Stay with Tinta.--Proceed to Ankobar.--Remain for the day at
Musculo’s house.--Fever.--Abyssinian supper party.--Honey
wine.--Importance of salt as an article of food.
When my “balderabah” Tinta, gave to Walderheros the parchment order for
durgo, he also told him, as the tent was insufficient shelter for an
invalid, to take me to his house, which was not many yards distant from
where I was previously lodged.
Here we found his mother and sister sitting upon the ground busy
spinning cotton. The right thighs of each were completely bare to the
hips, for the purpose of rolling swiftly with the palm of the hand,
along the smooth surface, the small light reel, which hung revolving,
whilst the hand bearing aloft the light white cloud of cotton, slowly
diverged to arms’ length, and the other as gradually drew out in the
opposite direction the slender thread that was formed during the
operation.
Within the hearth circle, that occupied the centre of the apartment,
a huge wood fire was blazing away, the most comfortable looking thing
I had seen since leaving Aliu Amba. On the farther side from the door
was a raised couch, built of stones and mud, and upon this a layer
of fresh cut grass was laid, and an ox skin was soon found to throw
over this dampish looking bed. All being arranged, I was invited to
sit down, my shoes and socks being then taken off, the older lady, in
accordance with a very usual custom, washed my feet in warm water, and
I had already become so used to their manners, that I did not now draw
back the foot, as at first I could not help doing, from the salute that
is always given when the process is concluded.
Besides the goat which the Negoos had sent to me, another supply of
bread (like our own), butter, cayenne pottage, and tedge, arrived
towards the evening, and although I was not able to enjoy the good
things myself, the family and Walderheros fared sumptuously upon the
viands thus abundantly provided.
After sunset our party was joined by Tinta himself, who had been
detained during the day on duty at the palace. He brought with him
the “ullica” of the “affaroitsh,” or superior of the distributors of
the rations, named Sartawold, “The gift of the Son.” He was a regular
smooth-faced courtier, sleek and well fed, very quiet, and very
cunning. A conversation, not an extremely interesting one, was kept
up by means of an Islam inhabitant of Aliu Amba, who had arrived in
Angolahlah during the day, and upon the strength of having seen me in
the market of the former town, had now called to make inquiries after
the health of his old friend and intimate acquaintance, the “Aliu Amba
ahkeem.”
Among the things Sartawold wanted, was some medicine for the Negoos,
whom he did not hesitate to assert, had a most disreputable complaint;
but as I did not think proper to understand him until I knew something
more of the particulars of the case, he soon ceased making the request.
Our halting conversation terminated at length by his getting up from
the floor, where he had been sitting upon an ox hide, and telling me
that the King desired me to remain at Aliu Amba till I was quite well,
and, in the meantime, I must learn to speak Amharic. After recommending
each other a dozen times to the care of heaven, Sartawold retired, but
it was some time before I could get the talkative Islam to leave me to
my much-required repose.
After an early breakfast next morning, Walderheros prepared for our
departure, rolling up my plaid, Arab cloak, and two large Abyssinian
tobes that formed my bed clothes, and putting them all into a large
goat skin bag, in which they were usually carried on occasions of
leaving home for a time.
I presented my female friends with a few small strings of blue and gold
coloured beads, which are the kind most preferred by the Christian
inhabitants of Shoa. Of these beads they construct the more superior
kind of “martab,” the particular symbol of their faith; which, of some
material or other, they invariably wear. It sometimes consists merely
of a white or blue thread, tied around the throat, but those in most
general use are made of dark blue silk, imported by the merchants
of Giddem and of Hurrah. This colour, once universally worn, is not
insisted upon at the present day, for although it still continues to
be considered the most orthodox, the white and yellow coloured threads
of beads have become very fashionable of late. The custom of wearing
coloured “martabs” bears some reference, I believe, to a personal
distinction between the Christian and Islam faiths, established by
some former Negoos; for red head dresses of cotton cloth, and long red
gowns, are invariably the “outward and visible” sign of the profession
of Islamism, among the women of Efat, and other Mahomedan provinces, as
the blue martab is of the Christian population.
It was nine o’clock before we were fairly started, but we soon lost
sight of the palace hill, with its crest of thatched roofs appearing
above the bristling stockade; and of its red flanks dotted with
squatting noblemen and courtiers, who in clean white tobes sat enjoying
the fresh air and the genial influence of a morning sun. Walderheros
ran by the side of my mule, poising upon his head the skin bag which
contained my bed. When, however, the view of Angolahlah was shut out
by the projecting shoulder of a low ridge, along the base of which our
road lay, his burden was transferred to the crupper of my saddle, and
relieving me of my carabine, the respectful bearing of a servant was
changed for the familiarity of a tutor, and one long lesson in Amharic
again occupied the way.
We reached Ankobar late in the afternoon, and as I was completely
worn out, and the mule was tired also, I agreed to the proposal of
Walderheros that we should stay for the night at the house of a married
sister of his, the husband of whom was the “ullica,” or the superior of
those slaves of the Negoos, whose duty it is to cut and carry wood for
the use of the royal residences.
The house was very conveniently situated at the junction of the lower
road, around the base of the ridge of Ankobar, with the steep ascending
one that leads to the town on its summit.
Walderheros found his sister at home, with a fat slave-girl, Mahriam,
as her attendant and companion. Musculo, the husband, was absent upon
some duty, but he appeared in the course of the afternoon, and all
endeavoured to make me as comfortable as they could.
Their house was of the better sort, built of splinted ted, and
consisted of a central apartment, with recesses formed by the division
of the space between two circular walls, which were placed at about
four feet distant from each other. In one of these recesses was placed
a bed-stead, covered with an ox skin tanned with the bark of the
kantuffa, which gives to this kind of leather a red colour. A skin so
prepared is called “_net_.” The kantuffa is a pleasing looking tree,
and might be cultivated as a lawn shrub in England. It is a species
of acacia, and the bright red seed vessels formed like those of the
English ash, remaining after the foliage disappears, would diminish
considerably, I think, the dreary aspect of a shrubbery in that season.
In the other two recesses were numerous jars containing ale, grain, and
water, and side by side stood four pedestal hand mills, in the rear of
which a hole, knocked through the mud and stick wall, served the double
purpose of a window and chimney. The large circular hearth occupied
the usual situation, nearly in the centre of the apartment, which was
itself not more than twelve feet in diameter. Two solid planks of the
“_sigbar_” tree, each of which had been cut with no little labour from
a single tree, formed a pair of folding-doors. The hinges on which they
revolved consisted of strong projecting extremities on one side of the
top and bottom of each, which were received into corresponding holes on
the wooden lintel and threshold. At night the two flaps were secured
by an iron hasp shutting upon a staple, that admitted a kind of wooden
linch-pin to be thrust through.
The _sigbar_ tree, of which these doors were made, is the principal
forest-tree of Shoa, it sometimes attains the height of one hundred
feet, with a diameter of not less than five feet. In flocks along its
crushing branches, the flying “_gurazo_,” a species of monkey, makes
the circuit of the forest, and to watch them, as they take the most
fearful leaps from tree to tree, is most interesting. I have seen the
dam, with a young one held tightly to her breast with one arm, exactly
like a human being would do, fearlessly dart from the greatest height
to the lower branch of a neighbouring tree, and quickly gaining its
summit, keep well up with the rest, in their leaping progress.
Musculo being the “ullica,” or superior of the wood-cutting slaves, I
requested him to bring some of the people of all the country to the
south of Shoa, that I might have the opportunity of examining them.
Whilst he was away, however, my fever fit recurred, and I was under
the agreeable influence of a warm water emetic when he returned with
a large company of his charge. There were Shankalli negroes from the
extreme south and west, and Gallas from the intermediate countries, red
Gurague people, and the bilious-coloured, from Zingero and Enarea--all
stood or sat around the door-way, and I could have wished to have
transferred the whole lot to some ethnological museum, to relieve me
just at that moment from taking notes. In fact it was impossible, and
so ordering Walderheros to give them two ahmulahs to purchase some ale
for their evening’s entertainment, I dismissed the chattering crowd
until another day, when more favourable circumstances would admit of my
making particular inquiries respecting their families, their nations,
and their tongues, sharpened as my appetite for such information was by
the clear idea of the character of the country I had already received
from the dealer Ibrahim, and which I wished to confirm by actual
conversations with the natives of the various countries, he had spoken
of in his geography of Southern Abyssinia.
Warm water, as an emetic in the first stage of an ague, materially
diminishes its violence, and although I do not recommend it altogether
as a cure, I am bound to speak well of it as a palliative. At night I
recommend also to a patient, situated as I was, to take doses of from
twelve to fourteen grains of Dover’s powders. It is better, however,
to compound this excellent febrifuge with sulphate of magnesia, rather
than the usual salt, sulphate of potass, and that for reasons which are
obvious.
One effect of the opium which is not sufficiently insisted upon by
practisers of medicine is its specific effect upon the brain as a
tonic. In small doses at bed-time I found it invaluable, as decreasing
that congestion in the blood-vessels of the head which attends the
paroxysms of ague, and which adds considerably to the severity of the
attack. In a severe sun-stroke from which I also suffered, I found
abstinence from food and small doses of opium at night relieved me of
all bad symptoms in the course of three or four days. Experience has
taught me these important facts, but as future travellers cannot be
supposed to have my note books with them, I have recorded these hints
for their benefit.
After the reaction following the hot stage of the fever, I felt quite
certain a horn or two of “tedge” honey wine would not do me any injury,
so sent Walderheros just before sunset to endeavour to procure me
some. I also gave Musculo a salt piece to purchase fowls and ale, as
my contribution towards the entertainment, Walderheros and myself were
receiving in the house.
My servant soon breasted the high hill, and fortunately was just in
time to find a person in authority, who, immediately he was shown my
durgo order, procured a large bullock’s horn full of the sweet wine.
The manufacture of tedge or honey wine is a royal monopoly, and is
not publicly sold; of course there is a kind of conventional license,
not exactly smuggling, by which, for double or treble its value, this
beverage may be obtained. Even then the purchased article is probably
the rations that have been preserved by some carefully disposed guest
of the monarch, who, pouring his daily allowance of a bullock’s
hornfull into a large jar, collects a stock for a day of rejoicing
or for private sale. The process of brewing tedge is simple enough;
cold water being poured over a few small drinking hornsfull of honey
placed in a jar, is well stirred up; to this is then added a handful
of sprouted barley, “biccalo,” scorched over the fire, and ground into
a coarse meal, with the same quantity of the leaves of the “gaisho,”
a species of Rhamneæ, not unlike the common tea plant, and an intense
but transient bitter like gentian or hops. The mixture being allowed
to stand for three or four days, ferments, and is generally drunk in
that state, but is then rather a queer kind of muddy beverage, full of
little flocculent pieces of wax. It is more agreeable, but not unlike,
in appearance or character, very strong sweet-wort. To a superior kind,
made for the King’s own table, besides the “biccalo” and “gaisho,” is
also added a kind of berry called “kuloh,” which grows not unlike the
fruit of our elderberry, and may possibly be the production of some
tree belonging to that species. The jars containing this are sealed
with a large cake of clay mixed with the lees of the decanted liquor.
This kind of tedge is allowed to stand for several months before it is
used, and is called “barilla,” from always being handed to guests in
small Venetian bottles of green glass, the fracture of one of which
is a grievous offence with his Shoan Majesty, and he always makes the
careless party pay for it.
Two hours after sunset I was well enough to sit up and partake of my
tedge, which was handed to me by Walderheros, to amuse myself with
whilst he proceeded to lay out our supper. A large round table of
wicker-work, the diameter of which was about three feet, and about
one foot in height, was reached down from a peg, where it had been
suspended against the wall, and laid upon the floor before me. In
the centre of this, Eichess, the lady of the house, placed a round
saucer-like dish of red earthenware, full of the cayenne pottage, which
had been long preparing upon the fire, and in which were boiled to a
hot fricassee the disjointed limbs of a fowl. A separate heap of three
or four of the thin teff crumpets, folded four-fold, was then put for
each person.
Walderheros, for a few beads, had purchased at the palace about a yard
of yellow wax taper, which was merely a long rag dipped into the melted
material. Having cut off and lighted a portion of this, he carried
it flaring about in his left hand, as he assisted most busily in the
arrangement of the supper things. Musculo, not to be idle, had seated
himself upon one corner of the bed I occupied, and with the bullock’s
horn upon his knee occasionally replenished my drinking horn, and as
frequently assisted me in finishing its contents.
Everything at length being pronounced ready, I was requested to take my
seat at the table, a boss of straw being placed for my accommodation.
I, however, preferred remaining on the bed, watching their whole
proceedings for want of other amusement. The company, who soon seated
themselves, consisted of Eichess, Mahriam, Walderheros, Musculo, and a
younger brother of the latter, named Abta Mahriam, one of the King’s
gunmen, who had come in during the preparation of the meal. Musculo
took the straw seat, the rest squatted around the table upon their
heels, and formed altogether a good picture of an Abyssinian family.
Eichess commenced by dipping several folds of the thin bread into
the cayenne pottage until well saturated with the condiment. With a
quantity of this she supplied each individual, taking for that purpose
the topmost layer of the heap of bread assigned to them, which,
after sopping, was returned to its previous situation. The party now
proceeded on their own account, tearing off portions of the under
bread, and wiping it upon the moistened morsel above, by the contact
giving to it the required hot relish, in a manner somewhat analogous to
our putting mustard upon meat.
The “wort,” or cayenne pottage, may be termed the national dish of
the Abyssinians, as that or its basis, “dillock,” is invariably eaten
with their ordinary diet, the thin crumpet-like bread of teff or
wheat flour. Equal parts of salt and of the red cayenne pods are well
powdered and mixed together with a little pea or bean meal to make a
paste. This is called “dillock,” and is made in quantities at a time,
being preserved in a large gourd-shell, generally suspended from the
roof. The “wort” is merely a little water added to this paste, which
is then boiled over the fire, with the addition of a little fat meat
and more meal, to make a kind of porridge, to which sometimes is also
added several warm seeds, such as the common cress or black mustard,
both of which are indigenous in Abyssinia. When unable to make the
“wort,” a little of the “dillock” is placed _en masse_ upon the bread,
which the eater endeavours to make go as far as possible by slight
touches of each portion of the food he puts into his mouth.
Whilst speaking of this article of food, it may be as well to observe,
that its use appears to have been dictated by the situation of the
Abyssinians. As an easy illustration by analogy, it may be safely
supposed that salt is a more indispensable necessary of life, and far
more expensive in that country, than the purest white sugar is in
Europe. Children stand around the mother whilst engaged in any manner
in which salt is employed, as in England, little silent gazers are
attracted around mamma when making sweetened dishes. Good housekeeping
with the Abyssinians consists chiefly in the economical management of
their stock of salt; and among other notable modes of making a little
do duty for a considerable quantity, besides affording an additional
stimulant to the palate, is this system of combining it with pepper.
An old Dutch method of executing criminals was confining them solely to
the use of bread in which no salt was contained, and which ultimately
occasioned death by the worms that were thus allowed to generate
in the intestines. Many children in England have I seen who have
certainly fallen victims to the foolish fear that they would eat too
much salt; and I believe that disposition to scrofula, the national
disease, is chiefly owing to the vegetable diet of our children not
being sufficiently attended to in the matter of this simple condiment.
Be that as it may, the Abyssinians suffer considerably in their health
from the difficulty of obtaining salt. They are dreadfully subject to
that species of _vermes_, called tapeworm, and every month are obliged
to have recourse to a vile drastic cathartic called “cosso,” to get rid
of the unpleasant cause of this complaint, and all owing to the want of
sufficient salt in their food. To this cause may be attributable also
that tendency to form large spreading ulcers which the slightest bruise
upon their bodies occasions; and the dreadful ravages which syphilis
makes among them.
The supper grew gradually to a close, and as the viands disappeared,
matter for conversation seemed to increase. As the appetites of the
party were appeased, I noticed little choice bits of the fowl that
remained at the bottom of the “wort” basin, were taken out by the
fingers of the lady of the house, and being rolled up in a mass of
bread, far too large for the mouth, were successively handed to all
around. Each one as he received the compliment, slightly rising from
the ground, kissed the joined wrists of his own hands, as he offered
to support the hand of Eichess, whilst she held the morsel to the
mouth, until it had entirely disappeared. Mahriam, the slave-girl, who
sat with the rest, was not neglected, for a larger portion came to
her share than to any of the others. Slaves generally are considered
by their owners in the light of near relations, or rather, perhaps,
as foster children. When their conduct is so very bad as to alienate
the affection of their indulgent masters, they are not unfrequently
dismissed. Latterly, however, a greater relaxation in the principles of
the Christians of Shoa, as in other portions of Abyssinia, has led to
a punishment for refractory slaves, by selling them to their Mahomedan
neighbours, who soon forward them to the coast. Canon law prohibits
this custom of selling slaves altogether, but a system of smuggling in
this unhappy commodity is extensively carried on, by the very priests
of the religion itself, who are continually bringing slave-children to
Aliu Amba market from Gurague, and other Christian states to the south
of Shoa.
The repast being concluded, all wiped their pottage-soiled fingers
upon the last fragments of the bread, which were then duly swallowed.
Mahriam now got up, and from out a gourd-shell poured a little water
upon the hands of each of the party, who, rubbing the fingers together
a little, then dried them upon their ample tobes. A gambo of strong
ale called thalah, containing at least five gallons, was now opened,
and deep horn cups were frequently replenished, whilst a lively
conversation concerning the events of the last two or three days was
kept up; a very highly-coloured account of my reception by the Negoos,
no doubt, having been given by Walderheros, who, as principal speaker
upon the occasion, was in the happiest mood possible, and though
generally very careful of his tapers on other occasions, he found
himself obliged to light the remaining half-yard, to afford him time to
conclude his long narration.