Bruce resides at Gondar, and gradually raises himself to
distinction.
Gondar, the metropolis of Abyssinia, is situated upon the flat summit of
a hill of considerable height, and was peopled, in the time of Bruce, by
about ten thousand families. The houses are chiefly of clay, with
conical roofs, the usual mode of construction within the region of the
tropical rains. At the west end of the town stands the king's house, a
square building flanked by towers. It was formerly four stories high,
and had a magnificent view of the country southward to the great lake
Tzana. A part of this palace had been burned, but the lower floors
remained entire, the principal audience-chamber being more than a
hundred and twenty feet in length.
The palace, as well as the buildings which belonged to it, were
surrounded by a stone wall thirty feet high, and broad enough for a
parapet and path. The four sides of this wall were about a mile and a
half in length.
On the opposite side of the river Angrab stood a large town of
Mohammedans, which contained about one thousand houses; and at the north
of Gondar was situated Koscam, the palace of the iteghe, or
queen-mother.
Bruce was much surprised, on arriving at the river Angrab, that no
person had come to him from Petros, Janni's brother; but Petros,
frightened by the priests, who told him that a Frank was on his way to
Gondar, had fled to the ras to receive his directions on the subject.
There was, therefore, no one to whom Bruce could address himself; for,
though he had letters both for the king and for Ras Michael, they, as
well as the principal Greeks, were absent.
Nothing, therefore, remained for him but to present a letter, which he
had received from his friend Janni, to Negade Ras Mohammed, who was
chief of the Moors at Gondar, and the principal merchant of Abyssinia.
However, on inquiring for this person, he learned that he also was with
the king and the army. In this dilemma, a Moor intimately acquainted
with Negade Ras Mohammed conducted Bruce to a house in the Moorish town,
where he promised that he should be screened from the priests until he
could procure protection from the government, or from the great people
of the country. He was to be supplied with flour, honey, and such food
as Moors and Christians may eat together; but, although there was a
great abundance of animal food, yet, as it had been killed by
Mohammedans, Bruce did not dare to touch it.
Ayto Aylo, the queen's chamberlain, was not only the constant patron of
the Greeks in Abyssinia, but was privately a great enemy to the priests
of his own country; and he had often declared that he would willingly
abandon the title and estates which he held in Abyssinia, and go to
Jerusalem, to finish the remainder of his days in the Convent of the
Holy Sepulchre.
Late in the evening of his arrival, Bruce's landlord was alarmed at
seeing a number of armed men at his door; and his surprise was still
greater at seeing Ayto Aylo, who had probably never before been in the
Moorish town, descend from his mule, uncovering his head and shoulders
as if he had been approaching a person of distinction.
On his entering the house, a contention of civilities ensued. Bruce
offered to stand until Aylo was covered, while he refused to sit until
Bruce was seated. Their discourse commenced in Arabic, but it was soon
carried on in Tigre, the language most used in Gondar. Aylo seemed
astonished to hear Bruce speak this language so well; and, turning round
to the by-standers, he observed, "Come, come, he'll do! if he can speak,
there is no fear of him; he'll make his own way!"
Aylo then told Bruce that Welled Hawaryat, the son of Ras Michael, had
arrived from the camp ill of a fever, which was supposed to be the
smallpox; and Janni having reported that Bruce had saved the lives of
many young people at Adowa, the iteghe, or queen-mother, had sent to
desire that he would come the next morning to her palace at Koscam.
Accordingly, Bruce, dressed in a Moorish costume, and attended by his
landlord and Yasine, went early the next day to Ayto Aylo, and thence,
with their heads uncovered, the whole party rode in state to Koscam,
where they alighted, and were shown into a low room in the palace. Ayto
Aylo went by himself to his mistress the queen, with whom he remained
more than two hours. On returning to Bruce, he said that Welled Hawaryat
had received much benefit from a saint of Waldubba, who had administered
some medicine, which consisted of certain characters written with common
ink upon a tin plate, and then washed off and given him to drink. Aylo
therefore dismissed Bruce, but appointed a meeting with him at his own
house in the evening.
When Bruce returned home, he found that Petros, Janni's brother, had
arrived from the army, and was waiting for him. Alarmed by the priests,
who had told him of Bruce's arrival at Gondar, Petros (as has been
already stated), in great tribulation, had fled to consult Ras Michael.
On approaching his tent, however, he suddenly recognised the stuffed
skin of a very intimate friend swinging from a tree and drying in the
wind. Terrified and horror-struck at the spectacle, he was scarcely able
to communicate to a person who met him the intelligence of Bruce's
arrival; and, as soon as he had done this, without seeing the ras, he
returned, haunted by the ghost of his friend's skin, to Gondar, in still
greater fear than he had left it; and even there continued to be so
much alarmed, that Bruce found it necessary to give him some laudanum,
and send him to bed.
He had scarcely retired, when Ayto Aylo came to Bruce to say that Welled
Hawaryat was so very ill, that his mother, Ozoro Esther, the beautiful
wife of old Ras Michael, and the iteghe, or queen-mother, desired that
Bruce, on the following day, would come to see him, and some others who
were also sick.
"Look!" said Bruce to Ayto Aylo, "the smallpox is a disease that will
have its course; and, during the long time the patient is under it, if
people feed them and treat them according to their own ignorant
prejudices, my seeing him or advising him is in vain. This morning you
said a man had cured him by writing upon a tin plate, and, to try if he
was well, they have since crammed him with raw beef. I do not think the
letters that he swallowed will do him any harm, neither will they do him
any good; but I shall not be surprised if the raw beef kills him, and
the sick daughter too, before I see them to-morrow."
In the morning Petros was still ill and feverish from fatigue and
fright. However, Bruce left him, and, accompanied by Aylo, again
proceeded towards Koscam. They were just entering the palace door when
they saw a numerous procession of monks and priests, carrying a large
cross, also a picture in an old, dirty gilt frame; and they were
informed that three great saints from Waldubba, one of whom declared
that he had neither eaten nor drank for twenty years, had come to cure
Welled Hawaryat by laying upon him a cross and a picture of the Virgin
Mary; in consequence of which, Bruce was requested not to meddle with
the patient. "I assure you, Ayto Aylo," replied Bruce, "I shall strictly
obey you. If they can cure him by a miracle, I am sure it is the easiest
kind of cure of any, and will not do his constitution the least harm
afterward, which is more than I will promise for medicines in general;
but remember what I say to you, it will be a miracle indeed if both the
father and daughter are not dead before to-morrow night."
After the procession, in great solemnity, had passed, Aylo again went
to the iteghe. Bruce was then formally introduced, and, according to the
custom of Abyssinia, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground,
falling first on his knees, then on the palms of his hands, and lastly
touching the earth with his forehead. Aylo then said, "This is our
gracious mistress; you may safely say before her whatever is in your
heart."
"Our first discourse," says Bruce, "was about Jerusalem, the Holy
Sepulchre, Calvary, the City of David, and the Mountain of Olives, with
the situations of which she was perfectly well acquainted. She then
asked me to tell her truly if I was not a Frank. 'Madam,' said I, 'if I
was a Catholic, which you mean by Frank, there could be no greater folly
than my concealing this from you in the beginning, after the assurance
Ayto Aylo has just now given; and, in confirmation of the truth I am now
telling (she had a large Bible lying on the table before her, upon which
I laid my hand), I declare to you, by all those truths contained in this
book, that my religion is more different from the Catholic than yours
is; that there has been more blood shed between the Catholics and us, on
account of the difference of religion, than ever was between you and the
Catholics in this country: even at this day, when men are become wiser
and cooler in many parts of the world, it would be full as safe for a
Jesuit to preach in the market-place of Gondar, as for any priest of my
religion to present himself as a teacher in the most civilized of Frank
or Catholic countries.' 'How is it, then,' says she, 'that you do not
believe in miracles?'
"'I see, madam,' said I, 'Ayto Aylo has informed you of a few words that
some time ago dropped from me. I do certainly believe the miracles of
Christ and his apostles, otherwise I am no Christian; but I do not
believe these miracles of latter times, wrought upon trifling occasions,
like sports and jugglers' tricks.' 'And yet,' says she, 'our books are
full of them.' 'I know they are,' said I; 'but I never can believe that
a saint converted the devil, who lived, forty years after, a holy life
as a monk; nor the story of another saint, who, being sick and hungry,
caused a brace of partridges, ready roasted, to fly upon his plate that
he might eat them.' 'He has been reading the Synaxar,' says Ayto Aylo.
'I believe so,' says she, smiling; 'but is there any harm in believing
too much, and is not there great danger in believing too little?'
'Certainly,' continued I; 'but all I meant to say to Ayto Aylo was, that
I did not believe laying a picture upon Welled Hawaryat would recover
him when delirious in a fever.' She answered, 'There was nothing
impossible with God.' I made a bow of assent, wishing heartily the
conversation might end there."
Bruce, leaving Aylo with the queen, now returned to the Moors' town. In
the afternoon he heard that Welletta Selasse was dead; and at night,
Welled Hawaryat died also. The contagion from Masuah and Adowa had
spread itself all over Gondar. The daughter of Ozoro Altash was now
sick, and a violent fever had fallen upon Koscam. The next morning Aylo
came to Bruce, and told him that all faith in the saint, who had not
eaten or drank for twenty years, was abandoned since Welled Hawaryat's
death; and that it was the desire of the queen and Ozoro Esther that he
should remove to Koscam, to the iteghe's palace, where all their
children and grandchildren would be placed under his care.
One cannot help here remarking the favourable effect produced by the
strong manly sense which seems on this and every other occasion to have
regulated Bruce's conduct. His sound religious sentiments he does not
fear to avow; though a stranger in the land, he firmly declares to the
iteghe that he has no faith in the miraculous remedy proposed for Welled
Hawaryat; and yet, a short time before, we see him prostrating himself
at the feet of the very person whose opinions he now opposed; for
Bruce's mind rightly appreciated those distinctions which to so many are
imperceptible. He had no paltry objections to conform to the ceremonial
customs of Abyssinia, absurd as they might be; no foolish pride to
present himself before the iteghe with a salutation which she could not
comprehend, by offering an English bow, when an African obeisance, such
as she had been accustomed to, was required: obstinacy on this point
would have at once ruined all his hopes. Had he, again, through fear or
any other weakness, concealed his religious opinions, or hesitated to
avow his incredulity in the remedy administered to Welled Hawaryat, not
only would he have been guilty of duplicity, but would have lost the
favourable occasion now presented for raising himself in the opinion of
the iteghe. It was Bruce's good sense as well as his unconquerable
resolution--his head as well as his heart, which enabled him to
penetrate the regions of Abyssinia.
Bruce at first declined attending the iteghe, as Petros had desired him
to stay in the Moors' town till the ras should arrive; but Aylo again
came to him to say that he must come immediately.
"I told him," says Bruce, "that new and clean clothes in the Gondar
fashion had been procured for me by Petros, and that I wished they might
be sent to his house, where I would put them on, and then go to Koscam,
with a certainty that I carried no infection with me; for I had attended
a number of Moorish children while at Hagi Saleh's house, most of whom,
happily, were doing well, but that there was no doubt there would be
infection in my clothes. He praised me up to the skies for this
precaution, and the whole was executed in the manner proposed. My hair
was cut round, curled, and perfumed in the Amharic fashion, and I was
thenceforward, in all outward appearance, a perfect Abyssinian."
Bruce's first advice after he arrived at Koscam was, that the young and
beautiful Ozoro Esther, her son by Mariam Barea, and a son by Ras
Michael, should remove from the palace, in order to give the part of the
family that were yet well a chance of escaping the infection. Her young
son by Mariam Barea, however, complaining, the iteghe would not suffer
him to be removed, and they resolved to abide the issue all in the
palace together.
Before entering upon his charge, Bruce desired Petros, who had now
recovered from his fright, Aylo, and several others, to assemble
together. He then frankly stated to them the difficulty of the task
imposed on him, a stranger, without acquaintance, protection, power, or
control. He declared his intention of doing his utmost, but insisted
that one condition should be granted him, namely, that no directions as
to regimen and management, even of the most trifling kind, should be
given without his permission and superintendence. They all assented to
this; and a priest who was present not only pronounced those
excommunicate who should break this promise, but offered to Bruce the
assistance of his prayers and those of the monks, morning and evening:
Aylo whispered in his ear, "You need have no objection to this saint; I
assure you he eats and drinks very heartily, as I shall show you when
once these troubles are over."
Bruce now set to work. He opened all the doors and windows, washed them
with warm water and vinegar, and adhered strictly to the rules which his
worthy and skilful friend, Dr. Russell, had given him at Aleppo. A
treatment of the disorder so different from the suffocating system which
had hitherto been adopted in Abyssinia, had very successful results; and
Bruce mentions a number of cures which he effected, among which was that
of the infant child of Ras Michael, adding, "I tell these actions to
satisfy the reader about the reason of the remarkable attention and
favour showed to me afterward, upon so short an acquaintance." The fear
and anxiety of Ozoro Esther, whose son, a most promising boy, was
infected, were excessive; many promises of Michael's favour, of riches,
greatness, and protection, followed every instance of Bruce's care and
attention towards his patient. Confu, the favourite of all the queen's
relations, and the hope of their family, had convulsions which every one
feared would be fatal. The attention Bruce showed to this young man was
increased by a prepossession in his favour, which he had taken up at
first sight of him. "Policy," says Bruce, "as well as charity, alike
influenced me in the care of my other patients; but an attachment, which
Providence seemed to have inspired me with for my own preservation, had
the greatest share in my care for Ayto Confu."
Bruce's patients being at last all likely to do well, were removed to a
large house, which stood, however, within the boundaries of Koscam,
while the rooms underwent another cleansing and fumigation, after which
the patients returned; and Bruce, for his fee, was presented with a
house which had a separate entry, without going through the palace; but,
as he had now received most positive orders from Ras Michael not to
leave the iteghe's palace until farther orders, he thought it best to
obey this mandate to the letter, and not to stir out of Koscam, not even
to his landlord's or to Ayto Aylo's, though they both frequently
endeavoured to persuade him that the order had not so strict a meaning.
This leisure time Bruce employed in mounting his instruments, his
barometer, thermometer, telescopes, and quadrant. Of course, all was now
wonder, and he lost a good deal of time in satisfying the curiosity of
the inmates of the palace. One day, as he was leaving the presence of
the queen, in came Abba Salama, who was the first religious officer in
the palace. He had a very large revenue and a still greater influence.
He was a man of a pleasing countenance, short, and of a very fair
complexion, and, being exceedingly eloquent and bold, had been a great
favourite of the iteghe, or queen-mother. At first he did not know
Bruce, from his change of dress; but, soon recollecting him, he called
him back, and, after some words, he asked him, in a pert tone of voice,
if he would answer him a question to which it was by no means Bruce's
policy to reply, namely, "How many natures are there in Christ?" "I
thought," answered Bruce to Salama, who, during the whole period of his
residence in Abyssinia, was always his enemy, "the question to be put
was something relating to my country, travels, or profession, in which
I possibly could instruct Abba Salama; and not belonging to his, in
which he should instruct me. I am a physician in the town, a horseman
and soldier in the field. Physic is my study in the one, and managing my
horse and arms in the other. This I was bred to; as for disputes and
matters of religion, they are the province of priests and schoolmen. I
profess myself much more ignorant in these than I ought to be;
therefore, when I have doubts, I propose them to some holy man like you,
Abba Salama (he bowed for the first time), whose profession these things
are. He gives me a rule, and I implicitly follow it." "Truth! truth!"
says he; "by St. Michael, that is right; it is answered well; by St.
George, he is a clever fellow. They told me he was a Jesuit. Will you
come to see me? You need not be afraid when you come to _me_." "I
trust," said Bruce, bowing, "I shall do no ill; in that case I shall
have no reason to fear." Upon this Bruce withdrew.
It was on the 8th or 9th of March that Bruce met Ras Michael at Azazo.
This man, feared by almost every one in Abyssinia, was dressed in a
coarse, dirty cloth, wrapped about him like a blanket, with a sort of
table-cloth folded about his head: he was lean, old, had sore eyes, was
apparently much fatigued, and sat stooping upon a favourite mule, that
carried him speedily without shaking him. As Bruce saw the place where
the ras was to alight, which was marked by four cross lances, having a
cloth thrown over them like a temporary tent, he did not speak to him;
but a Greek priest told the ras who Bruce was, and that he had come on
purpose to meet him. The soldiers then made way, and Bruce, advancing,
kissed his hand; after which Michael pointed to a place where he was to
sit down. "A thousand complaints," says Bruce, "and a thousand orders,
came immediately before him from a thousand mouths, and we were nearly
smothered; but he took no notice of me, nor did he ask for any of his
family." A few minutes after the young king came, passing at some
distance: Michael was then led out of his tent to the door, where he
was supported standing. As the king passed by he pulled off the towel
that was upon his head, and then returned to his seat in the tent.
"All the town was in a hurry and confusion; thirty thousand men were
encamped upon the Kahha; and the first horrid scene Michael exhibited
there was causing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of the Galla, whom he
had taken prisoners, to be pulled out, and the unfortunate sufferers
turned out to the fields, to be devoured at night by the hyaenas." Two of
these poor creatures Bruce took under his care; they both recovered, and
from them he learned many particulars of their wild country and rude
manners.
The next day, which was the 10th, the army marched into the town in
triumph, and the ras placed himself at the head of the troops of Tigre.
He was bareheaded, with long hair as white as snow; over his shoulders
and down his back hung a cloak of black velvet with a silver fringe. A
boy at his right stirrup held a silver wand about five feet and a half
long. Behind him, all the soldiers who had killed an enemy and taken his
spoils had their lances and firelocks ornamented with their horrid
trophies, and also with small shreds of scarlet cloth, one piece for
every man he had slain.
"Remarkable among all this savage multitude was the doorkeeper of the
ras. This man, always well-armed and well-mounted, had followed the wars
of his master from his infancy, and had been so fortunate in this kind
of single combat, that his whole lance and javelin, horse and person,
were covered over with the shreds of scarlet cloth. At the last battle
of Fagitta, this inhuman being is said to have slain eleven men with his
own hand: most of them probably being wretched, weary, naked fugitives,
mounted upon tired horses, or else flying on foot."
Behind came Gusho, governor of Amhara, and Powussen, lately made
governor of Begemder for his behaviour at the battle of Fagitta; and, as
a farther reward, the ras had given him his grand-daughter, who, under
Bruce's care, had just recovered from the smallpox.
"One thing most remarkable in this cavalcade was the headdress of the
governors of provinces. A large broad fillet was bound upon their
forehead and tied behind their head. In the middle of this was a horn,
or a conical piece of silver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the
shape of our common candle-extinguishers. It is called _kirn_ or horn,
and is only worn in reviews or parades after victory." This is probably
taken from the Hebrews, and explains the several allusions which are
made to it in Scripture. "And the horn of the righteous shall be
exalted." (Psalms, &c., &c.)
Next to these governors came the king, with a fillet of white muslin,
about three inches broad, binding his forehead, tied with a large double
knot behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. Around him
were his officers of state, the young nobility who were without command,
and after these the household troops.
Then followed the Kanitz Kitzera, or executioner of the camp, and his
attendants; and last of all came a man bearing upon a pole the stuffed
skin of Petros's unfortunate friend, which he hung before the king's
palace upon a branch of the tree appropriated for public executions.
The 13th of March arrived without Bruce's having heard from Ozoro Esther
or the ras, though removed to a house in Gondar near to Petros. He had
every day visited the children at Koscam, and been received with the
greatest cordiality by the iteghe, who had given orders for his free
admission upon all occasions like an officer of her household. But he
had been completely neglected except by the Moors, who were very
grateful for his successful treatment of their children. In the evening,
however, Negade Ras Mohammed, who was the chief of the Moors at Gondar,
came to Bruce's house, and told him that Ayto Aylo had spoken several
times to the ras about him; and that it had been agreed between them
that Bruce should be appointed palambaras, which he translates "Master
of the king's horse:" a very great office both for rank and revenue.
"I told Mohammed," says Bruce, "that, far from being any kindness to me,
this would make me the most unhappy of all creatures; that my extreme
desire was to see the country and its different natural productions; to
converse with the people as a stranger, but to be nobody's master or
servant; to see their books; and, above all, to visit the sources of the
Nile; to live as privately in my own house, and have as much time to
myself as possible; and what I was most anxious about at present was to
know when it would be convenient to admit me to see the ras, and deliver
my letters as a stranger." Mohammed went away and returned, bringing
Mohammed Gibberti, who told Bruce that, besides the letter which Metical
Aga, his master, had given Bruce for Ras Michael, he had himself been
charged with one, out of the ordinary form, dictated by the English at
Jidda, who all, particularly Bruce's friends Captain Thornhill and
Captain Thomas Price of the Lion, had agreed with Metical Aga, who was
devoted to them for his own interest, that his utmost exertions should
be employed to induce Ras Michael to provide for Bruce's safety.
This letter from Metical Aga informed Michael of the power and riches of
the English nation; that they were absolute masters of the trade of the
Red Sea, and strictly connected with the Sherriffe of Mecca; that any
accident happening to Bruce would be an infamy and disgrace to him, and
worse than death itself, because, knowing Michael's power, and relying
on his friendship, he had become security for Bruce's safety; that he
was a man of consideration in his own country, a servant to the king of
it; that his only desire was to examine springs, rivers, trees, flowers,
and the stars in the heavens, from which he drew knowledge very useful
to preserve man's health and life; that he was no merchant, had no
dealings whatever in any sort of traffic, and stood in no need of any
man's money, as Mohammed Gibberti was to provide whatever sum he might
require.
Upon reading this letter Michael exclaimed, "Metical Aga does not know
the situation of this country. Safety! where is that to be found? I am
obliged to fight for my own life every day. Will Metical call this
safety? Who knows, at this moment, if the king is in safety, or how long
I shall be so? All I can do is to keep him with me. If I lose my own
life and the king's, Metical Aga can never think it was in my power to
preserve that of his stranger." "No, no," said Ayto Aylo, who was then
present, "but you don't know the man; he is an astonishing fellow on
horseback; he rides better and shoots better than any man that ever came
into Abyssinia; lose no time; put him about the king, and there is no
fear of him." It was agreed, therefore, that the letters the Greeks had
received should be read to the king, and that Bruce should be
immediately introduced to his majesty and to the ras.
The reader will remember that, when Bruce was at Cairo, he obtained
letters from the Greek patriarch to the Greeks at Gondar; and
particularly one in the form of a bull, addressed to all the Greeks in
Abyssinia. In this, after a great deal of pastoral admonition, the
patriarch said that, knowing their propensity to lying and vanity, and
not being at hand to impose proper penances upon them for these sins, he
ordered them in a body to go to the king in the manner and time they
might judge best, and inform him that Bruce was not to be confounded
with the rest of white men, such as Greeks, who were all subject to the
Turks, and slaves; but that he was a free man of a free nation; and that
the best among them should deem himself happy in being his servant, as
one of their brethren then actually was. This was rather a bitter pill,
for the Greeks were high in office, all except Petros, who had declined
employment after the murder of King Joas, whose chamberlain he had been.
The order of the patriarch, however, was punctually and fully obeyed;
Petros was their spokesman, and, although a great coward, on the present
occasion he was forward enough.
It was about the 14th that these letters were to be all publicly read:
five in the evening was the hour appointed, and notice was sent to
Koscam. A little before the time Bruce came, and met Ayto Aylo at the
door, who squeezed him by the hand and said, "Refuse nothing; it can be
all altered afterward; but it is very necessary, on account of the
priests and the populace, that you should have a place of some
authority, otherwise you will be robbed and murdered the first time you
go half a mile from home: fifty people have told me you have chests
filled with gold, and that you can make gold, or bring what quantity you
please from the Indies; and the reason of all this is, because you
refused the queen and Ozoro Esther's offer of gold at Koscam, which you
must never do again."
On entering, the old ras was sitting upon a sofa, his white hair hanging
loose in many short curls. He appeared to be thoughtful, but not
displeased; his countenance was highly intelligent, his face thin, his
eyes quick and vivid, but still a little sore from exposure to the
weather; and he seemed to be about six feet high. Bruce, as was
customary, kissed the ground before him; of this he seemed to take
little notice, but on his rising he shook hands with him.
Bruce was then about to offer his present, when the ras, with an air of
natural dignity, thus calmly addressed him: "Yagoube, I think that is
your name, hear what I have to say to you, and mark what I recommend to
you. You are a man, I am told, who make it your business to wander in
solitary places to search for trees and grass, and to sit up all night
alone looking at the stars of heaven. Other countries are not like this,
though this was never so bad as it is now. These wretches here are
enemies to strangers; if they saw you alone in your own parlour, their
first thought would be how to murder you; though they knew they were to
get nothing by it, they would murder you for mere mischief." ("The devil
is strong in them," exclaimed a distant voice, which appeared to be that
of a priest.) "Therefore," continued the ras, "after a long
conversation with your friend Aylo, I have thought that situation best
which, leaving you at liberty to follow your own designs, will put your
person in such safety, that you will not be troubled with monks about
their religious matters, or in danger from these rascals that may seek
to murder you for money."
"What are the monks?" muttered the voice from the same corner of the
room; "the monks will never meddle with such a man as this." "Therefore
the king," continued the ras, without taking any notice of the
interruption, "has appointed you Baalomaal, and commander of the Koccob
horse. Go, then, to the king, and kiss the ground upon your appointment:
I see you have already learned this ceremony of ours; Aylo and Heikel
are very proper persons to go with you." After taking leave of the ras,
Bruce had a short private interview with the beautiful Ozoro Esther,
whose young heart was overflowing with gratitude to the man who had
saved her child. He then proceeded towards the king's palace, and met
Aylo at the door of the presence-chamber. Tecla Mariam, the king's
secretary, walked before them to the foot of the throne, and, after
Bruce had advanced and prostrated himself upon the ground, he said,
facetiously, "I have brought you a servant from so distant a country,
that, if you ever let him escape, we shall never be able to follow him,
or know where to seek him." The king was sitting in an alcove; his
mouth, according to the custom of Abyssinia, was covered; he evinced no
alteration of countenance, and made no reply. The old questions were
then put to Bruce about Jerusalem and the holy places: where his country
was--(they knew the situation of no country but their own)--why he came
so far; whether the moon and the stars were the same in his country as
in theirs, &c., &c.
To escape from these interrogatories, Bruce had several times offered to
take his present from the man who held it, that he might offer it to his
majesty and go away; but the king as often made a sign that he should
not be in haste. At last, after having kept Bruce standing so long that
he was almost fainting from fatigue, the king proposed that, instead of
returning with the Greeks, he should remain and perform one of the
duties of his employment, which was to take charge of the door of his
bedchamber that night. However, Ayto Heikel, taking courage, came
forward to the king, pretending to have a message from the queen; and,
whispering something in his ear, he laughed and dismissed them all.
They accordingly all hurried to supper, in no very good humour at having
been so long detained. They brought with them from the palace three of
Bruce's brother Baalomaals, and one who had stood to make up the number,
though he was not in office: his name was Guebra Mascal; he was a
sister's son of the ras, and commanded one third of the troops of Tigre
which carried firearms, that is, about two thousand men. He was reputed
one of the best officers the ras had; and was about thirty years of age,
short, square, and well made, but with a very unpromising countenance.
He was also very conceited, and had the most exalted opinion of his
skill in the use of firearms, to which he did not scruple to say Ras
Michael owed all his victories.[29]
During supper, Guebra Mascal, as was his custom, vaunted incessantly
about his skill in firearms. Petros said to him, laughing, "Now Yagoube
(meaning Bruce) is come, he will teach you something worth talking
about." They had all drunk rather freely: Guebra Mascal, full of wine
and pride, uttered words in contempt of Bruce, who quickly replied by
saying that the end of a tallow candle in his gun would do more
execution than an iron ball in Guebra Mascal's! Guebra immediately rose
up and gave Bruce a kick with his foot, calling him a Frank and a liar;
on which Bruce, blind with passion, seized him by the throat and threw
him to the ground. Guebra Mascal drew his knife as he was falling, and
gave Bruce a trifling wound on the crown of his head. Bruce wrested the
knife from him, and struck him violently on his face; the combatants
were then separated. The lifting of a hand in the precincts of the
palace is punished in Abyssinia by death; Guebra Mascal therefore fled
to the dwelling of Kefla Yasous, his relation, but in a few hours he was
in irons at the ras's house. The next morning Bruce proceeded there by
the advice of his friends, and, having told his story, he at last
succeeded in prevailing on the ras to overlook the occurrence, and to
forgive Guebra Mascal: in short, although the king had been made
acquainted with it, the whole affair was made up. Bruce attended in his
place, and received very great marks of royal favour; but he was so much
annoyed at his situation, and the many difficulties which seemed to
render hopeless his ultimate, and, indeed, his only object in visiting
Abyssinia, that he almost resolved to abandon his place, and ask
permission to return by Tigre; "and to this resolution," says Bruce, "I
was more inclined by the death of Balugani, a young man who accompanied
me through Barbary, and who assisted me in drawings of architecture: a
dysentery, which had attacked him in Arabia Felix, put an end to his
life at Gondar." From the effects of his despondency, Bruce's health
became much impaired: his melancholy, however, was in some degree
diverted by a scene of general festivity in Gondar. Ozoro Esther's
sister, the iteghe's youngest daughter, and, consequently, the
grand-daughter of Michael, was married to Powussen, the governor of
Begemder.[30] The king gave her extensive districts of land in that
province, and Ras Michael a large portion, consisting of gold, muskets,
cattle, and horses. Every one that wished to be well looked upon by
either party brought something considerable as a present. The ras, Ozoro
Esther, and Ozoro Altash, entertained all Gondar. A vast number of
cattle were slaughtered every day, and the whole town was one great
market; the common people in every street appearing laden with pieces of
raw beef, while drink circulated in the same profusion. The ras insisted
upon Bruce's dining with him every day. After dinner they slipped away
to parties of ladies, where anarchy prevailed as completely as at the
house of the ras. All the married women ate, drank, and smoked like the
men; in short, it is impossible to convey, in terms of proper decency,
any idea of this bacchanalian scene.
Although the king's favour, the protection of the ras, and Bruce's
obliging, unassuming behaviour to everybody, had made him as popular as
he could wish at Gondar and among the Tigrans, yet it was easy to
perceive that that "untoward" occurrence, his quarrel with Guebra
Mascal, was not forgotten.
"One day," says Bruce, "when I was standing by the king in the palace,
he asked, in discourse, 'Whether I too was not drunk in the quarrel with
Guebra Mascal before we came to blows?' and upon my saying that I was
perfectly sober, he asked, with a degree of keenness, 'Did you, then,
soberly say to Guebra Mascal, that an end of a tallow candle in a gun in
your hand would do more execution than an iron bullet in his?'
'Certainly, sir,' replied Bruce, 'I did so.' 'And why did you say this?'
said the king; 'you will not persuade me that with a tallow candle you
can kill a man or a horse?' 'Pardon me, sir,' said Bruce, bowing very
respectfully, 'I will attempt to persuade you of nothing but what you
please to be convinced of. When will you see this tried?' 'Why now,'
says the king; 'there is _nobody here_.' 'The sooner the better,' said
Bruce; 'I would not wish to remain for a moment longer under so
disagreeable an imputation as that of lying; an infamous one in _my_
country, whatever it may be in this. Let me send for my gun; the king
will look out at the window.'
"The king appeared to be very anxious, and, I saw plainly, incredulous.
The gun was brought; Engedan's shield was produced, which was of a
strong buffalo's hide. I said to him, 'This is a weak one; give me one
stronger.' He shook his head and said, 'Ah, Yagoube, you will find it
strong enough; Engedan's shield is known to be no toy.' Tecla Mariam had
also brought such a shield, and the Billetana Gueta Tecla another, both
of which were most excellent of their kind. I loaded the gun before
them, first with powder, then upon it slid down one half of what we call
a farthing candle; and, having beat off the handles of three shields, I
put them close in contact with each other, and set them all three
against a post.
"'Now, Engedan,' said I, 'when you please, say--Fire! but mind, you have
taken leave of your good shield for ever.' The word was given, and the
gun fired. It struck the three shields, neither in the most difficult
nor the easiest part for perforation, something less than half way
between the rim and the boss. The candle went through the three shields
with such violence that it dashed itself to a thousand pieces against a
stone wall behind it. I turned to Engedan, saying very lowly, gravely,
and without exultation or triumph, on the contrary, with absolute
indifference, 'Did I not tell you your shield was naught?' A great shout
of applause followed from about a thousand people that were gathered
together. The three shields were carried to the king, who exclaimed in
great transport, 'I did not believe it before I saw it, and can scarce
believe it now I have seen it.'"
Bruce then repeated this common schoolboy's experiment by firing the
other half of the candle through a table of sycamore. Some priests who
were present, unable to comprehend the matter, declared it was done by
"mucktoub" (magic), and so the wonder with them ceased. But it was not
so with the king: "it made," says Bruce, "the most favourable and
lasting impression upon his mind; nor did I ever after see in his
countenance any marks either of doubt or diffidence, but always, on the
contrary, the most decisive proofs of friendship, confidence, and
attention, and the most implicit belief of everything I advanced upon
any subject from my own knowledge."
One half of a farthing candle in Bruce's hands thus became a step in
that ladder by which he managed, with such admirable ability, to raise
himself to notice; and this anecdote, trifling as it may appear, affords
a lesson worthy to be remembered by every one who attempts to penetrate
a new country.
The possibility of this occurrence, however, many of Bruce's enemies
have obstinately refused to believe. The experiment of firing a candle
through a door is one which has very often been performed; and, even if
its practicability had never been shown, it would be evident to any one
who reflected on the subject for a moment, that such a result must
unavoidably take place. The momentum, or force of a shot, is not
separately the effect either of its weight or of its velocity, but the
joint product of both. A light or soft body, therefore, propelled with
great velocity, may have an effect equal to that of a heavy or hard body
propelled with less: air, for instance, rapidly displaced by the passing
of a cannon-shot, is known to produce very unexpected results; and all
sailors know how heavily water strikes when it falls with any velocity.
But, though a deal table and tallow candle must have been at the
disposal of the meanest of Bruce's critics, it cost them less, and was,
at the same time, more gratifying to them to accuse the traveller of
falsehood, than to put his experiment to the proof or to reason on the
truth of his statements.
Salt himself, however, corroborates the story forty years afterward. "In
the course of the same day," he says, "these two Greeks paid me a visit;
and I have seldom been acquainted with more venerable or
respectable-looking men. The elder was exceedingly infirm, and appeared
to be nearly blind; so that it was with some difficulty that he could be
brought up, on a mule, into the room in which we were sitting. On being
seated, he expressed great anxiety to examine my features, and
repeatedly inquired whether I was any relation of Yagoube (Mr. Bruce).
"He afterward conversed with me for some time respecting that traveller,
and in almost every particular confirmed the account I have already
quoted upon the authority of Dofter Esther. He related in addition, that
the Emperor Tecla Haimanout never paid much attention to Mr. Bruce till
after '_his shooting through_ a table with a candle'--a fact which I had
never before heard mentioned in the country--when he became a great
favourite, and was called Baalomaal; he added that, on a particular
occasion, the emperor took a fancy to Mr. Bruce's watch, and asked him
for it; but that that gentleman refused, and said abruptly, 'Is it the
custom in this kingdom for a king to beg?' which answer made a great
noise throughout the court."
Bruce now experienced an instance of kindness in Ayto Confu, the son of
Ozoro Esther, which gave him great pleasure. On the west of Abyssinia,
adjoining the frontiers of Sennaar, there is a hot, unwholesome strip of
low country, inhabited only by Mohammedans, and divided into several
small districts, which are known by the general name of Mazuga.
Ayto Confu possessed several of these districts; one of which, Ras el
Feel, having been always commanded by a Mohammedan, as Bruce says, "had
no rank among the great governments of the state." To this command Bruce
was now unexpectedly appointed, and was, in consequence, created by the
king governor of Ras el Feel, with permission to appoint his Moorish
friend Yasine as his deputy. Bruce considered that he would be enabled,
by Yasine's friendship, to secure to his interests the Arabs and sheikhs
of Atbara; for he had already resolved to return to England by Sennaar,
"and," as he says, "never to trust myself again in the hands of that
bloody assassin, the Naybe of Masuah."
Salt has taken great pains to endeavour to prove that Bruce never was
governor of Ras el Feel. He says (forty years after Bruce had quitted
the country) that people, several of whom must have been children when
Bruce was in Abyssinia, told him they had "_never heard_" that Bruce was
governor of Ras el Feel. Bruce, however, never pretended that he acted
as governor of this district; he merely says that he was appointed
governor, with permission for his friend Yasine to act as his deputy,
his sole object being to form an acquaintance with that barbarous
country; and considering that, in Abyssinia, appointments are not
gazetted, Salt should have felt that Bruce's statement might be
perfectly correct, even though the people he met with had "never heard"
of it.
"I now," says Bruce, "for the first time since my arrival at Abyssinia,
abandoned myself to joy;" but his constitution was too much weakened to
bear this excitement, and accordingly, the following day, when he went
home to Emfras, he was attacked by his old and relentless enemy the
Bengazi ague. For some time he was unable to leave the house, and was
even confined to his bed: his journal barely mentions this illness, but
his handwriting during this period shows very affectingly the weak and
exhausted state of his frame.
The rebel Fasil had no sooner heard of Ras Michael's return to Gondar
than he marched against the Agows. A bloody battle was fought at one of
their principal settlements, in which Fasil proved victorious. A council
was forthwith held, in which Ras Michael declared that, although the
rainy season was at hand, the king's forces should immediately take the
field.
Gusho and Powussen having sworn to Michael that they would never return
without Fasil's head, decamped next morning, but with the secret
determination to arrange a conspiracy against the ras.
While preparations for the war were making, the iteghe, or queen-mother,
seeing the declining state of Bruce's health, endeavoured to dissuade
him from the undertaking which was apparently always uppermost in his
thoughts. "See! see!" said the royal moralist, "how every day of our
life furnishes us with proofs of the perverseness and contradiction of
human nature: you are come from Jerusalem, through vile Turkish
governments, and hot, unwholesome climates, to see a river and a bog, no
part of which you can carry away, were it ever so valuable--of which
you have in your own country a thousand larger, better, and cleaner; and
you even take it ill when I discourage you from the pursuit of this
fancy, in which you are likely to perish, without your friends at home
ever hearing when or where the accident happened. While I, on the other
hand, the mother of kings, who have sat upon the throne of this country
more than thirty years, have for _my_ only wish, night and day, that,
after giving up everything in the world, I could be conveyed to the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and beg alms for my
subsistence all my life after, if I could only be buried at last in the
street within sight of the gate of that temple where our blessed Saviour
once lay!"
It may here be observed, that this feeling still exists very generally
and strongly throughout Abyssinia.
The greatest happiness which, in the opinion of the Abyssinians, can be
found in this life, is to reach Jerusalem. Burning with this desire,
great numbers of men and women continually bid adieu to their homes with
the view of performing this holy pilgrimage. The fate that awaits them
is a sad return for the mistaken goodness and piety of their intentions;
for in crossing the Red Sea they are almost always taken prisoners by
the Turks, and, far from happiness, Jerusalem, or their own country,
they thus end their days in misery and bondage.
FOOTNOTES:
[29] We are told in Mr. Salt's Journal, in vol. iii. of Lord Valentia's
Travels, that Guebra Mascal, this very person, was made Governor of
Tigre by Tecla Georgis in 1788, and, though deposed, died much regretted
in 1805.
[30] Powussen was a powerful chief of the Galla tribes; and the object
of Ras Michael in this alliance was to conciliate these formidable
barbarians.--_Am. Ed._