Socinios that day, for what particular reason does not appear,

distinguished himself among the midst of the Galla, by fighting like a

common soldier. It is thought by the historians of those times, that he

had received advice while at Coga, that his son-in-law Julius intended

to rebel, and therefore he meant to discourage him by comparison of

their personal abilities. This, however, is not probable; the king’s

character was established, and nothing more could be added to it.

However that may be, all turned to the disadvantage of the Galla. No

general or other officer thought himself entitled to spare his person

more than the king; all fought like common soldiers; and, being the

men best armed and mounted, and most experienced in the field, they

contributed in proportion to the slaughter of the day. About 12,000 men

on the part of the Galla were killed upon the spot; the very few that

remained were destroyed by the peasants, whilst 400 men only fell on

the part of the king, so it was a massacre rather than a battle.

Socinios now resolved to try his fortune against the impostor Jacob,

and with that resolution he crossed Lamalmon, descending to the Tacazzé

in his way to Siré. Here, as on the frontiers of his province, he was

met by Sela Christos, who brought Peter Paez along with them. Both were

kindly received by the king, who encamped in the large plain before

Axum, in consequence of a resolution he had long taken of being crowned

with all the ancient ceremonies used on this occasion by former kings,

while the royal residence was in the province of Tigré.

It was on the 18th of March, according to their account, the day of

our Saviour’s first coming to Jerusalem, that this festival began. His

army consisted of about 30,000 men. All the great officers, all the

officers of state, and the court then present, were every man dressed

in the richest and gayest manner. Nor was the other sex behind-hand in

the splendour of their appearance. The king, dressed in crimson damask,

with a great chain of gold round his neck, his head bare, mounted upon

a horse richly caparisoned, advanced at the head of his nobility,

passed the outer court, and came to the paved way before the church.

Here he was met by a number of young girls, daughters of the umbares,

or supreme judges, together with many noble virgins standing on the

right and left of the court.

Two of the noblest of these held in their hands a crimson cord of

silk, somewhat thicker than common whip-cord, but of a looser texture,

stretched across from one company to another, as if to shut up the

road by which the king was approaching the church. When this cord was

prepared and drawn tight about breast-high by the girls, the king

entered, advancing at a moderate pace, curvetting and shewing the

management of his horse. He was stopped by the tension of this string,

while the damsels on each side asking who he was, were answered, “I am

your king, the king of Ethiopia.” To which they replied with one voice,

“You shall not pass; you are not our king.”

The king then retires some paces, and then presents himself as to

pass, and the cord is again drawn across his way by the young women

so as to prevent him, and the question repeated, “Who are you?” The

king answered, “I am your king, the king of Israel.” But the damsels

resolved, even on this second attack, not to surrender but upon their

own terms; they again answer, “You shall not pass; you are not our

king.”

The third time, after retiring, the king advances with a pace and air

more determined; and the cruel virgins, again presenting the cord and

asking who he is, he answers, “I am your king, the king of Sion;” and,

drawing his sword, cuts the silk cord asunder. Immediately upon this

the young women cry, “It is a truth, you are our king; truly you are

the king of Sion.” Upon which they begin to sing Hallelujah, and in

this they are joined by the court and army upon the plain; fire-arms

are discharged, drums and trumpets sound; and the king, amidst these

acclamations and rejoicings, advances to the foot of the stair of the

church, where he dismounts, and there sits down upon a stone, which, by

its remains, apparently was an altar of Anubis, or the dog-star: At his

feet there is a large slab of free-stone, on which is the inscription

mentioned by Poncet, and which shall be quoted hereafter, when I come

to speak of the ruins of Axum.

After the king comes the nebrit, or keeper of the book of the law in

Axum, supposed to represent Azarias the son of Zadock; then the twelve

umbares, or supreme judges, who with Azarias accompanied Menilek, the

son of Solomon, when he brought the book of the law from Jerusalem, and

these are supposed to represent the twelve tribes. After these follow

the Abuna at the head of the priests, and the Itchegué at the head of

the monks; then the court, who all pass through the aperture made by

the division of the silk cord, which remains still upon the ground.

The king is first anointed, then crowned, and is accompanied half up

the steps by the singing priests, called Depteras, chanting psalms

and hymns. Here he stops at a hole made for the purpose in one of the

steps, and is there fumigated with incense and myrrh, aloes and cassia.

Divine service is then celebrated; and, after receiving the sacrament,

he returns to the camp, where fourteen days should regularly be spent

in feasting, and all manner of rejoicing and military exercise.

The king is, by the old custom, obliged to give a number of presents,

the particulars of which are stated in the deftar, or treasury-book,

the value, the person to whom they are due, and the time of giving; but

a great part of these are gone into desuetude since the removal of the

court from Tigré, as also many of the offices are now suppressed, and

with them the presents due to them.

The nobles and the court were likewise obliged to give presents to the

king upon that occasion. The present from the governor of Axum is two

lions and a fillet of silk, upon which is wrote, “_Mo Anbasa am Nizilet

Solomon am Negadé Jude_--The lion of the tribe of Judah and race of

Solomon hath overcome;” this serves as a form of investiture of lands

that the king grants, a ribband bearing this inscription being tied

round the head of the person to whom the lands are given.

This governor was then in rebellion, so did not assist at the ceremony.

Notwithstanding the difference of expence which I have mentioned, by

suppressing places, presents, and dues, the king Tecla Haimanout told

me at Gondar, that when he was in Tigré, driven there by the late

rebellion, Ras Michael had some thoughts of having him crowned there

in contempt of his enemies; but, by the most moderate calculation that

could be made, not to turn the ceremony into ridicule by parsimony,

it would have cost 20,000 ounces of gold, or L. 50,000 Sterling; upon

which he laid aside the thoughts of it, saying to the king, “Sir,

trust to me, 20,000 ounces of Tigré iron shall crown you better; if

more is wanted, I will bestow it upon your enemies with pleasure till

they are satisfied;” meaning the iron balls with which his soldiers

loaded their musquets.

After the coronation was over, the king passed the Mareb, desiring to

finish his campaign by the death of his competitor Jacob; but that

impostor knew too well the superiority of his rival, and hid himself

in the inmost recesses, without other attendants than a few goats, who

furnished him with their milk, as well as their society.

Socinios left the affair of the rebel Jacob to be ended by Amsala

Christos, an officer of great prudence, whom he made governor of Tigré;

and, taking his brother Ras Sela Christos along with him, returned

to Coga[48]. Amsala Christos being seized with a grievous sickness,

saw how vain it was for him to pursue the suppression of a rebellion

conducted by such a head as this impostor Jacob, and therefore secretly

applied to two young men, Zara Johannes and Amha Georgis, brothers, and

sons of the Shum Welled Georgis, who had committed murder, and were

outlawed by Socinios, and, keeping hid in the mountains, had joined in

fellowship with the impostor Jacob.

These, gained by the promise of pardon given them by Amsala Christos,

chose an opportunity which their intimacy gave them, and, falling upon

Jacob unawares in his retirement, they slew him, cut his head off,

and sent it to the king at Coga, who received it very thankfully, and

returned it to Tigré to Amsala Christos, to be exposed publicly in all

the province to undeceive the people; for it now appeared, that he had

neither scars in his face, broken jaw, nor loss of teeth, but that the

covering was intended only to conceal the little resemblance he bore to

king Jacob, slain, as we have seen, at the battle of Lebart; and he was

now found to have been a herdsman, in those very mountains of Bisan to

which he had so often fled for refuge while his rebellion lasted.

The king, in his return from Tigré, passing by Fremona, sent to the

Jesuits there thirty ounces of gold, about L. 75 Sterling, for their

immediate exigency; testifying, in the most gracious manner, his

regret, “That the many affairs in which he was engaged had prevented

him from hearing mass in their convent, as he very sincerely wished to

do; but he left with them the Abuna Simon, to whom he had recommended

to study their religion, and be a friend to it.”

In this he shewed his want of penetration and experience; for though he

had seen wars between soldier and soldier, who, after having been in

the most violent state of enmity, had died in defence of each other as

friends, he was not aware of that degree of enmity which reigns upon

difference of opinion, not to say religion, between priest and priest.

It was not long, however, before he saw it, and the example was in the

person of his present friend the Abuna Simon.

While Socinios was yet in Tigré, news were brought to Coga from Woggora

to Sanuda Tzef Leham[49] of Dembea, who could not accompany the king

to Tigré on account of sickness, but was left with the charge of the

capital and palace during the king’s absence, that Melchizedec, one

of the meanest and lowest servants of the late king Melec Segued, had

rebelled, and was collecting troops, consisting of soldiers, servants,

and dependents of that prince, and had slain some of Socinios’s

servants. Sanuda was a brave and active officer; but, being without

troops, (the king having carried the whole army to Tigré) immediately

set out from Maitsha to the town of Tchelga, one of the frontiers of

Abyssinia, possessed by Wed Ageeb prince of the Arabs.

It is here to be observed, that though the territorial right of Tchelga

did then, and does still appertain to the kingdom of Abyssinia,

yet the possession of it is ceded by agreement to Wed Ageeb, under

whose protection the caravans from Egypt and Sennaar, and those from

Abyssinia to Sennaar and Egypt, were understood to be ever since they

were cut off in the last century by the basha of Suakem, for this

purpose, that a customhouse might be erected, and the duties divided

between the two kingdoms equally. The same is the case with Serké, a

town belonging to Sennaar, ceded for the same purpose to the king of

Abyssinia.

It happened that Abdelcader[50], son of Ounsa, late king of Sennaar, or

of Funge, as he is called in the Abyssinian annals, had been deposed

by his subjects in the 4th year of his reign, and remained at Tchelga

under the mutual protection of Wed Ageeb and the emperor of Abyssinia,

a kind of prisoner to them both; and had brought with him a number of

soldiers and dependents, the partakers of his former good fortune, who,

finding safety and good usage at Tchelga, were naturally well-affected

to the king. These, ready mounted and armed, joined Sanuda immediately

upon his declaring the exigency; and with these he marched straight to

Coga, to the defence of the palace with which he had been intrusted.

Melchizedec, whose design was against Coga, no sooner heard Sanuda was

arrived there than he marched to surprise him, and a very bloody and

obstinate engagement followed. The Funge, piqued in honour to render

this service to their protector, fought so obstinately that they were

all slain, and Sanuda, mounted that day upon a fleet horse belonging to

Socinios, escaped with difficulty, much wounded.

As soon as Socinios heard of this misfortune, he sent Ras Emana

Christos, who marched straight to Woggora, creating Zenobius, son of

Imael, governor of that district; and there he found Sanuda Zenobius

and Ligaba Za Denghel together, in a place called Deberasso.

As soon as the rebel Melchizedec heard Emana Christos was come, and

with him the fore-mentioned noblemen, he set himself to exert the

utmost of his power to draw together forces of all kinds from every

part he could get them, and his army was soon increased to such a

degree as, notwithstanding the presence of Emana Christos, to strike

terror into all the territory and towns of Dembea. Nothing was wanted

but a king of the royal race for whom to fight. Without a chief of this

kind, it was evident that the army, however often successful, would

at last disperse. They, therefore, brought one Arzo, a prince of the

royal blood, from his hiding-place in Begemder. Arzo, in return for a

throne, conferred the place of Ras upon Melchizedec. Za Christos, son

of Hatzir Abib, was appointed to the command of the army under him;

and, having finished this and many such necessary preparatives, they

marched straight to meet Emana Christos, with a better countenance than

rebel armies generally bear.

It was the 9th of March 1611, at 9 in the morning, when the two armies

were first in sight of each other, nor did they long delay coming to

an engagement. The battle was very obstinate and bloody; Melchizedec

re-established his character for worth, at least as a soldier; the same

did Za Christos. Of the competitor Arzo, history makes no mention; his

blood, probably, was too precious to risk the spilling of it, being so

far-fetched as from king Solomon. After a most obstinate resistance,

part of Za Christos’s army was broken and put to flight; but it rallied

so often, and sold the ground it yielded so dear, that it gave time to

Emana Christos to come up to his army’s assistance.

The Ras, who was as brave a soldier as he was a wise and prudent

general, saw it was a time when all should be risked, and threw himself

into the midst of his enemies; and he was now arrived near the place

where Melchizedec fought, when that rebel, seeing him advancing so fast

among his slaughtered followers, guessing his intention, declined the

combat, turned his horse and fled, while affairs even yet appeared in

his favour. This panic of the general had the effect it ordinarily has

in barbarous armies. Nobody considered how the prospect of the general

issue stood; they fled with Melchizedec, and lost more men than would

have secured them victory had they stood in their ranks.

A body of troops, joined by some peasants of Begemder, pursued

Melchizedec so closely that they came up with him and took him

prisoner, together with Tensa Christos, a very active partizan, and

enemy to Emana Christos. Having brought them to the camp, before

the Ras returned to Coga, they were tried and condemned to die for

rebellion, as traitors, and the sentence immediately executed, after

which their heads were sent to the king. Very soon after this, Arzo,

and his general Za Christos, were taken and sent to the king, who

ordered them to be tried by the judges in common form, and they

underwent the same fate.

The king was employed in the winter season while he resided at Coga,

in building a new church, called St Gabriel. But the season of taking

the field being come, he marched out with his army and halted at

Gogora, sending Emana Christos and Sela Christos against the rebels;

these were not in a particular clan, or province, for all the country

was in rebellion, from the head of the Nile round, eastward, to the

frontiers of Tigré. Part of them indeed were not in arms, but refused

to pay their quota of the revenue; part of them were in arms, and would

neither pay, nor admit a governor from the king among them; others

willingly submitted to Socinios, and were armed, only thereby to

exempt themselves from payment.

Sela Christos fell upon the inhabitants of the mountainous district

of Gusman, on the Nile, whose principal strong-hold, Oureé Amba, he

forced, killing many, and carrying away their children as slaves,

which, upon the intercession of Peter Paez, were given to the Jesuits

to be educated as Catholics.

The next attempt was upon the Gongas, a black Pagan nation, with which

he had the same success; the rest were the Agows, a very numerous

people, all confederates and in arms, and not willing to hear of any

composition. The king ordered one of these tribes, the Zalabassa, to

be extirpated as far as possible, and their country laid waste. But

notwithstanding this example, which met with great interruption in

the execution, the Agows continued in rebellion for several years

afterwards, but much impoverished and lessened in number by variety of

victories obtained over them.

The two next years were spent in unimportant skirmishes with the Agows

of Damot, and with the Galla, invaders of Gojam. In 1615, the year

after, Tecla Georgis made governor of Samen, and Welled Hawaryar,

shum of Tsalemat[51], were both sent against a rebel who declared

himself competitor for the crown. His name was Amdo. He pretended to

be the late king Jacob, son of Melec Segued; and this character he

gave himself, without the smallest communication with the relations

or connections of that prince. As soon as Assera Christos and Tecla

Garima, servants of Welled Hawaryat, heard of this adventurer, they

surprised him in Tsalemat, and, putting him in irons, confined him in

the house of Assera Christos.

Gideon, king of the Jews, whose residence was on the high mountain of

Samen, upon hearing that Amdo was prisoner, sent a body of armed men

who surprised Assera Christos in his own house in the night, and killed

him, bringing with them his prisoner Amdo to Samen, and delivered him

to Gideon there; who not only took him into protection, but assisted

him in raising an army by every means in his power. There were not

wanting there idle vagabonds and lawless people enough, who fled to

the standard of a prince whose sole view seemed to be murder, robbery,

and all sort of licentiousness. It was not long till Amdo, by the

assistance of Gideon, found himself at the head of an army, strong

enough to leave the mountain, and try his fortune in the plain below,

where he laid waste Shawada, Tsalemat, and all the countries about

Samen which persevered in their duty to the king.

Socinios, upon this, appointed Julius his son-in-law governor of

Woggora, Samen, Waag, and Abbergalé, that is, of all the low countries

from the borders of the Tacazzé to Dembea. Abram, an old officer of

the king, desirous to stop the progress of the rebel, marched towards

him, and offered him battle; but that brave officer had not the success

his intention deserved, for he was defeated and slain; which had such

an effect upon Julius, that, without hazarding his fortune farther,

he sent to beseech the king to march against Amdo with all possible

expedition, as his affairs were become desperate in that part of his

dominions.

The king hereupon marched straight to Woggora, and joined Julius at

Shimbra-Zuggan; thence he descended from Samen, and encamped upon

Tocur-Ohha, (the black river) thence he proceeded to Debil, and then

to Sobra; and from this last station he sent a detachment of his army

to attack a strong mountain called Messiraba, one of the natural

fortresses of Gideon, which was forced by the king’s troops after some

resistance, and the whole inhabitants, without distinction of age or

sex, put to the sword, for such were the orders of the king.

This first success very much disheartened the rebels, for Messiraba

was, by nature, one of the strongest mountains, and it, besides, had

been fortified by art, furnished with plenty of provisions, and a

number of good troops. The next mountain Socinios attacked was Hotchi,

and the third Amba Za Hancassé, where he had the like success, and

treated the inhabitants in the same manner; thence he removed his

army to Seganat, where he met with a very stout resistance; but this

mountain, too, was at last taken, Gideon himself escaping narrowly by

the bravery of his principal general, who, fighting desperately, was

slain by a musqueteer.

The constant success of the king, and the bloody manner in which he

pursued his victory, began to alarm Gideon, lest the end should be the

extirpation of his whole nation. He, therefore, made an overture to

the king, that, if he would pardon him and grant him peace, he would

deliver the rebel Amdo bound into his hands.

The king assented to this, and Amdo was accordingly delivered up; and,

being convicted of rebellion and murder, he was sentenced to be nailed

to a cross, and to remain there till he died. But the terrible cries

and groans which he made while they were fixing him to the cross, so

much shocked the ears of the king, that he ordered him to be taken

down, and his head struck off with an ax, which was executed in the

midst of the camp.

Socinios after this retired to Dancaz, and ordered Kefla governor of

Gojam, and Jonael his master of the household, to march suddenly and

surprise Belaya, a country belonging to the Gongas and Guba, Pagan

nations, on whom, every year, he made war for the sake of taking slaves

for the use of the palace. These two officers, with a large body,

mostly horse, fell unawares upon the savages at Belaya, slaying part,

and bringing away their children. But not content with doing this, they

likewise attacked the two districts of Agows, Dengui and Sankara, then

in peace with the king, and drove away an immense number of cattle,

which the king no sooner heard, than he ordered a strict search to

be made, and the whole cattle belonging to the Agows to be gathered

together, and restored to their respective owners; a piece of justice

which softened the hearts of this people more than all the severities

that had been hitherto used; and the good effects of which were soon

after seen upon the Agows, though it produced something very different

in the conduct of Jonael.

The king this year, 1616, left his capital at the usual time, in the

month of November, and ordered his whole household to attend him. His

intention was against the Galla on the west of Gojam, especially the

tribe called Libo. But this campaign was rendered fruitless by the

death of the king’s eldest son, Kennaffer Christos, a young prince

of great hopes, esteemed both by the king and the people. He had

an excellent understanding, and the most affable manners possible,

to those even whom he did not like; was very fond of the soldiers;

merciful, generous, and liberal; and was thought to be the favourite of

the king his father, who buried him with great pomp in the church of

Debra Roma, built by king Isaac, in the lake Tzana.

In the midst of this mourning, there came a very bloody order[52] from

the king. History barely tells us the fact, but does not assign any

other reason than the wanton manner in which Gideon king of the Jews

had endeavoured to disturb his reign and kingdom, which was thought a

sufficient excuse for it. However this may be, the king gave orders

to Kasmati Julius, Kasmati Welled Hawaryat, Billetana Gueta Jonael,

and Fit-Auraris Hosannah, to extirpate all the Falasha that were in

Foggora, Janfakara, and Bagenarwè, to the borders of Samen; also all

that were in Bagla, and in all the districts under their command,

wherever they could find them; and very few of them escaped, excepting

some who fled with Phineas.

In this massacre, which was a very general one, and executed very

suddenly, fell Gideon king of that people; a man of great reputation,

not only among his subjects, but throughout all Abyssinia, reputed

also immensely rich. His treasures, supposed to be concealed in the

mountains, are the objects of the search of the Abyssinians to this day.

The children of those that were slain were sold for slaves by the king;

and all the Falasha in Dembea, in the low countries immediately in

the king’s power, were ordered upon pain of death to renounce their

religion, and be baptised. To this they consented, seeing there was

no remedy; and the king unwisely imagined, that he had extinguished,

by one blow, the religion which was that of his country long before

Christianity, by the unwarrantable butchery of a number of people whom

he had surprised living in security under the assurance of peace. Many

of them were baptised accordingly, and they were all ordered to plow

and harrow upon the sabbath-day.

The king next sent orders to Sela Christos, and Kefla governor of

Gojam, that, assembling their troops, they should transfer the war into

Bizamo, a province on the south side of the Nile, called also in the

books a kingdom. Through this lies the road of the merchants leading to

Narea. It is inhabited by several clans of Pagans, which together make

the great division of these nations into Boren, and Bertuma Galla[53].

The army passed the Nile, laying waste the whole country, driving off

the cattle, collecting the women and children as slaves, and putting

all the men to the sword; without these people, though they make

constant inroads into Gojam, appearing anywhere in force to stop the

desolation of their country. The whole tract between Narea and the Nile

was now cleared of enemies, and a number of priests at that time sent

to revive drooping Christianity in those parts.

In the year 1617, a league was again made among the Boren Galla, that

part of them should invade Gojam, while the others (namely the Marawa)

should enter Begemder. Upon hearing this, the king in haste marched

to Begemder, that he might be ready in case of need to assist Tigré.

He then fixed his head-quarters at Shima, but from this he speedily

removed; and, passing Emfras, came to Dobit, a favourite residence of

the emperor Jacob, where he held a council to determine which of the

two provinces he should first assist.

It was the general opinion of his officers, that to march at that

time of the year into Tigré by Begemder, was to destroy the army,

and distress both provinces; that an army, well provided with horse,

was necessary for acting with success against the Galla, and that,

in effect, though the royal army at present was so appointed, yet

there was no grass at that time of the year in all that march for the

subsistence of the cavalry, and very little water for the use of man

or beast, an inconvenience the Galla themselves must experience if

they attempted an invasion that way. It was, moreover, urged, that,

if the king should march through Woggora and Lamalmon, they might get

more food for their beasts, and water too; but then they would throw

themselves far from the place where the Galla had entered, and would be

obliged to fall into the former road, with the inconveniencies already

stated. The consequence of this deliberation was, that it was with

very great regret the good of the common-weal obliged them to leave

Tigré to the protection of Providence alone for a time, and hasten to

meet the enemy that were then laying Gojam waste.

With this view the king left Dobit, and came to the river Gomara in

Foggora. He then passed the Nile near Dara, and came to Selalo, where

he heard that the Djawi had passed the Nile from Bizamo, and entered

Gojam at the opposite side to where he then was. He there left his

baggage, and, by a forced march, advancing three days journey in one,

he came to Bed, upon the river Sadi; but, instead of finding the enemy

there, he received intelligence from Sela Christos, that he had met

the Galla immediately after their passing the Nile; had fought them,

and cut their army to pieces, without allowing them time to ravage the

country.

Upon this good news the king turned off on the road to Tchegal and

Wainadassa, and ordered Bela Christos to assemble as great an army as

he could, and fall upon the Djawi and Galla in Walaka and Shoa, as also

Ras Sela Christos, to pass the Nile and join him there.

That general lost no time, but marched straight to Amca Ohha, or

the river Amca, where he found the Edjow, who fled upon his coming,

without giving him any opportunity of bringing them to an engagement,

abandoning their wives, children, and substance, to the mercy of the

enemy. Sela Christos, having finished this expedition as he intended,

returned to join the king, whom he found encamped upon the river Suqua,

near Debra Werk, guarding those provinces in the absence of Sela

Christos. From this the king, retreating towards Dembea, passed the

Nile near Dara, and encamped at Zinzenam, whence he marched round the

lake into Dembea to his palace at Gorgora.

This village, whose name signifies _rain upon rain_, affords us a proof

of what I have said in speaking of the cause of the overflowing of the

Nile, in contradiction to the Adulitic inscription, that no snow falls

in Abyssinia, or rather, that though snow may have fallen in the course

of centuries, it is a phænomenon so rare as not to have a name or word

to express it in the whole language, and is entirely unknown to the

people in general, at least to the west of the Tacazzé.

The Abyssinian historian, from whom these memoirs are composed, says,

“That this village, called Zinzenam, has its name from an extraordinary

circumstance that once happened in these parts, for a shower of rain

fell, which was not properly of the nature of rain, as it did not run

upon the ground, but remained very light, having scarce the weight of

feathers, of a beautiful white colour like flour; it fell in showers,

and occasioned a darkness in the air more than rain, and liker to mist.

It covered the face of the whole country for several days, retaining

its whiteness the whole time, then went away like dew, without leaving

any smell or unwholesome effect behind it.”

This was certainly the accidental phænomenon of a day; for,

notwithstanding the height of the mountains Taranta and Lamalmon, snow

never was seen there, at least for ages past; and Lasta, in whose

mountains armies have perished by cold, as far as a very particular

inquiry could go, never yet had snow upon them; and Zinzenam is not in

these mountains, or in any elevated situation. On the contrary, it is

adjoining to the plain country of Foggora, near where it borders upon

Begemder, not above 20 miles from the second cataract, or 40 miles from

Gondar; so that this must have been a short and accidental change of

the atmosphere, of which there are examples of many different kinds, in

the histories of all countries.

As soon as the weather permitted, the king left his palace at Gorgora

in the way to Tocussa, where he staid several days; removed thence to

Tenkel, where he continued also four days, and proceeded to Gunkè,

where he halted. From his head-quarters at Gunkè, the king, meditating

an expedition against Atbara, sent a messenger to Nile Wed Ageeb,

prince of the Arabs, desiring a meeting with him before he attacked

the Funge, for so they call the subjects of the new monarchy, lately

established at Sennaar by the conquest of the Arabs, under Wed Ageeb, a

very considerable part of whose territory they had taken by force, and

now enjoyed as their own possessions.

Abdelcader, son of Ounsa, was the ninth prince of the race of Funge

then reigning; a weak, and ill-inclined man, but with whom Socinios

had hitherto lived in friendship, and, in a late treaty, had sent him

as a present, a nagareet, or kettle-drum, richly ornamented with gold,

with a gold chain to hang it by. Abdelcader, on his part, returned to

Socinios a trained falcon, of an excellent kind, very much esteemed

among the Arabs.

Soon after this, Abdelcader was deposed by his brother Adelan, son of

Ounsa, and fled to Tchelga, under protection of the king of Abyssinia,

who allowed him an honourable maintenance; a custom always observed in

such cases in the East, by princes towards their unfortunate neighbours.

Baady, son of Abdelcader, an active and violent young prince, although

he deposed his uncle Adelan, took this protection of his father in

bad part. It was likewise suggested to him, that the present sent

by Socinios, a nagareet, or kettle-drum, imported, that Socinios

considered him as his vassal, the drum being the sign of investiture

sent by the king to any one of his subjects whom he appoints to

govern a province, and that the return of the falcon was likely to

be considered as the acknowledgement of a vassal to his superior.

Baady, upon his accession to the throne, was resolved to rectify this

too great respect shewn on the part of his father, by an affront he

resolved to offer. With this view, he sent to Socinios two old, blind,

and lame horses.

Socinios took this amiss, as it was intended he should, and the slight

was immediately followed by the troops of Atbara, under Nile Wed Ageeb,

sent by Baady to make an inroad into Abyssinia, to lay waste the

country, and drive off the people, with orders to sell them as slaves.

Among the most active in this expedition, were those of the town of

Serké. When Baady complained that his father and rival was protected

in his own town of Tchelga, it had been answered, That true it was,

Tchelga had been ceded and did belong to Sennaar, for every purpose of

revenue, but that the sovereignty of the place had never been alienated

or surrendered to the king of Sennaar, but remained now, as ever,

vested in the king of Abyssinia. Serkè stood precisely in the same

situation with respect to Abyssinia, as Tchelga did to Sennaar, when

Socinios demanded satisfaction for the violence committed against him

by his own town of Serkè. The same answer was given him, That for all

fiscal purposes Serkè was his, but owed him no allegiance; for, being

part of the kingdom of Sennaar, it was bound to assist its sovereign in

all wars against his enemies.

Socinios, deeply engaged in the troubles that attended the beginning of

his reign, passed over for a time both the affront and injury, but sent

into Atbara to Nile Wed Ageeb, proposing a treaty with him independent

of the king of Sennaar.

There were, at this time, three sorts of people that inhabited the

whole country from lat. 13° (the mountains of Abyssinia) to the tropic

of Cancer (the frontiers of Egypt.) The first was the Funge, or

negroes, established in Atbara since the year 1504, by conquest. The

second, the old inhabitants of that country, known in very early ages

by the name of _Shepherds_, which continues with them to this day;

and these lived under a female government. The third, the Arabs, who

came hither after the conquest of Egypt, in an army under Caled Ibn el

Waalid, or Saif Ullah, _the Sword of God_, during the Khalifat of Omar,

destined to subdue Nubia, and, still later, in the time of Salidan and

his brother.

These Arabs had associated with the first inhabitants, the Shepherds,

from a similarity of life and manners, and, by treaty, the Funge had

established a tribute to be paid them from both; after which, these

were to enjoy their former habitations without further molestation.

This prince of the Arabs, Nile Wed Ageeb, embraced the offer of the

king of Abyssinia very readily; and a treaty was accordingly made

between Socinios and him, and a territory in Abyssinia granted him on

the frontiers, to which he could retire in safety, as often as his

affairs were embroiled with the state of Sennaar.

It happened soon after this, that Alico, a Mahometan, governor of the

Mazaga for Socinios, that is, of Nara and Ras el Feel, a low country,

as the name imports, of black earth, revolted from his master, and fled

to Sennaar, carrying with him a number of the king’s horses. Socinios

made his complaint to the king of Sennaar, who took no notice of it,

neither returned any answer, which exasperated Socinios so much that it

produced the present expedition, and was a cause of much bloodshed, and

of a war which, at least in intention, lasts to this day between the

two kingdoms.

Wed Ageeb, upon Socinios’s first summons, came to Gunkè, his

head-quarters, attended by a number of troops, and some of the best

horse in Atbara. Upon his entering the king’s tent, he prostrated

himself, (as is the Abyssinian custom) acknowledged himself the king’s

vassal, and brought presents with him to a very considerable value.

Socinios received him with great marks of distinction and kindness. He

decorated him with a chain and bracelets of gold, and gave him a dagger

of exquisite workmanship, mounted with the same metal; clothed him in

silk and damask after the Abyssinian fashion, and confirmed the ancient

treaty with him. The fruit of all this was presently seen; the king and

his new ally fell suddenly upon Serké, put all the male inhabitants to

the sword, sold the women and children as slaves, and burned the town

to the ground. The same they did to every inhabited place on that side

of the frontier, west to Fazuclo. After which, the king, having sent

a sarcastic compliment to Baady, returned to Dancaz, taking Wed Ageeb

with him.

Socinios had only ravaged the frontier of the kingdom of Sennaar to

the westward, from Serkè towards Fazuclo. This was but a part of the

large scheme of vengeance he had resolved to execute progressively from

Serkè, in reparation of the affront he had received from the king of

the Funge. But he delegated what remained to the two princes his sons,

and to the governor of Tigré.

Welled Hawaryat, at the head of the Koccob horse, and another body of

cavalry reckoned equal in valour, called _Maia_, and the greatest part

of the king’s household troops, were ordered to fall upon that part of

the frontier of Sennaar which the king had left from Serké eastward.

Melca Christos, with the horse of Siré and Samen, was appointed to

attack the frontier still farther east, opposite to the province of

Siré. Tecla Georgis, governor of Tigré, was directed to lay waste that

part of the kingdom of Sennaar bordering upon the frontiers of his

province.

The whole of this expedition succeeded to a wish; only Melea Christos,

in passing through the country of Shangalla, was met by a large army of

that people, who, thinking the expedition intended against them, had

attacked him in his passage, with some appearance of advantage; but by

his own exertions, and those of his troops alarmed at their prince’s

danger, he not only extricated himself from the bad situation he was

in, but gave the Shangalla so entire an overthrow, that one of their

tribes was nearly exterminated by that day’s slaughter, and crowds of

women and children sent slaves to the king at Dancaz.

The delay that this occasioned had no bad effect upon the expedition.

The victorious troops poured immediately into Atbara under Melca

Christos, and completed the destruction made by Welled Hawaryat, and

the governor of Tigré. All Sennaar was filled with people flying from

the conquerors, and an immense number of cattle was driven away by the

three armies. Baady seems to have been an idle spectator of this havock

made in his kingdom; and the armies returned without loss to Dancaz,

loaded with plunder.

Still the vengeance of Socinios was not satisfied. The Baharnagash,

Guebra Mariam, was commanded to march against Fatima queen of the

Shepherds, called at that time Negusta Errum, queen of the Greeks. This

was a princess who governed the remnant of that ancient race of people,

once the sovereigns of the whole country, who, for several dynasties,

were masters of Egypt, and who still, among their ancient customs,

preserved that known one, of always placing a woman upon the throne.

Her residence was at Mendera[54], on the N. E. of Atbara, one of the

largest and most populous towns in it; a town, indeed, built like the

rest, of clay, straw, and reeds, but not less populous or flourishing

on that account. It was in the way of the caravans from Suakem, both

to Abyssinia and Sennaar, as also of those large caravans to and from

Sudan, the Negro country upon the Niger, which then came, and still use

that road in their way to Mecca. Its female sovereign was considered

as guardian of that communication, and the caravans passing it.

The Baharnagash had in orders from Socinios to pursue this queen till

he had taken her prisoner, and to bring her in that condition into his

presence. The enterprise was by no means an easy one. Great part of

the road was without water; but Guebra Mariam, the Baharnagash, was an

active and prudent officer, and perfectly acquainted with the several

parts of the country. With a small, but veteran army, he marched down

the Mareb, between that river and the mountains, destroying all the

places through which he passed, putting the inhabitants unmercifully

to the sword, that no one might approach him, nor any report be made

of his numbers, which were everywhere magnified by those that escaped,

and who computed them from the greatness of the desolation they had

occasioned.

On the 13th day he came before Mendera, and sent a summons to the queen

Fatima to surrender. Being told that she had fled on his approach,

he answered, That he cared not where she was; but that, unless she

surrendered herself prisoner before he entered Mendera, he would first

set the town on fire, and then quench the flames by the blood of its

inhabitants.

Fatima, though old and infirm, was too great a lover of her people

to risk the fulfilling this threat from any consideration of what

might happen to her. She surrendered herself to Guebra Mariam, with

two attendants; and he, without loss of time, marched back to his own

country, abstaining from every sort of violence or excess in his way,

from respect to his female prisoner, whom he brought in triumph before

Socinios to Dancaz, and was the first messenger of his own victory.

Socinios received this queen of the Greeks on his throne; but, in

consideration of her infirmities, dispensed with the ceremony of

prostration, constantly observed in Abyssinia on being introduced to

the presence of the king: seeing that she was unable to stand during

the time of her interrogation, he ordered a low stool to be set for

her on the ground; a piece of consideration very rarely shewn to any

stranger in Abyssinia, however great their dignity and quality.

Socinios sternly demanded of his prisoner, “Why she and her

predecessors, being vassals to the crown of Abyssinia, had not only

omitted the payment of their tribute, but had not even sent the

customary presents to him upon his accession to the throne?”

To this the queen answered with great frankness and candour, “That it

was true, such tributes and presents were due, and were also punctually

paid from old times by her ancestors to his, as long as protection

was afforded them and their people, and this was the principal cause

of paying that tribute; but the Abyssinians having first suffered the

country to be in great part conquered by the Arabs, and then again by

the Funge, without ever interfering, she had concluded a peace with the

Funge of Sennaar, and paid the tribute to them, in consequence of which

they defended her from the Arabs: That she had had no soldiers but such

as were employed in keeping a strict watch over the road through the

desert to Suakem, which was anciently trusted to her; that the other

part of her subjects was occupied in keeping and rearing great herds of

cattle for the markets of Sennaar and other towns, as well as camels

for the caravans of Mecca, Cairo, and Sudan, both employments being

of public benefit; and, therefore, as she did harm to none, she had a

greater reason to wonder what could be his motive of sending so far

from home to seek her, and her harmless subjects, in the desert, with

such effusion of innocent blood.”

The king hearing this sagacious answer, which was followed by many

others of the kind, was extremely pleased; but assured her, “That he

intended to maintain his ancient right both over her subjects, and the

Arabs under Wed Ageeb, who was now his vassal, in all the country from

Fazuclo to Suakem; that he considered the Funge as usurpers, and would

certainly treat them as such.” After this Socinios dismissed the queen,

and gave her assurances of protection, having first cloathed her as

his vassal in silk and damask, after the fashion of women in her own

country.

But it was not long before this train of success met with a

considerable check. Very soon afterwards, the king being in Gojam,

a message was brought to him from the principal people of Narea,

informing him plainly, “That Benero, having become cruel and

avaricious, put many people to death wantonly, and many more for

the sake of their money; having taken from them their wives and

daughters, either for his own pleasure, or to sell them as slaves to

the Galla--they had at last murdered him, and chosen a man in his room

distinguished for his virtue and goodness.”

The king was very much exasperated at this message. He told them,

however bad Benero might have been, he considered his murder as an

insult done to himself, and had, therefore, dispatched Mustapha Basha

with some troops, and given command to all the Mahometans in Narea to

assist him, and to inquire into the death of Benero, and the merit of

his successor.

At the same time, the Galla made an inroad into Begemder; and Welled

Hawaryat, assembling what troops he could, in haste, to stop the

desolation of that province, and having come in sight of the enemy,

he was forsaken by his army, and slain, together with the Cantiba of

Dembea, Amdo, and Nile Wed Ageeb prince of the Arabs, after fighting

manfully for the king. Socinios, upon the arrival of this news, gave

himself up to immoderate sorrow; not so much for the loss of his army

which had misbehaved, as for the death of Welled Hawaryat his favourite

son, and Amdo and Nile, the two best officers in his army.

It will now be necessary that we look back a little to the state of

religious affairs in Abyssinia, which began from this time to have

influence in every measure, and greatly to promote the troubles of

that empire; though they were by no means their only cause, as some

have said, with a view to throw greater odium upon the Jesuits, who

surely have enough to answer for, without inflaming the account by any

exaggeration.

Paez, in the course of building the palace at Gorgora, had deservedly

astonished the whole kingdom by a display of his universal genius and

capacity. If he was assiduous and diligent in raising this fabric, he

had not neglected the advancing of another, the conversion of Abyssinia

to the obedience of the see of Rome.

Ras Sela Christos (if we believe these missionaries) had converted

himself, by reading with attention the Abyssinian books only. Being

about to depart from Gojam to fight against the Galla, he wanted very

much to have made his renunciation and confession in the presence of

Peter Paez. But, as he was busied at Gorgora building a convent and

palace there, he contented himself with another Jesuit, Francisco

Antonio d’Angelis; and, being victorious in his expedition, he gave

the fathers ground and a sum of money to build a monastery at Collela,

which was now the third in Abyssinia belonging to the Jesuits.

As for the king, though probably already determined in his own mind, he

had not taken any step so decisive as could induce the compliance of

others. Disputes were constantly maintained, for the most part in his

presence, between the missionaries and the Abyssinian monks, chiefly

concerning the long-agitated question, the two natures in Christ, in

which, although the victory declared always in favour of the Jesuits,

if we may credit their representations, no conviction followed on the

part of the adversaries. At last Abuna Simon complained to the king,

that unusual and irregular things had been permitted without his

knowledge; that disputes upon articles of faith had been held without

calling him, or his being permitted to give his clergy the advantage of

his support in these controversies.

The king, who did not believe that the Abuna’s eloquence or learning

would make any great alteration, ordered the disputations to be held

a-new in the Abuna’s presence. That priest’s ignorance made the matter

worse; and the king, holding this point as now settled, made his first

public declaration, that there were two natures in Christ, perfect God

and perfect man, really distinct between themselves, but united in one

divine person, which is the Christ.

At this time, letters came by way of India, both from the king of

Spain, Philip II. dated in Madrid the 15th of March 1609, and from the

pope Paul V. of the 4th of January 1611. These letters contain nothing

but general declamatory exhortations to Socinios to persevere in the

Christian faith, assuring him of the assistance of the Holy Spirit,

instead of those Portuguese regiments which he had solicited. However,

the affair of the conversion being altogether settled between the

king and Paez, it was thought proper to make the renunciation first,

and then depend upon the king of Spain and the pope for sending the

soldiers, if their prayers were not effectual.

It was necessary that Socinios should write to the pope, notifying

his submission to the see of Rome. But letters on such a subject were

thought of too great consequence to be sent, as former dispatches to

Europe had been, without being accompanied by proper persons, who,

upon occasion, might assume the character of ambassadors, and give any

assurance or explanation needful.

It was at the same time considered, that the way by Masuah was so

liable to accidents, the intermediate province of Tigré being still as

it were in a state of rebellion, that it would be easy for the enemies

of the Catholic faith to intercept these messengers and letters by

the way, so that their contents might be published amongst the king’s

enemies in Abyssinia, without ever being made known in Europe. Some

proposed the longer, but, as they apprehended, the more secure way, by

passing Narea and the provinces south of the frontiers of that kingdom,

partly inhabited by Gentiles, partly by Mahometans, to Melinda, on the

Indian Ocean, where they might embark for Goa.

Lots were cast among the missionaries who of their number should

undertake this long and dangerous journey. The lot fell upon Antonio

Fernandes, a man of great prudence, much esteemed by the king, and by

the general voice allowed to be the properest of all the society for

this undertaking. He, on his part, named Fecur Egzie (_beloved of the

Lord_) as his companion, to be ambassador to the king of Spain and the

pope. This man had been one of the first of the Abyssinians converted

to the Catholic faith by the Jesuits, and he continued in it steadily

to his death. He was a person of tried courage and prudence, and of a

pleasant and agreeable conversation.

It was the beginning of March 1613 Antonio Fernandes[55] set out for

Gojam, where was Ras Sela Christos. Fecur Egzie had set out before,

that he might adjust his family affairs, and took with him ten

Portuguese, six of whom were to go no farther than Narea, and return,

the other four to embark with him for India.

The governor detained the small company till he procured guides from

among the Shats and Gallas, barbarous nations near Narea, and eastward

of it, from whom he took hostages for properly protecting this caravan

in their way, paying them well, as an encouragement for behaving

honestly and faithfully.

On the 15th of April they had set out from Umbarma, then the

head-quarters of Sela Christos, who gave them for guards forty

men armed with shields and javelins. Nor was it long before their

difficulties began. Travelling about two days to the west, they came

to Senaffé, the principal village or habitation of the Pagan Gongas,

very recently in rebellion, and nearly destroyed, rather than subdued.

To the first demand of safe conduct, they answered in a manner which

shewed that, far from defending the travellers from others, they were

resolved themselves to fall upon them, and rob or murder them in

the way. One Portuguese offered himself to return with Fernandes to

complain of these savages to Sela Christos; who, upon their arrival,

dispatched three officers with troops to chastise these Pagans, and

convey the ambassador and his attendants out of their territory and

reach.

The Gongas, being informed that a complaint was sent to Sela Christos,

which would infallibly be followed by a detachment of troops, gave

the ambassador the safeguard he demanded, which carried him in three

days to Minè[56]. This is the name of some miserable villages, often

rebuilt, and as often destroyed, upon a ford of the Nile, over which is

the ordinary passage for the Mahometan merchants into Bizamo, the way

to the mountainous country of Narea and Caffa. As the rains had begun

to fall here with violence, when Fernandes and his companions arrived,

they were obliged to pass the river on skins blown full of wind.

The distance from Minè to Narea is 50 leagues due south, with little

inclination to west. The road to it, and the places through which you

pass, are very distinctly set down in my map, and, I believe, without

any material error; it is the only place where the reader can find this

route, which, till now, has never been published.

The next day our travellers entered the kingdom of Bizamo, inhabited

by Pagan Galla. These people came in crowds with arms in their hands,

insisting upon being paid for liberty of passing through their country;

but, seeing the company of the ambassador take to their arms likewise,

they compounded for a few bricks of salt and coarse cotton cloaths, and

thereupon suffered them to pass. The same day, the guide, sent from

Narea to conduct them by crooked and unfrequented paths out of the way

of the Pagan Galla, made them to enter into a large thicket through

which they could scarcely force themselves; after which they came to

a river called _Maleg_, when it was nearly night. Next day they could

find no ford where they could pass. They now entertained a suspicion,

that the guard from Narea had betrayed them, and intended to leave them

in these woods to meet their death from the Galla.

The day after, they found the ford, and passed it without difficulty;

and, being on the other side, they began to be a little more composed,

as being far from the Pagans, and now near entering the territory of

Narea. After ascending a high mountain, they came to Gonea, where they

found a garrison under one of the principal officers of that kingdom,

who received them with great marks of honour and joy, on account of the

warm recommendation Sela Christos had given them, and perhaps as much

for a considerable present they had brought along with them.

Narea, the southmost province of the Abyssinian empire, is still

governed by its native princes, who are called _the Beneros_; its

territory reached formerly to Bizamo.

The Galla have quite surrounded them, especially on the south-east and

north. What is to the west is a part of Africa, the most unknown. The

people of Narea have a small trade with Melinda on the Indian Ocean,

and with Angola on the western, by means of intermediate nations. Narea

is abundantly supplied with gold from the Negro country that is nearest

them. Some have, indeed, said there is gold in Narea; but, after a

very diligent investigation, I find it comes chiefly from towards the

Atlantic.

The kingdom of Narea stands like a fortified place in the middle of a

plain. Many rivers, rising in the fourth and fifth degrees of latitude,

spread themselves, for want of level, over this flat country, and

stagnate in very extensive marshes from south by east, to the point of

north, or north-west.

The foot of the mountains, or edge of these marshes nearest Narea,

is thick overgrown with coffee-trees, which, if not the _only_, is

the _largest_ tree known there. Then comes the mountainous country of

Narea Proper, which is interspersed with small, unwholesome, but very

fertile valleys. Immediately adjoining is the more mountainous country

of Caffa, without any level ground whatever. It is said to be governed

by a separate prince: they were converted to Christianity in the time

of Melec Segued, some time after the conversion of Narea. The Galla,

having settled themselves in all the flat ground to the very edge of

the marshes, have, in great measure, cut off the communication with

Abyssinia for many years together; so that their continuance in the

Christian faith seems very precarious and uncertain, for want of books

and priests to instruct them.

The Nareans of the high country are the lightest in colour of any

people in Abyssinia; but those that live by the borders of the marshes

below are perfect blacks, and have the features and wool of negroes:

whereas all those in the high country of Narea, and still more so in

the stupendous mountains of Caffa, are not so dark as Neopolitans or

Sicilians. Indeed it is said that snow has been seen to lie on the

mountains of Caffa, as also in that high ridge called Dyre and Tegla;

but this I do not believe. Hail has probably been seen to lie there;

but I doubt much whether this can be said of a substance of so loose a

texture as snow.

There is great abundance both of cattle, grain, and all sorts of

provisions in Narea, as well in the high as in the low country. Gold,

which they sell by weight, is the medium of commerce within the country

itself; but coarse cotton cloths, stibium, beads, and incense, are the

articles with which their foreign trade to Angola, and the kingdoms on

the Atlantic, is carried on.

The Nareans are exceedingly brave. Though they have been conquered, and

driven out of the low country, it has been by multitudes--nation after

nation pouring in upon them with a number of horse to which they are

perfect strangers: But now, confined to the mountains, and surrounded

by their marshes and woods, they despise all further attempts of the

Galla, and drive them from their frontiers whenever they approach too

near.

In these skirmishes, or in small robbing parties, those Nareans are

taken, whom the Mahometan merchants sell at Gondar. At Constantinople,

India, or Cairo, the women are more esteemed as slaves than those

of any other part of the world, and the men are reckoned faithful,

active, and intelligent. Both sexes are remarkable for a chearful,

kind disposition, and, if properly treated, soon attach themselves

inviolably to their masters. The language of Narea and Caffa is

peculiar to that country, and is not a dialect of any neighbouring

nation.

Antonio Fernandes in this journey, seeking to go to India by Melinda in

company with Fecur Egzie ambassador, passed through this country; but

none of the Jesuits ever went to Narea with a view of converting the

people, at which I have been often surprised. There was enough of gold

and ignorance to have allured them. That softness and simplicity of

manners for which the Nareans are remarkable, their affection for their

masters and superiors, and firm attachment to them, would have been

great advantages in the hands of the fathers. Every Abyssinian would

have encouraged them at the beginning of this mission; and, if once

they had firmly established themselves in a country of so difficult

access, they might have bid defiance to prince Facilidas, and the

persecution that destroyed the progress of the Catholic faith in that

reign.

From Gonea, in six days they came to the residence of Benero, the

sovereign of the country; since the conquest and conversion under Melec

Segued, he is called Shum. The ambassador and Fernandes were received

by the Benero with an air of constraint and coolness, though with

civility. They found afterwards the cause of this was the insinuation

of a schismatic Abyssinian monk, then at the court of that prince, who

had told him that the errand of the ambassador and missionary to India

was to bring Portuguese troops that way into Abyssinia, which would end

in the destruction of Narea, if it did not begin with it.

Terrified at a danger so near, the Benero called a council, in which

it was resolved that the ambassador should be turned from the direct

road into the kingdom of Bali, to a much more inconvenient, longer, and

dangerous one; and, the ambassador hesitating a little when this was

proposed, the Benero told him plainly, that he would not suffer him to

pass further by any other way than that of Bali.

Bali was once a province belonging to Abyssinia, and was the first

taken from them by the Galla. It is to the north-east of Narea, to the

west of the kingdom of Adel, which separates it from the sea; of which

ample mention has been already made in the beginning of this history.

This was to turn them to Cape Gardefan, the longest journey they could

possibly make by land, and in the middle of their enemies; whereas

the direction of the coast of the Indian Ocean running greatly to the

westward, and towards Melinda, was the shortest journey they could make

by land. Melinda, too, had many rich merchants, who, though Moors, did

yet traffic in the Portuguese settlements on the coast of Malabar, and

had little intelligence or concern with the religious disputes which

raged in Abyssinia.

However, I very much doubt whether this nearest route could be

accomplished, at least by travellers, such as Fecur Egzie, Fernandes,

and their companions, all ignorant of the language, and, therefore,

constantly at the discretion of interpreters, and the malice or private

views of different people through whose hands they must have passed.

The Benero, having thus provided against the dangers with which his

state was threatened, if our travellers went by Melinda, made them

a present of fifty crusades of gold for the necessaries of their

journey; and, as their way lay through the small state of Gingiro, and

an ambassador from the sovereign of that state was then at Narea, he

dispatched that minister in great haste, recommending the Portuguese to

his protection so long as they should be in his territory.

Fecur Egzie and his company set out with the ambassador of Gingiro in a

direction due east; and the first day they arrived at a post of Narea,

where was the officer who was to give them a guard to the frontiers;

and who, after some delay, in order to see what he could extort from

them, at last gave them a party of eighty soldiers to conduct them to

the frontiers.

After four long days journey through countries totally laid waste by

the Galla, keeping scouts constantly before them to give advice of

the first appearance of any enemy, that they might hide themselves in

thickets and bushes; at mid-day they began to descend a very steep

craggy ridge of mountains, when the ambassador of Gingiro, now their

conductor, warned them, that, before they got to the foot of the

mountain, they should enter into a very thick wood to hide themselves

till night, that they might not be discovered by the Galla shepherds

feeding their flocks in the plain below; for only at night, when they

had retired, could those plains be passed in safety.

At four o’clock in the afternoon they began to enter the wood, and were

lucky in getting a violent shower of rain, which dislodged the Galla

sooner than ordinary, and sent them, and their cattle home to their

huts. But it was, at the same time, very disagreeable to our travellers

on account of its excessive coldness. Next day, in the evening,

descending another very rugged chain of mountains, they came to the

banks of the large river Zebeé, as the Portuguese call it; but its true

name is Kibbeé, a name given it by the Mahometan merchants, (the only

travellers in this country) from its whiteness, approaching to the

colour of melted butter, which that word signifies.

The river Zebeé, or Kibbeé, surrounds a great part of the kingdom of

Gingiro. It has been mistaken for the river El Aice, which runs into

Egypt in a course parallel to the Nile, but to the west of it.

Narea seems to be the highest land in the peninsula of Africa, so that

here the rivers begin to run alternately towards the Cape of Good Hope

and Mediterranean; but the descent at first is very small on either

side. In the adjoining latitudes, that is 4° on each side of the Line,

it rains perpetually, so that these rivers, though not rapid, are yet

kept continually full.

This of Zebeé, is universally allowed by the merchants of this country

to be the head of the river Quilimancy, which, passing through such

a tract of land from Narea to near Melinda, must have opened a very

considerable communication with the inland country.

This territory, called Zindero, or Gingiro, is a very small one. The

father and Fecur Egzie rested the sixth day from their setting out

from Narea. The river Zebeé, by the description of Fernandes, seems to

incline from its source in a greater angle than any river on the north

of that partition. He says it carries more water with it than the Nile,

and is infinitely more rapid, so that it would be absolutely impassable

in the season of rains, were it not for large rocks which abound in its

channel.

The passage was truly tremendous; trees were laid from the shore to the

next immediate rock; from that rock to the next another tree was laid;

then another that reached to the shore. These trees were so elastic as

to bend with the weight of a single person. At a great distance below

ran the foaming current of the river, so deep an abyss that it turned

the heads of those who were passing on the moveable elastic support or

bridge above.

Yet upon this seeming inconvenience the existence of that country

depended. The Galla that surrounded it would have over-run it in a

month, but for this river, always rapid and always full, whose ordinary

communication by a bridge could be destroyed in a moment; and which,

though it had one ford, yet this was useless, unless passengers had

assistance from both sides of the river, and consequently could never

be of service to an enemy.

The terrible appearance of this tottering bridge for a time stopped

the ambassador and missionary. They looked upon the passing upon these

trembling beams as certainly incurring inevitable destruction. But the

reflection of dangers that pressed them behind overcame these fears,

and they preferred the resolution to run the risk of being drowned in

the river Zebeé, rather than, by staying on the other side all night,

to stand the chance of being murdered by the Galla. But, after all the

men only could pass the bridge, they were obliged to leave the mules

on the other side till the next morning, with instructions to their

people, that, upon the first appearance of the Galla, they should leave

them, and make their best way over the bridge, throwing down one of the

trees after them. The next morning, two peasants, subjects of Gingiro,

shewed them the ford, where their beasts passed over with great

difficulty and danger, but without loss.

It was necessary now to acquaint the king of Gingiro of their arrival

in his kingdom, and to beg to be honoured with an audience. But he

happened at that time to be employed in the more important business of

conjuration and witchcraft, without which this sovereign does nothing.

This kingdom of Gingiro may be fixed upon as the first on this side

of Africa where we meet with the strange practice of divining from

the apparition of spirits, and from a direct communication with the

devil: A superstition this which likewise reaches down all along the

western side of this continent on the Atlantic Ocean, in the countries

of Congo, Angola, and Benin. In spite of the firmest foundation in

true philosophy, a traveller, who decides from the information and

investigation of facts, will find it very difficult to treat these

appearances as absolute fiction, or as owing to a superiority of

cunning of one man in over-reaching another. For my own part, I confess

I am equally at a loss to assign reasons for disbelieving the fiction

on which their pretensions to some preternatural information are

founded, as to account for them by the operation of ordinary causes.

The king of Gingiro found eight days necessary before he could admit

the ambassador and Fernandes into his presence. On the ninth, they

received a permission to go to court, and they arrived there the same

day.

When they came into the presence of the king he was seated in a large

gallery, open before, like what we call a balcony, which had steps from

below on the outside, by which he ascended and descended at pleasure.

When the letter which the ambassador carried was intimated to him, he

came down from the gallery to receive it, a piece of respect which he

shewed to the king of Abyssinia, though he was neither his subject nor

vassal. He inquired much after the king’s health, and stood a little by

the ambassador and Fernandes, speaking by an interpreter. Afterwards

he again returned to his balcony, sat down there, read his letter, and

then corresponded with the ambassador by messages sent from above to

them below.

It is impossible to conceive from this, or any thing that Fernandes

says, whether the language of Gingiro is peculiar to that country or

not. The king of Gingiro read Socinios’s letter, which was either in

the Tigré or Arabic language. Fernandes understood the Arabic, and

Fecur Egzie the Tigré and Amharic. It is not possible, then, to know

what was the language of the king of Gingiro, who read and understood

Socinios’s letter, but spoke to Fecur Egzie by an interpreter.

At last the king of Gingiro told them, that all contained in the king

of Abyssinia’s letter was, that he should use them well, give them good

guard and protection while they were in his country, and further them

on their journey; which he said he would execute with the greatest

pleasure and punctuality.

The next day, as is usual, the ambassador and missionary carried the

king’s present, chints, calicoe, and other manufactures of India,

things that the king esteemed most. In return to Fernandes he sent a

young girl, whom the father returned, it not being customary, as he

said, for a Christian priest to have girls in his company. In exchange

for the girl, the good-natured king of Gingiro sent him a slave of the

other sex, and a beautiful mule. With all respect to the scruples of

the father, I think it would have been fair to have kept the beautiful

mule, and given the young female Gingerite to his companion in the

journey, Fecur Egzie, who could have had no scruples.

Fernandes says he received the boy from the only view of saving his

soul by baptism. I wonder, since Providence had thrown the girl first

in his way, by what rule of charity it was he consigned her soul to

perdition by returning her, as he was not certain at the time that he

might not have got a mule or camel in exchange for the girl; and then,

upon his own principles, he certainly was author of the perdition of

that soul which Providence seemed to have conducted by an extraordinary

way to the enjoyment of all the advantages of Christianity; surely the

care of Neophytes of the female sex was not a new charge to the Jesuits

in Abyssinia.

It seems to be ridiculous for Fernandes to imagine that the sovereign

of this little state called himself Gingiro, knowing that this word

signified a monkey. His enemies might give him that name; but it is

not likely he would adopt it himself. And the reason of that name is

still more ridiculous; for he says it is because the gallery is like

a monkey’s cage. If that was the case, all the princes in Congo and

Angola give their audiences in such places. Indeed, it seems to me that

it is here the customs, used in these last-mentioned parts of Africa,

begin, although Gingiro is nearer the coast of the Indian Ocean than

that of the Atlantic. The colour of the people at Gingiro is nearly

black, still it is not the black of a negro; the features are small

and straight as in Europe or Abyssinia.

All matters in this state are conduced by magic; and we may see to

what point the human understanding is debased in the distance of a

few leagues. Let no man say that ignorance is the cause, or heat

of climate, which is the unintelligible observation generally made

on these occasions. For why should heat of climate addict a people

to magic more than cold? or, why should ignorance enlarge a man’s

powers, so that, overleaping the bounds of common intelligence, it

should extend his faculty of conversing with a new set of beings in

another world? The Ethiopians, who nearly surround Abyssinia, are

blacker than those of Gingiro, their country hotter, and are, like

them, an indigenous people that have been, from the beginning, in the

same part where they now inhabit. Yet the former neither adore the

devil, nor pretend to have a communication with him: they have no

human sacrifices, nor are there any traces of such enormities having

prevailed among them. A communication with the sea has been always

open, and the slave-trade prevalent from the earliest times; while the

king of Gingiro, shut up in the heart of the continent, sacrifices

those slaves to the devil which he has no opportunity to sell to man.

For at Gingiro begins that accursed custom of making the shedding

of human blood a necessary part in all solemnities. How far to the

southward this reaches I do not know; but I look upon this to be the

geographical bounds of the reign of the devil on the north side of the

equator in the peninsula of Africa.

This kingdom is hereditary in one family, but does not descend in

course to the eldest son, the election of the particular prince being

in the nobles; and thus far, indeed, it seems to resemble that of their

neighbours in Abyssinia.

When the king of Gingiro dies, the body of the deceased is wrapped in

a fine cloth, and a cow is killed. They then put the body so wrapped

up into the cow’s skin. As soon as this is over, all the princes

of the royal family fly and hide themselves in the bushes; while

others, intrusted with the election, enter into the thickets, beating

everywhere about as if looking for game. At last a bird of prey, called

in their country Liber, appears, and hovers over the person destined to

be king, crying and making a great noise without quitting his station.

By this means the person destined to be elected is found, surrounded,

as is reported, by tigers, lions, panthers, and suchlike wild beasts.

This is imagined to be done by magic, or the devil, else there are

everywhere enough of these beasts lying in the cover to furnish

materials for such a tale, without having recourse to the power of

magic to assemble them.

As they find their king, then, like a wild beast, so his behaviour

continues the same after he is found. He flies upon them with great

rage, resisting to the last, wounding and killing all he can reach

without any consideration, till, overcome by force, he is dragged to

a throne, which he fills in a manner perfectly corresponding to the

rationality of the ceremonies of his instalment.

Although there are many that have a right to seek after this king, yet,

when he is discovered, it does not follow, that the same person who

finds him should carry him to his coronation; for there is a family

who have a right to dispute this honour with the first possessor; and,

therefore, in his way from the wood, they set upon the people in whose

hands he is, and a battle ensues, where several are killed or wounded;

and if these last, by force, can take him out of the hands of the first

finder, they enjoy all the honours due to him that made him king.

Before he enters his palace two men are to be slain; one at the foot

of the tree by which his house is chiefly supported; the other at

the threshold of his door, which is besmeared with the blood of the

victim. And, it is said, (I have heard this often in Abyssinia from

people coming from that country) that the particular family, whose

priviledge it is to be slaughtered, so far from avoiding it, glory in

the occasion, and offer themselves willingly to meet it.--To return to

our travellers--

The father and the ambassador, leaving the kingdom of Gingiro,

proceeded in a direction due east, and entered the kingdom of Cambat,

depending still on the empire of Abyssinia, and there halted at

Sangara, which seems to be the principal place of the province,

governed at that time by a Moor called _Amelmal_.

On the left of Cambat are the Guragués, who live in some beggarly

villages, but mostly in caves and holes in the mountains. The father

was detained two days at Sangara, at the persuasion of the inhabitants

there, who told him there was a fair in the neighbourhood, and people

would pass in numbers to accompany him, so that there would be no

danger. But, after staying that time at Sangara, he found that the

intention of this delay was only to give time to some horsemen of the

Guragués to assemble, in order to attack the caravan on the road, which

they did soon after; and, though they were repulsed, yet it was with

loss of one of the company, a young man related to Socinios, who, being

wounded with a poisoned arrow, died some days after.

In the mean time, an Abyssinian, called _Manquer_, overtook their

caravan. As he was a schismatic, his intention was very well known

to be that of disappointing their journey; and he prevailed with

Amelmal so far as to make him suspect that the recommendations which

the ambassador brought were false. He, therefore, insisted on the

ambassador’s staying there till he should get news from court. Amelmal,

Manquer, and the ambassador, each dispatched a messenger, who tarried

three months on the road, and at last brought orders from the king to

dispatch them immediately.

As Amelmal now saw the bad inclination of Manquer, he detained him

at Cambat that he might occasion no more difficulties in their way.

He gave the ambassador likewise seven horses, which were said to be

the best presents to the princes or governors that were in his road,

and dispatched the travellers with another companion, Baharo, who had

brought the letters from the king.

From Cambat they entered the small territory of Alaba, independent of

the king of Abyssinia, whose governor was called _Aliko_, a Moor. This

man, already prejudiced against the missionary and the ambassador,

was still hesitating whether to allow them to proceed, when Manquer,

who fled from Amelmal, arrived. Aliko, hearing from this incendiary,

that the father’s errand was to bring Portuguese that way from India

to destroy the Mahometan faith, as in former times, burst into such

violent rage as to threaten the father, and all with him, with death,

which nothing but the reality of the king’s letters, of which he had

got assurance from Baharo, and some regard to the law of nations,

on account of the ambassador Fecur Egzie, could have prevented. In

the mean time, he put them all in close prison, where several of the

Portuguese died. At last, after a council held, in which Manquer gave

his voice for putting them to death, a man of superior character in

that country advised the sending them back to Amelmal, the way that

they came; and this measure was accordingly adopted.

They returned, therefore, from Cambat, and thence to Gorgora, without

any sort of advantage to themselves or to us, only what arises

from that opportunity of rectifying the geography of the country

through which they passed; and even for this they have furnished but

very scanty materials, in comparison of what we might reasonably

have expected, without having occasioned any additional fatigue to

themselves.

We have already said, that though Socinios had not openly declared his

resolution of embracing the Catholic faith, yet he had gone so far as

to declare, upon the dispute held between the Catholic and schismatic

clergy, in his own presence and that of the Abuna, that the Abyssinian

disputants were vanquished, and ought to have been convinced from the

authority of their own books, especially that of Haimanout Abou, the

faith of the ancient fathers and doctors of their church received

by them from the beginning as the undoubted rule of faith: That the

doctrine of the Catholic church being only what was taught in the

Haimanout Abou concerning the two natures in Christ, this point was to

all intents and purposes settled; and, therefore, he signified it as

his will, that, for the future, no one should deny that there are two

natures in Christ, distinct in themselves, but divinely united in one

person, which was Christ; declaring at the same time, that in case any

person should hereafter deny, or call this in doubt, he would chastise

him for seven years.

The Abuna, on the contrary, supported by the half-brother of the king,

Emana Christos, (brother to Ras Sela Christos) published a sentence

of excommunication, by affixing it to the door of one of the churches

belonging to the palace, in which he declared all persons accursed who

should maintain two natures in Christ, or embrace or vindicate any of

the errors of the church of Rome.

The king had received various complaints of the Agows, who had abused

his officers, and refused payment of tribute. He had set out upon an

expedition against them, intending to winter in that country; but,

hearing of the rash conduct of the Abuna, and the leagues that were in

consequence everywhere forming against him, he returned to Gorgora,

and sent to the Abuna, that unless, without delay, he recalled the

excommunication he had published, he should be forthwith punished with

loss of his head. This language was too clear and explicit to admit a

doubt of its meaning; and the Abuna, giving way for the time, recalled

his excommunication.

A conspiracy was next formed by Emana Christos, the eunuch Kefla Wahad

master of the household to the king, and Julius governor of Tigré,

to murder Socinios in his palace; for which purpose they desired an

audience upon weighty affairs, which being granted by the king, the

three conspirators were admitted into his presence.

It was concerted that Julius should present a petition of such a nature

as probably to produce a refusal; and, in the time of the altercation

that would ensue, when the king might be off his guard, the other two

were to stab him.

Just before the conversation began, he was advised of his danger

by a page, and Julius presenting his petition, the king granted it

immediately, before Emana Christos could come up to assist in the

dispute which they expected; and this conspirator appearing in the

instant, the king, who had got up to walk, invited them all three up

to the terrace. This was the most favourable opportunity they could

have wished. They, therefore, deferred assaulting him till they should

have got up to the terrace: The king entered the door of the private

stair, and drew it hastily after him. It had a spring-lock made by

Peter Paez, which was fixed in the inside, and could not be opened from

without, so that the king was left secure upon the terrace. Upon this

the conspirators, fearing themselves discovered, retired, and from that

time resolved to keep out of the king’s power.

At that period, Socinios had determined upon an expedition against the

Funge, that is, against the blacks of Sennaar, who had entered his

country in a violent manner, destroying his people, and carrying them

off as slaves. It was, therefore, concerted, that while the king was

busied far off with the Funge, Emana Christos, Julius, and the eunuch

Kefla, at once should attack Sela Christos, at whom, next to the king,

the conspirators chiefly aimed; and the cause was, that the king had

taken the posts of Ras and the government of Gojam from Emana Christos,

who was a schismatic, and had given them to his younger brother, Sela

Christos, a violent Catholic.

Julius began by a proclamation in Woggora, in which he commanded, that

those who believed two natures in Christ should immediately leave the

province, and that all those who were friends to the Alexandrian faith

should forthwith repair to him, and fight in defence of it. He then

ordered the goods of all the Catholics in Tigré to be confiscated, and

straightway marched to surprise Sela Christos then in Gojam. But the

king received intelligence of his designs, and returned into Dembea

before it was well known that he had left it. This, at first, very much

disconcerted Julius; and the rather, that Emana Christos and Kefla

Wahad kept aloof, nor had they declared themselves openly yet, nor did

they seem inclined to do it till Julius had first tried his fortune

with the king.

This rebel, now full of presumption, advanced with his army to where

the Nile issues out of the great lake Tzana; and there he found the

Abuna Simon, who had staid for some weeks in one of the islands upon

pretence of devotion. Simon, after having confirmed Julius in his

resolution of murdering the king, his father-in-law, or of dying in

defence of the Alexandrian faith, if necessary, persuaded him to

lay aside his design of marching against Sela Christos, but rather

immediately to return back and surprise the king before these two

joined.

Julius readily adopted this advice of the Abuna; while that priest, to

shew he was sincere, offered to accompany him in person, and share his

fortune. This was accepted with pleasure by Julius, who next morning

received the Abuna’s benediction at the head of his army, and assisted

at a solemn excommunication pronounced against the king, Sela Christos,

the fathers, and all the Catholics at court.

The king’s first thought, upon hearing these proceedings, was to send

some troops to the assistance of Sela Christos, warning him of his

danger; but, upon hearing measures were changed, and that the first

design was against himself, he marched to meet Julius, and sent a

message to Sela Christos to join him with all possible speed; and, as

he was an excellent general, he took his post so judiciously that he

could not be forced to fight against his will till succour was brought

him, without great disadvantage to the enemy.

Julius, fearing the junction of Sela Christos, endeavoured to fight

the two armies separately. For which purpose he advanced and pitched

his camp close within sight of that of Socinios, resolving to force

him to an engagement. This was thought a very dangerous measure, and

was contrary to the advice of all his friends, who saw how judiciously

Socinios had chosen his ground; and it was known to the meanest

soldier on both sides, how consummate the king was in the art of war.

But the Abuna having persuaded him, that, as soon as the soldiers

should see him, they would abandon the king and join his colours, early

in the morning he put on his coat of mail, and, mounted on a strong

and fiery horse, was proceeding to the king’s camp, when Malacotawit,

his wife, (daughter to Socinios) persuaded him at least to take some

food to enable him to bear the fatigues of the day. But disdaining such

advice, he only answered furiously, “That he had sworn not to taste

meat till he had brought her her father’s head;” and, without longer

waiting for the rest of his troops, he leaped over the enemy’s lines in

a quarter where the Abuna had promised he should be well received.

Indeed, on his first appearance, no one there opposed his passage, but

seemed rather inclined to favour him as the Abuna had promised: And he

had now advanced near to a body of Tigré soldiers that were the guard

of the king’s tent, loudly crying, “Where is your emperor?” when one

of these with a stone struck him so rudely upon the forehead that it

felled him to the ground; and, being now known, another soldier (called

Amda) thrust him through with a sword, and thereafter killed him with

many wounds. His head was cut off and carried to Socinios.

The few that attended him perished likewise among the soldiers. Nor did

any of Julius’s army think of a battle, but all sought their safety

by a flight. The king’s troops being all fresh, pursued the scattered

rebels with great vigour, and many were slain, without any loss on the

part of the royalists.

The Abuna Simon had, for a considerable time, stood as an ecclesiastic,

unhurt and unheeded, among the flying troops. Being at last

distinguished by his violent vociferation, and repeated imprecations

upon the king and the conquerors, he was slain by a common soldier, who

cut his head off and carried it to Socinios, who ordered it, with the

body, to be taken from the field of battle and buried in a church-yard.

Socinios gave the spoil of the camp to his soldiers. It was said,

that no time, since the Turks were defeated under Mahomet Gragnè,

was there ever so much treasure found in a camp. The pride of Julius

induced him to carry all his riches with him. They were the fruits

of avarice and oppression in all the principal posts of the empire,

and which in their turn he had enjoyed. They were likewise the spoils

of the Catholics, newly acquired by the confiscations made since his

rebellion. A great number of cattle was likewise taken, which the king

distributed among the priests of the several churches, the judges, and

other lay-officers. Very great rejoicings were made everywhere, in the

midst of which arrived Ras Sela Christos with his army from Gojam, and

was struck with astonishment on seeing the small number of troops with

which the king had been exposed to fight Julius, and how complete a

victory he had gained with them.

In the mean time, Emana Christos had retired to a high mountain in

Gojam, called _Melca Amba_, where he continued to excite the people

of that province to rebel and join Julius, whose arrival he daily

expected, that, together, they might fight Sela Christos. But the

rashness of Julius, and the march of Sela Christos to the king’s

assistance, had very much disconcerted their whole scheme.

Af Christos, who commanded in Gojam after the departure of Ras Sela

Christos, sent to Melca Amba, “reproaching Emana Christos with

seditious practices; upbraiding him with the unnatural part he acted,

being a brother-german to Sela Christos, and brother to Socinios by

the same mother, while Julius was married to his daughter, and had

constantly enjoyed the great places of the empire. He asked him, What

they could be more? Kings they could not be, neither he nor Julius.

Ras, the next place in the empire, they both had enjoyed; and, if the

king had taken that office lately from Emana Christos, he had not given

it to a stranger, but to his brother Sela Christos, who, it was but

fair, should have his turn; and that the importance of his family was

not the less increased by it. Lastly, he represented the danger he ran,

if Julius made his peace, of falling a sacrifice as the adviser of the

rebellion.”