Conversation with Karissa.--Of the origin of the Galla.--Of
the word Adam.--Of Eve.--Phœnician history.--Sanchoniathon
and Moses.--Of the religion of the Galla.--Of Waak.--
Connexion with Bacchus.--Reward of enterprise.--African
ethnology.--Of the armoury of the Negoos.--Different kinds
of guns.--Of the ammunition.
Karissa remained the whole day at my house, for Tinta had been obliged
to send to Ankobar for a spring vice. A discharged servant of the
Embassy, named Sultaun, who resided in Aliu Amba, brought two files,
which I purchased from him for a few charges of gunpowder, but until
the return of Tinta’s messenger, I was obliged to postpone repairing
the gun-lock. When the required instrument did come, it was too late to
do anything, so Karissa stayed all night, turning in upon an ox-skin,
and sharing the porch of my house with Goodaloo.
The next morning (Aug. 25) I set about the business, and managed to put
all to rights before noon, during which time we had a long conversation
upon the origin of the Galla, and, in fact, of all other nations, for
the traditions he related reached to the very remotest times. How far
his information was founded upon recorded history I cannot say, but he
referred it to the conversations of some priests of Gurague, with whom
the early part of his life had been spent, and much of what I collected
upon this subject (the ethnology of the inhabitants of Abyssinia) from
Karissa, was by his asking if such and such a thing that he had heard
were true. Ibrahim was as much amused as I was, for, without supposing
it, our Galla friend was contributing considerably to the knowledge of
both.
Of the Gallas themselves, he could only tell me that they originally
came from _Bargamo_, which was represented to be a large water,
across which the distant opposite side was just visible. That their
ancestors, dwelling upon the farther shore, were induced to come over
into Abyssinia, which they soon overran and conquered. Karissa always
pointed to the south as the situation of _Bargamo_, or I was inclined
to suppose that by this was intended the country around the shores of
lake Tchad, the eastern portion of which, we learn from Clapperton and
Denham, is called Berghamie. He was very curious to know if I were of
a nation of whites of whom he had heard, called _Surdi_, and which,
in his system of mankind lore, constituted one of the three great
divisions of mankind into which the whole world was divided. There was
no question about himself, for he was a Tokruree, or black, whilst
Ibrahim, although not much lighter complexioned, was an Amhara, or red
man. The _Surdi_ he insisted as existing, and was contented to believe,
although I did not seem to know anything about them, that I was of that
race.
His fathers, Karissa said, all believed that at one period the people
of the whole earth were of one colour and language, and that the first
man, like Adam, was produced from clay. Here I may observe, that the
Abyssinians all contend that the real signification of the word Adam
is first, and is a form of Adu, the Geez for the numeral one, and as
such was once used to designate the first day of the week, and the
first month of the year. Kádama is also another modification of the
same word, signifying _before_ the first. A very interesting comparison
can be therefore made between the Mosaical account of the Creation and
that which has been preserved in Manetho as the Phœnician record of the
same event; for the name of the first mortal in the list _Primogenus_
will bear an interpretation similar to the Geez translation of Adam,
or _the first_. That which makes the identity more striking between
the two narratives is, that the name of the first woman, according to
Manetho, or rather the older writer, Sanchoniathon, was Æon, which is
the very word that is given in the Genesis of the Geez Scriptures as
the name of our common mother, and which, by tracing it through its
modifications in Arabic, Hebrew, and the Greek, to our own language,
will be found to be the original of the word Eve. That Æon appears
to have been the word which designated the mother of mankind, we have
the circumstance that it retains the signification of mother to the
present day, with slight alterations depending upon dialects; for the
Amhara of Tigre call the word mother, Eno, whilst in Shoa, Enart is
the term employed. The connexion of the name Eve with the motive given
for bestowing it, contained in the third chapter of Genesis, cannot,
in fact, be perceived unless we admit this interpretation; for we are
expressly told, that Adam gave his wife that name because “she was the
_mother_ of all living.” To this also I may add, that by deriving the
name _Adam_ from the Geez _Adu_, giving that name both to the man and
woman, as in the second verse of the fifth chapter of Genesis, “And
calling _their_ name _Adam_,” occasions no confusion, as it implies
simply that they were _the first_. I have brought home with me two or
three Ethiopic manuscripts relative to the subject of the creation of
the world; for I believe by a careful comparison we shall find still
retained in Geez literature the original from which Sanchoniathon,
and perhaps other historians, have derived the accounts, at present
received, of the first creation of man; at all events, the Amhara
reject the authority of Genesis, and adhere to one which accords much
more with the profane historian of the Phœnicians.
To return, however, to Karissa and the Galla people, their ancient
history is no less interesting, nor will it prove less important when
we possess fuller information respecting the religion they profess.
It is such a field for conjecture that I decline to enter upon the
subject, except to note that they worship a limited number of principal
deities, but recognising also a numerous host of demigods, whose
influence upon man and his affairs are exerted most malevolently, and
who can only be propitiated by sacrifices and entreaties. _Waak_,
however, appears to be the supreme god who made the world and every
inferior deity. Waak has no visible representative, but is everywhere,
and exists in everything. He is the limit of all knowledge; for “_Waak
segallo_” (God knows) invariably expresses ignorance of a fact, and the
best definition of him I could get from the most informed Galla I ever
conversed with upon the subject was, that he was the “unknown God.”
Waak is, I think, the only deity proper to the Galla people, although
long intercourse with the Gongas has made them acquainted with a
mythology which would show, had I only space to enter into the subject,
a most extraordinary connexion with that of the ancient Egyptians. They
have also derived some knowledge of one or two of the principal saints
_worshipped_ by the Greek Church, and according to their situation
with respect to the Christians of Abyssinia or the Pagans of Zingero,
so is their religion modified by the errors or absurdities of their
neighbours, and which is another reason why I suspect that originally
the unknown god Waak, was alone the object of pure Galla worship. It
is singular that very ancient travellers, Cosmas Indicopleustes, for
example, surround the then known world by a _terra incognita_ which is
inscribed as Wak-wak; whilst Edrisi, the old Arabian geographer, makes
this the name also by which he describes the present Galla countries,
and which d’Lisle, by an interesting Gascon provincialism, as it aids
me in my interpretation, makes this word Bake-bake, and places it to
the south of Abyssinia, I have been led therefore to believe that the
worship of the most ancient god of India, which European nations in
the classic ages adopted under the name of Bacchus, was supposed to
characterize the inhabitants of the regions that were so designated,
and hence the reason of describing unknown countries as lands of
_Wak-wak_. If so, and _Waak_ can be by future travellers identified by
other particulars with the Bacchus of the ancients, it will be a most
important corroboration of the origin of the Galla with an Asiatic
people who invaded Africa at a very early period. It is not one volume
that would exhaust this subject; nor is it one journey that can give
a traveller a just right to impose his opinions upon his readers. The
dissipation of a deal of obscurity respecting the earlier history
of man, and, in fact, of his original nature, and of his primeval
institutions, will be the glorious reward of future enterprise; and
since the days of Columbus, no subject of more stirring interest,
or of greater importance has been discussed, than the probability of
finding in Central Africa a country characterized by the civilization
of China, but more purely sustained in its original excellence by its
isolated position, surrounded by burning deserts, that like “flaming
swords,” turn every way to keep the way of “the tree of life.” To
me, it almost appears such a community of man is shadowed out in the
mystical language of the sacred historian; and though I do not expect
to find a paradise, still there is that in Central Africa that will
well reward those adventurous spirits who will press on to explore its
unknown portions.
The empty iron-bound chest taught the man who opened it, industry; and
even if no wonderful discovery be made, knowledge, must result from a
journey across the mysterious continent.
I return again to Karissa and his system of ethnology, for out of
the question of my being one of the nation of whites, or _Surdi_, a
conversation grew, by which I perceived the very simple system of the
original separation of man that is entertained by the Abyssinians, and
their ideas upon which are singularly confirmed by what is observed in
our own extent of knowledge. This is, that originally three families of
man occupied three distinct countries, each divided by their respective
seas; and that Tokruree, the blacks, were separated from the whites
by a white sea; which I find actually to mean the Mediterranean, so
called by Arabian geographers, from being supposed to belong to the
white people. The red people, again, were the Asiatics, the Assyrians
of Jewish historians; and the sea which separated them from Tokruree,
or Africa, was, and is called to the present day, the Red Sea, from the
reason of its being situated upon the borders of a country inhabited by
a red race of men; whilst the black people, had also their particular
sea, which is that which intervenes between India and Zanzibar, and
which still bears that name in Arabic and Indian geographies. This
simple division of the earth seems to have been the popular idea of
ethnology at a very early period; for all the various names of Alps,
Albania, Albion, and numerous others, of Latin and Greek combination,
having reference to this colour, prove that the ancient designation of
Europeans was “the whites,” and which appears to have been as general
and as familiar a term to use, as is the word blacks, or Negroes,
or Tokruree, when, at the present day, we speak of those coloured
inhabitants of Africa; whilst on the other hand the derivation of Asia
from Assa, a word which signifies red, is both easy and natural. Of
the word Tokruree, and its Geez signification, my reader must be well
aware that it means _blacks_, or Negroes, and is the significant and
expressive designation of those people.
After some more conversation upon the same subjects, as the day was
drawing to a close, Karissa took up his musket, and made preparations
for departing; but before he went insisted upon my promising to ask
the Negoos that he might be allowed to accompany me to Enarea when I
went, to which place he undertook to conduct me, through Gurague, with
perfect safety, and would only require such a present as I could give
him, upon our return to Shoa. The journey would not require more than
one month to accomplish it, including all detentions and necessary
delays. It only required, he said, the permission of the Negoos; who,
in that case, would send an affaro, or servant, to see me safe upon my
journey, and to bear the royal commands for assistance to his governors
or friends. It was this appointment of affaro Karissa desired, and
none other could have been better qualified, had circumstances been
so ordered as to have admitted of my proceeding farther; but situated
as I was, worn out by disease, and reduced to my last seven or eight
dollars, I could hold out no hope to Karissa beyond saying that I
should apply to the Negoos for permission to go to Enarea, and if I
went he should be sure to accompany me.
I learned from this man that Sahale Selassee possesses at least one
thousand firearms, of which three or four hundred are European muskets.
Of these the British Embassy had presented three hundred, and before
its return one hundred and forty more had been brought up by M. Rochet
d’Hericourt. With the Kafilah I accompanied there were more than fifty
pistols, all of which were given by the Ambassador to the Negoos. These
small weapons were quite unsuited to Amhara soldiers, who like long
shots about as well as any military, it has ever been my fortune to
observe in actual combat. The pistols, however, were not altogether
useless, for, by the orders of the sagacious monarch, several of the
best matchlocks were immediately new stocked and fitted with the locks
of the former, and were thus rendered much more available as fire-arms.
There are no less than four descriptions of guns in the armoury of
the Negoos. The first and most ancient being termed _balla quob_,
are immense long old-fashioned affairs. Each require three or four
individuals to hold, whilst another runs up with a lighted stick to
discharge it; when those who stand behind, find it most desirable to
get out of the way, for the recoil throws it several yards out of the
hands of the gunmen. The second kind is called _balla matatchah_, and
is the common matchlock; many of these, I was assured, were formerly
_balla quob_, but that a Gypt several years before had visited Shoa,
and so far benefited the Negoos by reducing his long pieces into
something like portable guns. The next kind, and most in favour, were
the English and French muskets, called _balla dinghi_, and only to
those whom he most favoured did the monarch trust these much prized
arms, every one of which is valued by him at twenty dollars, the price
of two beautiful young horses. The _balla tezarb_, or percussion guns,
are those which have come to the Negoos by the voluntary contribution
of strangers, or the direct application of the monarch for the
coveted weapon at whatever price may be demanded. My single-barreled
fowling-piece was destined to the same resting-place with nearly all
the valuable stock of private fire-arms brought up to Shoa by the
members of the Embassy, who found it very difficult to retain more
than one or two guns each for their own use. The less valuable of
these _balla tezarb_ are distributed among the superior courtiers as
great marks of favour, and besides, two or three favourite pages have
occasionally lent to them, by the Negoos, guns for their amusement; and
he rewards them also for such petty services as cannot well be paid in
any other manner, by scanty donations of four or five percussion caps
at a time. These constitute a good coin in the precincts of the palace,
and a great deal of attention and civility may be commanded in exchange
for a few caps.
The Shoan gunpowder, as I have before described, is very bad, and
also, from the want of lead, all manufactured bullets are made of
small pieces of iron, hammered into a round form. Many of the gunmen,
however, are obliged to substitute small round pebbles, as the Negoos
never distributes to each more than five or seven of the iron ones, on
occasions even of the most extensive expeditions.