Netcho was a man of pleasure, and he thought, since the monks, by

retiring to rocks and deserts, meant thereby to subject themselves to

hardship and mortification, that these delightful and flowery scenes,

the groves of Magwena, were much more suited to the enjoyment of

happiness with the young and beautiful Ozoro Esther, than for any set

of men, who by their austerities were at constant war with the flesh.

Upon these principles, which it would be very difficult for the monks

themselves to refute, he took possession of the mountain Magwena, and

of those bowers that, though in possession of saints, did not seem to

have been made for the solitary pleasures of one sex only. This piece

of violence was, by the whole body of monks, called Sacrilege. Violent

excommunications, and denunciations of divine vengeance, were thundered

out against Kasmati Netcho. An army was sent against him; he was

defeated and taken prisoner, and confined upon a mountain in Walkayt,

where soon after he died, but not before the Iteghè had shewn her

particular mark of displeasure, by taking her daughter Ozoro Esther,

his wife, from him, that she, too, and her only son Confu, might not

be involved in the monk’s excommunications, and the imputed crime of

sacrilege.

At this time died Kasmati Waragna, full of years and glory, having,

though a stranger, preserved his allegiance to the last, and more than

once saved the state by his wisdom, bravery, and activity. He is almost

a single example in their history, of a great officer, governor of a

province, that never was in rebellion, and a remarkable instance of

Bacuffa’s penetration, who, from a single conversation with him, while

engaged in the vilest employment, chose him as capable of the greatest

offices, in which he usefully served both his son and grandson.

Soon after, Ayo governor of Begemder, an older officer still than

Waragna, arrived in Gondar, and resigned his government into the

queen’s hands. This resignation was received, because it was understood

that it was directly to be conferred upon his son Mariam Barea, by far

the most hopeful young Abyssinian nobleman of his time. Another mark

of favour, soon followed, perhaps was the occasion of this. Ozoro

Esther, the very young widow of Netcho, was married, very much against

her own consent, to the young governor of Begemder, and this marriage

was crowned with the universal applause of court, town, and country;

for Mariam Barea possessed every virtue that could make a great man

popular; and it was impossible to see Ozoro Esther, and hear her speak,

without being attached to her for ever after.

Still the complaint remained, that there was no promotion, no

distinction of merit, but through some relation to the queen-mother;

and the truth of this was soon so apparent, and the discontent it

occasioned so universal, that nothing but the great authority Ras

Welled de l’Oul, the Iteghé’s brother, possessed, could hinder this

concealed fire from breaking out into a flame.

The queen, mother to Joas, was Ozoro Wobit, a Galla. Upon Joas’s

accession to the throne, therefore, a large body of Galla, said to be

1200 horse, were sent as a present to the young king as the portion

of his mother. A number of private persons had accompanied these;

part from curiosity, part from desire of preferment, and part from

attachment to those that were already gone before them. These last were

formed into a body of infantry of 600 men, and the command given to a

Galla, whose name was Woosheka; so that the regency, in the person of

the queen, seemed to have gained fresh force from the minority of the

young king Joas, as yet perfectly subject to his mother.

There were four bodies of household troops absolutely devoted to the

king’s will. One of these, the Koccob horse, was commanded by a young

Armenian not 30 years of age. He had been left in Abyssinia by his

father in Yasous’s time, and care had been taken of him by the Greeks.

Yasous had distinguished him by several places while a mere youth, and

employed him in errands to Masuah and Arabia, by which he became known

to Ras Michael. Upon the death of Yasous, the Iteghè put him about her

grandson Joas, as Baalomal, which is, _gentleman of the bed-chamber_,

or, _companion to the king_. He then became Asaleffa el Camisha, which

means _groom of the stole_, but at last was promoted to the great

place of Billetana Gueta Dakakin, _chamberlain_, or _master of the

household_, the third post in government, by which he took place of all

the governors of provinces while in Gondar.

There is no doubt Joas would have made him Ras, if he had reigned as

long as his father. Besides his own language, he understood Turkish,

Arabic, and Malabar, and was perfect master of the Tigré. But his

great excellence was his knowledge of Amharic, which he was thought to

speak as chastely and elegantly as Ras Michael himself. He is reported

likewise to have possessed a species of jurisprudence, whence derived

I never knew, which so pleased the Abyssinians, that the judges often

requested his attendance on the king; at which time he sat at the head

of the table, where it is supposed the king would place himself did he

appear personally in judgment, (which, as it may be learned from divers

places in this history, he never does); certain mornings in the week,

therefore, he sat publicly in the market-place, and gave judgment soon

after the break of day.

I saw this young man with his father at Loheia. He understood no

European language; was just then returned from India, and had a

considerable quantity of diamonds, and other precious stones, to

sell. He spoke with tears in his eyes of Abyssinia, from which he was

banished, and urged that I should take him there with me. But I had

too much at stake to charge myself with the consequences of anybody’s

behaviour but my own, and therefore refused it.

The great favour the Galla were in at court encouraged many of their

countrymen to follow them; and, by the king’s desire, two of his uncles

were sent for, and they not only came, but brought with them a thousand

horse. These were two young men, brothers of the queen Wobit, just now

dead. The eldest was named Brulhé, the younger Lubo. In an instant,

nothing was heard in the palace but Galla. The king himself affected to

speak nothing else. He had entirely intrusted the care of his person

to his two uncles; and, both being men of intrigue, they thought

themselves sufficiently capable to make a party, support it, and place

the king at the head of it; and this they effected as soon as it was

conceived, whilst the Abyssinians saw, with the utmost detestation and

abhorrence, a Gallan and inimical government erected in the very heart

or metropolis of their country.

Woodage had been long governor of Amhara. He had succeeded Palambaras

Duré in Bacuffa’s time, when he had been promoted to the dignity of

Ras.

These two were heads of the only great families in Amhara, who took

that government as it were by rotation. Woodage, in one of the

excursions into Atbara, had made an Arab’s, or a Shepherd’s daughter,

prisoner, baptized her, and lived with her as his mistress. The

passion Woodage bore to this fair slave was not, however, reciprocal.

She had fixed her affections upon his eldest son, and their frequent

familiarities at last brought about the discovery. This very much

shocked Woodage; but, instead of having recourse to public justice, he

called his brothers, and some other heads of his family before him, and

examined into the fact with them, desiring his son to defend himself.

The crime was clearly proved in all its circumstances. Upon which

Woodage, by his own authority, condemned his son to death; and not only

so, but caused his sentence to be put in execution, by hanging the

young man over a beam in his own house. As for the slave, he released

her, as not being bound to any return of affection to him, from whom

she had only received evil, and been deprived of her natural liberty.

It seems this claim of _patria potestas_ was new in Abyssinia; and

Bacuffa took it so ill, that he deprived Woodage of his office, and

banished him to Amhara, then governed by Palambaras Duré. To this loss

of influence another circumstance contributed. He was a relation of

Yasous’s first wife, who, by the Iteghé’s intrigues, had been sent

with her two sons to the mountain of Wechné, and Joas, a young son of

Yasous, preferred in their places.

It happened that Palambaras Duré died; and as the succession fell

regularly upon the unpopular Woodage, the king’s uncle, Lubo obtained

a promise of the government of Amhara for himself. All Gondar was

shocked at this strange choice: Amitzo and his Edjow were already upon

the southern frontiers of that province, domiciled there; and there

was no doubt but this nomination would put Amhara into his possession

for ever. All the inhabitants of Gondar were ready to run to their

arms to oppose this appointment of the king; and it was thought that,

underhand, the Iteghè fomented this dissatisfaction. The king, however,

terrified by the violent resentment of the populace, at the instance of

Ras Welled de l’Oul, recalled his nomination.

At this time Michael, who saw the consequence of these disputes, but

abstained from taking any share, because he knew that both parties were

promoting his interest by their mutual animosity, came to Gondar in

great pomp, upon an honourable errand.

Baady, son of l’Oul, king of Funge, or, as they are called in the

Abyssinian annals, Noba[96], who had defeated Yasous at Sennaar, after

a tyrannical and bloody reign of thirty-three years, was deposed in

1764 by Nasser his son, whom his minister Shekh Adelan, with his

brother Abou Kalec, governor of Kordofan, had put in his place; and

Baady had fled to Suhul Michael, whose fame was extended all over

Atbara. Michael received him kindly, promised him his best services

with Joas, and that he would march in person to Sennaar, and reinstate

him with an army, if the king should so command.

Michael conducted him into the presence of the king, where, in a

manner unbecoming a sovereign, and which Joas’s successor would not

have permitted, he kissed the ground, and declared himself a vassal

of Abyssinia. The king assigned him a large revenue, and put him in

possession of the government of Ras el Feel upon the frontier of

Sennaar, where Ras Welled de l’Oul advised him to wait patiently till

the dissensions that then prevailed at court were quieted, when Michael

should have orders to reinstate him in his kingdom. This was a wise

counsel, but he to whom it was given was not wise, and therefore did

not follow it. After some short stay at Ras el Feel he was decoyed from

this place of refuge by the intrigues of Adelan, and brought to trust

himself in Atbara, where he was betrayed and taken prisoner by Welled

Hassen, Shekh of Teawa, and murdered by him in Teawa privately, as we

shall hereafter see, two years after his flight from Gondar.

At this time, Ras Welled de l’Oul’s death was a signal for all parties

to engage. Nothing had withheld them but his prudence and authority;

and from that time began a scene of civil blood, which has continued

ever since, was in its full vigour at the time when I was in Abyssinia,

and without any prospect that it would ever have an end.

The great degree of power to which the brothers and their Galla

arrived; the great affection the king shewed to them, owing to their

having early infected him with their bloody and faithless principles,

gave great alarm to the queen and her relations, whose influence they

were every day diminishing. The last stroke, the death of Welled

de l’Oul, seemed to be a fatal one, and to threaten the entire

dissolution of her power. In order to counterbalance this, they

associated to their party and council Mariam Barea, who had lately

married Ozoro Esther, and was in possession of the second province

in the state for riches and for power, and greatly increased in its

importance by the officer that commanded it. Upon the death of Welled

de l’Oul, the principal fear the party of the Galla had was, that

Mariam Barea should be brought to Gondar as Ras. The union between him

and Kasmati Eshtè, formerly as strong by inclination as now it was by

blood, put them in terror for their very existence, and a stroke was to

be struck at all hazards that was to separate these interests for ever.

Eshte, upon taking possession of the province of Damot, found the

Djawi, established upon the frontiers of the province, very much

inclined to revolt. Notwithstanding peace had been established among

the Agows ever since Nanna Georgis had been defeated at the last

battle, the Galla had still continued to rob and distress them,

contrary to the public faith that had been pledged to them.

Eshte was too honest a man to suffer this; but the truth was, the Djawi

had felt the advantage of having a man like the late Waragna governor

of Damot; and they wanted, by all means, to reduce the ministers to the

necessity of making that command hereditary in his family, by Fasil his

son being preferred to succeed him.

This Fasil, whom I shall hereafter call Waragna Fasil, a name which

was given to distinguish him from many other Fasils in the army, was a

man then about twenty-two, whom Eshté had kept about him in a private

station, and had lately given him a subaltern command among his own

countrymen, the Djawi of Damot. From the services that he had then

rendered, it was expected a greater preferment was to follow.

The insolence of the Djawi had come to such a pitch that they had

offered Eshté battle; but they had fled with very little resistance,

and been driven over the Nile to their countrymen whence they came.

Eshté, roused from his indolence, now shewed himself the gallant

soldier that he really was. He crossed the Nile at a place never

attempted before; and though he lost a considerable number of men

in the passage, yet that disadvantage was more than compensated by

the advantage it gave him of falling upon the Galla unexpectedly. He

therefore destroyed, or dispersed several tribes of them, possessed

himself of their crops, drove off their cattle, wives, and children,

and obliged them to sue for peace on his own terms; and then repassed

the Nile, re-establishing the Djawi, after submission, in their ancient

possessions.

Upon news of Welled de l’Oul’s death, and the known intention of the

queen that Eshté should succeed him in the office of Ras, he was

mustering his soldiers to march to Gondar: Damot, the Agows, Goutto,

and Maitsha, all readily joined him from every quarter; and Waragna

Fasil had been sent to bring in the Djawi with the rest. Eshtè had

marched by slow journies from Buré, slenderly attended, to arrive at

Goutto the place of rendezvous; and, being come to Fagitta, in his

way thither, he encamped upon a plain there, near to the church of St

George.

It was in the evening, when news were brought him that the whole Djawi

had come out, to a man, from goodwill, to attend him to Gondar. This

mark of kindness had very much pleased him; and he looked upon it

as a grateful return for his mild treatment of them after they were

vanquished. A stool was set in the shade, without a small house where

he then was lodged, that he might see the troops pass; when Hubna

Fasil, a Galla, who commanded them, availing himself of the privilege

of approaching near, always customary upon these occasions, run him

through the body with a lance, and threw him dead upon the ground. The

rest of the Galla fell immediately upon all his attendants, put them to

flight, and proclaimed Waragna Fasil governor of Damot and the Agows.

This intelligence was immediately sent to their countrymen, Brulhé and

Lubo, at Gondar, who prevailed upon the king to confirm Waragna Fasil

in his command, though purchased with the murder of the worthiest man

in his dominions, who was his own uncle, brother to the Iteghè; and

this was thought to more than counterbalance the accession of strength

the queen’s party had received from the marriage of Ozoro Esther with

Mariam Barea.

In critical times like these, the greatest events are produced from the

smallest accidents. Ayo, father to Mariam Barea, had always been upon

bad terms with Michael. It was at first emulation between two great

men; but, after Ayo had assisted the king in taking Michael prisoner

at the mountain Samayat, this emulation had degenerated into perfect

hatred on the part of Michael.

Just before Kasmati Ayo had resigned Begemder to his son, and retired

to private life, two servants of Michael had fled with two swords,

which they used to carry before him, claiming the protection of Kasmati

Ayo. Michael had claimed them before the king, who, loath to determine

between the two, not being at that time instigated by Galla, had

accepted the proposal of Michael to have the matter of right tried

before the judges; but, upon his resignation of the province, and

retiring, the thing had blown over and been forgotten.

Soon after this accession of Mariam Barea, Michael intimated to him

the order the king had given that the judges should try the matter

of difference between them. Mariam Barea refused this, and upbraided

Michael with meanness and prostitution of the dignity he bore, to

consent to submit himself to the venal judgment of weak old men, whose

consciences were hackneyed in prejudice or partiality, and always

known to be under the influence of party. He put Suhul Michael in

mind also, that, being both of them the king’s lieutenant-generals,

representatives of his person in the provinces they governed, noble by

birth, and soldiers by profession, they had no superior but God and

their sovereign, therefore it was below them to acknowledge or receive

any judgment between them unless from God, by an appeal to the sword,

or from the king, by a sentence intimated to them by a proper officer;

that Suhul Michael might choose either of these manners of deciding the

difference as should seem best unto him; and if he chose the latter,

of abiding by the sentence of the king, he would then restore him the

swords upon the king’s first command, but he despised the judges, and

disowned their jurisdiction.

This spirited answer was magnified into the crime of disobedience and

rebellion. Michael pursued it no further. He knew it was in good hands,

which, when once the matter was set agoing, would never let it drop.

Accordingly, to every one’s surprise but Michael’s, a proclamation

was made, that the king had deprived Mariam Barea of his government

for disobedience, and had given it to Kasmati Brulhé his uncle, now

governor of Begemder.

All Abyssinia was in a ferment at this promotion. The number, power,

and vicinity of that race of Galla being considered, this was but

another way of giving the richest and strongest barrier of Abyssinia

into the hands of his hereditary and bloody enemy. There could be no

doubt, indeed, but that, as soon as Brulhé should have taken possession

of his government, it would be instantly over-run by the united force

of that savage and Pagan nation; and there was nothing afterwards to

avert danger from the metropolis, for the boundaries of Begemder reach

within a very short day’s journey of Gondar.

Mariam Barea, one of the noblest in point of birth in the country where

he lived, setting every private consideration aside, was too good a

citizen to suffer a measure so pernicious to take place quietly in his

time, while the province was under his command. But, besides this,

he considered himself as degraded and materially hurt both in honour

and in interest, and very sensibly felt the affront of being, himself

and his kindred, subjected to a race of Pagans whom he had so often

overthrown in the field.

The king’s army marched, under the command of his uncle Brulhé, to take

possession of his government; it was with much difficulty, indeed, that

Joas could be kept from appearing in person, but he was left under the

inspection and tuition of his uncle Lubo, at Gondar. Brulhé made very

slow advances; his army several times assembled, as often disbanded

of itself; and near a year was spent before he could move from his

camp on the lake Tzana, with a force capable of shewing or maintaining

itself in Begemder, from the frontiers of which he was not half a day’s

journey.

Mariam Barea remained all this time inactive in Begemder, attending to

the ordinary duties of his office, with a perfect contempt of Brulhé

and his proceedings. But, in the interim, he left no means untried

to pacify the king, and dissuade him from a measure he saw would be

ruinous to the state in general.

Mariam Barea, though young, had the prudence and behaviour of a man

of advanced years. He was esteemed, without comparison, the bravest

soldier and best general in the kingdom, except old Suhul Michael, his

hereditary rival and enemy. But his manners were altogether different

from those of Michael. He was open, chearful, and unreserved; liberal,

even to excess, but not from any particular view of gaining reputation

by it; as moderate in the use of victory as indefatigable to obtain it;

temperate in all his pleasures; easily brought to forgive, and that

forgivenness always sincere; a steady observer of his word, even in

trifles; and distinguished for two things very uncommon in Abyssinia,

regularity in his devotions, and constancy to one wife, which never was

impeached. In his last remonstrance, after many professions of his

duty and obedience, he put the king in mind, that, at his investiture,

“The laws of the country imposed upon him an oath which he took in

presence of his majesty, and, after receiving the holy sacrament, that

he was not to suffer any Galla in Begemder, but rather, if needful, die

with sword in hand to prevent it; that he considered the contravening

that oath as a deliberate breach of the allegiance which he owed to God

and to his sovereign, and of the trust reposed in him by his country;

that the safety of the princes of the royal family, sequestered upon

the mountain of Wechné, depended upon the observance of this oath;

that otherwise they would be in constant danger of being extirpated

by Pagans, as they had already nearly been in former ages, at two

different times, upon the rocks Damo and Geshen; he begged the king,

if, unfortunately, he could not be reconciled to him, to give his

command to Kasmati Geta, Kasmati Eusebius, or any Abyssinian nobleman,

in which case he would immediately resign, and retire to private life

with his old father.”

He concluded by saying, that, “As he had formed a resolution, he

thought it his duty to submit it to the king; that, if his majesty

was resolved to march and lead the army himself, he would retire till

he was stopt by the frontiers of the Galla, and the farthest limits

of Begemder; and, so far from molesting the army in their route, the

king might be assured, that, though his own men should be straitened,

abundance of every kind of provision and refreshment should be left in

his majesty’s route. But if, contrary to his wish, troops of Galla,

commanded by a Galla, should come to take possession of his province,

he would fight them at the well of Fernay[97], before one Galla should

drink there, or advance a pike-length into Begemder.”

This declaration was, by orders of Ras Michael, entered into the

Deftar, and written in letters of gold, after Mariam Barea’s death, no

doubt at the instigation of Ozoro Esther, jealous for the reputation

of her dead husband. It is intitled, _the dutiful declaration of the

governor of Begemder_; and is signed by two Umbares, or judges. Whether

the original was so or not, I cannot say.

The return made to this by the king was of the harshest kind, full of

taunts and scoffs, and presumptuous confidence; announcing the speedy

arrival of _Brulhé_, as to a certain victory; and, to shew what further

assistance he trusted in, he ordered Ras Michael to be proclaimed

governor of Samen, the province on the Gondar side of the Tacazzé, that

no obstacle might be left in the way of that general from Tigré, if it

should be resolved upon to call him.

In Abyssinia there is a kind of glass bottle, very light, and of the

size, shape, and strength of a Florence wine-flask; only the neck is

wider, like that of our glass decanters, twisted for ornament sake,

and the lips of it folded back, such as we call cannon-mouthed. These

are made at Trieste on the Adriatic; and thousands of packages of

these are brought from Arabia to Gondar, where they are in use for

all liquors, which are clear enough to bear the glass, such as wine

and spirits. They are very thin and fragil, and are called _brulhé_.

Mariam Barea, provoked at being so undervalued as he was in the king’s

message, returned only for answer, “Still the king had better take my

advice, and not send his _brulhé’s_ here; they are but weak, and the

rocks about Begemder hard; at any rate, they do right to move slowly,

otherwise they might break by the way.”

As soon as this defiance was reported to the king and his counsellors

all was in a flame, and orders given to march immediately. The whole

of the king’s household, consisting of 8000 veteran troops, were

ordered to join the army of Brulhé. This, tho’ it added to the display

of the army, contributed nothing to the real strength of it; for all,

excepting the Galla, were resolved neither to shed their own blood nor

that of their brethren, under the banners of so detested a leader.

This was not unknown to Mariam Barea; but neither the advantage

of the ground, the knowledge of Brulhé’s weakness, nor any other

consideration, could induce him to take one step, or harrass his enemy,

out of his own province; nor did he suffer a musket to be fired, or a

horse to charge, till Brulhé’s van was drawn up on the brink of the

well Fernay. After he had placed the horse of the province of Lasta

opposite to the Edjow Galla, against whom his design was, the armies

joined, and the king’s troops immediately gave way. The Edjow, however,

engaged fiercely and in great earnest with the horse of Lasta, an enemy

fully as cruel and savage as themselves, but much better horsemen,

better armed, and better soldiers. The moment the king’s troops turned

their backs, the trumpets from Mariam Barea’s army forbade the pursuit;

while the rest of the Begemder horse, who knew the intention of their

general, surrounded the Edjow, and cut them to pieces, though valiantly

fighting to the last man.

Brulhé fell, among the herd of his countrymen, not distinguished by any

action of valour. Mariam Barea had given the most express orders to

take him alive; or, if that could not be, to let him escape; but by no

means to kill him. But a menial servant of his, more willing to revenge

his master’s wrongs than adopt his moderation, forced his way through

the crowd of Galla, where he saw Brulhé fighting; and, giving him two

wounds through his body with a lance, left him dead upon the field,

bringing away his horse along with him to his master as a token of his

victory. Mariam Barea, upon hearing that Brulhé was dead, foresaw in a

moment what would infallibly be the consequence, and exclaimed in great

agitation, “Michael and all the army of Tigré will march against me

before autumn.”

He was not in this a false prophet; for no sooner was Brulhé’s defeat

and death known, than the king, from resentment, fear the fatal ruler

of weak minds, the constant instigation of Lubo, and the remnant of

Brulhé’s party, declared there was no safety but in Ras Michael.

An express was therefore immediately sent to him, commanding his

attendance, and conferring upon him the office of Ras, by which he

became invested with supreme power, both civil and military. This was

an event Michael had long wished for. He had nearly as long foreseen

that it must happen, and would involve both king and queen, and their

respective parties, equally in destruction; but he had not spent his

time merely in reflection, he had made every preparation possible,

and was ready. So soon then as he received the king’s orders, he

prepared to march from Adowa with 26,000 men, all the best soldiers in

Abyssinia, about 10,000 of whom were armed with firelocks.

It happened that two Azages, and several other great officers, were

sent to him into Tigré with these orders, and to invest him with the

government of Samen. Upon their mentioning the present situation of

affairs, Michael sharply reflected upon the king’s conduct, and that

of those who had counselled him, which must end in the ruin of his

family and the state in general. He highly extolled Mariam Barea as the

only man in Abyssinia that knew his duty, and had courage to persevere

in it. As for himself, being the king’s servant, he would obey his

commands, whatever they were, faithfully, and to the letter; but, as

holding now the first place in council, he must plainly tell him the

ruin of Mariam Barea would be speedily and infallibly followed by that

of his country.

After this declaration, Michael decamped with his army encumbered by no

baggage, not even provisions, women, or tents, nor useless beasts of

burden. His soldiers, attentive only to the care of their arms, lived

freely and licentiously upon the miserable countries through which they

passed, and which they laid wholly waste as if belonging to an enemy.

He advanced, by equal, steady, and convenient marches, in diligence,

but not in haste. Not content with the subsistence of his troops,

he laid a composition of money upon all those districts within a

day’s march of the place through which he passed; and, upon this not

being readily complied with, he burnt the houses to the ground, and

slaughtered the inhabitants. Woggora, the granary of Gondar, full of

rich large towns and villages, was all on fire before him; and that

capital was filled with the miserable inhabitants, stript of every

thing, flying before Ras Michael as before an army of Pagans. The

king’s understanding was now restored to him for an instant; he saw

clearly the mischief his warmth had occasioned, and was truly sensible

of the rash step he had taken by introducing Michael. But the dye was

cast; repentance was no longer in season; his all was at stake, and he

was tied to abide the issue.

Michael, with his army in order of battle, approached Gondar with a

very warlike appearance. He descended from the high lands of Woggora

into the valleys which surround the capital, and took possession of the

rivers Kahha and Angrab, which run through these valleys, and which

alone supply Gondar with water. He took post at every entrance into the

town, and every place commanding those entrances, as if he intended to

besiege it. This conduct struck all degrees of people with terror, from

the king and queen down to the lowest inhabitant. All Gondar passed

an anxious night, fearing a general massacre in the morning; or that

the town would be plundered, or laid under some exorbitant ransom,

capitation, or tribute.

But this was not the real design of Michael; he intended to terrify,

but to do no more. He entered Gondar early in the morning, and did

homage to the king in the most respectful manner. He was invested with

the charge of Ras by Joas himself; and from the palace, attended

by two hundred soldiers, and all the people of note in the town, he

went straight to take possession of the house which is particularly

appropriated to his office, and sat down in judgment with the doors

open.

Marauding parties of soldiers had entered at several parts of the town,

and begun to use that licence they had been accustomed to on their

march, pilfering and plundering houses, or persons that seemed without

protection. Upon the first complaints, as he rode through the town, he

caused twelve of the delinquents to be apprehended, and hanged upon

trees in the streets, sitting upon his mule till he saw the execution

performed. After he had arrived at his house, and was seated, these

executions were followed by above fifty others in different quarters of

Gondar. That same day he established four excellent officers in four

quarters of the town. The first was Kefla Yasous, a man of the greatest

worth, whom I shall frequently mention as a friend in the course of my

history; the second, Billetana Gueta Welleta Michael, that is, first

master of the household to the king. He had given that old officer that

office, upon superseding Lubo the king’s uncle, without any consent

asked or given. He was a man of a very morose turn, with whom I was

never connected. The third was Billetana Gueta Tecla, his sister’s

son, a man of very great worth and merit, who had the soft and gentle

manners of Amhara joined to the determined courage of the Tigran.

Michael took upon himself the charge of the fourth district. He did

not pretend by this to erect a military government in Gondar; on the

contrary, these officers were only appointed to give force to the

sentences and proceedings of the civil judges, and had not deliberation

in any cause out of the camp. But two Umbares, or judges, of the twelve

were obliged to attend each of the three districts; two were left in

the king’s house, and four had their chamber of judicature in his.

The citizens, upon this fair aspect of government, where justice

and power united to protect them, dismissed all their fears, became

calm and reconciled to Michael the second day after his arrival, and

only regretted that they had been in anarchy, and strangers to his

government so long.

The third day after his arrival he held a full council in presence of

the king. He sharply rebuked both parties in a speech of considerable

length, in which he expressed much surprise, that both king and queen,

after the experience of so many years, had not discovered that they

were equally unfit to govern a kingdom, and that it was impossible to

keep distant provinces in order, when they paid such inattention to

the police of the metropolis. Great part of this speech applied to the

king, who, with the Iteghè and Galla, were in a balcony as usual, in

the same room, though at some distance, and above the table where the

council sat, but within convenient hearing.

The troubled state, the destruction of Woggora, and the insecurity of

the roads from Damot, had made a famine in Gondar. The army possessed

both the rivers, and suffered no supply of water to be brought into the

town, but allowed two jars for each family twice a-day, and broke them

when they returned for more[98].

Ras Michael, at his rising from council, ordered a loaf of bread, a

brulhé of water, and an ounce of gold, all articles portable enough to

be exposed in the market-place, upon the head of a drum, without any

apparent watching. But tho’ the Abyssinians are thieves of the first

rate, tho’ meat and drink were very scarce in the town, and gold still

scarcer, though a number of strangers came into it with the army, and

the nights were almost constantly twelve hours long, nobody ventured to

attempt the removing any of the three articles that, from the Monday

to the Friday, had been exposed night and day in the market-place

unguarded.

All the citizens, now surrounded with an army, found the security and

peace they before had been strangers to, and every one deprecated

the time when the government should pass out of such powerful

hands. All violent oppressors, all those that valued themselves as

leaders of parties, saw, with an indignation which they durst not

suffer to appear, that they were now at last dwindled into absolute

insignificance.

Having settled things upon this basis, Ras Michael next prepared to

march out for the war of Begemder; and he summoned, under the severest

penalties, all the great officers to attend him with all the forces

they could raise. He insisted likewise that the king himself should

march, and refused to let a single soldier stay behind him in Gondar;

not that he wanted the assistance of those troops, or trusted to them,

but he saw the destruction of Mariam Barea was resolved on, and he

wished to throw the odium of it on the king. He affected to say of

himself, that he was but the instrument of the king and his party, and

had no end of his own to attain. He expatiated, upon all occasions,

upon the civil and military virtues of Mariam Barea; said, that he

himself was old, and that the king should walk coolly and cautiously,

and consider the value that officer would be of to his posterity and to

the nation when he should be no more.

Upon the first news of the king’s marching, Mariam Barea, who was

encamped upon the frontiers near where he defeated Brulhé, fell back

to Garraggara the middle of Begemder. The king followed with apparent

intention of coming to a battle without loss of time; and Mariam Barea,

by his behaviour, shewed in what different lights he viewed an army, at

the head of which was his sovereign, and one commanded by a Galla.

No such moderation was shewn on the king’s part. His army burnt and

destroyed the whole country through which they passed. It was plain

that it was Joas’s intention to revenge the death of Brulhé upon the

province itself, as well as upon Mariam Barea. As for Ras Michael,

the behaviour of the king’s army had nothing in it new, or that could

either surprise or displease him. Friend as he was to peace and good

order at home, his invariable rule was to indulge his soldiers in

every licence that the most profligate mind could wish to commit when

marching against an enemy.

It was known the armies were to engage at Nefas Musa, because Mariam

Barea had said he would fight Brulhé, to prevent him entering the

province, but retreat before the king till he could no longer avoid

going out of it. The king then marched upon the tract of Mariam Barea,

burning and destroying on each side of him, as wide as possible, by

detachments and scouring parties. Allo Fasil, an officer of the king’s

household, a man of low birth, of very moderate parts, and one who used

to divert the king as a kind of buffoon, otherwise a good soldier, had,

as a favour, obtained a small party of horse, with which he ravaged the

low country of Begemder.

The reader will remember, in the beginning of this history, that a

singular revolution happened, in as singular a manner, the usurper

of the house of Zaguè having voluntarily resigned the throne to the

kings of the line of Solomon, who for several hundred years had been

banished to Shoa. Tecla Haimanout, founder of the monastery of Debra

Libanos, a saint, and the last Abyssinian that enjoyed the dignity of

Abuna, had the address and influence to bring about this revolution,

or resignation, and to restore the ancient line of kings. A treaty

was made under guarantee of the Abuna, that large portions of Lasta

should be given to this prince of the house of Zaguè, free from all

tribute, tax, or service whatever, and that he should be regarded as

an independent prince. The treaty being concluded, the prince of Zaguè

was put in possession of his lands, and was called Y’Lasta Hatzè, which

signifies, not the king of Lasta, but _the king_ at or in Lasta[99].

He resigned the throne, and Icon Amlac of the line of Solomon, by the

queen of Saba, continued the succession of princes of that house.

That treaty, greatly to the honour of the contracting parties, made

towards the end of the 13th century, had remained inviolate till the

middle of the 18th; no affront or injustice had been offered to the

prince of Zaguè, and in the number of rebellions which had happened, by

princes setting up their claims to the crown, none had ever proceeded,

or in any shape been abetted, by the house of Zaguè, even though Lasta

had been so frequently in rebellion.

As Joas was a young prince, now for the first time in the province of

Begemder and passing not far from his domains, the prince of Zaguè

thought it a proper civility and duty to salute the king in his

passage, and congratulate him upon his accession to the throne of

his father. He accordingly presented himself to Joas in the habit of

peace, while, according to treaty, his kettle-drums, or nagareets, were

silver, and the points of his guard’s spears of that metal also. The

king received him with great cordiality and kindness; treated him with

the utmost respect and magnificence; refused to allow him to prostrate

himself on the ground, and forced him to sit in his presence. Michael

went still farther; upon his entering his tent he uncovered himself

to his waist, in the same manner as he would have done in presence of

Joas. He received him standing, obliged him to sit in his own chair,

and excused himself for using the same liberty of sitting, only on

account of his own lameness.

The king halted one entire day to feast this royal guest. He was an old

man of few words, but those very inoffensive, lively, and pleasant;

in short, Ras Michael, not often accustomed to fix on favourites at

first sight, was very much taken with this Lasta sovereign. Magnificent

presents were made on all sides; the prince of Zaguè took his leave and

returned; and the whole army was very much pleased and entertained at

this specimen of the good faith and integrity of their kings.

He had now considerably advanced through his own country, Lasta, which

was in the rear, when he was met by Allo Fasil returning from his

plundering the low country, who, without provocation, from motives

of pride or avarice, fell unawares upon the innocent, old man, whose

attendants, secure, as they thought, under public faith, and accoutred

for parade and not for defence, became an easy sacrifice, the prince

being the first killed by Allo Fasil’s own hand.

Fasil continued his march to join the king, beating his silver

kettle-drums as in triumph. The day after, Ras Michael, uninformed of

what had passed, inquired who that was marching with a nagareet in

his rear? as it is not allowed to any other person but governors of

provinces to use that instrument; and they had already reached the

camp. The truth was presently told; at which the Ras shewed the deepest

compunction. The tents were already pitched when Fasil arrived, who,

riding into Michael’s tent, as is usual with officers returning from

an expedition, began to brag of his own deeds, and upbraided Michael,

in a strain of mockery, that he was old, lame, and impotent.

This raillery, though very common on such occasions, was not then

in season; and the last part of the charge against him was the most

offensive, for there was no man more fond of the sex than Michael was.

The Ras, therefore, ordered his attendants to pull Fasil off his horse,

who, seeing that he was fallen into a scrape, fled to the king’s tent

for refuge, with violent complaints against Michael. The king undertook

to reconcile him to the Ras, and sent the young Armenian, commander

of the black horse, to desire Michael to forgive Allo Fasil. This he

absolutely refused to do, alledging, that the passing over Fasil’s

insolence to himself would be of no use, as his life was forfeited for

the death of the prince of Zaguè.

The king renewed his request by another messenger; for the Armenian

excused himself from going, by saying boldly to the king, That, by the

law of all nations, the murderer should die. To the second request the

king added, that he required only his forgivenness of his insolence

to him, not of the death of the prince of Zaguè, as he would direct

what should be done when the nearest of kin claimed the satisfaction

of retaliation. To this Ras Michael shortly replied, “I am here to

do justice to every one, and will do it without any consideration or

respect of persons.” And it was now, for the first time, Abyssinia ever

saw a king solicit the life of a subject of his own from one of his

servants, and be refused.

The king, upon this, ordered Allo Fasil to defend himself; and things

were upon this footing, the affair likely to end in oblivion, though

not by forgivenness. But, a very short time after, the prince of

Zaguè’s eldest son came privately to Michael’s tent in the night; and,

the next morning, when the judges were in his tent, Michael sent his

door-keeper (Hagos) reckoned the bravest and most fortunate in combat

of any private man in the army, and to whom he trusted the keeping of

his tent-door, to order Allo Fasil to answer at the instance of the

prince of Zaguè, then waiting him in court, Why he had murdered the

prince his father? Fasil was astonished, and refused to come: being

again cited in a regular manner by Hagos, he seemed desirous to avail

himself of the king’s permission to defend himself, and call together

his friends. Hagos, without giving him time, thrust him through with

a lance; then cut off his head, and carried it to Michael’s tent,

repeating what passed, and the reason of his killing him.

As a refusal in all such instances is rebellion, this had passed

according to rule: a party of Tigrans was ordered to plunder his

tent; and all the ill-got spoils which he had gained from the poor

inhabitants of Begemder were abandoned to the soldiers. Fasil’s head

was given to the prince of Zaguè, as a reparation for the treaty being

violated; the silver nagareet and spears were returned; and, highly

as this affair had been carried by Ras Michael, the king never after

mentioned a word of it. But this was universally allowed to be the

first cause of their disagreement.

Mariam Barea, seeing no other way to save his province from ruin but by

bringing the affair to a short issue, resolved likewise to keep his

promise. He retired to Nefas Musa, and encamped in the farthest limits

of his province: behind this are the Woollo Galla, relations of Amitzo

the king’s parents. Joas and Ras Michael followed him without delay,

and, having called in all the out-posts, both sides prepared for an

engagement.

About nine in the morning, Mariam Barea presented his army in order

of battle. Michael had given orders to Kefla Yasous and Welleta

Michael how to form his. He then mounted his mule, and with some of

his officers rode out to view Mariam Barea’s disposition. The king,

anxious about the fortune of the day, and terrified at some reports

that had been made him, by timid, or unskilful people, of the warlike

countenance of Mariam Barea’s army, sent to the Ras, whom he saw

reconnoitring, to know his opinion of what was likely to happen. “Tell

the king,” says the veteran, “that a young man like him, fighting with

a subject so infinitely below him, with an army double his number,

should give him fair play for his life and reputation. He should send

to Mariam Barea to encrease the strength of his center by placing the

troops of Lasta there, or we shall beat him in half an hour, without

either honour to him or to ourselves.” The king, however, did not

understand that sort of gallantry; he thought half an hour in suspence

was long enough, and he ordered immediately a large body of musquetry

to reinforce Fasil, who commanded the center, and thereby he weakened

his own right wing.

Michael, who commanded the right of the royal army, had placed himself

and his fire-arms in very rough ground, where cavalry could not

approach him, and where he fired as from a citadel, and soon obliged

the left wing of the rebels to retreat. But the king, Kefla Yasous,

and Lubo on the right, were roughly handled by the horse of Lasta, and

would have been totally defeated, the king and Lubo having already left

the field, had not Kefla Yasous brought up a reinforcement of the men

of Siré and Temben, and retrieved the day, at least brought things upon

an equal footing.

Fasil, with the horse of Foggora and Damot, and a prodigious body

of the Djawi and Pagan Galla, desirous to shew his consequence, and

confirm himself in his ill-got government by his personal behaviour,

attacked the Begemder horse in the center so irresistibly, that

he not only broke through them in several places, but threw the

whole body into a shameful flight. Mariam Barea himself was wounded

in endeavouring to stop them, and hurried away, in spite of his

inclination, crying out in great agony, “Is there not one in my army

that will stay and see me die like the son of Kasmati Ayo?” It was all

in vain; Powussen, and a number of his own officers, surrounding him,

dragged him as it were by force out of the field. The country behind

Nefas Musa is wild, and cut with deep gullies, and the woods almost

impenetrable; they were therefore quickly out of the enemy’s pursuit,

and safe, as they thought, under the protection of the Woollo Galla.

The whole army of Begemder was dispersed, and Michael early forbade

further pursuit.

The account of this battle, and what preceded it, from the murder of

the prince of Zaguè, is not in the annals or history of Abyssinia,

which I have hitherto followed; at least it has not appeared yet,

probably out of delicacy to Ozoro Esther, fear of Ras Michael, and

respect to the character of Mariam Barea, whose memory is still dear to

his country. But the whole was often, at my desire, repeated to me by

Kefla Yasous, and his officers who were there, whom he used to question

about any circumstance he did not himself remember, or was absent from;

for he was a scrupulous lover of truth; and nothing pleased him so much

as the thought that I was writing his history to be read in my country,

although he had not the smallest idea of England or its situation.

As for the conversation before the battle, it was often told me by Ayto

Aylo and Ayto Engedan, sons of Kasmati Eshté, who were with the Ras

when he delivered the message to the king, and were kept by him from

engaging that day in respect to Mariam Barea, who was married to their

aunt Ozoro Esther.

The king and Lubo sent Woosheka to their friends among the Woollo, who

delivered up the unfortunate Mariam Barea, with twelve of his officers

who had taken refuge with him. Mariam Barea was brought before the king

in his tent, covered with blood that had flowed from his wound; his

hands tied behind his back, and thus thrown violently with his face to

the ground. A general murmur which followed shewed the sentiments of

the spectators at so woful a sight; and the horror of it seemed to have

seized the king so entirely as to deprive him of all other sentiments.

I have often said, the Mosaical law, or law of retaliation, is

constantly observed over all Abyssinia as the criminal law of the

country, so that, when any person is slain wrongfully by another, it

does not belong to the king to punish that offence, but the judges

deliver the offender to the nearest relation of the party murdered, who

has the full power of putting him to death, selling him to slavery, or

pardoning him without any satisfaction.

Lubo saw the king relenting, and that the greatest crime, that of

rebellion, was already forgiven. He stood up, therefore, and, in

violent rage, laid claim to Mariam Barea as the murderer of his

brother: the king still saying nothing, he and his other Galla hurried

Mariam Barea to his tent, where he was killed, according to report,

with sundry circumstances of private cruelty, afterwards looked upon

as great aggravations. Lubo, with his own hand, is said to have cut

his throat in the manner they kill sheep. His body was afterwards

disfigured with many wounds, and his head severed and carried to

Michael, who forbade uncovering it in his tent. It was then sent to

Brulhé’s family in their own country, as a proof of the satisfaction

his friends had obtained; and this gave more universal umbrage than did

even the cruelty of the execution.

Several officers of the king’s army, seeing the bloody intentions of

the Galla, advised Powussen, and the eleven other officers that were

taken prisoners, to make the best use of the present opportunity, and

fly to the tent of Michael and implore his protection. This they most

willingly did, with this connivance of Woosheka, who had been intrusted

with the care of them, and Lubo having finished Mariam Barea, came

to the king’s tent to seek the unhappy prisoners, whom he intended

as victims to the memory of Brulhé likewise. Hearing, however, that

they were fled to Michael’s tent, he sent Woosheka to demand them;

but that officer had scarce opened his errand, in the gentlest manner

possible, when Michael, in a fury, cried out, Cut him in pieces before

the tent-door. Woosheka was indeed lucky enough to escape; but we shall

find this was not forgot, for his punishment was more than doubled soon

afterwards.

At seeing Mariam Barea’s head in the hands of a Galla, after

forbidding him to expose it in his tent, Michael is said to have made

the following observation: “Weak and cowardly people are always in

proportion cruel and unmerciful. If Brulhé’s wife had done this, I

could have forgiven her; but for Joas, a young man and a king, whose

heart should be opened and elated with a first victory, to be partaker

with the Galla, the enemies of his country, in the murder of a nobleman

such as Mariam Barea, it is a prodigy, and can be followed by no good

to himself or the state; and I am much deceived if the day is not at

hand when he shall curse the moment that ever Galla crossed the Nile,

and look for a man such as Mariam Barea, but he shall not find him.”

And, indeed, Michael was very well entitled to make this prophecy,

for he knew his own heart, and the designs he had now ready to put in

execution.

It is no wonder that these free communications gave the king reason to

distrust Michael. And it was observed that Waragna Fasil had insinuated

himself far into his favour: his late behaviour at the battle of

Nefas Musa had greatly increased his importance with the king; and

the number of troops he had now with him made Joas think himself

independent of the Ras. Fasil had brought with him near 30,000 men,

about 20,000 of whom were horsemen, wild Pagan Galla, from Bizamo and

other nations south of the Nile. The terror the savages occasioned

in the countries through which they passed, and the great disorders

they committed, gave Ras Michael a pretence to insist that all those

wild Galla should be sent back to their own country. I say this was

a pretence, because Michael’s soldiers were really more cruel and

licentious, because more confident and better countenanced than these

strangers were. But the war was over, the armies to be disbanded, these

Pagans were consequently to return home; and they were all sent back

accordingly, excepting 12,000 Djawi, men of Fasil’s own tribe, and some

of the best horse of Maitsha, Agow, and Damot.

This was the first appearance of quarrel between Fasil and Ras Michael.

But other accidents followed fast that blew up the flame betwixt them;

of which the following was by much the most remarkable, and the most

unexpected.

At Nefas Musa, near to the field of battle, was a house of Mariam

Barea, which he used to remove to when he was busy in wars with

the neighbouring Galla. It was surrounded with meadows perfectly

well-watered, and full of luxuriant grass. Fasil, for the sake of his

cavalry, had encamped in these meadows; or, if he had other views, they

are not known; and though all the doors and entrances of the house

were shut, yet within was the unfortunate Ozoro Esther, by this time

informed of her husband’s death, and with her was Ayto Aylo, a nobleman

of great credit, riches, and influence. He had been at the campaign of

Sennaar, and was so terrified at the defeat, that, on his return, he

had renounced the world, and turned monk. He was a man of no party, and

refused all posts or employments; but was so eminent for wisdom, that

all sides consulted him, and were in some measure governed by him.

This person, a relation of the Iteghé’s, had, at her desire, attended

Ozoro Esther to Nefas Musa, but, adhering to his vow, went not to

battle with her husband. Hearing, however, of the bad disposition of

the king, the cruelty of the Galla, and the power and ambition of

Fasil, whose soldiers were encamped round the house, he told her that

there was only one resolution which she could take to avoid sudden

ruin, and being made a sacrifice to one of the murderers of her husband.

This princess, under the fairest form, had the courage and decision of

a Roman matron, worthy the wife of Mariam Barea, to whom she had born

two sons. Instructed by Aylo, early in the morning, all covered from

head to foot, accompanied by himself, and many attendants and friends,

their heads bare, and without appearance of disguise, they presented

themselves at the door of Michael’s tent, and were immediately

admitted. Aylo announced the princess to the Ras, and she immediately

threw herself at his feet on the ground.

As Michael was lame, tho’ in all other respects healthy and vigorous,

and unprepared for so extraordinary an interview, it was some time

before he could get upon his feet and uncover himself before his

superior. This being at last accomplished, and Ozoro Esther refusing to

rise, Aylo, in a few words, told the Ras her resolution was to give him

instantly her hand, and throw herself under his protection, as that of

the only man not guilty of Mariam Barea’s death, who could save her and

her children from the bloody cruelty and insolence of the Galla that

surrounded her. Michael, sanguine as he was in his expectations of the

fruit he was to reap from his victory, did not expect so soon so fair a

sample of what was to follow.

To decide well, instantly upon the first view of things, was a talent

Michael possessed superior to any man in the kingdom. Tho’ Ozoro Esther

had never been part of his schemes, he immediately saw the great

advantage which would accrue to him by making her so, and he seized

it; and he was certain also that the king, in his present disposition,

would soon interfere. He lifted Ozoro Esther, and placed her upon his

seat; sent for Kefla Yasous and his other officers, and ordered them,

with the utmost expedition, to draw up his army in order of battle, as

if for a review to ascertain his loss. At the same time he sent for

a priest, and ordered separate tents to be pitched for Ozoro Esther

and her household. All this was performed quickly; then meeting her

with the priest, he was married to her at the door of his own tent in

midst of the acclamations of his whole army. The occasion of these loud

shouts was soon carried to the king, and was the first account he had

of this marriage. He received the information with violent displeasure,

which he could not stifle, or refrain from expressing it in the

severest terms, all of which were carried to Ras Michael by officious

persons, almost as soon as they were uttered, nothing softened.

The consequences of the marriage of Ozoro Esther were very soon seen

in the inveterate and determined hatred against the Galla. Esther,

who could not save Mariam Barea, sacrificed herself that she might

avenge his death, and live to see the loss of her husband expiated by

numberless hecatombs of his enemies and murderers. Mild, gentle, and

compassionate as, from my own knowledge, she certainly was, her nature

was totally changed when she cast back her eyes upon the sufferings of

her husband; nor could she be ever satiated with vengeance for those

sufferings, but constantly stimulated Ras Michael, of himself much

inclined to bloodshed, to extirpate, by every possible means, that

odious nation of Galla, by whom she had fallen from all her hopes of

happiness.

Fasil, as being a Galla, the first man that broke thro’ the horse of

Begemder, and wounded and put to flight her husband Mariam Barea, was

in consequence among the black list of her enemies. Fasil, too, had

murdered Kasmati Eshté, who was her favourite uncle, fast friend to

Mariam Barea, and the man that had promoted her marriage with him.

The great credit of Fasil with the king had now given Ras Michael

violent jealousy. These causes of hatred accumulated every day, so that

Michael had already formed a resolution to destroy Fasil, even though

the king should perish with him. In these sentiments, too, was Gusho of

Amhara, a man of great personal merit, of whose father, Ras Woodage, we

have already spoken, who had filled successively all the great offices

in the last reign. He was immensely rich; had married a daughter of Ras

Michael, and afterwards six or seven other women, being much addicted

to the fair sex, and was lately married to Ozoro Welleta Israel, the

Iteghé’s daughter. Nor was he in any shape an enemy to wine; but very

engaging, and plausible in discourse and behaviour; in many respects

a good officer, careful of his men, but said to be little solicitous

about his word or promise to men of any other profession but that of a

soldier.

An accident of the most trifling kind brought about an open breach

between the king and the Ras, which never after was healed. The weather

was very hot while the army was marching. One day, a little before

their arrival at Gondar, in passing over the vast plain between the

mountains and the lake Tzana, (afterwards the scene of much bloodshed)

Ras Michael, being a little indisposed with the heat, and the sun at

the same time affecting his eyes, which were weak, without other design

than that of shading them, had thrown a white cloth or handkerchief

over his head. This was told the king, then with Fasil in the center,

who immediately sent to the Ras to inquire what was the meaning of that

novelty, and upon what account he presumed to cover his head in his

presence? The white handkerchief was immediately taken off, but the

affront was thought so heinous as never after to admit of atonement.

It must be here observed, that, when the army is in the field, it is a

distinction the king uses, to bind a broad fillet of fine muslin round

his head, which is tied in a double knot, and hangs in two long ends

behind. This, too, is worn by the governor of a province when he is

first introduced into it; and, in absence of the king, is the mark of

supreme power, either direct or delegated, in the person that wears it.

Unless on such occasions, no one covers his head in presence of the

king, nor in sight of the house or palace where the king resides: But

it was not thought, that, being at such a distance in the rear, he was

in the king’s presence, nor that what was caused by infirmity was to

be construed into presumption, or weighed by the nice scale of jealous

prerogative.

The armies returned to the valleys below Gondar, and encamped

separately there, Fasil upon the river Kahha, and Ras Michael on the

Angrab. Gusho was on the right of Michael and left of Fasil, a little

higher up the Kahha, near Koscam, the Iteghè’s palace; but he was on

the opposite side of the river from Fasil, where he had a house of

his own, and several large meadows adjoining. Gusho’s servants and

soldiers now began cutting their master’s grass, and were soon joined

by a number of Fasil’s people, who fell, without ceremony, to the same

employment. An interruption was immediately attempted, a fray ensued,

and several were killed or wounded on both sides, but at last Fasil’s

people were beat back to their quarters.

Gusho complained to Ras Michael of this violation of his property; and

he being now in Gondar, and holding the office of Ras, was, without

doubt, the superior and regular judge of both, as they were both out

of their provinces, and immediately in Michael’s. Upon citation, Fasil

declared that he would submit to no such jurisdiction; and, the

case being referred to the judges next day, it was found unanimously

in council, that Ras Michael was in the right, and that Fasil was

guilty of rebellion. A proclamation in consequence was made at the

palace-gate, superseding Fasil in his government of Damot, and in every

other office which he held under the king, and appointing Boro de Gago

in his place, a man of great interest in Damot and Gojam, and with the

Galla on both sides of the Nile, and married to a sister of Kasmati

Eshté’s, by another mother, otherwise a man of small capacity.

Fasil, after a long and private audience of the king in the night,

decamped early in the morning with his army, and sat down at Azazo, the

high road between Damot and Gondar, and there he intercepted all the

provisions coming from the southward to the capital.

It happened that the house in Gondar, where Ras Michael lived, was but

a small distance from the palace, a window of which opened so directly

into it, that Michael, when sitting in judgment, could be distinctly

seen from thence. One day, when most of his servants had left him, a

shot was fired into the room from this window of the palace, which,

though it missed Michael, wounded a dwarf, who was standing before

him fanning the flies from off his face, so grievously, that the page

fell and expired at the foot of his master. This was considered as the

beginning of the hostilities. Nobody knew from whose hand the shot

came; but the window from which it was aimed sufficiently shewed, that

if it was not by direction, it must at least have been fired with the

knowledge of the king.

Joas lost no time, but removed and encamped at Tedda, and sent Woosheka

to Michael with orders to return to Tigré, and not to see his face;

and, at the same time, declared Lubo governor of Begemder and Amhara.

The Ras scarcely could be brought to see Woosheka; but did not deign

to give any further answer than this, “That the king should know, that

the proper persons to correspond with him as Ras, upon the affairs of

the kingdom, were the judges of the town, or of the palace; not a slave

like Woosheka, whose life, as well as that of all the Gallas in the

king’s presence, was forfeited by the laws of the land. He cautioned

him from appearing again in his presence, for if he did, that he should

surely die.”

The next day a message came from the king, by four judges, forbidding

the Ras again to drink of either the Angrab or the Kahha, but to strike

his tents and return to Tigré upon pain of incurring his highest

displeasure.--To this Michael answered, “That, true it was, his

province was Tigré, but that he was now governor of the whole realm;

that he was an extraordinary officer, called to prevent the ruin of

the country, because, confessedly, the king could not do it; that the

reason of his coming existed to that day; and he was very willing to

submit it to the judges for their solemn opinion, whether the kingdom,

at present in the hands of the Galla, was not in more danger from the

power of those Galla than it was from the constitutional influence of

Mariam Barea. He added, that he expected the king should be ready to

march against Fasil, for which purpose he was to decamp on the morrow.”

The king returned an absolute refusal to march: The Ras thereupon made

proclamation for all the Galla, of every denomination to leave the

capital, the next day, upon pain of death, declaring them outlawed, and

liable to be slain by the first that met them, if, after twenty-four

hours, they were found in Gondar or its neighbourhood, or, after ten

days, in any part of the kingdom. After this, accompanied by Gusho, he

decamped to dislodge Fasil from the strong post which he held at Azazo.

By the king’s refusal to march with Ras Michael in person, it was

supposed that his household troops would not join, but remain with him

to garrison his palace. Joas, however, was too far decided in favour

of Fasil to remain neuter. Michael had encamped the 21st of April in

the evening, on the side of the hill above Azazo, in very rough and

rocky ground, as unfavourable for Fasil’s horse as the slope it had was

favourable for Michael’s musquetry.

The battle was fought on the 22d in the morning, and there was much

blood shed for the time that it lasted. A nephew of Michael, and

his old Fit-Auraris, Netcho, were both slain, and Fasil was totally

defeated. The Galla, who had come from the other side of the Nile, were

very much terrified at Michael’s fire-arms, which contained what they

called the zibib, or grape, meaning thereby the ball. Fasil retired

quickly to Damot, to increase and collect another army again, and to

try his fortune after the rains.

It happened, unfortunately, that among the prisoners taken at Azazo

were some of the king’s black horse. These being his slaves, and

subject only to his commands, sufficiently shewed by whose authority

they came there. They were, therefore, all called before Michael;

two of them were first interrogated, whether the king had sent them

or not? and, upon their denying or refusing to give an answer, their

throats were cut before their companions. The next questioned was

a page of the king, who seeing, from the fate of his friends, what

was to follow his denial, frankly told the Ras, that it was by the

king’s special orders they, and a considerable body of the household

troops, had joined Fasil the night before; and further, that it was the

Armenian, who, by the king’s order, had fired at him, and killed the

dwarf who was fanning the flies from him.

Upon this information all the prisoners were dismissed. The army

returned the same night to Gondar, and, though they had been fasting

all day, a council was held, which sat till very late, at the rising of

which a messenger was dispatched to Wechné for Hatzé Hannes, who was

brought to the foot of the mountain the next day. In the same night

Shalaka Becro, Nebrit Tecla and his two sons, Lika Netcho and his two

sons, and a monk of Tigré, called Welleta Christos, were sent to the

palace to murder the king, which they easily accomplished, having found

him alone. They buried him in the church of St Raphael, as we shall

find from the regicide’s own confession, when he was apprehended, when

we shall relate the particulars.

At the same time Michael exhibited a strange contrast in his behaviour

to the Armenian, who had fled to the house of the Abuna for refuge.

He sent and took him thence, and banished him from Abyssinia, but so

considerately, that he dispatched a servant with him to Masuah to

furnish him with necessaries, to see him embark, and save him from the

cruelty and extortions of the Naybe.

[Illustration]

HANNES II.

1769.

_Hannes, Brother to Bacuffa, chosen King--Is brought from

Wechné--Crowned at Gondar--Refuses to march against Fasil--Is

poisoned by Order of Ras Michael._

HANNES, a man past seventy years of age, made his entry into Gondar

the 3d of May 1769. He was brother to Bacuffa, and having in his time

escaped from the mountain, and being afterwards taken, his hand was cut

off by order of the king his brother, and he was sent back to the place

of his confinement.

It is a law of Abyssinia, as we have already observed, derived from

that of Moses, that no man can be capable either of the throne or

priesthood, unless he be perfect in all his limbs; the want of a hand,

therefore, certainly disqualified Hannes, and it was with that intent

it had been cut off. When this was objected to him in council, Michael

laughed violently, and turned it into ridicule; “What is it that a king

has to do with his hands? Are you afraid he shall not be able to saddle

his own mule, or load his own baggage? Never fear that; when he is

under any such difficulty, he has only to call upon me[100], and I will

help him.”

Hannes, besides his age, was very feeble in body; and having had no

conversation but with monks and priests, this had debilitated his mind

as much as age had done his body. He could not be persuaded to take any

share in government. The whole day was spent in psalms and prayers;

but Ras Michael had brought from the mountain with him two sons,

Tecla Haimanout the eldest, a prince of fifteen years of age, and the

younger, called George, about thirteen.

Guebra Denghel, a nobleman of the first family in Tigré had married

a daughter of Michael by one of his wives in that province. By her

he had one daughter, Welleta Selassé, whom Michael in the beginning,

while Joas and he were yet friends, had destined to be queen, and to

be married to him. Hannes was of the age only to need a Shunnamite;

and Welleta Selassé, young and beautiful, and who merited to be

something more, was destined as this sacrifice to the ambition of her

grandfather. A kind of marriage, I believe, was therefore made, but

never consummated. She lived with Hannes some months in the palace,

but never took any state upon her. She was a wife and a queen merely

in name and idea. Love had in that frozen composition as little share

as ambition, and those two great temptations, a crown and a beautiful

mistress, could not animate Hatzé Hannes to take the field to defend

them. Every possible method was taken by Michael to overcome his

reluctance, and do away his fears. All was vain; he wept, hid himself,

turned monk, demanded to be sent again to Wechné, but absolutely

refused marching with the army.

Michael, who had already seen the danger of leaving a king behind him

while he was in the field, and finding Hannes inexorable, had recourse

to poison, which was given him in his breakfast; and the Ras, by this

means, in less than six months became the deliberate murderer of two

kings.

[Illustration]

TECLA HAIMANOUT II.

1769.

_Succeeds his Father Hannes--His Character and prudent

Behaviour--Cultivates Michael’s Friendship--Marches willingly

against Fasil--Defeats him at Fagitta--Description of that

Battle._

TECLA HAIMANOUT succeeded his father. He was a prince of a most

graceful figure, tall for his age, rather thin, and of the whitest

shade of Abyssinian colour, such are all those princes that are born

in the mountain. He was not so dark in complexion as a Neapolitan or

Portugueze, had a remarkably fine forehead, large black eyes, but

which had something very stern in them, a straight nose, rather of

the largest, thin lips, and small mouth, very white teeth and long

hair. His features, even in Europe, would have been thought fine. He

was particularly careful of his hair, which he dressed in a hundred

different ways. Though he had been absent but a very few months from

his native mountain, his manners and carriage were those of a prince,

that from his infancy had sat upon an hereditary throne. He had an

excellent understanding, and prudence beyond his years. He was said

to be naturally of a very warm temper, but this he had so perfectly

subdued as scarcely ever to have given an instance of it in public. He

entered into Ras Michael’s views entirely, and was as forward to march

out against Fasil, as his father had been averse to it.

From the time of Hannes’s accession to the throne, Tecla Haimanout

called Michael by the name of Father, and during the few slight

sicknesses the Ras had, he laid by all his state, and attended him

with an anxiety well becoming a son. At this time I entered Abyssinia,

and arrived in Masuah, where there was a rumour only of Hatzé Hannes’s

illness.

The army marched out of Gondar on the 10th of November 1769, taking

the route of Azazo and Dingleber. Fasil was at Buré, and had assembled

a large army from Damot, Agow, and Maitsha. But Welleta Yasous, his

principal officer, had brought together a still larger one, from the

wild nations of Galla beyond the Nile, and this not without some

difficulty. The zibib, or bullet, which had destroyed so many of them

at Azazo, had made an impression on their minds, and been reported to

their countrymen as a circumstance very unpleasing. These wild Pagans,

therefore, had, for the first time, found a reluctance to invade their

ancient enemies the Abyssinians.

Fasil, to overcome this fear of the zibib, had loaded some guns with

powder, and fired them very near at some of his friends, which of

course had hurt nobody. Again he had put ball in his gun, and fired at

cattle afar off; and these being for the most part slightly wounded,

he inferred from thence that the zibib was fatal only at a distance,

but that if they galloped resolutely to the mouth of the gun, the grape

could do no more than the first gun he fired with powder had done to

those he had aimed at.

As soon as Fasil heard that Michael was on his march, he left Buré and

advanced to meet him, his wish being to fight him if possible, before

he should enter into those rich provinces of the Agows, from whence

he drew the maintenance of his army, and expected tribute. Michael’s

conduct warranted this precaution. For no sooner had he entered Fasil’s

government, than he laid waste all Maitsha, destroying every thing with

fire and sword. The old general indeed being perfectly acquainted with

the country, and with the enemy he was to engage, had already fixed

upon his field of battle, and measured the stations that would conduct

him thither.

Instead of taking up the time with spreading the desolation he had

begun, after the first two days, by forced marches he came to Fagitta,

considerably earlier than Fasil expected. This field that Michael had

chosen, was rocky, uneven, and full of ravines in one part, and of

plain smooth turf on the other, which divisions were separated by a

brook full of large stones.

The Nile was on Ras Michael’s left, and in this rugged ground he

stationed his lances and musquetry; for he never made great account

of his horse. Two large churches, St Michael and St George, planted

thick with cedars, and about half a mile distant from each other, were

on his right and left flanks, or rather advanced farther before his

front. A deep valley communicated with the most level of these plains,

descending gently all the way from the celebrated sources of the Nile,

which were not more than half a day’s journey distant. Michael drew up

his army behind the two churches, which were advanced on his right and

left flanks, and among the cedars of these he planted 500 musqueteers

before each church, whom the trees perfectly concealed; he formed his

horse in front, knowing them to be an object the Galla did not fear,

and likely to lead them on to charge rashly. These he gave the command

of to a very active and capable officer, Powussen of Begemder, one of

those eleven servants of Mariam Barea, whose lives Michael saved, by

protecting them in his tent after the battle of Nefas Musa. He had

directed this officer, with a few horse, to scour the small plain, as

soon as he saw the Galla advancing into it from the valley.

As soon as the sun became hot, Fasil’s wild Galla poured into the

plain, and they had now occupied the greatest part of it, which was not

large enough to contain his whole army, when their skirmishing began

by their driving Powussen before them, who fled apparently in great

confusion, crossed the brook, and joined the horse, and formed nearly

between the churches. The Galla, desirous to pursue, were impeded by

the great stones, so that they were in a crowd at the passage of the

brook.

Ayto Welleta Gabriel, factor to Ozoro Esther, was intoxicated with

liquor, but he was a brave man, very active and strong, and of a good

understanding, though, according to a custom among them, he, at times,

to divert the Ras, played the part of a buffoon. In this character,

with his musquet only in his hand, he, though on foot, skirmished in

the middle of a party of Powussen’s horse. When they turned to fly,

Welleta Gabriel found it convenient to do so likewise, and he crossed

the brook without looking behind him. Upon turning round, he saw the

Galla halt, as if in council, in the bed of the rivulet, and taking up

his gun as a bravado, he levelled at the crowd, and had the fortune to

hit the principal man among them, who fell dead among the feet of the

horses.

A small pause ensued; the cry of the Zibib! the Zibib! immediately

began, and a downright confusion and flight followed. The Galla,

already upon the plain, turned upon those coming out of the valley,

and these again upon their companions behind them. The cry of Zibib

Ali[101]! Zibib Ali! was repeated through the whole, spreading terror

and dismay wherever it was heard. Nobody knew what was the misfortune

that had befallen them. Welleta Yasous, who commanded the van, was

carried away by the multitude flying: Fasil, who was at the head of the

Damot and Agows, had not entered the valley, nor could any one tell him

what was the accident in the plain.

Even Michael himself, (as I have heard him say) when, sitting upon

his mule on a small eminence, he saw this extraordinary confusion

and retreat, was not able to assign any cause for it. Though no man

on these occasions had more presence of mind, he remained for a time

motionless, without giving any orders. The troops, however, that lay

hid in the groves of cedars before the churches, who had been silent

and attentive, and Powussen, who commanded the horse which had been

skirmishing, saw distinctly the operation of Welleta Gabriel, and the

confusion that had followed it; without loss of time they attacked the

Galla in the valley, and were soon joined by Gusho and the rest of the

army.

Fasil, in despair at a defeat of which he knew not the cause, came down

among the Galla, fighting very bravely, often facing about upon those

that pressed them, and endeavouring at least to retreat in some sort

of order; but the musqueteers from the church, commanded by Hezekias,

instead of entering the valley, had advanced and ascended the hills, so

that from the sides of them, in the utmost security, they poured down

shot upon the fliers beneath them.

Fasil here lost a great part of his army; but seeing a place in one of

the hills accessible, he left the valley, and ascended the side of the

mountain, leading a large body of his own troops; and, having gained

the smooth ground behind the musqueteers, he came up with them, whilst

intent only upon annoying the Galla, and cut 300 to pieces. Content

with this advantage, and finding his army entirely dispersed, he passed

the sources of the Nile at Geesh, descended into the plain of Assoa,

and encamped near Gooderoo, a small lake there, intending to pass the

night, and collect his scattered forces.

Michael’s army had given over pursuit, but Powussen, with some chosen

horse of Lasta and Begemder, followed Fasil upon his track, and came up

with him a little before the dusk of the evening, on the side of the

lake. Here a great slaughter of wounded and weary men ensued: Fasil

fled, and no resistance was attempted, and the soldiers, satiated with

blood, at last returned, and pursued the enemy no further.

It was the next day in the evening before Powussen joined the camp,

having put to the sword, without mercy, all the stragglers that fell in

the way upon his return. The appearance of this man and his behaviour

made Michael’s joy complete, who already had begun to entertain fears

that some untoward accident had befallen him.

This was the battle of Fagitta, fought on the 9th of December 1769, on

the very ground in which Fasil, just five years before, had murdered

Kasmati Eshté. Those philosophers, who disclaim the direction of a

divine Providence, will calculate how many chances there were, that,

in a kingdom as big as Great Britain, the commission of a crime and its

punishment should both happen in one place, on one day, in the short

space of five years, and in the life of one man.

The extraordinary severity exercised upon the army of the Galla,

after the battle, was still as apparent as it had been in the flight.

Woosheka, of whom we have had already occasion to speak, fell in

among the horse of Powussen and Gusho, and being known, his life was

spared. He was cousin-german to Lubo, but a better man and soldier

than his relation, and, in all the intrigues of the Galla at Gondar,

was considered as an undesigning man, of harmless and inoffensive

manners. He had been companion of Gusho, and many of the principal

commanders in the army, and, after the defeat at Nefas Musa, had the

guard of Powussen and the eleven officers, whom he suffered to escape

into Michael’s tent, as I have already said, while Lubo was murdering

Mariam Barea. He had been, for a time, well known and well esteemed

by Ras Michael, nor was he ever supposed personally to have offended

him, or given umbrage to any one. As he was a man of some fortune and

substance, it was thought the forfeiture of all that he had might more

than atone for any fault that he had ever committed.

It was therefore agreed on the morning after Powussen’s return from the

pursuit, that Gusho and he, when they surrendered this prisoner, should

ask his life and pardon from the Ras, and this they did, prostrating

themselves in the humblest manner with their foreheads on the earth.

Ras Michael, at once forgetting his own interest, and the quality

and consequence of the officers before him, fell into a violent and

outrageous passion against the supplicants, and, after a very short

reproof, ordered each of them to their tents in a kind of disgrace.

He then sternly interrogated Woosheka, whether he did not remember

that, at Tedda, he had ordered him out of the country in ten days?

then, in his own language of Tigré, he asked, if there was any one

among the soldiers that could make a leather bottle? and being answered

in the affirmative, he ordered one to be made of Woosheka’s skin, but

first to carry him to the king. The soldiers understood the command,

though the miserable victim did not, and he was brought to the king,

who would not suffer him to speak, but waved with his hand to remove

him; and they accordingly carried him to the river side, where they

flayed him alive, and brought his skin stuffed with straw to Ras

Michael.

It was not doubted that Ozoro Esther, then in the camp, had sealed the

fate of this wretched victim. She appeared that night in the king’s

tent dressed in the habit of a bride, which she had never before done

since the death of Mariam Barea. Two days after, having obtained her

end, she returned triumphant to Gondar, where Providence visited her

with distress in her own family, for the hardness of her heart to the

sufferings of others.

During this time I was at Masuah, where, by reason of the great

distance and interruption in the roads, these transactions were not

yet known. Hatzé Hannes was still supposed alive, and my errand from

Metical Aga that of being his Physician. I shall now begin an account

of what passed at Masuah, and thence continue my journey to Gondar till

my meeting with the king there.

_END OF THE SECOND VOLUME._

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The city of Wolves, or Hyænas.]

[Footnote 2: She had several names, as I have before said, _Judith_ in

Tigré, and in Amhara _Esther_.]

[Footnote 3: Conquetes de Portugais par Lafitan, vol. I. liv. ii. p.

90. Id. ibid. p. 144.]

[Footnote 4: It has been imagined that this number should be increased

to seventy, but I have, followed the text; there would be little

difference in the rashness of the action.]

[Footnote 5: A tribe of the Shepherds; all the rest, but the two first,

unknown in Abyssinia at this day.]

[Footnote 6: Mountain of the Testimony.]

[Footnote 7: The Moors in general are much squarer, stouter-made men,

than the Abyssinians.]

[Footnote 8: Probably Magwas, or Berhan Magwass, the Glory of Grace;

a name often used by queens; for Mogessa has no signification, that I

know, in any of the languages of Ethiopia.]

[Footnote 9: That is, while the family of Zaguè reigned, in Tigré, and

that of Solomon in Shoa, before the restoration.]

[Footnote 10: Vid. Ludolf, lib. 3. No. 29. I have this letter at length

prefixed to the large volume of Canons and Councils, a copy of which

was sent by Zara Jacob to the monks in Jerusalem.]

[Footnote 11: St. Stefano in Rotondis.]

[Footnote 12: Francisco de Branca Leon.]

[Footnote 13: One of the steep mountains used for prisons.]

[Footnote 14: Another church on a hill, one of the quarters of Gondar.

It signifies the Hill of Glory, or Brightness.]

[Footnote 15: Bilur, in the language of Samhar, signifies _fossile

salt_; if it is coloured with any mineral, so as to be either red or

green, it is, in this latter case, applied often to emeralds, and

green-rock crystal.]

[Footnote 16: A race of very barbarous people, all shepherds, having

great substance, and much resembling the nations of Galla. They are

Pagans.]

[Footnote 17: The pomegranate of gold.]

[Footnote 18: The station of David.]

[Footnote 19: Betwudet is an officer that has nearly the same power as

Ras; there were two of these, and both being slain at one battle, as we

shall see in the sequel, the office grew into disuse as unfortunate.]

[Footnote 20: The literal translation of this is, _doubly sharp_, or

_sharp to a fault_; a character he had gained in Portugal.]

[Footnote 21: See Marco Paulo’s Travels into Tartary.]

[Footnote 22: On the west side of the peninsula on the Atlantic.]

[Footnote 23: Vide Marmol, vol. i. cap. 37.]

[Footnote 24: Is a subject paying Capitation.]

[Footnote 25: Vid. David’s letter to Emanuel, king of Portugal 1524.]

[Footnote 26: Vide Map of Shoa.]

[Footnote 27: Or Governor.]

[Footnote 28: Vide Poncet’s travels, in his return through Tigré, p.

116. London edit. 12mo. 1709.]

[Footnote 29: In Barbary called _Mishta_, in Abyssinia, _Kagga_.]

[Footnote 30: This is a name of humility. He is a great officer, and

has no care or charge of asses.]

[Footnote 31: Alvarez Histoire d’Ethiopic, p. 157.]

[Footnote 32: Canso el Gauri, and Tomum Bey.]

[Footnote 33: Selim I. emperor of the Ottomans.]

[Footnote 34: It was he who, as we have seen, slew the Moor Maffudi in

single combat in the beginning of this reign.]

[Footnote 35: Constant in the faith.]

[Footnote 36: Tellez, lib. 2. cap. 27.]

[Footnote 37: Dated at Rome 16th Feb. 1555. See Tellez, lib. 2. cap.

22.]

[Footnote 38: See Bermudes’s account of these times, printed at Lisbon

by Francis Correa, A. D. 1565.]

[Footnote 39: The Mountain of Gold.]

[Footnote 40: Purch. vol. 2.]

[Footnote 41: Ludolf, lib. 2. cap. 6.]

[Footnote 42: To Geshen or Wechné.]

[Footnote 43: See Le Grande’s History of Abyssinia.]

[Footnote 44: See the article Wanzey in the Appendix.]

[Footnote 45: Jerome Lobo Hist. of Abyssinia ap. Le Grande.]

[Footnote 46: The name of infant-king seems to have been given as a

nick-name in Abyssinia, and is preserved to this day.]

[Footnote 47: We have mentioned this treaty in the reign of Icon Amlac.]

[Footnote 48: Then the metropolis upon the Lake Tzana.]

[Footnote 49: Register of the cattle; so the governor of Dembea is

called.]

[Footnote 50: See the History of the rise of this monarchy in my return

through Sennaar.]

[Footnote 51: A low territory at the foot of Lamalmon.]

[Footnote 52: It was probably part of the fruits of the new religion,

and the work of his new religious advisers.]

[Footnote 53: The words, Boren, and Bertuma Galla, have no meaning in

the Ethiopic.]

[Footnote 54: See the Map.]

[Footnote 55: See the provincial letters of the Jesuits in Tellez, lib.

iv. cap. 5.]

[Footnote 56: Which signifies the Passage.]

[Footnote 57: This will be more enlarged upon hereafter.]

[Footnote 58: Tellez, lib. iv. cap. 38.]

[Footnote 59: It is apparently a speech in a passion, for this Sela

Christos was one of the most learned of the Abyssinians; yet the words

themselves, if literally translated, are scarcely intelligible.]

[Footnote 60: I have seen them often at Madrid.]

[Footnote 61: Called by the Agows, Krihaha.]

[Footnote 62: A name of the black Pagans bordering on Sennaar to the

south-west.]

[Footnote 63: Astronom. de M. de La Lande, liv. 19. p. 366.]

[Footnote 64: See the article _kantuffa_ in the Appendix.]

[Footnote 65: The white mountain.]

[Footnote 66: The mountain of salt.]

[Footnote 67: By Chancellor of the Nation is meant the officer

immediately next the consul, who keeps the records, and has a

department absolutely independent of the Consul.]

[Footnote 68: Vid. Poncet.]

[Footnote 69: It is plain Poncet had no instruments for observation

with him, nor was he probably acquainted with the use of them.]

[Footnote 70: To be described hereafter.]

[Footnote 71: See an elevation of this in my account of Axum.]

[Footnote 72: And there he wrote his Teliamede which supposes men

were first created fishes, for which he was excommunicated. It was an

opinion perfectly worthy of alarming the Sorbonne.]

[Footnote 73: Plin. vol. 1. lib. 6. cap. 30. p. 376.]

[Footnote 74: Father Bernat, a Frenchman.]

[Footnote 75: We have seen these were recommended by M. Maillet, the

consul.]

[Footnote 76: This is not the king’s seal. It is the invention of some

Mahometan employed to write the letters.]

[Footnote 77: See the letter itself, it is the last in Le Grande’s

book, and in Latin, if I remember rightly.]

[Footnote 78: Vid. the letter as quoted above.]

[Footnote 79: Abdelcader, son of Ounsa, retired here.]

[Footnote 80: It signifies Justus.]

[Footnote 81: Vid general map.]

[Footnote 82: Juvenal, sat. 13. l. 163.]

[Footnote 83: Nisi malitia suppleat ætatem.]

[Footnote 84: Herod. lib. 3, par. 17, & seq.]

[Footnote 85: Supposed to be the Garamantica Vallis of Ptolemy.]

[Footnote 86: Dodswell’s dissertation of Hanno’s Periplus--Montesquieu,

tom. I. lib. 21. cap. 11.]

[Footnote 87: This sensation of the savage in the heart of Africa seems

to be unknown to the enemies of the slave-trade; they talk much of

heat, without knowing the material suffering of the negro is from cold.]

[Footnote 88: There seems here some contradiction which needs

explanation. It is said that the palace was burnt before Oustas went to

his tent. How then could the soldiers assemble in it afterwards? The

palace consists of a number of separate houses at no great distance,

but detached from one another with one room in each. That where the

coronation is performed is called Anbasa Bet; another, where the king

sits in festivals, is called Zeffan Bet; another is called Werk Sacala,

the gold-house; another Gimja Bet, or the brocade-house, where the

wardrobe and the gold stuffs used for presents, or received as such,

are laid. Now, we suppose Oustas in any one of these apartments, say

Zeffan Bet, which he left to go to his tent, and it was then burnt;

still there remained the coronation-house where the regalia was kept,

which the soldiers locked up that it might not be used to crown Fasil,

Oustas’s son, whom they thought the seven great men they had murdered

conspired to place upon the throne after his father.]

[Footnote 89: Mistress to Yasous, and mother to David.]

[Footnote 90: But there can be no doubt both opinions are absolute

heresy, in the most liberal sense of that word, as expressly denying

our Saviour’s consubstantiality.]

[Footnote 91: This drum is of beaten silver; the Abyssinians say, that

this metal alone is capable of conveying the sweet sound contained in

a proclamation of peace. It was carried off by the rebels after the

retreat of Serbraxos.]

[Footnote 92: Dek.]

[Footnote 93: A relict of the most precious kind, believed to have come

from Jerusalem, and been painted by St Luke.]

[Footnote 94: About one hundred and eighty-six pounds, an ounce of gold

at a medium being 10 crowns.]

[Footnote 95: This is a fish common in the Mediterranean, of the kind

of anchovies, the common food of the galley-slaves, and lower sort of

people.]

[Footnote 96: Noba, in the language of Sennaar, signifies Soldier; it

is probably from this the ancient name of Nubia first came.]

[Footnote 97: A well near Karoota, immediately on the frontiers of

Begemder.]

[Footnote 98: This is commonly done in times of trouble, to keep the

townsmen in awe, as if fire was intended, which would not be in their

power to quench.]

[Footnote 99: Nearly the same distinction as the silly one made in

Britain between the French king and king of France.]

[Footnote 100: What made the ridicule here was, Michael was older than

the king, and could not stand alone.]

[Footnote 101: They have the grape along with them.]

[Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent double quotes and capitalization are as in the original.

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]