Start for Myolones.--Account of the road.--Effect of the
Earthquake.--Dangerous passage.--Ford the Gindebal wans.--
Dubdubhee.--Reach Myolones.--Remarks upon taking possession
of the land.
_August 10th._--It had rained very heavily all night, and as the sky
was covered with clouds, I did not feel inclined to go to Myolones.
Walderheros, however, had set his mind upon it, and as the ride was a
very short one, and might, perhaps, be of service in many respects, I
at last consented. Walderheros had the mule ready before I could change
my mind, and giving some precautions to Wallata Gabriel to look after
everything well whilst we were away, and to let no one enter the house
upon any pretence, off we started, Goodaloo running before, with the
skin containing my bed-clothes upon his head, and Walderheros following
slowly after me, having in special charge the very precious bottle of
gunpowder.
We proceeded along the narrow arid winding path, that leads down the
steep western slope of the rock of Aliu Amba. Here the road is deeply
worn in the hard stone, so as to form a kind of hollow way, upon each
bank of which thick bushes of a large strong-leaved plant, meeting
above the head of the traveller, forms an umbrageous tunnel, nearly
impervious to the sun’s rays. At the bottom of the descent we crossed
a stream, yellow with suspended earth, for, like most other rivers of
Shoa, during the wet season, its running water is an active agent of
denudation. We now slowly ascended the opposite bank of the valley, and
passing through the little Christian village upon its summit, called
Aitess, we then again descended to the level of another stream, along
whose miry banks, crossing and re-crossing it several times in its
tortuous course, we at length reached, where, in a narrow cascade, the
water falls suddenly the distance of two hundred feet, with the usual
rushing din of an impetuous torrent. Here the bald face of a rock,
across which not the trace of a road could be perceived, projected a
smooth surface of compact stone, from beneath a super stratum of a
loose schistose formation of several hundred feet high, whilst below
us appeared an almost perpendicular wall, with just such a sliding
inclination as suggested an idea of the bridge said to be situated by
some Orientalists between heaven and earth, for there required scarcely
the impetus of a wish, to have slipped from life to death during the
walk across. The earthquake that ushered in the rains had occasioned
this obliteration of the road, for the effects of some thousands of
tons of the overlying detritus which had been detached, with bare
skeleton branches of overturned trees protruding amongst the ruins,
were visible over the devastated fields of vetches and horse-beans
that occupied the bottom of the large valley into which we had opened,
where the stream we had previously kept along, fell over the waterfall
into this the bed of the principal tributary of the Dinkee river.
This fallen earth, scattered far and wide, had converted the green
appearance of large tracts of cultivated lands, with the crops far
advanced, to the condition and character of a freshly ploughed fallow.
I halted when I arrived at the dangerous pass, to see if there were not
another passage somewhere else, and looked up and down, but saw no way
available but the one back again, which, as I had come so far, I did
not choose to take, so at once put the question of its practicability
to my mule by urging her forward, willing to depend upon instinct
not leading the animal into a position, where she was not perfectly
satisfied that her preservation was well assured. The termination of
the road, where its continuity had been swept away by the land-slip,
was opposite and in sight; and with this encouragement, and perhaps
satisfied, that her rider was a reasonable creature, and would not
attempt anything impracticable, the mule did not hesitate the least,
and on my intimation to proceed, began carefully to place her feet,
one after the other, on the sloping rock, and slowly entered upon
the death-inviting scene. After we had started, and it was impossible
to come back, as usual I began to think of the value of life, and the
little courage that man really has, just sufficient to make him take
the first step into peril, and then, from despair, or the recklessness
of a suicide, bear himself up against all contingencies, and comes
out a brave man if he lives, with the certainty of being thought a
wretched fool if he is killed. With teeth set, and eyes fixed upon
the yawning gulph on one side, I muttered to my mule, as if she had
been my murderess, “my blood be upon your head,” and to her folly,
not my own, attributed my present perilous position. Once I looked
upon the other side, but there, overhanging, as if suspended by the
air which it projected into, was the high black wall of the loose
angular fragments of an easily fractured schistose rock, which seemed
as if a thousand ton torrent of stones was suspended only whilst I
passed, to follow in one rush of ruin the land-slip which, but a few
mornings before, had been detached and, precipitated into the foaming
river below, carrying along with it many acres of jowarhee and cotton
plantations. My carefully slow mule seemed to invite the catastrophe,
and it was long after I had really passed the horrible ordeal, before
the conscience-stirring scene lost its repentant effect upon my mind.
Having got safely over this delicate pass of about one hundred
yards long, I turned round to look after Walderheros. I found he had
not dared to attempt it until he saw that I had reached the end of
the road, when he came cautiously along, making no reply to my loud
shout of caution that he should take care of the bottle. He looked
perfectly satisfied, however, when he saw himself landed upon sound
ground again, after a little spring over the two or three last feet of
the distance, impatient even then of peril impending. Away we went,
talking over the rash feat, and determined not to come back that way
again if we could help it. A little reaction, too, consequent upon
the excitement had taken place, and I no longer felt fatigued as I
had done before, but proceeded in much better spirits. The hill, or a
prolonged height of Lomee, was now crossed, covered almost entirely
with fields of the common horse-bean, whose grey blossoms perfumed
the whole neighbourhood. Generally, the fields were quite green with
young grain but a few inches high, and through these our road lay for
nearly an hour, when, by a gradual descent, we found ourselves upon
the edge of a coarse gravel bank, that in this situation had been cut
into a perpendicular cliff, about thirty feet high, by the action of
the confined, impetuous river that rushed around its base. The river is
here called “Gindebal wans,” the tree-eating stream, and is singularly
characteristic, like most other Abyssinian names of localities. Here,
in the little reaches that alternated with rough stone waterfalls, were
numerous trunks of the sigbar, ted, and “_waira_,” or wild olive tree,
which had been brought down from the forests that surround its remotest
sources. Through the dark green mass of foliage could be observed,
in several places, broadly cut channels, produced by the crashing
boulders from the edge of the table land behind, detached by the late
earthquake, and it is such an agent, rather than the denuding effect of
the stream itself, that occasions such vast numbers of these trees that
are annually floated down the “Gindebal wans.”
I considered that it would be hopeless to attempt fording this stream,
for although above it widened considerably, and was spread over a
rocky cascade, still between the huge stones that there appeared above
its surface, wide channels existed, and however shallow the water
might be, the swiftness of the current would have turned a man over
like a leaf. At all events the mule would not take me over, and so
I sat down whilst Walderheros was looking out for the ford, leaping
from stone to stone, and instructed by Goodaloo, who, on the other
side, was shouting out directions, which were very indistinctly heard
amidst the noise of the torrent. His appearance alone demonstrated the
possibility of the passage, but seeing him in a very short time joined
by Walderheros, who, for a few moments had disappeared, I got up to
see what success I might have. Walderheros having given the bottle
containing the gunpowder to Goodaloo, returned to assist me, and I soon
found that by a very indirect mode of progress, successively leaping
in different directions, the opposite bank was being gained. The mule
came clattering after me, jumping like a cat, her four feet occupying
sometimes the summit of a stone not the size of a dinner-plate, and
sometimes scratching up on to a high rock, as if she had strong claws
rather than smooth horny hoofs. I kept a sharp look out behind, for
though she was making use of me as a guide, she came so fast that,
occasionally, a very summary kind of ejectment precipitated me forward,
to make room for her upon the stone.
After reaching the opposite bank we all sat down to rest ourselves,
previous to commencing an ascent before us, that if not so steep,
seemed to promise to be as long as that of Tchakkah. As I looked up I
could not help expostulating with Walderheros for having persuaded me,
ill as I was, to undertake a journey which I had calculated would only
occupy me an hour, and here we had now been that time, and by his own
confession we were not half way yet. Some consolation was afforded by
the sun breaking out, and enlivening me by its warmth and brightness.
I mounted my mule again, and with a desperate resignation faced the
rugged steep. Half an hour we were climbing this stone ladder before
we reached the little town upon its summit, called Dubdubhee. In one
of the best houses the mother of Walderheros lived, so here it was
resolved to stay and breakfast, having, after the usual Abyssinian
custom, brought the meal with us. Of course, I alone partook, as the
observance of the fast required my servants to abstain from food until
evening.
The mother of Walderheros lived with a second husband, by whom she had
had several children. Her first husband, the father of Walderheros,
occupied a farm a short distance from Myolones, and he also had married
again, and had another numerous family by his second wife; so what
between both parents, my servant was very well off for parental and
fraternal relations, a thing, too, which he considered to be a great
advantage; especially as all parties were still on the very best of
terms.
From Dubdubhee, the road to Myolones was along a narrow ridge, similar,
in many respects, to that in front of Ankobar, and it was not until
the shallow circular valley of Myolones spread below us in full sight,
that we commenced a short descent into it; having first passed close to
the side of the grove of the new church of St. Michael, the cone-like
thatched roof of which was terminated by a wooden cross, on the top,
and on the two arms of which were fixed ostrich eggs; these eggs,
by-the-by, are favourite ornaments of Abyssinian churches; one that I
had brought up to Shoa with me from the Adal country had been begged
from me by Tinta, who presented it as a desirable offering, to the
priests of the church of St. George, on the road from Aliu Amba to
Ankobar.
The palace, a number of long thatched residences, enclosed by a strong
stockade, and surrounded with ted and wild olive trees, occupied the
left side of the valley, as we approached from the east. A little spur,
projecting into the valley, affords a convenient perch, and the side
opposite to us was dotted with white tobed courtiers, and numerous
individuals passing and repassing, formed a lively scene. The heights
of Kundi and Mamrat behind, enveloped in fogs, and the sun struggling
through a thick bank of clouds, made everything seem uncomfortable,
which impression was aided considerably when I dismounted, and found I
had to walk some distance up the palace hill on a moist, soddy turf,
that seemed to hold water like bog-moss.
My arrival was soon notified to the Negoos whilst I was invited into
a large new building of the usual character, constructed outside of
the palace enclosures, and which was intended for the accommodation of
the numerous train of attendants, guards, and guests that now followed
his Majesty; and which, having greatly increased by the successes of
his arms and his reputation for wisdom, had rendered it necessary to
enlarge considerably all the royal residences since he had come to the
throne. The palace of Myolones, however, had been erected for his own
use, numbers of individuals having been dispossessed of their holdings
to make room for this favourite retirement of Sahale Selassee; for once
or twice during the year the ordinary public business is suspended, and
here the monarch indulges in a short relaxation for fourteen or fifteen
days.
As I was told two or three times of the manner in which the people
who previously held the land had been driven from Myolones, I made
particular inquiries to learn if any injustice had marked this course,
for I felt naturally so inclined to respect the character of Sahale
Selassee, that I was jealous of allowing myself to be deceived by false
appearances, into the belief that he was the admirable character I
could not help taking him to be.
Walderheros’ own father was one of those who were thus ejected, but
when I asked him what return he had received, said promptly that his
present farm had been given to him in exchange, and seemed perfectly
satisfied with the conduct of the Negoos. Goodaloo also represented
that every one so removed was more than compensated for their loss.
I had, therefore, no reason to suppose that the fair fame of Sahale
Selassee had been tarnished at all by this transaction, for although
any opposition to the wishes of the Negoos would, I have no doubt, have
been severely punished, and summary ejectment have been enforced, yet
I do not see how any frail human being, educated a despotic monarch,
could help feeling angry should his presumed rights be questioned in
such a manner by a subject. I contend, therefore, that no injustice was
committed in the apparently arbitrary taking possession of the valley
of the Michael wans, when the previous possessors of the land were
remunerated, as that is all our own Parliament demands on the occasion
of carrying out any public works.
When William Rufus formed the New Forest in Hampshire, his situation
and circumstances were as nearly parallel as possible with those of
the present King of Shoa, yet we are told that he did not observe
towards the ejected inhabitants, that justice which characterized the
proceedings of the Abyssinian monarch.