Chapter XXII: Book IV (7)

The king has near his person an officer who is meant to be his historiographer. He is also keeper of his seal, and is obliged to make a journal of the king’s actions, good or bad, without comment of his own upon them. This, when the king dies, or at least soon after, is delivered to the council, who read it over, and erase every thing false in it; whilst they supply any material fact that may have been omitted, whether purposely or not. This would have been a very dangerous book to have been kept in Bacuffa’s time; and, accordingly, no person chose ever to run that risk; and the king’s particular behaviour afterwards had still the further effect, that nobody would supply this deficiency after his death, a general belief prevailing in Abyssinia that he is alive to this day, and will appear again in all his terrors. It is owing to this circumstance that we have nothing complete of this king’s reign; only a few anecdotes are preserved, some of them very odd ones. I shall only, for the present, choose such of those as lead me to the subject I have in hand.

Bacuffa was exceedingly fond of divinations, dreams, and prophecies, so are all the Abyssinians; but he imbibed an additional propensity to these, among the Pagans to whom he had fled. One day, when walking alone, he perceived a priest exceedingly attentive in observing the forms that little pieces of straw, cut to certain lengths, made upon a pool of water into which ran a small stream. From the combination of these in letters, or figures, as they chanced to fall, an answer is procured to the doubt proposed, which, if you believe these idlers, is perfectly infallible.

Bacuffa in disguise, dressed like a poor man, is said to have asked the priest after what he was inquiring. The priest answered, He was trying whether the king would have a son, and who should govern the kingdom after him. The king abode the investigation patiently; and the answer was, That he should have a son; but that a Welleta Georgis should govern the kingdom after him for thirty years, though that Welleta Georgis should be neither his son nor any descendant of his. Full of thought at this untoward prediction, he harboured it in his breast without communicating it to any one, and resolved to blast the hopes of every Welleta Georgis that should be so unfortunate as to stand within the possibility of reigning after him. Many innocent people of different parts disappeared from this unknown crime; and eleven princes on the mountain of Wechné, some say more, lost their lives for a name that is very common in Abyssinia, without one overt act of treason, or even a suspicion of what they were accused. A panic now struck all ranks of people, without terminating in any scheme of resistance; which sufficiently shewed that the king had succeeded in dissolving all confederacies among his subjects, and destroying radically that rebellious spirit which had operated so fatally in the last reigns.

It is a custom among the kings of Abyssinia, especially in intervals of peace, to disappear for a time, without any warning. Sometimes, indeed, one or two confidential servants, pretending to be busied in other affairs, attend at a distance, and keep their eye upon him, while, disguised in different manners, he goes like a stranger to those parts he intends to visit. In one of these private journeys, passing into Kuara, a province on the N. E. of Abyssinia, near the confines of Sennaar, Bacuffa happened, or counterfeited, to be seized by a fever, a common disease of that unwholesome country. He was then in a poor village belonging to servants of a man of distinction, whose house was on the top of the hill immediately above, in temperate and wholesome air. The hospitable landlord, upon the first hearing of the distress of a stranger, immediately removed him up to his house, where every attention that could be suggested by a charitable mind was bestowed upon his diseased guest, who presently recovered his former state of health, but not till the kind assistance and unwearied diligence of the beautiful daughter of the house had made the deepest impression upon him, and laid him under the greatest obligations.

The family consisted of five young men in the flower of their youth, and one daughter, whose name was Berhan Magass, _the Glory of Grace_, exceedingly beautiful, gentle, mild, and affable; of great understanding and prudence beyond her age; the darling, not only of her own family, but of all the neighbourhood.

Bacuffa recovering his health, returned speedily to the palace, which he entered privately at night, and appeared early next morning sitting in judgment, and hearing causes, which, with these princes, is the first public occupation of the day.

A messenger, with guards and attendants, was immediately sent to Kuara, and Berhan Magass hurried from her father’s house, she knew not why, but her surprise was carried to the utmost, by being presented and married to the king, no reply, condition, or stipulation being suffered. She gained, however, and preserved his confidence as long as he lived: not that Bacuffa valued himself upon constancy to one wife, more than the rest of his predecessors had done. He had, indeed, many mistresses, but with these he observed a very singular rule; he never took to his bed any one woman whatever, the fair Berhan Magass excepted, without her having been first so far intoxicated with wine or spirits as not to remember any thing that passed in conversation.

While Bacuffa was on his concealed journey to Kuara, a very dangerous conspiracy was forming at Gondar, under the immediate conduct of Ozoro Welleta Raphael, the king’s sister, a very ambitious woman, and of an unquiet, enterprising temper. Disgusted by her brother’s refusal of a gift of some crown lands which were then vacant, and without any owners, she thought no vengeance adequate to the affront, but dethroning Bacuffa. With this view she engaged several men of power in her interest, and particularly the black servants of the palace who attend immediately upon the king’s person, and were to seize upon, or destroy him, the moment he returned. This plot, in all its particulars, was conveyed to the king.

There was an old, abandoned house of king Yasous, at Bartcho, about a day’s journey south of Gondar; it stands on a very extensive plain. The king intending, as he said, to repair, or rather clean and prepare this house for his immediate reception, ordered all the black slaves from Gondar thither for that purpose, together with some of their ringleaders. Kasmati Waragna, in the mean time, was ordered to bring a thousand horsemen of his Galla Djawi. He arrived at Bartcho nearly at the same time with the black servants, who being unarmed, as suspecting nothing, and on foot, after a sharp reproof from the king, were all surrounded and cut to pieces by the hands of Waragna, and orders were immediately sent to Gondar to extirpate the remainder there; and this execution laid a foundation for a feud that endures to this day between the Galla troops and the black horse, who were then abolished, as the Galla have been since, though both were part of the king’s household formerly, before David’s or Bacuffa’s time. As for Welleta Raphael, she was seized that same night, and was conveyed to Walkayt, to be confined there, with private instructions, however, to put her to death speedily, which were executed accordingly.

The queen had a son within the year, whom the council named Yasous, after his grandfather, whose memory will ever be dear in Abyssinia; and this again revived the old apprehensions that Welleta Georgis was to govern the country (as the prophet said) for thirty years. Tormented with this idea, rather than the havoc it had occasioned, he devised with himself a scheme which he thought would certainly detect this future usurper of his crown and dethroner of his child. But first he directed that the queen should be crowned, a ceremony that carries great consequences along with it when solemnized properly, as at that time she is made regent, or Iteghè, in all minorities that may happen afterwards.

After he had created his wife Iteghè, Bacuffa pretended to be sick: several days passed without hopes of recovery; but at last the news of the king’s death were published in Gondar. The joy was so great, and so universal, that nobody attempted to conceal it. Every one found himself eased of a load of fear which had become insupportable. Several princes escaped from the mountain of Wechné to put themselves in the way of being chosen; some were sent to by those great men who thought themselves capable of effecting the nomination, and a speedy day was appointed for the burial of the king’s corpse, when Bacuffa appeared, in the ordinary seat of justice, early in the morning of that day, with the Iteghè, and the infant Yasous, his son, sitting in a chair below him.

There was no occasion to accuse the guilty. The whole court, and all strangers attending there upon business, fled, and spread an universal terror through the whole streets of Gondar. All ranks of people were driven to despair, for all had rejoiced; and much less crimes had been before punished with death. What this sedition would have ended in, it is hard to know, had it not been for the immediate resolution of the king, who ordered a general pardon and amnesty to be proclaimed at the door of the palace.

There are two kettle-drums of a large size placed one on each side of the outer gate of the king’s house. They are called the _lion_ and the _lamb_. The lion is beat at the proclamations which regard war, attainders for conspiracies and rebellions, promotions to supreme commands, and suchlike high matters. The lamb[91] is heard only on beneficent, pacific occasions, of gifts from the crown, of general amnesties, of private pardons, and reversals of penal ordinances. The whole town was in expectation of some sanguinary decree, when, to their utter surprise, they heard the voice of the lamb, a certain sign of peace and forgivenness; and speedily followed by a proclamation, forbidding people of all degrees to leave their houses, that the king’s word was pledged for every one’s security; and that all the principal men should immediately attend him within the palace, in a public place which is called the Ashoa, and that upon pain of rebellion.

The king appeared cloathed all in white, being the habit of peace; his head was bare, dressed, anointed, and perfumed, and his face uncovered. He thus advanced to the rail of the gallery, about 10 feet above the heads of the audience, and, in a very graceful, composed, but resolute manner, began a short oration to the people. “He put them in mind of their wantonness in having made Oustas, a man not of the royal line of Solomon, king of Abyssinia; of their having incited his brother, Tecla Haimanout, to assassinate their father Yasous; that they had afterwards murdered Tecla Haimanout himself, one brother, and lately his other brother David, his own immediate predecessor: That he had taken due vengeance upon all the ringleaders of those crimes, as was the duty of his place, and, if much blood had been shed, it was because many enormities had been committed; but that knowing now that order was established, and conspiracies extinguished among them, he had counterfeited death, to signify an end was put to Bacuffa and his bloody measures; that he now was risen again, and appeared to them by the name of Atzham Georgis, son of Yasous the Great; and ordered every man home to his house to rejoice at the accession of a new king, under whom they should have justice, and live without fear, as long as they respected the king that God had anointed over them.”

This speech was followed by the loudest acclamations, “Long live Bacuffa! Long live Atzham Georgis!” It was well known that this king never failed in his word, or any way prevaricated in his promises. Every one, therefore, went home in as perfect peace as if war had never been among them; and Bacuffa’s delicacy in this respect was seen a few days after; for Hannes his brother having been brought clandestinely from Wechné by Kasmati Georgis, a nobleman of great consequence, they were both taken by the governor of Wechné and sent in chains to the king. The ordinary process would have been to put them instantly to death, as being apprehended in the very highest act of treason; nor would this have alarmed any person whatever, or been thought an infraction of the king’s late promise. Bacuffa, however, was of another mind. He sent the criminal judges, who ordinarily sit upon capital crimes, to meet the two prisoners in their way to Gondar, and carried them back to the foot of the mountain of Wechné to have their crimes proved, and to be tried there out of his presence and influence, where they were both condemned, Hannes to have an arm cut off, Georgis to be sent to prison to the governor of Walkayt, with private orders to put him to death; both which sentences were executed, though Hannes so far recovered that he was king of Abyssinia in my time, notwithstanding this mutilation; but it was a direct violation of the laws of the land.

It is said that a discovery, which happened in the king’s feigned illness, promoted this sudden revolution of manners. In one of his secret tours through Begemder, (after Tigré, the most powerful province in Abyssinia, and by much the most plentiful) being disguised like a poor man, dirty and fatigued with the length of the way and heat of the weather, he came to the house of a private person, not very rich, indeed, but of noble manners and carriage, and who, by the justice and mildness of his behaviour and customs, had acquired a great degree of influence among his neighbours. The father was old and feeble, but the son in the vigour of his age, who was then standing in a large pool of water, at his father’s door, washing his own cotton cloak, or wrapper, which is their upper garment; an occupation below no young man in Abyssinia.

Bacuffa, as overcome with heat, threw himself down under the shade of a tree, and, in a faint voice and foreign dialect, intreated the young man to wash his cloak likewise, after having finished his own. The young man consented most willingly; and, throwing by his own garment, fell to washing the stranger’s with great diligence and attention. In the mean time, Bacuffa began questioning him about the king, and what his opinion was of him. The young man answered, he had never formed any. Bacuffa, however, still plied him with questions, while he continued washing the cloak, without giving him any answer at all; at last, being able to hold out no longer, he gathered Bacuffa’s cloak in his arms, wet as it was, and threw it to him: “I thought, says he, when you prayed me to take your cloak, that I was doing a charitable action to some poor Galla fainting with fatigue, and perhaps with hunger; but, since I have had it in my hands, I have found you an instructor of kings and nobles, a leader of armies and maker of laws. Take your cloak, therefore, and wash it yourself, which is what Providence has ordained to be your business; it is a safer trade, and you will have less time to censure your superiors, which can never be a proper or useful occupation to a fellow like you.”

The king took his wet cloak, and the rebuke along with it, and, on his return, he sent for the man to Gondar, and raised him in a short time to the first offices in the state. He possessed his entire confidence; and he deserved it. He was the only man to whom the king had confided his fears of the usurper Welleta Georgis. While Bacuffa was supposed to be ill, the queen and this officer only present, he mentioned, for the first time, some surprise that no such person as Welleta Georgis had appeared during so long and so many inquiries, and could not help dropping some words as if he doubted the truth of this prophecy.

Badjerund Waragna, for that was the name of the king’s friend, maintained modestly that it might be a temptation of the devil to mislead him to his destruction. He told the king, that, by his own account of it, this Welleta Georgis was to have no power over _him_, as he was only to appear in his son’s time. He begged him, therefore, to lay aside all further thoughts of his prophecy, whilst he trusted his son’s succession to God’s mercy, and to the prayers, the charity, and prudence of the queen. The Iteghé all this time was lost in silence. She desired the king to repeat to her the whole circumstances of the prophecy, which he distinctly did. “I wish,” says she laughing, “this Welleta Georgis may not be now nearer us than we imagine; perhaps in the palace.” “In the palace!” says the king, with great emotion. “I doubt so,” says the queen; “suppose it should be me your own wife; for Welleta Georgis was the name given to me in baptism; and your late coronation of me, should a minority happen in the person of your son, or even a grandson, undoubtedly leaves me regent of the kingdom by your own intentions when you made me Iteghè.”

Whether the king was convinced or not, is not known; but he, from this time, desisted from his persecution of Welleta Georgis; and this the queen often told me among several anecdotes of that singular reign. She was my great patroness while at Gondar, and from her I received constant protection in the most disastrous times. To the credit of the prophet, she continued regent full thirty years; till the folly and ambition of her own family gave her a master that put an end to all her influence, except what she enjoyed from exemplary piety, and the most extensive works of charity and mercy.

The king died after a vigorous reign, and after having cut off the greatest part of the ancient nobility near Gondar, who were of age to have been concerned in the transactions of the last reigns. This has rendered his memory odious, though it is universally confessed he saved his country from an aristocratical or democratical usurpation; both equally unconstitutional, as they equally struck at the root of monarchy.

The queen, with very great prudence, concealed the day of the king’s death; nor did any one, after the last experiment, affect rashly to believe that his death was real. Thus all were upon their guard against another resurrection. In that interval, she called her brothers from Kuara, and strengthened her son’s and her own government, by putting the principal offices of state into the hands of persons attached to her family, so that, though her son Yasous was an infant, no attempt was at that time made towards any resolution. Even after the king’s death was known to be real, for many years afterwards there were people of credit at different times found, who said they had met him at sundry places alive; whether by instigation, for any particular purpose, or not, is difficult to say.

YASOUS II. OR, ADIAM SEGUED.

From 1729 to 1753.

_Rebellion in the beginning of this Reign--King addicted
to hunting--To building, and the Arts of Peace--Attacks
Sennaar--Loses his Army--Takes Samayat--Receives Baady King of
Sennaar under his Protection._

Besides the queen, mother of Yasous, Bacuffa had several other wives and divers children by them; none of them, however, had any degree of interest, or many followers, owing to the very singular practice of Bacuffa, already mentioned, in not admitting to his bed, from the time of his coming to the crown, any women except the queen, mother of Yasous, without having first so far intoxicated them with liquor as to produce an oblivion of all that passed at the interview. Some say this arose from his own jealous ideas; but the most general opinion was, that it was a kind of covenant with the queen, by which she pardoned him this temporary alienation of his person, for this security, that he was to give her no rival in his confidence. Indeed, his own temper led him naturally to estrange himself from every intimate connection, that could pretend to any lawful share with him in government. And this had gone so far, that he sent his wife, favourite as she was, and his son Yasous, to the low, hot, and unwholesome province of Walkayt, the ordinary place to which state criminals were banished, in order that they might be under the eye of Ain Egzie, a confidential servant of his, and governor of that province. It is true this was done without any mark of disgust; and the queen returned immediately by his own command; but Yasous staid at Walkayt with Ain Egzie, till he was four years old, without the king his father having shewn any anxiety for his return.

The queen’s first care was to call her brothers to court. The eldest, Welled de l’Oul, had been a favourite of the late king, and occupied under him a very considerable post in the palace. Geta, her second brother, was a man of slow parts, but esteemed a good soldier; being covetous, he was not a favourite of the people, and less so of the king. The third was Eshtè, (pronounced in that country Shitti); he was amiable, liberal, affable, and brave, but rather given to indolence and pleasure, which alone hindered him from being a good statesman and general. He was a kind friend to strangers, a good master, and placable enemy; stedfast to his promise, and on all occasions a lover of truth; a quality so very rare in Abyssinia, that it was said there had not been one in this respect like him since the time of Yasous the Great. Notwithstanding this, Bacuffa liked him not, as being too great a favourite of the people, and, for that reason, never gave him any employment.

The next brother was Eusebius, a very brave and skilful soldier, but rash, avaricious, passionate, and treacherous, and as great an enemy to truth as his brother Eshtè was a friend to it. Bacuffa, upon some slight complaint, had resolved to put him to death; and, though he was dissuaded from this, he could never be so far reconciled to him as ever to release him from prison. The fifth brother was Netcho, whom the desire of living at home, or, perhaps, a want of money to defray his expences at court, kept low and in obscurity all his life-time. Yet he was a tried, gallant, and skilful soldier; and in later years, when I was at Gondar, was often praised as such by Ras Michael, the best judge, because the greatest general of his time, though, by reason of Netcho’s private life, and absence from court, he never charged him with any important commission. Another brother was dead, and had left a son called Mammo, a good horseman, the only quality, as far as I know, that he possessed to which could justly be annexed the epithet of Good.

Of these brothers, Geta and Netcho were alive in my time. Eshtè was dead, but had left two sons, Ayto Engedan and Ayto Aylo, who were among the most intimate of my friends, from my entering Ethiopia till my leaving it; both were brave and good, and endowed with excellent qualities. Engedan, without any allowance for his country, and want of education, was, I think, by very much, the most amiable and complete man that I have ever yet seen.

Sanuda, son of Welled de l’Oul, played a very considerable part in the revolution that happened in my time; was of a figure more than ordinary graceful; was brave, and did not want good dispositions; but these were obscured by debauchery in wine and women, to which there were no bounds. Eusebius left two sons, both more worthless and profligate than himself, and both came to untimely ends: Guebra Mehedin, the eldest, was slain in a private quarrel at Lebec by a near relation, Kasmati Ayabdar, after having robbed my servants and plundered my baggage, in Foggora, near the village Dara; and the second, Ayto Confu, was killed in rebellion at the battle of Serbraxos, among the Begemder horse, fighting against his sovereign.

Mammo we shall find acting insignificant parts at times, never trusted, nor of consequence to any one. As for the queen herself, she was reputed the handsomest woman of her time. She was descended from Victor, eldest brother to Menas, and son of David, who died without coming to the crown. This daughter was married to Robel, governor of Tigré, whose mother was a Portuguese, and the queen inherited the colour of her European ancestors; indeed was whiter than most Portuguese. She was very vain of this her descent; had a warm attachment to the Catholic religion in her heart, as far as she could ever learn it; nor did she value herself less upon her beauty, as we may judge by the several names she took at different times. The first was Iteghè Mantuab, or _the beautiful queen_; the second was Berhan Magwass, or _the glory of grace_; though her christened name was Welleta Georgis, as we have already observed.

After the death of her husband, Bacuffa, she is said to have descended to a variety of attachments of short duration. She married a man of quality, Kasmati Netcho of Kuara, by whom she had three daughters. The first was Ozoro Esther, of whom I shall often speak, being, next to her mother, the greatest friend I had in Abyssinia, and one who had the most frequent opportunities of being so. She was married, in very early life, to Kasmati Netcho of Tcherkin, a man of great personal qualities, and who had a very large territory, reaching down to the Pagan blacks, or Troglodytes, called Shangalla.

This marriage was of very short duration. Netcho left one son, Ayto Confu, my very great and firm, though young friend, who likewise inherited his father’s fortune and virtues. She was afterwards married to Ayo Mariam Barea, (excepting Ras Michael) reputed the best general in Abyssinia, but who died before I came into the country. By him she had one son and a daughter, infants. Lastly, she was married to Ras Michael, by whom she had two sons, the favourites of Michael’s old age. Rustic and cruel as that old tyrant was, bred up in blood, and delighting in it, she governed him despotically, from the day of her marriage, yet so prudently, as to excite the envy of no one, excepting the murderers of her husband Mariam Barea, who, luckily, were also the constitutional enemies of her country.

The second daughter of the Iteghé was Ozoro Welleta Israel, the most beautiful woman in Abyssinia, with whom I had very little acquaintance, she being at constant war with Ras Michael. She had married a nobleman of the first consideration, to whom half of the large and rich province of Gojam belonged, by whom she had Aylo, one of the largest men that I ever saw, the only particular remarkable in him.

The third was Ozoro Altash, married to Welled Hawaryat, Ras Michael’s son, by whom she had three children, two sons and one daughter. One of them died of the small-pox soon after my arrival at Gondar, as did his father also; the other son and daughter happily recovered.

Bacuffa had provided sufficiently for the security of his provinces, by placing tried and veteran officers in his governments. Elias, indeed, was Ras and Betwudet at Gondar, and he was suspected of wishes contrary to his allegiance; but far before any, in the confidence of the late king, was Waragna Shalaka, that is, colonel of a regiment of Djawi Galla, with which he defended the provinces of Damot and Agow against his countrymen on the other side of the Nile; for he was a Galla of that nation himself, and his name was Usho, which signifies _a dog_. But it was more by his interest, which he preserved with those people, than by his arms, that he kept those barbarians from wasting that country.

The reader will easily remember the first occasion of his coming to Gondar was when Bacuffa saw him washing his clothes in a pool of water; and from the reproof, and his behaviour to the king on that occasion, as well as the duty and implicit obedience he paid to his commands afterwards, he was called Waragna, by way of contradiction, that word signifying a sturdy rebel, or one that stands up in defiance of the king. That name became much more famous afterwards in the person of his son, Waragna Fasil, to the very great detriment of the country in general.

The first thing the queen did was to send Shalaka Waragna, and Billetana Gueta David, with a large body of Mahometan fusileers, Djawi and Toluma Galla, to guard the mountain of Wechné, where the males of the royal family were imprisoned, that no competitor might be released from thence. The next step was to marry Ozoro Welleta Tecla Haimanout to Ras Elias, to confirm him, if possible, in his much suspected allegiance. After which, the Ras, judges, and soldiers of the king’s household, made this proclamation--“Bacuffa, king of kings, is dead! Yasous, king of kings, liveth! Mourn for those that are dead, and rejoice with those that are alive!” Orders were then given for burying Bacuffa with all magnificence possible.

The first thing that seemed the beginning of trouble in the new regency, and likely to destroy the calm that had hitherto subsisted, was an information given by Azage Georgis against Tecla Saluce, a great officer at court. Georgis accused him before the king and council, that he had been heard to say that king Yasous was dangerously ill. Tecla Saluce absolutely denied this charge, and said it was an invention of his enemy Georgis, and challenged him to prove it. Evidence being called, he was convicted in the most direct and satisfactory manner; was therefore condemned to death, and hewn to pieces at the king’s gate that same day by the common soldiers.

Here is a species of treason without any overt act. The imagining the king’s death, which seems much to resemble the law of England, may be defended from the importance of the case, but scarcely from any principle of justice or reason.

It soon appeared that a conspiracy had been on foot; several great men fled from court, among these Johannes, who had the charge of the king’s horses. But Shalaka Waragna and Billetana Gueta David, being sent immediately after him, this conspiracy was soon stifled, and the ringleaders dispersed, mostly into Amhara, where they were taken prisoners by Woodage governor of the province, and sent to the king. Johannes, finding it impossible to escape, took to one of those papyrus boats used in navigating the lake Tzana; and, being driven by the wind, landed in an island[92] belonging to the queen, where he was taken prisoner, with his wife and family, and delivered up, on condition that he should not be put to death.

Kasmati Cambi, returning from Damot, fell accidentally upon Palambaras Masmari and several others, and brought them prisoners to Gondar. A council was thereupon held, and the conspirators put upon their trial. Palambaras Masmari, and Abou Barea who was one of the judges, were condemned to be hanged on the tree before the palace-gate. Johannes and the rest were committed to close prison, in the hands of the Betwudet.

It was thought a proper expedient to check these disorders, to hasten the coronation of the king, though very young. The judges and all the officers being assembled in the presence-chamber, where the king sits on his throne, (for in the council-chamber he sits in a kind of cage, or close balcony) where no part of him is discovered, Sarach Masseri Mammo, whose office it was, stood up with the Kees Hatzé, or king’s almoner; when this last had anointed him with oil, Mammo placed the crown upon his head; upon which the whole assembly, his mother only excepted, fell down and paid him homage; and at his inauguration he took the name of Adiam Segued.

On a separate throne, on his right hand, sat the queen-mother. She, too, was crowned, though not anointed; but the same homage was performed to her that had been done to the king, who sat on the throne with his head covered; nor did the Abuna interfere, nor was his attendance judged any part of the ceremony.

The first seeds of discontent had been sown in Damot, where a party of rebels had attacked Kasmati Cambi in the night, cut most of his army to pieces, and obliged Shalaka Job to fly into Gojam, and then return in haste to Gondar.

The king found no better remedy against this rebellion than to appoint Kasmati Waragna governor of Damot, and Sanuda guardian of Wechné, with orders to take with him a son of the late Oustas the usurper, and confine him with the king’s sons upon that mountain. At the same time he appointed Ayo governor of Begemder; both these preferments being much to the satisfaction of the whole nation. Waragna, knowing the necessities of his province, marched from Gondar with what forces he could collect, and took up his head-quarters at Samseen, where, on the very night after his arrival, he was set upon by Tensa Mammo at the head of the Agows. However unexpected this was, Waragna, a good soldier, was not to be taken by surprise. He knew the country, and had not a great opinion either of the force or courage of the enemy, or capacity of their general. Presenting, therefore, only one half of his troops, which could not be easily discovered in the dark, he sent Fit-Auraris Tamba to make a small compass, and fall upon their rear with the other half. Mammo’s troops, thinking this to be a fresh and separate army, immediately took to flight, and were many of them slain, after leaving behind them their tents, baggage, and the greatest part of their fire-arms, which had been of very little service to them in the dark.

Waragna, who knew the consequence of his province was the riches of it, and the dependence the capital had upon it for constant supplies of provisions, was loath to pursue his victory farther, if any means could be fallen upon to bring about a pacification. To effect this, he dispatched messengers to his friends, the Galla, on the other side of the Nile, ordering them to be ready to pass the river on the day he should appoint, and to lay waste the country of the Agow with fire and sword. He then decamped with his army from Samseen, and marched to Sacala, and took up his head-quarters in St Michael’s church, where he found the Agows in the utmost terror from apprehension of being over-run with barbarians. But he soon eased them of their fears by a proclamation, in which he told them plainly, that it was owing to the goodness of the country, and not any merit in the people, that the king’s palace and capital was so plentifully supplied with provisions from thence; that all his pursuit was peace, but that he was resolved to effect that end by every possible means; therefore the time was now come that they were to make a resolution, and abide by it, to submit and behave peaceably as good citizens ought; or, when his army of Galla joined him, he would extirpate them to the last man. In the mean time, he published an amnesty of all that had passed.

The Agows knew well that they were in the hands of one who was no trifler, nor in his heart much their friend. They ran to him, ready to make that composition which he should raise from them for their past transgressions and his future protection. The tribute laid upon them, for both was moderate beyond all expectation, 2000 oxen for the king and queen, and 500 for himself; upon which he left Sacala, and entered Goutto, a very fertile country, between Maitsha and the Agows, where he used the same moderation, and by these means quieted and reconciled his whole province.

Nothing could have been more advantageous to the king’s affairs than the prudent conduct of this wise officer, which left him at liberty to afford him his assistance; for in the mean time a conspiracy was formed at Gondar, which had taken deep root, and had a powerful faction, Elias, late Ras and Betwudet, Tensa Mammo, Guebra l’Oul, Matteos and Agnè, all principal men in Gondar, and possessed of great riches and dependencies throughout the whole kingdom.

On the 8th of December 1734, being joined by their followers from without, they all rendezvoused upon the river Kahha, below the town. After holding council in the king’s house which is there, they resolved to proclaim one of the princes upon the mountain Wechné, named Hezekias, king. For this purpose, furnished with a kettle-drum, they marched in three divisions, by three different ways, to the palace, avowedly with an intention to force the gates and murder the king and queen. But Fit-Auraris Ephraim, having intelligence of this tumult, first shut up and obstructed all the entrances to the king’s house, then gave advice to Billetana Gueta, Welled de l’Oul, of the rebellion of Tensa Mammo, their design to murder the king, and their having proclaimed Hezekias.

These immediately repaired to the king’s house to take council together what was to be done, and to defend the place if it was necessary. The rebels were now drawn up, and were beating their kettle-drum to make their proclamation, “Hezekias was king!” while Shalaka Tchinsho, a young nobleman of great hopes, who commanded the troops in the court where was the outer gate, impatient to hear an usurper proclaimed in the very face of his sovereign, directed the outer-court gate to be opened, and, with two bodies of Galla, Djawi and Toluma, and several corps of lances, which compose the king’s household, however inferior in number, he rushed upon the rebels so suddenly, that they were soon obliged to think of other occupation.

The first that fell was Asalessi Lensa, who stood by the drum, and was slain by Shalaka Tchinsho with his own hand; his drum taken and sent to the king as the first fruits of the day. The soldiers, encouraged by the example of their leader, fell fiercely upon the rebels, dispersed and broke through them wherever they saw the greatest number together; a great slaughter was made, and Tensa Mammo, with difficulty, escaped. The victory indeed would have been complete, had not an accidental shot from a distance wounded Shalaka Tchinsho mortally. His own people carried him within the gate of the palace, where he gloriously expired at the feet of his sovereign.

The rebels, notwithstanding this check, increased every day in number and resolution, when the news arrived that Waragna had composed all the differences in Damot, Agow, and Goutto, and, at the head of a numerous army, was waiting the king’s orders. This intelligence first had the effect to disconcert the rebels, who suddenly left the capital in their way to Wechné.

The king, now master of Gondar, ordered a proclamation to be made for all persons whatever holding fiefs of the crown, as also all others, to assemble before him on a short day, where the Itchegué and Abuna, holding the picture of our Saviour, with the crown of thorns[93], up before the people, did administer to them a solemn oath, to live and die with the king and Iteghé; a feeble experiment, often tried by a weak government. The only consequence of this was present expence to the crown in a distribution of beef, honey, butter, wheat, and all kinds of provisions; after which each man returned to his house, ready to repeat the perjury ten times a day for the same emolument, and same sincerity.

Messengers were next dispatched to Kasmati Waragna, ordering him to come to Gondar with the greatest force he could raise. The same day Azage Kyrillos, whom the king had made governor of Wechné, and Azage Newaia Selassé, went to the mountain, pretending that king Yasous was dead, and that the choice of the principal members of government had fallen upon Hezekias, who thereupon was delivered to him, and saluted king; and, without losing time, they marched to Kahha, and encamped on that river below Gondar.

In the mean while, the great men and officers of the court, and in particular those who had estates and houses in Gondar, began to consider the danger of the town at the so near approach of the rebels. Several districts, or streets, situated on eminences, by shutting up access to them, were made tenable posts, and, having filled them with good soldiers, they set about the defence of the town and annoying the enemy. Hezekias had removed to the house of Basha Arkillidas; and it was agreed to send their whole forces to see if they could succeed in forcing the king’s house. But before this another stratagem was tried to alienate the minds of the people of Gondar from their sovereign. It was said that certain Roman Catholic priests had arrived at Gondar; that they were shut up privately in the palace with the king and queen; and, upon the Abuna and Itchegué coming to Hezekias to ask him how he happened to be proclaimed king, without making to them some confession of his faith, (a question they put to all young or weak princes), Hezekias answered, It was because he had heard the Itchegué, and the rest of the clergy, seemed to be careless about the true faith, by suffering Catholic priests to live with the king in the palace. A great ferment immediately followed; all the monks, priests, and madmen that could be assembled, (and on these occasions they gather quickly), with the Itchegué and Abuna at their heads, went to Dippabye, the open place before the palace, and pronounced the Iteghè, Yasous, and all their abettors, accursed and given up to burn with Dathan and Abiram.

For several days and nights attempts were made to set fire to, and break open the gate. But the loyalists charged them so vigorously upon all these occasions, especially Billetana Gueta Welled de l’Oul, and the walls of the palace were so exceedingly thick and strong, that little progress was made in proportion to the men these attempts cost daily. However, on that side of the palace called Adenaga, the rebels had lodged themselves so near as to set part of it on fire.

The king’s house in Gondar stands in the middle of a square court, which may be full an English mile in circumference. In the midst of it is a square tower, in which there are many noble apartments. A strong double wall surrounds it, and this is joined by a platform roof; loop-holes, and conveniences for discharging missile weapons, are disposed all around it. The whole tower and wall is built of stone and lime; but part of the tower being demolished and laid in ruins, and part of it let fall for want of repair, small apartments, or houses of one storey, have been built in different parts of the area, or square, according to the fancy of the prince then reigning, and these go now by the names of the ancient apartments in the palace, which are fallen down.

These houses are composed of the frail materials of the country, wood and clay, thatched with straw, though, in the inside, they are all magnificently lined, or furnished. They have likewise magnificent names, which we have mentioned already. These people, barbarous as they are, have always had a great taste for magnificence and expence. All around them was silver, gold, and brocade, before the Adelan war, in which they lost the commerce of that country, by losing their connexion with India.

The next night the soldiers of Elias made their lodgments so near the walls, that, with fiery arrows, they set one of these houses, called “Werk Sacala,” within the square, in flames; but Welled de l’Oul, with the Toluma Galla, sallying at that instant, surprised Elias’s soldiers, not expecting such interruption, and put the greatest part of them to the sword, setting on fire the houses that were near the palace, till part was entirely burnt to the ground. The next night, an attempt was made upon the gate to blow it up with gunpowder; but, before it was completed, the two rebels employed in the work were shot dead from the wall, and their train miscarried.

On the 25th of December they burned a new house in the town built by the king, called Riggobee Bet. These frequent fires had turned the minds of people in general very much against Hezekias the rebel. The night after, there was another great fire in the king’s house; Zeffan Bet, and another large building, were destroyed by the rebels, as was the church of St Raphael. Gondar looked like a town that had been taken by an enemy, and battles were every day fought in the streets, with no decisive advantage to either party. Some part of the town was on fire every night; nobody knew for what reason, nor what was the quarter that was next to be burnt.

In the mean time, Azage Georgis arrived in the country of the Agows at Basil Bet, where Waragna was, and delivered him the king’s order, that he should make all possible haste to his assistance at Gondar, with as large an army as he could suddenly bring; and these dispatches conferred upon him at the same time, as a mark of favour, the post of Ibaba Azage, or governor of Ibaba, together with Elmana and Densa, two districts inhabited by Galla, subjects to the king, which posts were then held by Tensa Mammo, and forfeited by his rebellion.

The next morning Waragna left his head-quarters at Basil Bet; thence he marched to Gumbali, and thence to Sima. At Sima he heard, that, the day before, it had been proclaimed at Ibaba, by orders of Tensa Mammo, that Yasous was dead, and Hezekias was now king; upon this intelligence he marched from Sima, and, while it was yet early in the day, he came to Ibaba.

The first inquiry was concerning the Shum (or chief of the town) left there by Tensa Mammo; and this man, coming readily to him to receive his commands, and offer him any service in his power, was asked by whose orders the proclamation of Hezekias was made? Being answered, by Tensa Mammo’s, he directed the Shum and his two sons to be hanged on three separate trees in the middle of the town; the Shum with the nagareet round his neck which had served in the proclamation of Hezekias; he then declared Tensa Mammo a rebel and outlaw, and confiscated his estate to the king’s use.

At Ibaba he met Fit-Auraris Tamba, with a large body of Damots and Djawi; then he decamped from Ibaba, and, at the bridge over the Nile, was met by Azage Georgis, with all Maitsha, Elmana, and Densa following, and thence proceeded to Waira, where he set Arkillidas at liberty. This officer, after distinguishing himself before all others in the king’s defence, had been taken prisoner by Tensa Mammo, and sent thither. Advancing into Foggora, with a large army, he halted at Gilda, and sent some soldiers on the road to Gondar, to see if he could apprehend any travellers, especially those going or coming to or from market. But, after three days waiting on the road, the soldiers returned without any person or intelligence, by which he judged the town was already in great straits. In two days after, he advanced to Wainarab, and thence he sent his Fit-Auraris forward to set a house at Tedda on fire, to shew to the king at Gondar that he was thus far advanced to his assistance. This barbarous custom of burning a house wherever an army encamps, though but for an hour, is invariably practised, as a signal by armies, throughout all Abyssinia.

At this time there was a treaty begun between the king and Tensa Mammo. The rebels, weary of the little advantage they had gained, and hearing Waragna was about to march against them, offered the queen her own terms, provided she published a general amnesty, and that each man should be allowed to keep the posts he had before the rebellion. The queen, weary and terrified with war, readily agreed to this proposal; and this facility, instead of accelerating the treaty, gave the rebels an opportunity of asking further terms, and a settlement was spoken of for the king Hezekias, in some of the low provinces near Walkayt.

Welled de l’Oul, the queen’s brother, a man in whom the rebels had trust, seconded his sister’s desire, and carried on the treaty, but from different motives; it was his opinion, that, to make peace with the rebels, leaving their party unbroken, was to spread the infection of rebellion all over the kingdom; and to let them keep their posts, was leaving a sword in their hands to enable them to defend themselves on any future occasion. He therefore thought, that, as the king had Waragna now at his command, they should make use of him to pluck up this rebellion by the roots, cut off all the ringleaders, and disperse the faction; but, in the mean time, in order to be able to effect this, they should keep up the appearance of being anxious for agreeing, in order to lull the enemy asleep, till Waragna made his instructions and designs known to the king.

From Wainarab, Waragna sent a messenger to let the king and queen know of his arrival; and with him came Arkillidas, that no doubt might remain of the truth of the message. This officer told the king, that Waragna should advance to Tedda, and offer the rebels battle there; but if they retired (as he heard they intended) to Abra, he would follow them thither. He desired the king also to issue his orders to the several Shums to guard the roads, that as few of the ringleaders of the rebels might escape as possible.

Hezekias, with his army, decamped, taking the road to Woggora; and Waragna, following him, came up with him at Fenter, on January 20th 1735. The rebels, inferior in number, though they did not wish an engagement at that time, were too high-minded to avoid it when offered. Both armies fought a long time with equal fortune; and though Waragna at the first onset had slain two men with his own hands, and taken two prisoners, the battle was supported with great firmness till the evening, when Waragna ordered all his Galla, the men of Maitsha, Elmana, and Densa, to leave their horses, and charge the enemy on foot. This confident step, unknown and unpractised by Galla before, had the desired effect. The Galla now fought desperately for life, not for victory, being deprived of their only means of saving themselves by flight.

Most of the principal officers among the rebels being killed or wounded, their army at last was broken, and took to flight. Hezekias was surrounded and taken, fighting bravely; being first hurt in the leg, and then beat off his horse with a stone. The pursuit was presently stayed. Tensa Mammo escaped safely through Woggora, a disaffected province; and had now passed the Tacazzé, when he was taken by the men of Siré, and brought to the king for the reward that had been offered for his head by Waragna.

Hezekias was brought to his trial before the king, nor did he presume to deny his guilt. He was therefore sentenced to die, and committed to close prison. Tensa Mammo was arraigned, and, although he confessed the treason, he pleaded the peace he had made with the king before the arrival of Waragna at Gondar. This plea was unanimously over-ruled by the judges, because the treaty had not been completed. He was, therefore, sentenced to die, and immediately carried out to the daroo-tree before the palace, and hanged between two of his most confidential counsellors.

The Abuna and Itchegué were next ordered to appear, and answer for the crime of high treason in excommunicating the king; they declared they proceeded on no other grounds than an information, that the king and queen were turned Franks, and had two Catholic priests with them in the palace. The men complained of were produced, and proved to be two Greeks; Petros, a native of Rhodes, and Demetrius. This explanation being given, the Abuna and Itchegué thereupon asked pardon of the king and queen, and were ordered to make their recantation at Dippabye, which they immediately did, declaring they were wrong, and had proceeded on false information.