Chapter VI

Lake Tsana lay before me as a vast expanse of blue water stretching to the horizon. The shore here, near the village of Delgi at the north of the lake,[42] is in places sandy, in others covered with grass. At some points one can walk to the edge of the clear water, at others the shelving bank leads, by a scarcely perceptible incline, to stretches of reed-grown, swampy ground. I saw no water-weed upon the surface.

The lake lies at an altitude of 1942 metres (6372 feet) above the sea-level. Its length from the mouth of the Magetsch to the outlet of the Blue Nile is approximately forty-five miles, and its breadth on the twelfth parallel of longitude is about thirty-seven miles. The map published in this volume is mainly reproduced from that prepared by Dr. Stecker for the African Association of Germany. How painstaking he was in collecting information may be inferred from the fact that during his excursions in the native boats he took three hundred soundings—an example of patient research which those will best appreciate who have seen a “boat” of the kind. Dr. Stecker gave the following results of his survey:—“Lake Tsana covers a superficial area of 2980 square kilometres. All the islands together possess a superficial area of about fifty square kilometres, of which forty are included in Dek, and four in Dega. I found the greatest depth between the island of Dega and Zegi, viz. seventy-two metres, while the deepest sounding between Korata and Zegi was sixty-seven metres. Between Dek and Adina the depth ranged between thirty-two and forty-seven metres. But I am fully convinced that the deepest places—in my opinion having a much greater depth than one hundred metres—are to be found north of Dek in the direction of Dega and Gorgora. One cannot, however, well venture to make an excursion to those parts in the fragile Abyssinian craft.”[43]

This beautiful lake is everywhere girt by mountains, and in some places they rise directly from its shore. As a consequence it is exposed to sudden gusts and squalls that sweep down the valleys and ravines, and these would make navigation risky for small sailing boats. Hippopotami swarm in the waters. The Abyssinians hereabouts—Christians and Mussulmans alike—regard their flesh as unclean; but the hippos do not “lead a very snug life,” as Dr. Stecker supposed. They are constantly harassed by the natives, who shoot them for the sake of their hides. From these are made the whips called _coorbatch_, which are in general demand and are much valued. Plowden wrote that “the crocodile, that is found in most of the large rivers of Abyssinia, does not infest this lake.”[44] So far as my personal observation goes, he was right. But, knowing the enterprising character of the Blue Nile crocodile, I should think it wise to verify the statement, while on the spot, by careful observation.[45]

I did not hear of the “Deputy’s” peaceful departure immediately on arriving at the lakeside, for neither of my comrades was in view. After a few minutes I saw one strolling towards me carrying a wild goose, which he had just shot with a rifle, and then the other appeared, coming from the opposite direction, with a brace of wild duck. It was clear that the lake country was well stocked, and that the expedition would fare sumptuously if it were not cut up.

All our tents were pitched by eleven o’clock, and we began to think of lunch. A man looks forward cheerfully to his meals in the fine mountain air. But on that morning anxiety about the future harassed our minds. However, I had no leisure to make forecasts, for I had to attend to one of our soldiers who had fever, and one of our boys who had dysentery, and then I found that I was appointed honorary surgeon to the neighbourhood, and that a patient was waiting. He was an old man, who had a large abscess in the sole of his foot, and had endured the affliction for more than a week. I operated, while his friends looked on. There was no superfluity of medical stores, and it seemed fair to make “the case” supply his own bandage. This, when produced, proved to be a piece of dirty shirting. It served, over sublimate wool, and the patient was very grateful and thanked me profusely.

Parkyns made some striking and interesting observations about the insensibility to pain displayed by the Abyssinians and the African races of all kinds.[46] He said, “I have never noticed in Africa any education for the purpose of rendering men patient under suffering,” and he attributed the power of endurance to the hardening effect of a rough, primitive life. How far this is the cause and how far the advantage may be due to a somewhat lower form of nervous organization than that developed in Europeans I will not attempt to determine. But surprising as are the facts related by Parkyns, I do not doubt that he has described them without exaggeration, and my own experience showed that the Habashes stood pain well, though I observed no inclination towards heroism among them.

When I had finished the public demonstration in surgery, I noticed a small throng of people around Dupuis’s tent. Their faces displayed their satisfaction, and I joined the group to learn what had happened. Then I heard that the true representative of Ras Gouksha had arrived, and that the “Deputy” was a fraud. The envoy who had now come into our camp had expected us to reach the lake by another track, and had taken his post to await us. This man greeted us with a most civil welcome, gave us teff,[47] eggs, milk, fowls—in fact, all the supplies which we chiefly needed—and offered to accompany us round the lake and see that we were everywhere treated with courtesy. He seemed a smart and “likely” fellow, and any one may imagine our delight in the prompt exposure of the “Deputy” and the dramatic change for the better in our situation. We gave our new friend a stiff drink of green chartreuse, which he swallowed at one gulp. Then he went off to collect further supplies for us.

A little later the “Deputy” returned to exculpate himself. He grovelled on the ground, imploring forgiveness. He had brought a sheep as a peace-offering, and when we had added this to our belongings, we graciously pardoned him. Upon hearing that he was absolved from his guilt, he stooped down and kissed a stone close to Dupuis’s feet.

We had had enough parley for the day, so Dupuis and I started upon an explorers’ tramp, carrying our guns. We walked about two miles in a north-westerly direction, and saw innumerable kinds of water-fowl along the margin of the lake. The birds were scarcely shy of us at all, and we approached within ten yards of wild geese before they rose. I noticed among the mass a species of goose like a big Muscovy duck, with dark green plumage and white feathers in the wings, plovers of all sorts, herons, pelicans, snake-birds, and the ibis in numbers. We shot none, for we had meat enough in store, and it would have been sheer slaughter to do so. I did, indeed, try my luck with some quail that took to the wing, but no harm came to them, and I was not sorry.

We returned to the village. It was pleasant to see kine again after the long march through the deserted border-country. They are here of the long-horned, hump-backed “Zebu” kind common throughout Africa and the East.[48] My friend Crawley had taken a rod and line to the edge of the lake. He landed a fish about 2 lb. weight, of the perch tribe. So we had a very complete _menu_. The cold was keen after sundown, but we had a cheery finish to our first day by the lake, after all. And it would hardly be possible to look upon a more lovely scene than that which we saw from our camp when the moon had risen.

We were not astir very early in the morning of January 8, and dawdled over breakfast until half-past seven; it is almost worth while to live a strenuous life at times in order to enjoy dawdling afterwards. Dupuis and Crawley set out with an assortment of gear to make a survey, and I amused myself with a butterfly-net and a camera.

Then I inspected my patients. Several came into camp from the neighbourhood, as I had expected. The old man with the abscess presented himself, and I found that the injured foot was healing well. He thanked me again very profusely, and I believe that after this second visit he departed to the village whence he came with a good opinion of European surgery. Another Habash found me less satisfactory as a physician. He had come to ask what medicine he could take to cure the headache caused by _tedj_. Now, _tedj_ is the beer, or mead, of the country; it is made from fermented barley, and flavoured with honey diluted in the proportion of one part to three parts of water. It is a very heady—and, to Europeans, a most nasty—drink, and the Abyssinians consume enormous quantities of it. Parkyns was told of a man who was said to have swallowed twenty-six pints at a sitting, on the occasion of a wedding-feast at which the English traveller was present. But he regarded this statement as “a stretcher.”[49] I told the inquirer that the one and only prescription was not to drink _tedj_, and thereupon the little audience of his fellow-countrymen enjoyed a laugh at his expense.[50]

_See p._ 79.]

_See p._ 79.]

I was glad to see that the servants set to work to wash their clothes with soap in the lake. The cleansing was needed. Soon the tents in our camp were draped with garments enough to occupy the wash-lines of a whole suburb. The lake had a pleasant temperature for bathing, and the men stayed in the water till their clothes were dry.

On this morning we had a visit of ceremony from another priest, whose umbrella was of many colours. His attendants were a boy dressed in plum-coloured chintz with a yellow scroll-pattern on it, another boy, who was naked, and carried a bell which he tinkled incessantly, and three Abyssinian students. These learn to read and write the Gheez language, and I think the Bible is the only book which they study. They are lads from the villages who are “candidates for orders,” and the theological classes are held in the church-porches. I secured two satisfactory snap-shots of the priest. He received an oblation of five dollars with an absolutely impassive face, and then left us in doubt whether he was secretly gratified by the amount of the offering or inwardly disgusted by it.

Dupuis and Crawley resumed their survey work in the afternoon, and I strolled away from camp with my gun and brought down a lesser bustard, of the size of a turkey. I also shot a brace of quail, but lost them in the long grass. Altogether it was a quiet day. The climate was now very pleasant, neither too hot at noon nor too cold at night. In the early morning there was a dead calm. After this a little breeze came down from the north-west, and the wind remained in that quarter till the afternoon. At four o’clock it shifted right round to the south-east, and blew pretty stiffly about seven. We always saw lightning in the evening. It seemed to play over the lake.

On the morning of the 9th Dupuis and I got our Berthon collapsible boat ready. This had caused us much trouble on the upward march, as it is awkwardly shaped for donkey-transport. We took our guns and angling tackle, and paddled about three miles westward. Then we landed on a sandy beach, left two of our boys in charge of the boat, and went in search of game, taking one man with us. We had not walked far when we sighted a covey of guinea-fowl. We got ahead of them, and were trying to drive them towards the water when about forty rose in all directions, and we could not reload fast enough. Several were lost in the thick grass, chiefly owing to the boy’s stupidity; he could not make up his mind which bird to pounce upon first. As we were returning to the beach by the way we had come, Dupuis put up a brace of partridges and shot them. They must have “sat tight” all through the fusillade, and only rose when my companion nearly walked them down. We carried about ten head back to the boat.

When we came to the shore we found our two men in a state of great excitement. As soon as the guns were fired a hippopotamus that had been asleep about ten yards from them sprang up, and rushed into the water, snorting. The beast had nearly frightened them out of their wits. Looking at the path I had followed after landing I saw that I must have passed within a yard of the place where the hippo lay. The men now drew my attention to something in a tree, but I could not discern at first what they were pointing out. After peering for three or four minutes I saw a pair of gleaming eyes above a branch in the deep shade. I fired with number four shot—the only size I had—at a distance of about ten yards, and down came a civet cat. It was hit in the head and dead, when I picked it up.

We tried our luck with the fish while the men paddled us back to camp, but caught nothing. I set about preserving the skin of the cat after lunch, rubbed some arsenical soap well in, and packed the hide in an empty cigarette tin. It was brought to England in good condition. While I was busy in this way, my comrades were taking soundings of the lake from the boat. Later we went out together with our guns, and added two bustards, three partridges, and a quail to the stock in the larder.

During the day, whenever I was in camp, I was importuned by patients; many had trivial ailments, and others troubles, such as chronic ophthalmia, which I certainly could not cure during a three days’ sojourn at Delgi. If they judged that I was not sufficiently moved by the account which they gave at first of their malady, they described what they suffered from another, and a fictitious one. Thus, if I told a man who had chronic ophthalmia that I could not help him, he would remain to declare that he was consumptive, or that his feet needed treatment. They became so tiresome at last that I was thankful for the prospect of resuming the march next day. It seems to be taken for granted in all countries that a doctor ought to be more long-suffering than any other person.

On the morning of the 10th I received, by Abyssinian post, a letter which had been despatched from Port Said on November 25, the day on which I left Cairo. It reached me by a roundabout road; for it had been to Wady Halfa, Berber, Kassala, Sennaar, and Gallabat. I was surprised that it came to hand. The postman was a Soudanese black, and, when we met him, he was on the return journey to Gallabat bearing some official communication. These couriers carry before them—like a wand of office—a long cane, which is split at the top. The “mail” is inserted in the orifice. The cane is a badge that is respected, and I was told that the letter-carriers are never stopped. They amble along at a steady jog-trot, and cover a great deal of ground in a day.

We made a short journey of about ten miles to the eastward after leaving Delgi. Our road kept us some little distance from the northern shore of the lake, and took us through long jungle grass, so tall that we could not see over it, and so thick that there was no possibility of using a gun in it. We camped on a spot where this grass had been beaten down, and spent the afternoon reading. There were no mosquitoes, but the flies swarmed into our tents, and we sympathized with Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

Several of the boys from the Soudanese lowlands had a touch of fever on this high ground. Three were on my hands that day. Quinine was a quick and sure remedy for them. I think that they were affected by the great change of temperature between midday and nightfall much more than Europeans.

The morning of Sunday, January 11, was very cold, and the thermometer stood at 31° F. just before sunrise. I noticed that it always rose to a point above 80° about noon, and these figures will give an idea of the effect of the variations. The servants were shivering when they served our breakfast, but at half-past seven we took off our overcoats, and when we started at a quarter-past eight the day was warm. Our road lay through tall grass, and took us over undulating country, and then up a long, gradually rising slope to Tschenkar, where we arrived at one o’clock. This was by far the largest village that we had yet seen in Abyssinia.

Tschenkar is four miles distant from the lake. As we travelled we had skirted the base of the promontory called Gorgora, which lay on our right hand. This is very lofty ground. Stecker ascended to the highest point of it, the summit of the mountain called Goraf. He found by barometrical measurement that this was 2134 metres above the level of the sea, and recorded the following interesting observations: “This excursion yielded very important results in relation to the geological formation of the mountain chain. I found on the high ground extensive remains of a great stream of lava which I could trace down to Lake Tsana. There were craters half filled up and very considerable volcanic cumuli. The upper strata of the mountains consist of crystalline schist, but the lower are composed of the same sandstone formation in which tertiary coal deposits were discovered at Tschelga.”[51]

In an interview reported in the _Egyptian Gazette_, Mr. William MacMillan spoke disparagingly, as it seems to me, of the resources of the country.[52] I dissent completely from the opinion that Abyssinia has little to offer to commercial enterprise. Its potential wealth is enormous, and if difficulties of transit could be overcome—which means, in this connection, if the Blue Nile could be made navigable—I believe that a vast and most lucrative development of commerce and industry would follow. As the question appears to me to be of great importance, and as I think that Mr. MacMillan’s words may spread a quite erroneous impression, I hope the reader will forgive me for bringing forward the following evidence.

Consul Plowden reported in his “General Survey of Abyssinia,” 1852-53: “Gold and copper exist, and iron is found in great abundance; plains of sulphur and various salts, in the province now occupied by the Taltals, supply all Abyssinia with those commodities: and other wealth may lie hid in that volcanic tract. A search for coal would, elsewhere, be probably successful.”[53]

Dufton visited the district of Tschelga with M. Lejean, the French Consul, who was then taking gifts from the Emperor Napoleon III. to King Theodore. M. Lejean found, when he attempted to make observations in this neighbourhood, that “the ferruginous nature of the rocks destroyed the determinative power of his delicate compass, sometimes, when placed on the ground to a matter of 90 degrees. The presence of iron was further evidenced by the slimy yellow deposits of oxide which some of the mountain rivulets make in their course. Beds of an inferior coal we also found in the plain of Tschelga, laid bare by a small stream which had dug for itself a passage of some forty feet deep. The fact of the presence of coal, not only here but also in many other parts of Abyssinia, seems to point to sources of wealth possessed by this country, which only an enlightened government is required to open out.”[54]

Mr. Vivian considers that the “one insuperable objection” to industrial enterprise in Abyssinia is “the monstrous craft and subtlety of the Abyssinian.” He wrote, “You or I might spend ourselves and our treasures in discovering coal, or copper, or iron, or gold, or emeralds; we might call new industries into being and establish an era of prosperity; but the Abyssinians would take all the profit, and we should be left out in the cold.”[55]

It seems to me, if one may say so without flippancy, that the introduction of a few mineowners from the Rand would soon show the Abyssinian that he is “a child in these matters.” A fertile country with an enormous range of climate, capable of well-nigh infinite variety of production, well watered, well wooded, and endowed with gold, iron, and coal is something more than a small mart for American shirtings and Russian oil.

To return to Tschenkar. The soil in this region is very rich, and there is a considerable cultivation of durrha and other grain and of chillies for cayenne pepper. This is the condiment universally used in Abyssinia. It is cooked with or added to every dish, and the natives, including the children, eat it in quantities which scorch the most hardened European gullet. When it is remembered that the Habashes usually eat their meat raw, not even rejecting uncleansed tripe,[56] and that they are constantly passing from fasts which they observe with superstitious rigour[57] to an excess of gluttony, that they are immoral from their early years,[58] and that drunkenness is an uncensured habit even among the priests, it is surprising that the race has retained its vigour. I am, however, bound to say that the Abyssinian is, normally, hardy and cheery. No doubt the weakly die in infancy or childhood, and the development of those who survive is greatly helped by the fine air in the upland country.

I made inquiry of our interpreter Johannes as to the system of land tenure here, and was interested to learn that the “Lord of the Manor” leased ground to tenants on the _métayage_ system. He himself paid tithe in kind to the Ras. I fancy the landowner takes the lion’s share of the crops; and the peasantry are heavily mulcted by the priests and scribes. In addition, it is the rule that all guests of the Ras, when travelling within his fief, must be supplied with food by every village at which they halt. So the farmers have to thrive on what is left.

We were, officially, guests of the Ras. In consequence we found that gifts of _teff_, and poultry, and eggs were brought in without stint. All are cheap commodities in Abyssinia. Augustus Wylde calculated that at Bohoro in the Yejju province, when he was there, fowls were selling at a rate which would have given eight hundred and eighty for the pound sterling, and that the same sum would have purchased eight thousand eight hundred eggs.[59] The eggs presented to us were nearly all bad, a fact which might be due to a misapprehension about European taste or to a feeling that waste articles might fairly be got rid of as unrequited tribute. The fowls made good eating, but they are very small birds. I do not think the Habashes, at the end of the reckoning, had much reason to regret our presence.

In the evening we received a visit from the priest, a pleasant, fine-looking old man. He wore the turban of his class. We promised to see him at his church early on the following morning and present an offering.

The dry grass had been fired in places around the village, and the flames showed impressively after nightfall, though their effect was dimmed by the light of the moon, which was nearly full. We had no reason to fear being burned out of our camp, for the stalks had been beaten down all about into a matted mass. But clouds of smoke and showers of blacks from a conflagration close by would have given us more discomfort than we bargained for, and we watched the drift of the fires in the light, varying winds with interest. Luckily, trouble was not for us that night, and we turned in, with all the contentment of the well-fed Briton, and slept in peace.