Bruce accompanies the King's Army, and returns with it to Gondar.
By the queen's permission, Bruce for a short time took up his abode at
Emfras, situated on the east side of Tzana, the greatest lake in
Abyssinia, being about fifty miles long, thirty-five broad, and
containing several islands.
On the 13th of May, 1770, the king's army approached the town of Emfras,
which in a few hours was completely deserted; for, although Ras Michael
was strict, and even just, in time of peace, yet it was known that, the
moment he took the field, like the tiger roused from his lair, he became
licentious and cruel. The Mohammedan town near the water was plundered
in a moment, and some of the straggling troops came even to Bruce's
residence to demand meat and drink. He therefore thought it prudent at
once to repair to the king, and accordingly, the next morning at
daybreak he mounted his horse, and in a few hours reached the tents of
his majesty and Ras Michael, which were placed about five hundred yards
asunder--no one daring to stand, or even pass between them.
Although Bruce's appointment gave him a right of access at all times to
the king, he did not choose at that moment to enter the royal presence,
but preferred going to the tent of his kind and lovely friend, Ozoro
Esther, where he was sure, at least, of getting a good breakfast and
meeting with a warm reception. As soon as Ozoro Esther saw Bruce, she
exclaimed, "There is Yagoube! there is the man I wanted!" The tent was
cleared of all but her women, and she began to tell Bruce of several
complaints which she seemed to think would, before the end of the
campaign, carry her to her grave. "It was easy to see," says Bruce,
"that they were of the slightest kind, though it would not have been
agreeable to have told her so, for she loved to be thought ill, to be
attended, condoled with, and flattered!" After giving to his interesting
patient both advice and prescriptions, the doors of the tent were thrown
open, and an abundant breakfast was displayed in wooden platters on the
carpet.
The Abyssinian gourmands say "that you should plant first and then
water," which means that nobody should drink till he has finished
eating. Stewed fowls, highly seasoned with Cayenne pepper, roasted
Guinea-hens, and the never-failing _brind_ or raw beef, were eaten,
therefore, in great quantities; after which wine, a beer called bouza,
and hydromel, were drunk in equal proportion. Ozoro Esther, leaning
forward from her sofa, kindly reminded her guests that their time was
short, and that the drum would soon give the signal for striking the
tents. From this scene Bruce escaped to the king, where he learned that
Fasil was preparing to repass the Nile into the country of the Galla.
The next morning the king marched, and then remained for two days
encamped on the banks of the Nile, where the following circumstance
occurred. Old Ras Michael had long endeavoured to get possession of
Welleta Israel, a sister of his own wife, Ozoro Esther. She now again
refused his unnatural addresses, on which he was heard to say that he
would order her eyes to be put out.
Welleta Israel was at this time in the camp with her sister Ozoro
Esther. In the evening a small tent suddenly appeared on the opposite
side of the Nile, which was not only both broad and deep, but, with its
prodigious mass of water, a number of large, slippery stones were
rolling along at the bottom of the river. In the dead of the night
Welleta Israel escaped, and in the morning she and the tent had equally
disappeared. To the astonishment of every one, it was found that she had
actually crossed the river, having fled from the vengeance of the ras
with an intrepid conductor, her own nephew.
The next morning the king crossed the Nile at a pass, and encamped on
the other side, near a small village called Tsoomwa, where his
fit-auraris had taken post early in the morning. The fit-auraris (which
means, literally, front of the army) is an officer in the Abyssinian
service, dependant only on the commander of the forces. He is always
selected from the bravest, most robust, and most experienced men in the
army. His duty is to mark out by a lance the position most proper for
the king's tent: he is expected also to know the depth of the rivers,
the state of the fords, the extent and thickness of the woods, and, in
short, to be acquainted generally with the geography and state of the
country. The governor of every province has an officer of this
description. The fit-auraris, therefore, may be compared to an officer
of the quarter-master-general's department in an European army.
From Tsoomwa the king marched to Derdera, and being now in the territory
of his enemy, the whole country was set on fire. Those who could not
escape were slain, and all sorts of wanton barbarities were perpetrated.
The king's passage of the Nile was the signal agreed upon for Bruce to
set out from Emfras to join him. Accompanied by Strates, a Greek, and
other attendants, he travelled for several days, encountering many
hardships and dangers: at last he met with his friend Negade Ras
Mohammed (the chief of the Moors of Gondar), to whom he expressed his
ardent desire to be enabled to visit the neighbouring cataract of the
Nile. "Unless you had told me you was resolved," said Mohammed, with a
grave, thoughtful air, though full of openness and candour, "I would, in
the first place, have advised you not to think of such an undertaking.
Again, if anything was to befall you, what should I answer to the king
and the iteghe? It would be said the Turk has betrayed him!"
"Mohammed," said Bruce, "you need not dwell on these professions; I have
lived twelve years with people of your religion, my life always in their
power, and I am now in your house, in preference to being in a tent out
of doors with Netcho and his Christians. I do not ask you whether I am
to go or not, for that is resolved on; and, though you are a Mohammedan
and I a Christian, no religion teaches a man to do evil. We both agree
in this, that God, who has protected me thus far, is capable to protect
me likewise at the cataract, and farther, if he has not determined
otherwise for my good. I only ask you, as a man who knows the country,
to give me your best advice how I may satisfy my curiosity in this point
with as little danger and as much expedition as possible, leaving the
rest to Heaven." Mohammed accordingly promised to send his son and four
of his servants to protect Bruce; he then took leave of him, saying with
much feeling, "Do not stay! return immediately, and--Ullah Kerim (God is
merciful)!"
Early next morning Bruce mounted his horse, and, accompanied by four
active, resolute young men, proceeded very rapidly. In a few hours they
came in sight of a considerable village; and, as they were proceeding to
call upon the chief or shum, they were surrounded by several of his
servants, who seemed desirous to pay them every possible respect.
Bruce happened to be on a very steep part of the hill, full of bushes;
and one of the shum's servants, dressed in the Arabian fashion, in a
bornoose, and turban striped white and green, led his horse, to prevent
his slipping, till he got into the path leading to the shum's door;
when, all of a sudden, the fellow exclaimed in Arabic, "Good Lord! to
see you here! Good Lord! to see you here!" Bruce asked him to whom he
was speaking, and what reason he had to wonder to see him there. The man
then told him that he was on board the Lion when Bruce's little vessel,
all covered with sail, passed with such briskness among the English
ships, which all fired their cannon; "and," added he, "everybody said,
there is a poor man making a great haste to be assassinated among those
wild people in Habbesh; and so we all thought." He concluded with
saying, "Drink! no force! Englishman very good! drink no good!"
As soon as the horses were fed, Bruce would stay no longer, but mounted
to proceed to the cataract. They first came to the bridge, which
consists of a single arch of about twenty-five feet broad, the
extremities of which were let into and strongly fastened to the solid
rock on both sides. The Nile here is confined between two rocks, and
runs in a deep ravine with great velocity, and a deep, roaring sound.
They were obliged to remount the stream above half a mile before they
came to the cataract, through trees and bushes of most beautiful
appearance.
"The cataract itself," says Bruce, "was the most magnificent sight that
ever I beheld. The height has been rather exaggerated. The missionaries
say the fall is about sixteen ells, or fifty feet. The measuring is
indeed very difficult; but, by the position of long sticks and poles of
different lengths, at different heights of the rock, from the water's
edge, I may venture to say, that it is nearer forty feet than any other
measure. The river had been considerably increased by rains, and fell in
one sheet of water, without any interval, above half an English mile in
breadth, with a force and noise that was truly terrible, and which
stunned, and made me, for a time, perfectly dizzy. A thick fume or haze
covered the fall all round, and hung over the course of the stream both
above and below, marking its track, though the water was not seen. The
river, though swelled with rain, preserved its natural clearness, and
fell, as far as I could discern, into a deep pool or basin in the solid
rock. It was a magnificent sight, that ages, added to the greatest
length of human life, would not efface or eradicate from my memory; it
struck me with a kind of stupor, and a total oblivion of where I was,
and of every other sublunary concern. It was one of the most
magnificent, stupendous sights in the creation.
"I measured the fall, and believe, within a few feet, it was the height
I have mentioned; but I confess I could at no time in my life less
promise upon precision; my reflection was suspended or subdued; and,
while in sight of the fall, I think I was under a temporary alienation
of mind; it seemed to me as if one element had broke loose from, and
become superior to, all laws of subordination; that the fountains of the
great deep were again extraordinarily opened, and the destruction of a
world was once more begun by the agency of water."
From the cataract Bruce returned to the house of his Moorish friend
Negade Ras Mohammed, and on the 22d of May he resumed his journey to
join the king. After passing a number of hills covered with trees and
shrubs of indescribable beauty and extraordinary fragrance, he
descended towards the passage of the Nile. Here he experienced the use
of Mohammed's servants, three of whom, each with a lance in one hand,
holding that of his companion in the other, waded across the violent
stream, sounding with the end of their lances every step they took.
"From the passage to Tsoomwa," says Bruce, "all the country was
forsaken, the grass trodden down, and the fields without cattle.
Everything that had life and strength fled before that terrible leader
(Ras Michael) and his no less terrible army: a profound silence was in
the fields around us, but no marks yet of desolation." After travelling
two days under a very hot sun, they came to a flat country, which, from
the constant rains that now fell, began to stand in large pools,
threatening to turn it all into a lake.
"We had hitherto," says Bruce, "lost none of the beasts of carriage, but
now were so impeded by streams, brooks, and quagmires, that we despaired
of ever bringing one of them to join the camp. The horses and beasts of
burden that carried the baggage of the army, and which had passed before
us, had spoiled every ford, and we saw to-day a number of dead mules
lying about the fields, the houses all reduced to ruins, and smoking
like so many kilns: even the grass or wild oats, which were grown very
high, were burned in large plots of a hundred acres together; everything
bore the marks that Ras Michael was gone before, while not a living
creature appeared in those extensive, fruitful, and once well-inhabited
plains. An awful silence reigned everywhere around, interrupted only at
times by thunder, now become daily, and the rolling of torrents,
produced by local showers in the hills, which ceased with the rain, and
were but the children of an hour. Amid this universal silence that
prevailed all over this scene of extensive desolation, I could not help
remembering how finely Mr. Gray paints the passage of such an army under
a leader like Ras Michael:
'Confusion in his van with Flight combined,
And Sorrow's faded form, and Solitude behind.'"
As they advanced, they passed a great number of dead mules and horses;
"and the hyaenas," says Bruce, "were so bold as only to leave the carcass
for a moment and snarl, as if they regretted to see any of us pass
alive."
"Since passing the Nile," continues Bruce, "I found myself more than
ordinarily depressed; my spirits were sunk almost to a degree of
despondency, and yet nothing had happened since that period more than
what was expected before. This disagreeable situation of mind continued
at night while I was in bed. The rashness and imprudence with which I
had engaged myself in so many dangers, without any necessity for so
doing; the little prospect of my being ever able to extricate myself out
of them, or even, if I lost my life, of the account being conveyed to my
friends at home; the great and unreasonable presumption which had led me
to think that, after every one that had attempted this voyage had
miscarried in it, I was the only person that was to succeed; all these
reflections upon my mind, when relaxed, dozing, and half oppressed with
sleep, filled my imagination with what I have heard other people call
the _horrors_, the most disagreeable sensation I ever was conscious of,
and which I then felt for the first time. Impatient of suffering any
longer, I leaped out of bed and went to the door of the tent, where the
outward air perfectly awakened me, and restored my strength and courage.
All was still; and at a distance I saw several bright fires, but lower
down, and more to the right than I expected, which made me think I was
mistaken in the situation of Karcagna. It was then near four in the
morning of the 25th. I called up my companions, happily buried in deep
sleep, as I was desirous, if possible, to join the king that day."
If the reader will but recall to mind the picture of Bruce's personal
appearance on his arrival at Jidda on the Red Sea--how much he was
shaken by the fatigue he had even at that period undergone, and will
then reflect on the wear and tear of constitution which he had since
suffered, he will comprehend, better than Bruce himself seems to have
done, why his spirits now began to fail him, and why, like an exhausted
taper, life burned dimly in the socket.
Bruce and his party were three or four miles from Derdera when the sun
rose: there had been little rain that night, and they found very few
torrents in their way; but it was slippery and troublesome walking, the
rich soil being trodden into mire. About seven o'clock they entered the
broad plain of Maitsha, leaving the lake behind them. Here great part of
the country was in tillage, and had been apparently covered with
plentiful crops; but all had been cut down by the army for their horses,
or, out of recklessness or vengeance, trodden under foot, so that a
green blade could scarcely be seen. They met a number of persons this
day, chiefly straggling soldiers, who, in parties of three and four,
were seeking, in all the bushes and concealed parts of the river, for
the miserable natives who had hidden themselves therein; and in this
dreadful occupation many had been successful. Some of them had three,
some four women, boys, and girls, whom, though Christians like
themselves, they were hurrying along, to sell to the Turks for a very
small price.
A little before nine Bruce heard the report of a gun, which gave his
party great joy, as they supposed the army not to be far off; a few
minutes after they heard several single shots, and in less than a
quarter of an hour a general firing began from right to left, which
ceased for an instant, and then was heard again as smart as ever.
Thinking that the army was beaten and retreating, Bruce and his party
mounted their horses to join it. Still it appeared to them scarcely
possible that Fasil should defeat Ras Michael so easily, and with so
short a resistance.
They had not gone far in the plain before, to their great surprise and
delight, they had a sight of the enemy. A multitude of deer, buffaloes,
boars, and various other wild beasts, alarmed by the noise of the army
as it advanced, had been gradually driven before it.
The whole country was overgrown with wild oats, many of the villages
having been burned the year before; and in this shelter the wild animals
had taken up their abode in very great numbers. As the army turned to
the left towards Karcagna, the silence and solitude on the opposite side
induced these animals to turn to the right, where the Nile makes a very
large semicircle, the Jemma being behind them, and much overflowed. When
the army, therefore, instead of marching southeasterly towards Samseen,
directed its course northwest, they fell in with these immense herds of
deer and other beasts, who, confined between the Nile, the Jemma, and
the lake, had no way to return but by the one they had come. Finding
themselves encountered by men in every direction, they became desperate;
and, not knowing what course to take, they at length fell an easy prey.
The soldiers, happy at the opportunity of procuring animal food, fired
upon the beasts wherever they appeared; and this continued for nearly an
hour. A numerous herd of the largest deer, called bohur, met Bruce and
his party at full speed, apparently intending to run them down; some
forced their way through, while others escaped across the plain.
The king and Ras Michael were in the most violent agitation of mind;
for, though the cause of the firing was before their eyes, it was at
this moment reported that Woodage Asahel had attacked the army; and this
occasioned a general panic, every one being convinced that he was not
far off. The firing, however, continued; the balls flew in every
direction; some few were killed, and many soldiers and horses were
wounded: still they continued to fire, while Ras Michael stood at the
door of his tent, crying, threatening, and tearing his gray locks at
finding that the army was not under his command. The king, however, now
ordered his tent to be pitched, his standard to be set up, his drums to
beat (the signal for encamping), and then the firing immediately ceased.
But it was a long while before all the army could be made to believe
that Woodage Asahel had not been engaged with some part of it that day.
Fortunately, he was not in a situation to avail himself of this
favourable opportunity; for if he had then attacked Michael on the
Samseen side with five hundred horse, the whole army would probably have
fled without resistance, and been entirely dispersed.
Bruce was making his way towards the king's tent when he was met by a
confidential servant of Kefla Yasous, who had that day commanded the
rear in the retreat; an experienced officer, brave even to a fault, but
full of mildness and humanity, and one of the most sensible and affable
men in the army. He sent to desire that Bruce would come to him alone.
This he promised to do; but he first wished to seek for Strates and
Sebastos, who were disabled on the road.
Bruce soon came up with them, and was exceedingly surprised to see them
both lying extended on the ground; Strates bleeding at a large wound in
his forehead, moaning in Greek to himself, and exclaiming that he had
broken his leg, which he pressed with both his hands below the knee,
apparently regardless of the gash in his head, which seemed to be a very
serious one; while Sebastos scarcely said anything, but sighed
piteously. Bruce asked him whether his arm was broke; he answered feebly
that he was dying, and that his legs, arms, and ribs were broken. The
by-standers, meanwhile, were bursting into fits of laughter.
Ali, Mohammed's servant, the only person who appeared concerned, said
that it was all owing to Prince George, who had frightened their mules.
This prince was fond of horsemanship; he rode with saddle, bridle, and
stirrups, like an Arab; and, though young, had become an excellent
horseman, superior to any in Abyssinia. The manner in which two Arabs
salute one another when they meet is this: the person inferior in rank
or age presents his gun at the other when at about five hundred yards'
distance, charged with powder only; he then, keeping his gun still
presented, gallops up to him, levels the muzzle, and fires just under
his friend's stirrups or the horse's belly. This the Arabs do,
sometimes twenty at a time; and one would think it impossible that they
should escape being bruised or burned. The prince had learned this
exercise from Bruce, and was highly delighted as he became perfect in
it. Bruce had procured him a short gun, with a lock and flint instead of
a match, and he shot not only true, but gracefully, on horseback. He had
been hunting deer all the morning; and hearing that his friend Bruce had
arrived, and seeing the two Greeks riding on their mules, he came
galloping furiously with his gun presented, and, not seeing Bruce, fired
a shot under the belly of Strates's mule, and then, turning like
lightning to the left, he was out of sight in a moment.
Never was compliment less relished or understood. Strates had a couple
of panniers upon his mule, containing two great earthen jars of
hydromel; Sebastos, the king's cook, had also sundry jars and pots,
besides three or four dozen drinking glasses; a carpet almost covered
the animals and the panniers; and upon the pack-saddles, between these
panniers, Strates and Sebastos rode. The mules, as well as their burden,
belonged to the king, and the men were permitted to ride only because
they were a little unwell. Strates went first, and, to save trouble, the
halter of Sebastos's mule was tied to his companion's saddle, and thus
the mules were fastened to, and followed one another. As soon as the
explosion took place, Strates's mule, not accustomed to such noisy
compliments, started, turned about, and threw his rider to the ground;
when, trampling upon him, the animal began to run off, and, winding the
halter around Sebastos, who was behind, dragged him to the ground among
some stones. Both the mules began kicking at each other, or, rather, at
each other's panniers and pack-saddles, until they broke everything that
was in them. Nor did the mischief end here; for, in running away, they
came like a bar-shot across the mule of Azage Tecla Haimanout, one of
the king's criminal judges, a very feeble old man, who found himself
suddenly thrown upon the ground and his ankle broke, so that he could
not walk alone for several months afterward. As soon as a tent was
pitched for the wounded, and Bruce had dressed Tecla Haimanout's foot,
he went to the tent of Kefla Yasous, who instantly rose up and embraced
him. He then told Bruce that Ras Michael had resolved to cross the Nile
immediately, and march back to Gondar; and that they were just
commencing this retrograde movement when they were interrupted by the
firing.
On the 26th of May, 1770, Bruce marched with the army towards the Nile.
About four o'clock they reached the banks of the river. "From the time
we had decamped from Congo," says Bruce, "it poured incessantly the most
violent rain we had ever seen, violent claps of thunder followed close
one upon another, almost without interval, accompanied with sheets of
lightning, which ran on the ground like water; the day was more than
commonly dark, as in an eclipse, and every hollow or footpath collected
a quantity of rain, which ran into the Nile in torrents."
The Abyssinian armies pass the Nile at all seasons, though the
appearance of the river is often terrific; but the Greeks crowded about
Bruce in despair, lamenting that they had ever entered the country. The
first person who crossed was a young officer, a relation of the king; he
walked in with great caution, marking a track for the king to pass; but
his horse, plunging into deep water, swam to the opposite side. The king
followed next; then came the old ras on his mule, with several of his
friends, swimming both with and without their horses, on each side of
him, in a manner that appeared quite wonderful. Bruce and the king's
troops now followed. The confusion which ensued it is impossible to
describe; mules, horses, and men stuck for some time in the muddy
landing-place, the latter screaming for help, when they were at length
all hurried away by the stream. Rafts were made for some of the women;
but the old ras sullenly insisted that Ozoro Esther, though she had
actually fainted several times, should cross in the same manner that he
had himself, and those who admired and pitied her swam by her side. It
was said that the old ras had even been heard to declare, that if she
could not pass, he had resolved to murder her, lest she should fall into
the hands of his enemy, Fasil.
Two days after the passage of the river, the ras, who, although he was
one of the most aged and infirm men in the army, seemed to require
neither sleep nor rest, engaged and defeated Fasil in the battle of
Limjour; in consequence of which, Fasil, the following day, sent to
inform Michael of the manner in which the king had been betrayed by
Gusho and Powussen; and, offering his submission, he added, "that he
never again intended to appear in arms against the king; that he would
hold his government under him, and pay his contributions regularly."
Fasil, after this submission, was appointed governor of Damot and
Maitsah.
"Late in the evening," says Bruce, "Ozoro Esther came to the king's
tent. She had been ill and alarmed, as she well might, at the passage of
the Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than ordinary; she
was dressed all in white, and I thought I seldom had seen so handsome a
woman. The king had sent ten oxen to old Ras Michael, but he had given
twenty to Ozoro Esther; and it was to thank him for this extraordinary
mark of favour that she had come to visit him in his tent. I had for
some time past, indeed, thought they were not insensible to the merit of
each other. Upon her thanking the young king for the distinction he had
shown her, 'Madam,' said he, 'your husband, Ras Michael, is intent upon
employing, in the best way possible for my service, those of the army
that are strong and vigorous; you, I am told, bestow your care on the
sick and disabled, and by your attention they are restored to their
former health and activity. The strong, active soldier eats the cows
that I have sent to the ras; the enfeebled and sick recover upon yours,
for which reason I sent you a double portion, that you may have it in
your power to do double good.'"
Bruce had now violent threatenings of the ague, and retired to bed full
of reflections on the extraordinary events that in a few hours had
crowded upon one another.
On the 30th of May he reached Gondar, and on the 3d of June the army was
encamped on the river below the town. "From the time we left Dingleber,"
says Bruce, "some one or other of the ras's confidential friends had
arrived every day. Several of the great officers of state reached us at
the Kemona; many others met us at Abba Samuel. I did not perceive that
the news they brought increased the spirits either of the king or the
ras: the soldiers, however, were all contented, because they were at
home; but the officers, who saw farther, wore very different
countenances, especially those that were of Amhara. I, in particular,
had very little reason to be pleased; for, after having undergone a
constant series of fatigues, dangers, and expenses, I was returned to
Gondar, disappointed of my views in arriving at the source of the Nile,
without any other acquisition than a violent ague. The place where that
river rises remained still as great a secret as it had been ever since
the catastrophe of Phaeton:
"Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem,
Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet."
OVID, _Metam._, lib. ii.
"The frighted Nile ran off, and under ground
Concealed his head, nor can it yet be found."
ADDISON--_Trans._
The king had heard that Gusho and Powussen, and all the troops of
Belessen and Lasta, were ready to fall upon him in Gondar as soon as the
rains should have so swelled the Tacazze that the army could not retire
into Tigre; and it was now thought that the king's proclamation in
favour of Fasil, especially in giving him Gojam, would hasten the
movements of the rebels.
"As I had never despaired," says Bruce, "some way or other, of arriving
at the fountains of the Nile, from which we were not fifty miles distant
when we turned back at Karcagna, so I never neglected to improve every
means that held out to me the least probability of accomplishing this
end. I had been very attentive and serviceable to Fasil's servants while
in the camp. I spoke greatly of their master; and, when they went away,
gave each of them a small present for himself, and a trifle also for
Fasil. They had, on the other hand, been very importunate with me, as a
physician, to prescribe something for a cancer on the lip, as I
understood it to be, with which Welleta Yasous, Fasil's principal
general, was afflicted.
"I had been advised by some of my medical friends to carry along with me
a preparation of hemlock or cicuta, recommended by Dr. Stork, a
physician at Vienna. A considerable quantity had been sent me from
France by commission, with directions how to use it. To keep on the safe
side, I prescribed small doses to Welleta Yasous; being much more
anxious to preserve myself from reproach, than warmly solicitous about
the cure of my unknown patient. I gave him positive advice to avoid
eating raw meat, to keep to a milk diet, and drink plentifully of whey
when he used this medicine. They were overjoyed at having succeeded so
well in their commission, and declared before the king 'that Fasil,
their master, would be more pleased with receiving a medicine that would
restore Welleta Yasous to health, than with the magnificent appointments
the king's goodness had bestowed upon him.' 'If it is so,' said I, 'in
this day of grace I will ask two favours.' 'And that's a rarity,' says
the king; 'come, out with them. I don't believe anybody is desirous you
should be refused; I certainly am not; only I bar one of them--you are
not to relapse into your usual despondency, and talk of going home.'
'Well, sir,' said I, 'I obey; and that is not one of them. They are
these: You shall give me, and oblige Fasil to ratify it, the village
Geesh, and the source where the Nile rises, that I may be from thence
furnished with money for myself and servants; it shall stand me instead
of Tangouri, near Emfras, and in value it is not worth so much. The
second is, that when I shall see that it is in his power to carry me to
Geesh, and show me those sources, Fasil shall do it upon my request,
without fee or reward, and without excuse or evasion.'
"They all laughed at the easiness of the request; all declared that this
was nothing, and wished to do ten times as much. The king said, 'Tell
Fasil I do give the village of Geesh, and those fountains he is so fond
of, to Yagoube and his posterity for ever, never to appear under another
name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him or exchanged, either
in peace or war. Do you swear this to him in the name of your master.'
Upon which they took the two forefingers of my right hand, and one after
the other laid the two forefingers of their right hand across them, then
kissed them--a form of swearing used there, at least among those that
call themselves Christians. And as Azage Kyrillos, the king's secretary
and historian, was then present, the king ordered him to enter the gift
in the deftar or revenue-book, where the taxes and revenue of the king's
lands are registered. 'I will write it,' says the old man, 'in letters
of gold; and, poor as I am, will give him a village four times better
than either Geesh or Tangouri, if he will take a wife and stay among us,
at least till my eyes are closed.' It will be easily guessed this
rendered the conversation a cheerful one. Fasil's servants retired, to
set out the next day, gratified to their utmost wish; and, as soon as
the king was in bed, I went to my apartment likewise."
Bruce was now legally wedded to the "coy fountains" of the Nile; but,
like the young Eastern prince, he was yet doomed to linger, till
relentless Time should permit him to view the object of his warmest
affection, the sole subject of his dreams and thoughts.
Very different notions, however, were occupying Michael and his
officers. They were afraid to trust Fasil, and, besides, he could do
them no service; the rain had set in, and he was gone home; the western
part of the kingdom was ready to rise against the ras; Woggora also, to
the north, immediately in Fasil's way, was in arms, and impatient to
revenge the severities they had suffered when Michael first marched to
Gondar; and the next morning the whole army was in motion.
Bruce had a short interview with the king. He frankly told him that he
was weak in health, and quite unprepared to attend him to Tigre; that
his heart was bent on accomplishing the only object which had brought
him into Abyssinia; and that, should he be disappointed in effecting
that object, he could only return to his country in disgrace. The young
king appeared affected by Bruce's statement, and, with great kindness,
desired him to remain for the present with the iteghe at Koscam.
Ras Michael having in vain urged certain brutal measures of violence on
the king, now retired in disgust into his own province of Tigre. On the
10th of June, Gusho and Powussen entered Gondar; and for several months,
the capital, as well as the country of Abyssinia, was convulsed with a
series of petty disturbances.