Bruce returns to Gondar.--His Residence there.--Accompanies the
King in the Battles of Serbraxos.--Revolution at Gondar.--Defeat
and Overthrow of Ras Michael.--Bruce returns to Gondar, and
succeeds in obtaining Permission to leave Abyssinia.
On the 10th of November, 1770, Bruce left Geesh to return to Gondar, and
on the evening of the 11th he reached the house of Shakala Welled Amlac,
to whom he had been addressed by Fasil. This singular character was from
home; but his wife, mother, and sisters received Bruce kindly, knowing
him by report; and, without waiting for Amlac, a cow was instantly
slaughtered.
The venerable mistress of this worthy family, Welled Amlac's mother, was
a very stout, cheerful woman, and bore no signs of infirmity or old age:
"but his wife," says Bruce, "was, on the contrary, as arrant a hag as
ever acted the part on the stage; very active, however, and civil, and
speaking very tolerable Amharic." His two sisters, about sixteen or
seventeen, were really handsome; but Fasil's wife, who was there, was
the most beautiful and graceful of them all: she seemed to be scarcely
eighteen, tall, thin, and of a very agreeable carriage and manners. At
first sight, a cast of melancholy seemed to hang upon her countenance,
but this soon vanished, and she became very courteous, cheerful, and
conversible.
"Fasil's two sisters," says Bruce, "had been out, helping my servants in
disposing the baggage; but when they had pitched my tent, and were about
to lay the mattress for sleeping on, the eldest of these interrupted
them, and, not being able to make herself understood by the Greeks, she
took it up and threw it out of the tent door, while no abuse or
opprobrious names were spared by my servants; one of whom came to tell
me her impudence, and that they believed we were got into a house of
thieves and murderers. To this I answered by a sharp reproof, desiring
them to conform to everything the family ordered them.
"Immediately after this Welled Amlac arrived, and brought the
disagreeable news that it was impossible to proceed to the ford of the
Abay, as two of the neighbouring shums were at variance about their
respective districts, and in a day or two would decide their dispute by
blows."
Satisfied that Bruce understood him, Amlac put on the most cheerful
countenance. Another cow was killed, great plenty of hydromel produced,
and he prepared to regale his guests as sumptuously as possible, after
the manner of the country. "We were there," says Bruce, "as often
before, obliged to overcome our repugnance to eating raw flesh. Shakala
Welled Amlac set us the example, entertained us with the stories of his
hunting elephants, and feats in the last wars, mostly roguish ones. The
room where we were (which was indeed large, and contained himself,
mother, wife, sisters, his horses, mules, and servants, night and day)
was all hung round with the trunks of these elephants, which he had
brought from the neighbouring Kolla, near Guesgue, and killed with his
own hands; for he was one of the boldest and best horsemen in Abyssinia,
and perfectly master of his arms.
"This Polyphemus feast being finished, the horn of hydromel went briskly
about. Welled Amlac's eldest sister, whose name was Melectanea, took a
particular charge of me, and I began to find the necessity of retiring
and going to bed while I was able."
The next day Bruce observed that Fasil's wife still appeared in low
spirits; he therefore conversed with her. She said her husband was at
Gondar; that it was the custom of the country that the conqueror should
marry the wives of his enemies, and in grief she added, "Fasil will be
married, therefore, to Michael's wife, Ozoro Esther." Bruce started at
this declaration, remembering that he was losing his time, forgetful of
a promise he had made that he would return as soon as possible to
Gondar. He therefore resolved to depart at once. "In the afternoon," he
says, "we distributed our presents among the ladies. Fasil's wife was
not forgot; and his sister, the beautiful Melectanea, was covered with
beads, handkerchiefs, and ribands of all colours. Fasil's wife, on my
first request, gave me a lock of her fine hair from the root, which has
ever since, and at this day does, suspend a plummet of an ounce and a
half at the index of my three-feet quadrant."
Accounts being thus settled, Bruce resumed his journey, crossed the Nile
at Delakus, and proceeded till three quarters past seven, when he
alighted at Googue, a considerable village, and, as he had already
several times mistaken his way in the dark, he resolved to go no
farther. "We found the people of Googue," says Bruce, "the most savage
and inhospitable we had yet met with. Upon no account would they suffer
us to enter their houses, and we were obliged to remain without the
greatest part of the night. At last they carried us to a house of good
appearance, but refused absolutely to give us meat for ourselves or
horses; and, as we had not force, we were obliged to be content. It had
rained violently in the evening, and we were all wet. We contented
ourselves with lighting a large fire in the middle of the house, which
we kept burning all night, as well for guard as for drying ourselves,
though we little knew at the time that it was probably the only means of
saving our lives; for, in the morning, we found the whole village sick
of the fever, and two families had died out of the house where these
people had put us." This fever prevails in Abyssinia in all low grounds
and plains, in the neighbourhood of all rivers which run in valleys: it
is not in all places equally dangerous; but on the banks and
neighbourhood of the Tacazze it is particularly fatal, the valley where
that river runs being very low and sultry, and also being full of large
trees. It does not prevail on the high grounds, or mountains, or in
places much exposed to the air.
On the 14th, at three quarters past seven in the morning, Bruce left the
inhospitable village of Googue; and for four days, under a burning sun,
continued his journey towards Gondar, where his servants arrived on the
17th of November. "Two things," he says, "chiefly occupied my mind, and
prevented me from accompanying my servants and baggage into Gondar. The
first was my desire of instantly knowing the state of Ozoro Esther's
health: the second was to avoid Fasil till I knew a little more about
Ras Michael and the king." Bruce proceeded, therefore, to Koscam, and
went straight to the iteghe's apartment, but was not admitted, as she
was at her devotions. In crossing one of the courts, however, he met a
slave of Ozoro Esther, who, instead of answering the question he put to
her, gave a loud shriek, and ran to inform her mistress. Bruce hastened
to Ozoro Esther; he found her considerably recovered, her anxiety about
Fasil having ceased.
During Bruce's absence a great revolution had been effected at Gondar.
The reader must be reminded, that just before Bruce landed at Masuah,
Ras Michael had caused one king to be assassinated and his successor to
be poisoned. From these facts, and from the whole tenour of his conduct,
the ras was universally hated and feared; and King Tecla Haimanout
suffering from the unpopularity of his minister, his throne, during
Bruce's visit to Geesh, had been usurped by Socinios, who immediately
appointed Fasil to be ras, giving him the command of every post of
importance in the government of Abyssinia.
Still the people loved King Tecla Haimanout as much as they secretly
detested Socinios; and Fasil, sensible of this feeling, and dreading the
displeasure of Ras Michael, at last declared his intention of restoring
Tecla Haimanout to the throne; and, encamping within two miles of
Gondar, he invited all who wished to escape the vengeance of Michael to
join his standard. Socinios fled; but he was taken by some soldiers,
who, after stripping him naked, gave him a good horse, and dismissed
him, like Mazeppa, to seek his own fortune.
As the servant of Ozoro Esther, Bruce proceeded to join the king's army;
and, on arriving at Mariam Ohha, where it was encamped, he waited on Ras
Michael, who admitted him as soon as he was announced. On presenting
himself, Bruce kissed the ground, though Michael did everything in his
power to prevent it; many compliments passed, and the ras recommended
Bruce, before all his attendants, to go at once to the king. "I had
been," says Bruce, "jostled and almost squeezed to death attempting to
enter, but large room was made me for retiring. The reception I had met
with was the infallible rule according to which the courtiers were to
speak to me from that time forward. Man is the same creature everywhere,
although different in colour; the court of London and that of Abyssinia
are, in their principles, one."
The king was surrounded by thousands of people; for the inhabitants of
Gondar and all the neighbouring towns had assembled, fearing lest Ras
Michael should consider their absence as a proof of adherence to the
usurper Socinios. Bruce was very kindly received by his majesty, who had
always expressed towards him feelings of esteem and regard. He kissed
his hand, and, says Bruce, "as I took leave of him, I could not help
reflecting as I went, that of the vast multitude then in my sight, I was
perhaps the only one destitute of hope or fear."
The hill before him was actually covered with people, and from the white
cotton garments in which they were dressed, it appeared like snow. It
was in the month of December, which, in Abyssinia, is the most agreeable
time of the year. The sun and the rains were in the southern tropic, and
the whole scene had the appearance of a party of pleasure assembled to
convoy the king to his capital. The priests from all the neighbouring
convents, dressed in yellow or white cotton, and holding crosses in
their hands, gave variety to the picture.
Ras Michael had brought with him about twenty thousand men from Tigre,
the best soldiers in the empire; about six thousand were armed with
muskets, about twelve thousand had lances and shields, and the rest were
mounted on horses, and had been employed in scouring the country, to
collect such unhappy people as were destined for public example.
On the morning of the 23d of December, the ras ordered the signal to be
given for striking the tents; when the whole army was instantly in
motion, and at night it encamped on the banks of the river just below
Gondar. In consequence of this movement, a report was spread that the
king and Ras Michael had determined to burn the town, and put all the
inhabitants to the sword, which occasioned the utmost consternation, and
caused many to fly to Fasil.
"As for me," says Bruce, "the king's behaviour showed me plainly all was
not right, and an accident in the way confirmed it. He had desired me to
ride before him, and show him the horse I had got from Fasil, which was
then in great beauty and order, and which I had kept purposely for him.
It happened that, crossing a deep bed of a brook, a plant of the
kantuffa hung across it. I had upon my shoulders a white goat-skin, of
which it did not take hold; but the king, who was dressed in the habit
of peace, his long hair floating all around his face, wrapped up in his
mantle or thin cotton cloak so that nothing but his eyes could be seen,
was paying more attention to the horse than to the branch of kantuffa
beside him; it took first hold of his hair, and the fold of the cloak
that covered his head, then spread itself over his whole shoulder in
such a manner that, notwithstanding all the help that could be given
him, and that I had, at first seeing it, cut the principal bough asunder
with my knife, no remedy remained but he must throw off the upper
garment, and appear in the under one or waistcoat, with his head and
face bare before all the spectators.
"This is accounted great disgrace to a king, who always appears covered
in public. However, he did not seem to be ruffled, nor was there
anything particular in his countenance more than before; but with great
composure, and in rather a low voice, he called twice, 'Who is the shum
of this district?' Unhappily, he was not far off. A thin old man of
sixty, and his son about thirty, came trotting, as their custom is,
naked to their girdle, and stood before the king, who was by this time
quite clothed again. What had struck the old man's fancy I know not, but
he passed my horse laughing, and seemingly wonderfully content with
himself. I could not help considering him as a type of mankind in
general, never more confident and careless than when on the brink of
destruction. The king asked if he was shum of that place. He answered in
the affirmative, and added, which was not asked him, that the other was
his son.
"There is always near the king when he marches an officer called Kanitz
Kitzera, the executioner of the camp; he has upon the tore of his saddle
a quantity of thongs made of bull hide, rolled up very artificially;
this is called the tarade. The king made a sign with his head and
another with his hand, without speaking; and two loops of the tarade
were instantly thrown round the shum and his son's neck, and they were
both hoisted upon the same tree, the tarade cut, and the end made fast
to a branch. They were both left hanging, but I thought so awkwardly
that they would not die for some minutes, and might surely have been
saved had any one dared to cut them down; but fear had fallen upon every
person who had not attended the king to Tigre."[34] This was but an omen
of the executions which were immediately to follow.
In the evening of the 23d came Sanuda, the person who had made Socinios
king, and who had been a ras under him: he was received with great marks
of favour, in reward for the treacherous part he had acted. He brought
with him, as prisoners, Guebra Denghel, the ras's son-in-law, one of the
best and most amiable men in Abyssinia, but who had unfortunately
embraced the wrong side of the question; and with him Sebaat Laab and
Kefla Mariam, both men of great importance in Tigre. These were, one
after the other, thrown violently on their faces before the king.
About two hours later came Ayto Aylo, whom the king had named governor
of Begemder: he brought with him Chremation, brother to Socinios, and
Abba Salama, Bruce's constant enemy, and who had even thrice endeavoured
to have him assassinated. While they were untying Abba Salama, Bruce
went into the presence-chamber and stood behind the king's chair. Very
soon afterward Aylo's men brought in their prisoners, and, as is usual,
threw them down violently with their faces to the ground; and, their
hands being bound behind them, they had a very rude fall.
"Abba Salama rose in a violent passion; he struggled to loosen his
hands, to perform the act of denouncing excommunication, which is by
lifting the right hand and extending the forefinger; finding that
impossible, he cried out, 'Unloose my hands, or you are all
excommunicated.' It was with difficulty he could be prevailed upon to
hear the king, who, with great courage and composure, or rather
indifference, said to him, 'You are the first ecclesiastical officer in
my household; you are the third in the whole kingdom; but I have not
yet learned you ever had power to curse your sovereign or exhort his
subjects to murder him. You are to be tried for this crime by the judges
to-morrow; so prepare to show in your defence upon what precepts of
Christ or his apostles, or upon what part of the general councils, you
found your title to do this.'
"'Let my hands be unloosed,' cried the churchman, violently; 'I am a
priest, a servant of God; and they have power, said David, to put kings
in chains and nobles in irons. And did not Samuel hew king Agag to
pieces before the Lord! I excommunicate you, Tecla Haimanout!' He was
proceeding in this wild strain, when Tecla Mariam, son of the king's
secretary, a young man, striking him so violently on the face that his
mouth gushed out with blood, said, 'What! this in the king's presence?'
Upon which both Chremation and Abba Salama were hurried out of the tent
without being able to say more; indeed, the blow seemed so much to have
disconcerted the latter that it deprived him of the power of speaking.
"In Abyssinia it is death at the time to strike, or lift the hand to
strike, before the king; but in this case the provocation was considered
so great, so sudden and unexpected, that a slight reproof was ordered to
be given to young Tecla Mariam; but he lost no favour for what he had
done either with the king, Michael, or the people.
"When the two prisoners were carried before the ras, he refused to see
them, but loaded them with irons, and committed them to close custody."
On the 24th the drum beat, and the army was on its march by dawn of day;
they halted a little after passing the rough ground, and then doubled
their ranks, and formed into close order of battle, the king leading the
centre; a few of his black horse were in two lines immediately before
him, their spears pointed upward, his officers and nobility on each
side, and behind him the rest of the cavalry distributed in two wings.
Prince George and Ayto Confu, son of Ras Michael, commanded two small
bodies, not exceeding a hundred, who scoured the country, sometimes in
front and sometimes on the flank; they marched close and in great order,
and every one trembled for the fate of Gondar. They passed the
Mohammedan town and encamped upon the river Kahha, in front of the
market-place.
There were at Gondar a set of mummers, a mixture of buffoons and
ballad-singers. Upon all public occasions, these people run about the
streets; and while the poor wretches, men and women, to the number of
thirty or upward, were now in a song celebrating Michael's return to
Gondar, the Sire horse, on a signal made by the ras, turned short round,
fell upon them, and cut them to pieces. In less than two minutes they
were all laid dead upon the field, excepting one young man, who, though
mortally wounded, had strength enough to reach within twenty yards of
the king's horse, where he fell lifeless without speaking a word.
It was about nine o'clock in the morning when Bruce entered Gondar, and
every person he met in the street wore the countenance of a condemned
malefactor. The ras went immediately to the palace with the king, who
retired, as usual, to a kind of cage or lattice window, where he always
sits unseen when in council. Bruce proceeded to the council chamber,
where four of the judges were seated. Abba Salama was brought to the
foot of the table without irons, at perfect liberty. The accuser for the
king opened the charge against him with great force and eloquence. He
stated, one by one, the crimes which he had committed at different
periods; concluding the catalogue with an accusation of high treason, or
cursing the king, and absolving his subjects from their allegiance,
which he declared to be the greatest crime that human nature was capable
of, involving in its consequences all other crimes. Abba Salama did not
often interrupt him, but to every new charge he roughly pleaded not
guilty, by exclaiming, "You lie." "It is a lie."
"Being desired to answer in his own defence, he commenced with great
dignity, and with an air of superiority very different from his
behaviour in the king's tent the day before. He smiled, and made
extremely light of the charges made against him respecting women, which
he said he would neither confess nor deny; but would only observe, that
these might be crimes among the Franks (looking at Bruce), but were not
so among the Christians of that country, who lived under a double
dispensation, the law of Moses and the law of Christ. He went roundly
into the murder of King Joas, and of his two brothers, Adigo and Aylo,
on the mountain of Wechne, and he openly charged Michael with that
crime, as also with poisoning the late king, Hatze Hannes, father of the
present king."
The old ras pretended not to hear this, by sometimes speaking to people
standing behind him, and sometimes by reading a paper; but he asked
Bruce, who was standing immediately behind his chair, in a low voice,
"What is the punishment in your country for such a crime?" Bruce
replied, "High treason is punished with death in all the countries I
have ever known." "This," says Bruce, "I owed to Abba Salama, and it was
not long before I had my return."
Abba Salama, pointing to Bruce, then accused the iteghe of living with
Catholics; and he added, that it was against the law of the country that
Bruce should be suffered to remain; that he was accursed, and ought to
be stoned as an enemy to the Virgin Mary. Here the ras interrupted him,
by saying "Confine yourself to your own defence; clear yourself first,
and then accuse any one you please."
When Abba Salama had concluded, the king's secretary sent up to the
window the substance of his defence; the criminal, in the mean time, was
carried at some distance to the other end of the room, and the judges
deliberated while the king was reading. Very few words were said among
the rest; the ras himself was all the time speaking to different people.
After he had concluded his conversation with the by-standers, he called
upon the youngest judge to give his opinion, which he did as follows:
"He is guilty, and should die;" the same said all the officers, and
after them the judges.
The following sentence was therefore pronounced upon him by the king:
"He is guilty, and _shall_ die _the death_. The hangman _shall_ hang him
upon a tree _to-day_." The unfortunate Acab Saat was immediately hurried
away by the guards to the place of execution, which is a large tree
before the king's gate; where, uttering, to the very last moment, curses
against Ras Michael, the king, and the abuna, he was hanged in the very
robes in which he used to sit before the king, without one badge of his
civil or sacerdotal pre-eminence having been taken off from him. In
going to the tree, he recollected that he had four hundred cows, which
he bequeathed to priests who were to say prayers for his soul; but the
old ras ordered them to be brought to Gondar and distributed among the
soldiers.
Socinios's brother was next called; and, half dead with fear, he also
was sentenced to be hanged. "I went home," says Bruce, "and my house
being but a few yards from the palace, I passed the two unfortunate
people hanging upon the same branch."
The next morning came on the trials of Guebra Denghel, Sebaat Laab, and
Kefla Mariam: the ras claimed his right of trying these three at his own
house, as they were all subjects of his government of Tigre. Guebra
Denghel behaved with great unconcern, declaring that his only reason for
taking up arms against the king was, that he saw no other way of getting
rid of Michael's tyranny, and his insatiable thirst of money and power.
He wished the king to know that this was his sole motive for rebellion;
and declared that, unless it had been to make this declaration, he would
not have opened his mouth before so partial and unjust a judge as
Michael.
Welleta Selasse, his only daughter, hearing the danger her father was
in, broke suddenly out of Ozoro Esther's apartment, which was
contiguous, and rushing into the council-room at the instant he was
condemned to die, she threw herself at the ras's feet in an attitude
and with an expression of the utmost distress; but the old tyrant
spurned her away with his foot, and then ordered her father to be
instantly hanged. Welleta Selasse fell speechless to the ground. The
father, forgetful of his own situation, flew to his daughter's
assistance, and they were both dragged out at separate doors--the one to
death, the other to after sufferings more dreadful than death itself;
for, though not seventeen, the ras, who was her grandfather, after
having deprived her of her parent, so alarmed her by his brutality,
that, in despair and agony of mind, she swallowed poison! "I saw her,"
says Bruce, "in her last moments, but too late to give her any
assistance; and she had told her women-servants and slaves that she had
taken arsenic, having no other way of escaping from the persecution of
the murderer of her father."
The next to be tried were Kefla Mariam and Sebaat Laab, who were
condemned by the ras to lose their eyes--a very common punishment in
Abyssinia to this day.
To avoid shocking the reader with any farther details of these horrid
cruelties, it will only be observed, that blood continued to be spilt as
water, day after day, till the Epiphany; priests, laymen, young men and
old, noble and vile, daily found their end by the knife or the cord,
while their bodies were hewn to pieces and scattered about the streets.
"I was almost driven to despair," says Bruce, "at seeing my hunting
dogs, twice let loose by the carelessness of my servants, bringing into
the courtyard the heads and arms of slaughtered men, and which I could
no way prevent but by the destruction of the dogs themselves; the
quantity of carrion, and the stench of it, brought down the hyaenas in
hundreds from the neighbouring mountains; and, as few people in Gondar
go out after it is dark, they enjoyed the streets by themselves, and
seemed ready to dispute the possession of the city with the inhabitants.
Often, when I went home late from the palace (and it was this time the
king chose chiefly for conversation), though I had but to pass the
corner of the market-place before the palace, had lanterns with me, and
was surrounded with armed men, I heard them grunting by twos and threes,
so near me as to be afraid they would take some opportunity of seizing
me by the leg; a pistol would have frightened them, and made them
speedily run, and I constantly carried two loaded at my girdle; but the
discharging a pistol in the night would have alarmed every one that
heard it in the town, and it was not now the time to add anything to
people's fears. I at last scarcely ever went out, and nothing occupied
my thoughts but how to escape from this bloody country by the way of
Sennaar, and how I could best exert my power and influence over my
faithful friend Yasine, at Ras el Feel, to pave my way, by assisting me
to pass the desert into Atbara."
The king, missing Bruce for some days at the palace, and hearing he had
been at Ras Michael's, began to inquire who had been with him. Ayto
Confu soon found Yasine, who informed him of the whole matter; upon
which Bruce was sent for to the palace, where he found the king, with no
one about him but menial servants. He immediately remarked to Bruce that
he looked very ill, which was indeed the case, as he had scarcely ate or
slept since the king saw him last, or even for some days before. The
king asked him, in a condoling tone, "What ailed him?" observing that,
"besides looking sick, he seemed as if something had ruffled him, and
put him out of humour." Bruce replied, that what he observed was true:
that, coming across the market-place, he had seen Za Mariam, the ras's
doorkeeper, with three men bound, one of whom he hacked to pieces in his
presence; that, as he was running across the place with his hand to his
nose, Mariam called to him to stop till he should despatch the other
two, as he wanted to speak to him; that the soldiers immediately fell
upon the two men, whose cries, he said, were still remaining in his
ears; that the hyaenas at night would scarcely suffer him to pass in the
streets as he returned from the palace; and that the dogs fled into his
house to eat pieces of human flesh at leisure.
"Although," says Bruce, "the king's intention was to look grave, I saw
it was all he could do to stifle a laugh at grievances he thought very
little of." "The men you saw with Za Mariam just now," says he, "are
rebels, sent by Kefla Yasous for examples: he has forced a junction with
Tecla and Welleta Michael in Samen, and a road is now open through
Woggora, and plenty established in Gondar. The men you saw suffer were
those that cut off the provisions from coming into the city; they have
occasioned the death of many poor people: as for the hyaena, he never
meddles with living people; he seeks carrion, and will soon clear the
streets of these encumbrances that so much offend you. People say they
are the Falasha of the mountains, who take that shape of the hyaena, and
come down into the town to eat Christian flesh in the night." "If they
depend upon Christian flesh, and eat no other," said Bruce, "perhaps the
hyaenas of Gondar will be the worst fed of any in the world!" "True,"
said the king, bursting out into loud laughter, "that may be; few of
those that die by the knife anywhere are Christians, or have any
religion at all; why then should you mind what they suffer?" "Sir," said
Bruce, "that is not my sentiment; if you were to order a dog to be
tortured to death before me every morning, I could not bear it. The
carcasses of Abba, Salama, Guebra Denghel, and the rest, are still
hanging where they were upon the tree; you smell the stench of them at
the palace gate, and will soon, I apprehend, in the palace itself. This
cannot be pleasant, and I do assure you it must be very pernicious to
your health, if there was nothing else in it. At the battle of Fagitta,
though you had no intention to retreat, yet you went half a day
backward, to higher ground and purer air, to avoid the stench of the
field; but here in the city you heap up carrion about your houses, where
is your continual residence." "The ras has given orders," said the king,
gravely, "to remove all the dead bodies before the Epiphany, when we go
down to keep that festival, and wash away all this pollution in the
clear-running water of the Kahha; but tell me, Yagoube, is it really
possible that you can take such things as these so much to heart? You
are a brave man: we all know you are, and have seen it: we have all
blamed you, stranger as you are in this country, for the little care you
take of yourself; and yet about these things you are as much affected as
the most cowardly woman, girl, or child could be."
"Sir," said Bruce, "I do not know if I am brave or not; but if to see
men tortured or murdered, or to live among dead bodies without concern,
be courage, I have it not, nor desire to have it."
In the eager expression of these manly sentiments, which sparkle in the
moral darkness amid which they appear, Bruce was interrupted by the
arrival of a young nobleman, who, according to custom, threw himself on
his face before the king.
Ras Michael was now announced, and Bruce made haste to get away. In the
antechamber he passed the ras, attended by a great many people, and
endeavoured to slide by him in the crowd; but he noticed him, and called
him before him. Bruce kissed his hands, and the ras kept hold of one of
them, saying, "My son is ill; Ozoro Esther has just sent to me, and
complains you visit her now no more. Go see the boy, and don't neglect
Ozoro Esther; she is one of your best friends." Bruce inquired if she
was at Gondar, and was answered, "No; she is at Koscam." He therefore
went home to plan his route to Sennaar, and to prepare letters for Hagi
Belal, a merchant there, to whom he was recommended from Arabia Felix.
On the 31st of December, 1770, the last day of a year which, in the
history of Bruce's life, had been so eventful, he went to Koscam. The
next night, the 1st of January, 1771, Bruce was desired to wait on the
king; and, after a very long discussion, he at last succeeded in
obtaining permission to send letters to Sennaar, arranging his departure
from Abyssinia, under a solemn engagement, that, as soon as he should
recover his health in England, he would return with as many of his
brethren and family as possible, with horses, muskets, and bayonets.
"This permission," says Bruce, "greatly composed my mind at the time, as
I now no longer considered myself as involved in that ancient and
general rule of the country--_never to allow a stranger to quit
Abyssinia_."
While the king was keeping the festival of the Epiphany, he received a
visit from the son of the governor of Shoa, who came to offer personal
service, a present of five hundred ounces of gold, and one thousand
horsemen, ready equipped. This person had heard from some priests in his
country that there was a very strange white man in favour with the king
at Gondar, who could do everything but raise the dead: he accordingly
requested to be made acquainted with Bruce, who, by the king's orders,
waited upon him every morning; and, availing himself of this favourable
opportunity, Bruce managed to obtain from him the history of the
Abyssinian kings who had reigned in Shoa, which curious document he
afterward brought with him to Europe. The Moor Yasine now returned from
Sennaar, and informed Bruce that, by the inquiries he had been able to
make, it appeared that he would be probably well received if he could
get to Sennaar; but that he would have very great difficulty in passing
from Ras el Feel to the banks of the Dender. Bruce would most willingly
have commenced his journey at once, being naturally most anxious to
escape from the horrors of civil war: the time, however, had not yet
arrived; for, having embarked on the political stream, he was against
his will still carried along by it.
For many months the rebels, in immense numbers, under the command of
Gusho and Powussen, were committing every sort of violence, burning
houses, barns, and villages. At last the cries of the people, who came
flying to him for projection, determined Ras Michael to risk a battle.
He accordingly marched out of Gondar, taking with him the king, the
abuna, as head of the church, Ozoro Esther, and other principal people.
The king's army was composed of about thirty-two thousand men, of whom
about seven thousand five hundred were mounted. In this army were a
number of excellent officers, who had spent their lives in war. The
whole was commanded by Ras Michael in person, who, being now
seventy-four years of age, had passed half a century in a succession of
victories.
The force of the enemy amounted to about thirty thousand. The king's
army (if it may be so termed) was in a most undisciplined state. "All
our officers," says Bruce, "had left their command, and were crowding
about Ras Michael and the king; women bearing provisions, horns of
liquor, and mills for grinding corn upon their backs; idle women of all
sorts, half dead with fear, crying and roaring, mounted upon mules; and
men driving mules loaded with baggage, mingled with the troops, and
passing through in all directions, presented such a tumultuous
appearance, that it surpassed all description. There were above ten
thousand women accompanying the army: the ras had about fifty loaded
with bouza, and the king, I suppose, near as many.
"The sight threw me for a moment into low spirits. I know not if the
king saw it. I was perfectly silent when he cried, 'Well, what do you
say to us now, Yagoube?' I answered, 'Is this the order in which your
majesty means to engage?' He laughed, and said, 'Ay, why not? you will
see.' 'If that is so,' I replied, 'I only hope it is the enemy's custom,
as well as your majesty's, to be in no better order.' A partial
engagement ensued, which lasted about an hour: in it Confu, son of Ozoro
Esther, was severely wounded. Ras Michael, notwithstanding the natural
hardness of his heart, showed great sensibility, and came to see him.
Ozoro Esther also, in the deepest concern, attended her son, and both
she and the ras earnestly entreated Bruce to see him safe to Gondar.
'Go! go! for God's sake, go!' said the ras; 'Ozoro Esther has been here
almost out of her senses!'"
Bruce, therefore, consented to accompany both Confu and Ozoro Esther to
Koscam; and, having done this, he then returned to the army.
Ras Michael now ordered the tents to be struck, and his whole army
proceeded towards Begemder. He had scarcely taken up his position on the
hill of Serbraxos when he was attacked by Powussen; a severe battle
ensued, distinguished on both sides by feats of wild, undisciplined
valour; however, the king's troops prevailed, and Powussen retreated,
having lost about nine hundred of his best men. Everybody seemed to
agree that Ras Michael had shown the most astonishing intrepidity and
military skill.
The day after the battle, messengers arrived from Gusho and Powussen,
offering allegiance to King Tecla Haimanout, on condition that Ras
Michael should be sent, never to return, to his government of Tigre; but
fear or gratitude induced the king to refuse their demands.
On the 19th of May, intelligence was received that the whole rebel host
was again in motion. The king's army instantly descended into the
valley, and the troops were ready, with lighted matches in their hands,
when a most violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain ensued.
The army, therefore, fell back, and, the storm subsiding, the evening
was passed in pleasure and festivity.
All the young nobility were, as usual, at Ozoro Esther's. "It was with
infinite pity," says Bruce, "I heard them thoughtlessly praying for a
warm and fair day to-morrow, the evening of which many of them were
never to see."
The next morning the troops returned to the plain and took up their old
position. In about half an hour the enemy's army was in motion. The ras
first perceived it, and immediately ordered the drums to be beat and the
trumpets to be sounded. The army advanced, covered with dust from the
excessive dryness of the ground.
"In the middle of this great cloud," says Bruce, "we began to perceive,
indistinctly, part of the horsemen, then a much greater number, and the
figure of the horses more accurately defined, which came moving
majestically upon us, sometimes partially seen, at other times concealed
by being wrapped up in clouds and darkness; the whole made a most
extraordinary, but truly picturesque appearance."
The whole of Powussen's army now appeared; they advanced, riding forward
and backward with great violence, and appeared to be diverting
themselves rather than attacking their enemy.
After a most desperate battle, the king's troops fell back under the
hill of Serbraxos; but on the right the rebel forces were obliged to
retire. Near three thousand men perished on the king's side, and among
them nearly one hundred and eighty young men of the best families in the
kingdom. The enemy's loss amounted to about nine thousand.
The king now received the compliments of his troops, and a most
barbarous ceremony, which is still customary in Abyssinia, ensued. Each
man who had killed an enemy appeared with a certain part of the man he
had slain hanging upon the wrist of his right hand, and, after making a
speech, in which he extolled himself as the greatest of heroes, he threw
down his barbarous trophy before his chief.
The account which Bruce gave of this ceremony was disbelieved; the
reason, as usual, being, that it was a savage custom which had not been
described before; but Pearce, the English sailor, left in Abyssinia by
Lord Valentia, confirms it. He says, in his letter published by the
Literary Society of Bombay in 1817, "I saw and counted eighteen hundred
and sixty-five of these inhuman trophies brought before the ras after
not more than seven hours' fight."
Mr. Coffin, Lord Valentia's valet, and who remained in Abyssinia from
the time of Lord V.'s departure until the year 1827, has verbally
informed us that he has himself seen upward of two thousand of these
trophies heaped before the ras.
"For my own part," says Bruce, "tired to death, low in spirits, and
execrating the hour that brought me to such a country, I almost
regretted that I had not died that day in the field of Serbraxos. I went
to bed, refusing to go to Ozoro Esther, who had sent for me. I could not
help lamenting how well my apprehensions had been verified, that some of
our companions at last night's supper, so anxious for the appearance of
morning, should never see its evening. Four of them, all young men and
of great hopes, were then lying dead and mangled on the field; two
others, besides Engedan, had been also wounded. I had, however, a sound
and refreshing sleep. I think madness would have been the consequence if
this necessary refreshment had failed me; such was the horror I had
conceived of my present situation."
About eleven o'clock next morning Bruce received an order from the ras
to attend him, and he was introduced to the king, who put a large chain
of massive gold round his neck; the secretary, at the same time, saying,
"Yagoube, the king does you this honour, not as payment for past
services, but as a pledge that he will reward them if you will put it in
his power."
The chain consisted of one hundred and eighty-four links, each of them
weighing 3 and 1-12th dwts. of fine gold. "It was with the utmost
reluctance," says Bruce, "that, being in want of everything, I sold
great part of this honourable distinction at Sennaar, in my return home;
the remaining part is still in my possession. It is hoped my successors
will never have the same excuse I had for farther diminishing this
honourable monument which I have left them."
A third battle was fought at Serbraxos, which, though obstinately
contested, was not attended on either side with much loss; and soon
after secret intelligence reached Tecla Haimanout and Ras Michael, which
made them instantly resolve to decamp by night and fall back upon
Gondar. The confusion of this march in the dark was beyond all
description; men, horses, and mules were rolling promiscuously over each
other. Ras Michael's mule fell, and threw him on his face in a puddle
of water; but he was instantly lifted up unhurt, and again mounted.
Proceeding onward, the creature again fell, and threw the ras a second
time into the dirt; on which a general murmur and groan was heard from
his attendants, who superstitiously interpreted these repeated falls as
an omen that his power and fortune were gone from him for ever. On
reaching Gondar, the king went to the palace, and the ras to his own
house. The palace was quite deserted; even the king's slaves, of both
sexes, had hidden themselves with the monks and in the houses of private
friends, so that the king was left with very few attendants. The
following morning Gondar was completely invested by Gusho and the
confederate army; and towards it were now flocking in every direction
all those people of family and property who, from fear of Ras Michael,
had fled to Fasil. The capital was soon filled with men and arms; and
Gusho, who had been born and bred in Gondar, was looked up to as the
father of his country; he raised all Waggora in arms against Michael, so
that not a man could pass between Tigre and Gondar.
These steps having been taken, a proclamation was now issued, "that all
soldiers of the province of Tigre, or who had borne arms under Ras
Michael, should, on the morrow, before midday, bring their arms,
offensive and defensive, and deliver them up, on a spot fixed upon near
the church of Ledata, to commissaries appointed for the purpose of
receiving them;" with farther intimation to the inhabitants of Gondar,
"that any arms found in any house in that town after noon of the day of
proclamation, should subject the owner of such house and arms to death,
and the house or houses to be razed to their foundation." Six thousand
of the Tigre troops belonging to the ras's province at once laid down
their arms; all the rest of the principal officers followed, and even
the king's arms were surrendered.
The ras, too brave to fear and too infirm to escape, resolutely
continued in the house belonging to his office. He ate, drank, and
slept as usual; rose, and, talking of the event with equanimity and
apparent indifference, dressed himself as richly as possible in gold
stuff; and then, with the utmost composure, awaited his death. Once
only, when he heard that his disarmed troops had been treated with
indignity by the populace, did he for a moment give vent to his
feelings: he then burst into tears, exclaiming, "Before this, I could
have died happy!"
The king also behaved with no little firmness and composure: he had
eaten nothing during the first day but some wheaten bread, which he
divided with the few servants that remained about him. A body of lawless
Galla troops, entering Gondar unobserved, rushed into the palace and
into the presence of the king, before whom Bruce and two attendants were
seated on the floor. The room, in the days of the luxury and splendour
of the Abyssinian court, had been magnificently hung with mirrors, which
had been brought at great expense from Venice. The largest of these was
immediately smashed by the Galla; and they would probably have proceeded
to murder the king and Bruce, had not two hundred young men of Gondar,
hearing that these savages had got into the palace, rushed forward to
defend their king, and obliged them to retire.
On the 1st of June Gusho and Powussen came to the house of Ras Michael,
to interrogate him as to his past conduct. They found him clothed in
white serge, with a priest's cowl of the same material on his head; and
the old ras, seeing that his power was gone, and that ferocity and high
personal courage could no longer avail him, resolved to save himself by
hypocrisy now that he could no longer do it by force: he therefore
declared that "he had ended his political career," and should devote the
remainder of his days to peace, penitence, meditation, and prayer. Gusho
and Powussen listened to him in sullen silence, and then proceeded to
the king's palace, where it was determined that Gusho should be ras.
On the 4th of June Powussen marched into Gondar with a thousand horse,
and, without farther ceremony, ordered Ras Michael to be placed on a
mule, and to be led away to Begemder. Gusho now took possession of his
house; the king's officers and servants returned to the palace, the
troops decamped, and Gondar was once more quiet.
Meanwhile, as Bruce's health had been daily declining, he had spent a
considerable part of his time with the iteghe and Ozoro Esther at
Koscam. Here he had received intelligence from Sennaar that the whole of
that country was in arms; that for a white man to come hither from Ras
el Feel would be almost impossible, since, besides the natural
difficulties of the country, and the excessive heat of the climate, he
would be in the utmost danger from the soldiery and slaves, who were in
a complete state of insubordination. He was therefore conjured to
abandon his intention, and either remain in Abyssinia, or return, as he
came, through Tigre: "But," says Bruce, "besides that I was determined
to attempt completing my journey through Sennaar and the desert, I by no
means liked the risk of passing again through Masuah, to experience a
second time the brutal manners of the naybe and garrison of that place.
I therefore resolved to complete my journey to Syene, the frontier of
Egypt, by Sennaar and Nubia, or perish in the attempt.
"It is here," says Bruce, "a proper period to finish the History of
Abyssinia, as I was no farther present at, or informed of, the public
transactions which followed. My whole attention was now taken up in
preparations for my return through the kingdom of Sennaar and the
desert. Neither shall I take up the reader's time with a long narrative
of leave-taking, or what passed between me and those illustrious
personages with whom I had lived so long in the most perfect and cordial
friendship. Men of little and envious minds would perhaps think I was
composing a panegyric upon myself, from which, therefore, I most
willingly refrain. But the several marks of goodness, friendship, and
esteem which I received at parting, are confined within my own breast,
where they never shall be effaced, but continue to furnish me with the
most agreeable reflections, since they were the fruit alone of personal
merit, and of honest, steady, and upright behaviour. All who had
attempted the same journey hitherto had met with disappointment,
disgrace, or death: for my part, although I underwent every sort of
toil, danger, and all manner of hardship, yet these were not confined to
myself. I suffered always honourably, and in common with the rest of the
state; and when sunshiny days happened (for sunshiny days there were,
and many brilliant ones too), of these I was permitted freely to
partake; and the most distinguished characters, both at court and in the
army, were always ready to contribute, as far as possible, to promote
what they thought or saw was the object of my pursuits or
entertainment."
As Bruce's residence in Abyssinia is now rapidly drawing to a close, one
may pause to observe of what honest materials his character seems to
have been composed. Personal courage, that gem of the human breast,
which, however roughly set, is brilliant even in the rude conduct of the
savage, shines with unusual lustre in Bruce's life; while his gratitude
to Captain Price, his friendship for those with whom he lived, his
loyalty to his king, his attachment to Scotland, his native country, his
respect for his ancestors, and other similar sentiments which we have
seen constantly escape from him, prove him to have been eminently a
sound-hearted man.
Two days previous to his departure, our traveller called to take leave
of the iteghe, and found there Tensa Christos, one of the chief priests
of Gondar. Bruce replied with great dignity and firmness to several
impertinent questions put to him concerning his religion by this man.
"And now, holy father," he said, "I have one last favour to ask of you,
which is your forgiveness, if I have at any time offended you; your
blessing, now that I am immediately to depart, if I have it not; and
your prayers while on my long and dangerous journey through countries of
infidels and pagans."
A hum of applause sounded throughout the room. Tensa Christos was
apparently surprised at Bruce's humility, and cried out, with tears in
his eyes, "Is it possible, Yagoube, that you believe my prayers can do
you any good?" "I should not be a Christian, as I profess to be,
father," replied Bruce, "if I had any doubt of the effect of good men's
prayers." So saying, Bruce stooped to kiss the hand of Christos, who
laid a small iron cross upon his head, and, to his great surprise,
instead of a benediction, repeated the Lord's prayer. After which Bruce
made his obeisance to the iteghe, and immediately withdrew, it not being
the custom at a public audience to salute any one in the presence of the
sovereign.
"Twenty greasy monks," says Bruce, "however, had placed themselves in my
way as I went out, that they might have the credit of giving me their
blessing likewise after Tensa Christos. As I had very little faith in
the prayers of these drones, so I had some reluctance to kiss their
greasy hands and sleeves; however, in running this disagreeable
gauntlet, I thus gave them my blessing in English: Lord send you all a
halter, as he did to Abba Salama (meaning the Acab Saat). But they,
thinking I was recommending them to the patriarch Abba Salama,
pronounced at random, with great seeming devotion, 'Amen! so be it.'"
This serio-comical valedictory malediction, which Bruce bequeaths to
"twenty greasy monks of Koscam," abruptly closes his history of
Abyssinia, and upon the distant sources of the Nile the curtain now
drops! More than half a century has elapsed, and no one has raised the
veil which Bruce lifted up; no one has penetrated the mist through which
he found his way, or encountered the dangers which he overcame.
Yet by far the most arduous and dangerous undertaking in the history of
Bruce's life remains to be related; for, whatever may have been his
difficulties in Abyssinia, however roughly he may have been treated
there, he had warm and powerful friends, and was in a country
professedly Christian; but his homeward journey is now to be undertaken,
through the centre of some of the most savage, burning, steril regions
in the world; and if the reader but reflects on the many distinguished
individuals who, full of health and enthusiasm, have left Cairo to
ascend the Nile, and have yet very early found it impossible to proceed,
he will feel for poor Bruce, while with a broken and exhausted
constitution he is about to enter on this painful and perilous journey.
When Mr. Salt visited Abyssinia, nearly forty years after Bruce had left
it, he was informed that Ras Michael, who was even then talked of as
"the old lion," died in 1780, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. The
beautiful Ozoro Esther, too, was dead; and, indeed, nearly all Bruce's
friends had gone to their long home.
"Yusuph," says Salt, "spoke of him (Bruce) with much regret. He, and
every one with whom I have conversed, confirmed the character of Ras
Michael as given by Bruce." "He left," said Dofter Esther, a learned
Abyssinian, "a great name behind him."
FOOTNOTE:
[34] Some years ago, the Pasha of Tripolitza, in riding through the
town, inquired who had thrown some rubbish into the street. A remarkably
honest-looking man instantly popped his head out of his window to
acknowledge that it was he. The pasha made a slight sign to the
executioner who attended him, and the poor man's head never returned to
his shop!
Hassen Pasha, well known to the English army in Egypt by the nickname of
Djezzar, or the "The Butcher," was a man of a much more merciful
disposition. One day he went to inspect a small redoubt which had been
thrown up by his particular desire: a part of it rather displeased him;
but, instead of barbarously sending for the _head_ of his commanding
engineer, he desired the executioner merely to bring him one of his
_ears_. Some of Djezzar's best officers had slit noses, which proved
that he possessed, by comparison, a very humane, considerate, and
reflecting mind; for, after all, a one-eared man may enjoy in this world
many little pleasures; whereas, when once his head is off, there is an
end of him.