The Highlands of Ethiopia Part 34

As the fact of the downfall of the n.o.ble beast became more widely credited, and the scattered forces gradually rallied round it, chief after chief offered his hand in congratulation of the, in his eyes, daring exploit, expressing his wonder and amazement that a small rifle-ball had been able to accomplish the annihilation of the bulk and life of seventy seasons, and extolling the prowess of the king's European visitors in the encounter with so formidable a monster, whose colossal strength could have carried him trampling through a whole array of their own host, dealing death and destruction wheresoever his will impelled him. Whilst dancing and howling around the carca.s.s, they affirmed the deed to be the work of genii, and complimented us as the "bravest of the brave," under the t.i.tles of "Figa" and "Gobez;"

declaring that "the mould whereof the Gyptzis were fas.h.i.+oned must be of a rare quality; and that if all the subjects of Shoa were but composed of the same material, the dominions of Sahela Sela.s.sie would know no limit."

Boroo, the brave chief of the Soopa, who, before our shots were heard, had with extreme difficulty been restrained from galloping into the jungle at the head of his gathered retainers, and thus alarming the quarry by the noise and confusion of many hundred hors.e.m.e.n, was more particularly earnest and vehement in his congratulations on our victory.

He had himself antic.i.p.ated none but the most fatal results from what he termed so rash an attack upon the hitherto unsubdued monarch of the wilderness, and had trembled for the royal vengeance which any accident to the party would infallibly have drawn upon his devoted head. "The world was made for you alone," concluded the old warrior in a perfect ecstasy of delight, "and no one else has any business in it."

The trunk and ear of the beast so much dreaded throughout the district having been hewn from the carca.s.s, upon the iron folds of which neither the swords nor the lances of the a.s.sembled Galla and Amhara could make the smallest impression, were finally borne off in triumph; and as we returned to the encampment on the hill-top, the same honours were paid us which are exacted by the despot on his triumphal entry after a successful expedition against the heathen. Hors.e.m.e.n galloped in every direction, shouting the prowess of the Gyptzis, and announcing that "those who had gone forth to slay the mighty elephant had successfully performed the quest." Groups of women and girls lined the hill-side, and as the hunting-party crowned the steep, raised their shrill voices in praise and welcome. The tents were entered amid the deafening chorus of a war song. Bullocks were instantly slaughtered for all the followers. Double the daily liberal supplies of every description were poured in. Sprigs of green asparagus were presented by the sons of the delighted governor, to ornament our hair in earnest of victory. Dame Twot.i.t composed a new extemporaneous sonnet upon the occasion, which she rehea.r.s.ed during half the night; and until the c.o.c.k crew, every quarter of the village of Manya resounded with wild dancing, martial music, and war songs, in celebration of an achievement, now for the first time witnessed by the Christian population of Shoa.

Volume Two, Chapter XLI.

THE NORTHERN GALLA.

Giddem was conquered by Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sahela Sela.s.sie, from Latta, the ruler of the first Mohammadan settlers. A succession of deep valleys, stretching eastward to the very confines of the Adaiel, are occupied by the tributary Galla tribes of Gille and Soopa, who have become converts to Islamism--the Allala river intersecting the country of the former, of which the princ.i.p.al village is Esgieye, and the Negeso that of the latter, whose chief resides at Allaiyo. Further to the north, where a continuation of the wild tract of forest land is visible, the Adaie threads the district inhabited by that portion of the Wollo who own allegiance to Shoa under the government of Efrata, and by the Doogoogra Galla, who were also dependent, but have long been in a state of open rebellion. Large quant.i.ties of excellent coffee are cultivated in Manchettee and Efrata, and with the salt pieces or "amoles," which it has been seen are imported from Tigre by the Wollo and Worra Kaloo, are brought to Shoa by the Moslem merchants. In Giddem itself, however, coffee is not cultivated, owing to the prejudice entertained respecting its use by the Christian population generally. Westward of Giddem, and interposed betwixt it and Morabietie, is the province of Mans, largest of all the districts of Shoa, but subdivided into Lalo, Mama, and Ghera, each of which forms a distinct government. Abiye, third king of Efat, defeated and subjugated Gole, the then independent ruler, whose daughter Wolensa, was the mother of Zenama Work, the Queen-dowager. This lady, therefore, looks upon Mans as her hereditary possession, and she is much beloved by the people, although, as regards their allegiance to the crown, they still retain a large share of their ancient independence.

Haughty, brave, obstinate, and quarrelsome, they openly avow to have little knowledge of Sahela Sela.s.sie--never swear by his name, as is the usage of His Majesty's more dutiful and loyal subjects--often depose the governors whom he appoints to rule over them--and refuse to take part in the annual forays over the southern border, upon the grounds that they have quite sufficient occupation in the adjustment of intestine feuds and boundary disputes. These latter are points not always satisfactorily adjusted in Europe--nor is it extraordinary that they should be attended with some difficulty in Africa.

During the rebellion of Medoko, the king, in his distress, sent an urgent message to the people of Mans, saying, "My brothers, my relations, hasten to help me!" and pouring in at the summons, the wild hordes arrived in time to decide the issue of the dubious day. But so well aware is the despot of his precarious footing, that he relies entirely upon the tact displayed by his mother, avowing her northern subjects to be his own flesh and blood, upon whom he could not impose a heavy taxation. The only tribute paid, therefore, is in _sekdat_, a coa.r.s.e black cloth, manufactured of the fleece of the sheep of the country, and invariably employed in the manufacture of the royal tents.

This fabric also furnishes a costume indispensable in so rigorous a climate, where the bleak unsheltered hills, swept by a cutting easterly wind, rank among the coldest portions of Abyssinia. The soil is chiefly a rich black earth, producing abundant crops, but perfectly dest.i.tute of timber. Salt is the only circulating medium; and a man's wealth is estimated by the number of his ploughshares, which are carefully buried until wanted. The swarthy complexion of the inhabitants, and their sombre habiliments, distinguish them amongst all the other subjects of Shoa--wearers of the white cotton robe--than whom they are even more superst.i.tious, bigoted, and ignorant; the most enlightened amongst them being esteemed right cunning sorcerers, and as such, dreaded wheresoever they wander.

Mans has already been mentioned as a province famous for the lake Alobar, the reputed residence of the King of the Genii, through which the river Shai flows to join the Nile. Of yore, when the spot now inundated was _terra firma_, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in the house of the wealthiest cultivator residing in the many flouris.h.i.+ng villages that then existed, and to have addressed herself to the mistress, saying, "I am hungry, and have nothing to eat. Give me corn, and I will grind for wages." A vast heap of grain was pointed out, sufficient for a week's labour, but no sooner had the Virgin touched it than it was miraculously converted into meal. The inhospitable master now refused the pittance claimed; nor would the "Four Chairs," before whom the complaint was carried, give redress, until a poor shepherd had become mediator. As a mark of the displeasure of Heaven, the scene of this offence against the mother of Christ was forthwith converted into a lake, which has since formed the abode of the lord of all the gins and evil spirits in the land; and from that period large quant.i.ties of _dabo_, or wheaten cakes, composed of the whitest flour, have been supplied by general contribution to the shepherds on the festival of Debra Tabor, and on the anniversary of "our blessed Lady."

Immediately north of Giddem, betwixt the frontiers of Shoa and Argobba, is the district of Dibbie, under Abba Munsoor, a Wollo Galla of consequence, formerly governor of Wof.a.gabel, in the territories of Birroo Lubo, and notorious for his personal valour. Having with a chosen band of followers rebelled some years since against the Prince of Argobba, he fortified himself at Arikkee, a high table-topped mountain on the Wollo border, where he steadily rejected the terms that were offered for his capitulation. A strong force of spearmen, supported by a thousand musketeers and matchlock-men, was at length sent to reduce the insurgents; but no sooner had the besiegers opened fire from a deep defile that environs the stronghold, than five hundred of their number were laid dead by a storm of stones from above; the residue, as usual on such occasions, retreating in the utmost disorder. The entire scarp of the precipitous hill had been lined with beams and rafters balancing huge ma.s.ses of rock; and the leathern thongs by which they were lashed being simultaneously cut away by the garrison, destruction was carried along the whole extent of the crowded ravine. After this signal victory, Abba Munsoor abandoned his citadel, and tendering faith to Sahela Sela.s.sie, was placed on the frontier of his former liege, where his valour and trusty services have gained him the highest place in the royal favour.

The dread entertained by the Christians of the independent Moslem denizens of the low country, has been clearly portrayed by the personal confessions of their monarch. The destruction of a single individual of the hostile tribes, by the most treacherous means, is estimated a feat of the greatest valour, and one that ent.i.tles the hero to the highest distinctions. His Majesty's recent allusions to his highland neighbours, the men of Geshe, "who carry broad s.h.i.+elds, and fight hand to hand," had reference to the receipt of tidings of the defeat of Ayto Amito, one of his princ.i.p.al frontier governors, by Abogaz Goba.s.sie, a brave chieftain in the service of Birroo Lubo, who, with a large detachment, had attacked and routed the Amhara with great slaughter.

This disastrous news had been followed by the arrival of Ayto Kala.s.sie from Kaa, on the west of Antzochia, with intelligence that, being unable any longer to stem the inroads of the Wollo, he had been compelled to take flight, leaving the enemy in possession of a fine district across the river Wonchit, pertaining to the princ.i.p.ality of Zenama Work.

These events caused considerable consternation in the kingdom of Shoa; and it being apprehended that the Mohammadans would follow up their success in the direction of Giddem, all the Wollo gunmen in the royal service were discharged, and Christians or converted Galla slaves enlisted in their room. A large detachment of the body-guard was then ordered to the north for the defence of the frontier; but under the conviction that, as on all former occasions, the Amhara cavalry would leave them to dispute the field alone with their brave foes, they proceeded on the service with the greatest possible reluctance, although placed under the immediate command of Chara, the son of Medoko, who is scarcely less renowned for valour than was his rebel father.

Birroo Lubo, the Prince of Argobba, is descended from Lubo the son of Watsooba, who is said to have been a weaver, and who espoused the daughter of Endries, governor of Gof. Amade, the last ruler of Worra Himano, educated Birroo, the fruit of this union, and created him governor of Gof, whereupon he diligently occupied himself in the extension of his dominions, dividing his residence between that town and Ain Amba. His elder son, Ali Birroo, met an untimely death in one of the many border struggles with the troops of Sahela Sela.s.sie; and the only surviving brother, Amade, who is to succeed his now aged father, has already obtained a great reputation for personal valour in the field. The term Argobba is applied by the Adaiel to the whole of the border country in which cotton is cultivated. Caravans constantly come from Aussa to Dowwe, on the frontier, the road being far more secure than that between Tajura and Shoa; and with a view still further to facilitate the communication, the Prince, who is extremely advanced in years, has given one of his daughters in marriage to the chieftain of the united tribes Hurruk Bodaito.

The next most influential personage on this frontier is Adara Bille, surnamed, from the t.i.tle of his favourite war-steed, "Abba Daghet," "the Father of Height." This chieftain resides at Gatira, [The Cypress tree]

in the district of Changiet, and presides over the Wollo tribe Gora. As a bribe to secure protection to messengers proceeding to the northern states, he has received a number of villages from Sahela Sela.s.sie.

Birroo Lubo has given him his daughter in marriage, with territory in his own dominions, and affords military aid in time of need as a check upon the western Galla; and Imam Liban, of the powerful Worra tribe, has likewise made considerable grants of land with a similar object. Thus possessed of extensive power, and courted on all sides, the treacherous chief avails himself of his position to s.h.i.+ft the cloak according to the wind; and, although wedded to Birroo's daughter, has never yet a.s.sisted that ruler in his hostilities against Shoa.

Although not nominally tributary to Gondar, both Birroo and Adara Bille afford military aid whenever called upon, and the Wollo soldiery form the stoutest bulwark of the decayed empire. Were all these fanatic tribes of one accord, they could not fail to endanger the safety of Christian Abyssinia; but they are fortunately divided throughout by the same feuds and private animosities which sever the southern Pagans.

Hating Christian and heathen with all the dire inveteracy enjoined by their creed, and slaying both without mercy on every opportunity, the Wollo preserve all the superst.i.tions of the latter, below whom they are in many respects debased by Mohammadan bigotry; thus affording a melancholy proof of what the whole Galla nation must become, should it ever unfortunately happen that Abyssinia terminated her intestine struggles by falling under the grasp of a Moslem ruler. Intercourse with the northern states has imparted to the Wollo a higher degree of cultivation than is possessed by their countrymen in the south; and pa.s.sing nearly the whole of their time in the repet.i.tion of prayers, a proverb and general belief prevails, that their country can never be conquered by those who are not followers of the Prophet. This superst.i.tion is embraced even by the Christians of Shoa, in consequence of Ras Ali being last year defeated by the Wollo cavalry at Korkora, on his march to invade Efat. The vernacular language of all this border is Galla, adulterated with Amharic and with the Arabic of the Koran; which two latter may be expected in the course of a few generations entirely to obliterate the aboriginal tongue.

Ali Marie, the independent Mohammadan prince of Tehooladeree, wherein is the lake Haik, has long been in firm alliance with the King of Shoa, and twice ably a.s.sisted him against the Wollo, an important piece of service, for which His Majesty remunerated him handsomely. It is now two years since he was defeated by Birroo Lubo, and driven to seek refuge at the Christian court, until, having mustered sufficient reinforcements, he contrived, after several severely-contested battles, to reinstate himself in his government; and it is said of this warrior, that on the occasion of his struggle for empire, "he slew so many of the foe with his own hand, that the clotted gore could not be effaced from his spear blade."

Again deposed by Birroo, he was now a fugitive in Mofa, a strong fortress to the west of lake Haik. The victor, whose pretext for the war was Ali Marie's refusal to acknowledge allegiance to Ras Ah, has thus, by the subjugation of the Tehooladeree Galla, obtained possession of the entire line of road from the frontiers of Shoa to Tigre, and has, moreover, deprived his enemy the Negoos of his staunchest and most powerful ally. It is not a little singular, that Sahela Sela.s.sie, who is on outward terms of friends.h.i.+p with Ras Ali, should have been suffered to afford an asylum to Ali Marie, without being called to account. On the occasion in question, the haughty but humbled fugitive bared his shoulders to the Christian monarch, according to the Abyssinian mode of evincing respect, remarking, as he did so, "that he gave this token of deference for the first time during his life."

The Tulema Galla are the last to be mentioned on the northern frontier of Shoa, and at their hands the most serious disasters and reverses have uniformly been experienced. A former emperor of Ethiopia is said to have married a female slave, by whom he had three children, Metcha, Karaiyo, and Tulema. These youths were charged with the royal herds, and being in the wilderness, and brave young men, they soon drew around them a number of discontented vagabonds, who embraced their language and manners, which were those of their mother, a native of the very centre of Africa. Concerting an attack upon the southern provinces of the empire beyond the Hawash, they defeated the imperial army on the banks of the river Gala in Gurague, which runs south towards Zingero; but of numerous clans and houses into which the rebels became subsequently divided, the twelve tribes of Metcha, the Karaiyo, and the Tulema, have alone retained their aboriginal appellation.

Attempting to invade the territory of the Ab.i.t.c.hu and Ghelan, the Tulema were defeated and driven to the north-west, where they established themselves on the bleakest and most lofty highlands, and to the present day have maintained their independence. One portion have become converts to the Mohammadan faith, but the occupants of the mountain Dera adhere to idolatry. Woosen Suggud succeeded in subjugating some few of these tribes; but on the accession of Sahela Sela.s.sie, they cast off the yoke, and being joined by a member of the blood-royal of Shoa, became formidable enemies. Force after force has been sent against Kalala, the capital, on the borders of Morabeitie, and always with the same result.

Birroo-Bukiza, and his successor, the brave Abba Damto, have invariably repulsed the "soldiers of the cross," with fearful slaughter, and many governors have been put to a cruel death. In the mind of the superst.i.tious Amhara, fear has gradually given birth to a belief of the existence in these cold mountains of a race of fabulous beings called _Arita_, to whom their reverses are attributed. The lower portion of the body is described to be that of an a.s.s or a black dog, whilst the head and shoulders a.s.sume the human form, and with the gait, costume, and language of mankind, complete a disguise which enables the monsters to roam undetected over the border districts of Shoa, in prosecution of their b.l.o.o.d.y career of cannibalism.

Volume Two, Chapter XLII.

THERMAL WELLS AT FEELAMBA.

The day following our victory over the monarch of the forest was pa.s.sed in the laborious operation of hewing out the ponderous tusks, each of which formed the load of a donkey, and was valued at one hundred German crowns. A strong force was in attendance to keep the peace; and owing to the inferiority of the tools at command, and the existing necessity of cutting completely through the head to the root of the lower tusk, which was half-buried in the soil with the violence of the fall, the trophies were not borne off until the sun had set. The wounded man had meanwhile been conveyed to the camp for surgical aid. The edges of the laceration in his thigh had been by an amateur pract.i.tioner neatly brought together with acacia thorns fastened by threads of wiry gra.s.s; and a handful of silver easily reconciled the patient to a few weeks of confinement to his bed.

An Armenian, acting in capacity of dragoman to the Emba.s.sy, had been the Esculapius--a man who, without the smallest pretensions, gratuitously set up also to be a first-rate Nimrod; and the merriment made throughout this day at his expense had covered him with confusion. When setting out from Ankober with a borrowed musket, he had rubbed his hands and feigned the highest spirits at the prospect of resuming his "old sport,"

for he had slain elephants by the dozen in Northern Abyssinia; and their tails, he contended, "like the tails of all elephants, were not tufted at the extremity, as I a.s.serted, but covered with long hair, after the fas.h.i.+on of the horse!" A mouse wandering from an adjacent granary at Dokaket, and unwisely scampering over his bed, fell a sacrifice to the well-aimed staff of the hero, who, by virtue of this brilliant exploit, stuck a white feather in his hair, and whooped the war-song during half the ensuing march.

Nevertheless, in the course of the first day's unsuccessful hunting, he had been seen to hide himself in a manner far from creditable to his nerves; he had been heard to exert his voice in earnest supplications for a.s.sistance at the rumoured approach of the animal for whose life he had previously affected to thirst; and when at last actually confronted with the defunct monster, he was fain to confess that he had only once beheld a live elephant "from the summit of a very high tree, when he discharged his matchlock as the beast retreated, and the people declared that it would die."

This curious confession on the part of the impostor, whose statements had heretofore been credited, led to further disclosures. He had been addicted to shooting at hyenas by night in the suburbs of Adowa; and having once been so fortunate as to overturn the object at which he fired, he flew enraptured to the spot, and was somewhat disagreeably surprised to find a Christian man weltering in blood, which flowed from a perforation through the heart. For this untoward murder he was sentenced to pay two hundred pieces of salt, by Oubie the usurper, who, however fond of putting his own subjects to death, permitted no one else to do so with impunity; and being unable to raise the amount of this fine among his numerous friends, he wisely adopted the alternative of flight.

In Shoa he set up as a physician, and practised medicine, until so many patients died under his hands, that the king was compelled to issue an interdiction. It formed the veteran's boast, that although well stricken in years, he could still bolt ten pounds of raw beef at one sitting, whereas, if subjected to a culinary process, three were more than he could contrive with comfort. Notwithstanding all his exaggerations, he had witnessed strange sights, which are but too well corroborated. He had seen the monster Oubie, when his conscience was stained by fewer foul crimes than it now is, put out the eyes of his elder brother, who, as the searing-iron hissed over the unflinching orbs, thanked G.o.d that he had so long been spared the use of them; and he had seen Ras Subagadis, under whom he once held a petty government in Tigre, executed by the hands of a pagan Galla, who undertook the task for some bread and a barille of hydromel, after numerous Amhara had refused to become headsman to so humane a prince.

Every object in visiting Giddem having been fully and satisfactorily accomplished, we bade adieu to the hospitable old governor, whose parting request was, that he might be favourably mentioned to his royal master. This I unhesitatingly promised; and Ayto Elbeshar was deputed to lead the way to the celebrated thermal springs of Feelamba, situated within his government, and which I had determined to visit as we returned to Ankober. Descending by an extremely steep footpath to a deep dell below the Aito hill, the road wound above a mile along the sunken channel of the narrow river, through which meandered a rippling brook of crystal water, varied at intervals by miniature cascades, and shaded throughout its tortuous course by trees and flowering creepers of luxuriant beauty. In an angle formed by a sudden bend are the hot wells, five in number, rising at some distance from each other--the remnants of old volcanic action, which has long entirely disappeared in other parts of its theatre, but has left behind it, in this secluded and highly picturesque spot, a salubrious fountain of life.

Aragawi, the most celebrated of these springs, derives its name from one of the nine missionaries of the Greek church, who, at the close of the fifth century, completed the conversion of Abyssinia during the reign of Alameda. He is styled also Za Michael; and is said to have been conveyed on the tail of a huge serpent to the summit of the lofty and then inaccessible rock on Debra Damo, where he founded a convent, of which he is the tutelar saint, and which is still one of the most renowned in Ethiopia. It is recorded of Aragawi that he raised the dead, and caused the blind to see; and among the manifold notable miracles ascribed to him, the not least remarkable is the conversion to Christianity of the Devil himself, whom he persuaded to take the monastic cap for forty years!

Sela.s.sie, the Holy Trinity, is another open pool or basin situated close to Aragawi, and like it rising in bubbles from the sandy bank and bed of the stream. In both the temperature stood at 118 degrees of Fahrenheit.

Mariam, the blessed Virgin, at 115 degrees, issues from a cave, provided with a rude door, and part.i.tioned by a bar of wood into two cells for new and old complaints, and in these patients were in the act of immersion. Abbo, at 120 degrees, percolates from the centre of a steep bank of soft red sandstone, covering basaltic wacke, through an artificial spout inserted for the convenience of drinking the waters.

Numbers of dreadfully diseased wretches, the lame, the halt, and the blind, who were here a.s.sembled, with victims who had suffered under the Galla knife, formed a horrible spectacle, which called vividly to mind the scriptural account of the pool of Bethesda.

The superintendence of the numerous patients who thus flock hither to undergo the discipline of the baths, is limited to the collection of one piece of salt, value two-pence halfpenny sterling, for the use of the wells, which are believed to possess the highest sanative virtues in a great variety of disorders. The waters possess a slight taste and smell of sulphuretted hydrogen; but they may be drunk hot from the spring without creating nausea. There is no precipitate whatever; and not five yards from their source they mingle with a strong current of cold pure mountain water, to which no perceptible alteration is imparted in colour, temperature, or taste.

Here we obtained many rare and beautiful birds; amongst others, the Adagoota, a superb black-crested falcon, which had been first seen in the wilderness of Giddem. Following the course of the Feelamba to its junction with the Jow-waha, whereof it forms the princ.i.p.al source, the main road was gained at no great distance from the ford, and the steep Gozi range again surmounted to the village of Telim Amba. It is situated on a height divided by a deep valley from the opposite residence of the governor of Mahhfood, whose lady presently sent me, through a slave girl, the expression of her regret, that "the king's guests" should have chosen to halt at so great a distance; and although it exceeded four miles, she finally insisted upon supplying us with a huge pepper pie, and other ready-cooked provisions. "You might eat these," was the message delivered by the Abigail: "they were prepared for you, but you have taken another road."

On the banks of the Robi we had again met Ayto Abaiyo, superintending operations at one of the royal thres.h.i.+ng-floors, where all the inhabitants of the district were a.s.sembled; and self-interested motives induced him very uncivilly to oppose a day's hunting on that river, upon the score of alleged hostilities with Anba.s.sa Ali. In order to free himself from any further importunity, he clandestinely instructed our guide to lead us by the most direct route, and hence arose the offence which I had committed against the "_Emabiet_."

Volume Two, Chapter XLIII.

RETURN TO ANKOBER.

An extremely steep and infamous road, intersected by numerous mountain torrents, brought us the following day to Aramba. After crossing the district of Arraba Amba, which pays tribute to the crown in agates, whereof numbers of the form adapted for gun-flints are picked up on the face of the soil, the path wound above three miles along the channel of the river Shonkorghie, or "Sugar-sides," which takes its source in the Turmaber range, and during the rains becomes quite impa.s.sable. On its borders the blackberry and the corinda abounded, both in full fruit.

The scenery was especially beautiful; and in a romantic glen, partially secluded by a grove of tall trees, among which the green and crimson "zoreet" displayed its gorgeous plumage, stood the picturesque church and monastery of "Our Lady."

Aramba was taken from the Areeo Galla by Abiye, third monarch of Shoa; and now containing a large portion of the treasures ama.s.sed by Sahela Sela.s.sie and his ancestors, is garrisoned by a strong detachment of gunmen, and entrusted to the custody of a governor, and of a Shalaka, or captain of a thousand. No stranger is permitted to enter the village without first giving the personal security of one of the inhabitants; and access is not under any circ.u.mstances allowed to the stronghold, which occupies the apex of a rocky ridge, possessing great natural strength. Here, in a succession of long barn-like buildings, are consigned to mould and cobwebs, and jealously guarded, every civilised invention received by the despot, which could in any way tend to the advancement or improvement of his people.

Our camp was formed on a small level terrace, of which the precipitous brink overlooked a deep dark valley containing the sources of the Aramba water, each flowing through a narrow rocky ravine. Extensively cultivated, and echoing to the shrill voice of the partridge, it is studded with cottages, above the white roofs of which the wreaths of curling smoke rose in agreeable relief against the sombre side of the wood-clothed mountain that bounded the prospect. Woti, towering amid dense forests of timber, and appearing to bear on its venerable summit the crumbling ruins of a giant castle, shut in the view on one side, whilst on the other, far beyond a remarkable pyramidical hill called Koka, could be traced the jungly banks of the Awadee, gradually fading into the blue perspective of the Adel desert.

We experienced every civility at the hands of the governor and Shalaka; the latter of whom insisted on mounting guard over our tents in a small temporary bower erected as a defence against the nocturnal cold.

Supplies of every description were furnished in regal profusion; and the voracity of the Abyssinian followers, to whom the excursion had proved one continued feast, was most severely put to the test. The king's orders, which, in consequence of the excessive cheapness of all the necessaries of life, entail small burden upon the host, threw open the doors at every stage, and afforded the most lavish commissariat; and although the donors in most instances refused our money, they yet accepted presents of tenfold value in their estimation, which amply remunerated them for the tax imposed by the despotic Negoos.

But different indeed would be the reception afforded to the man who should venture to wander through the country without the royal a.s.sistance. A well-stocked purse, or a well-filled portmanteau, would not invariably produce a salutary effect, since the savage has always some plan in contrivance, by which to obtain possession of any curious article exposed to his admiring gaze, without imparting aught of value in return; and in Shoa a display of force is frequently requisite to extort that for which the most liberal payment has previously been tendered. Coupled with the desire to obtain property, there ever exists an innate disinclination to part with the most trifling commodity; and even among the higher cla.s.ses, a stick or a spear is sometimes peremptorily refused to parties who have previously loaded the ingrate with the richest imaginable presents.

Our last march lay over the mountain ma.s.s of which Mamrat forms the main feature. The ascent in many parts is extremely tedious; and deep dells, intersecting the road, are traversed each by a clear streamlet, leaping from rock to rock in its downward course to vales far concealed from view. A singular bird's-eye view of Goncho, the state prison, was obtained from a natural terrace on which, environed by dark juniper trees, stands the church of Kidana Meherat, "the Covenant of Mercy."

This very common t.i.tle is due to an opinion entertained by the Abyssinian fathers, that G.o.d appeared to the Virgin Mary in Paradise, and formed a covenant with her for the redemption of mankind.

The voice of the mourners was soon after heard at the house of Ayto Manor, late governor of the district, who, to the great concern of the king, had recently departed this life. In boyhood a playfellow of Sahela Sela.s.sie, the young prince had sworn that, on his accession to the throne, he would not forget him, and throughout his long reign he had proved true to his word. Although the deceased had, by his disputes with the merchants of Hurrur, forfeited the government of Alio Amba, the most lucrative in the realm, he was immediately invested with another.

Year after year, too, honours and wealth had been heaped upon him from the throne, in grat.i.tude for which he willed to his liberal master the entire of his acc.u.mulated property, without making any provision for his own children, who, in the ordinary course of things, are permitted to reside twelve months on the father's estate before it reverts to the crown.

A great portion of the latter part of the road lay through the mighty forests of Mamrat, of which the scenery was rendered singularly beautiful by the admixture of vernal and autumnal tints, produced at this season by the great proportion of evergreens. The shadowy and sombre juniper, fas.h.i.+oned like the tall cedars of Lebanon, and the fresh and lively "zigba," "So ma.s.sy, vast, yet green in her old age," wave stage above stage from the gloomy depths of the valley, to the very pinnacle of the mountain, amid the moss-grown forms of the silver-haired "woira." The imperial purple lory, with myriads of brilliant birds, darted through the cool recesses; the bell voice of the campanero tolled with monotonous regularity, and many a clear and sparkling rivulet bounded over its broken channel.

Deep-seated in this retirement lies the monastery of Mantek, said to have been founded a thousand years. It is inhabited solely by _Tabeeban_--men strongly suspected of being Jews in disguise--cunning workers in iron, wood, and clay, who are regarded as sorcerers, and - shunned accordingly by all save the king, to whom they are endeared.