Chapter X: Book V (8)

It was on the 8th or 9th of March I met him at Azazo. He was dressed in a coarse dirty cloth, wrapt about him like a blanket, and another like a table-cloth folded about his head: He was lean, old, and apparently much fatigued; sat stooping upon an excellent mule, that carried him speedily without shaking him; he had also sore eyes. As we saw the place where he was to light by four cross lances, and a cloth thrown over them like a temporary tent, upon an eminence, we did not speak to him till he alighted. Petros and the Greek priest, besides servants, were the only people with me, Francis[15] had joined us upon our meeting the Ras.

We alighted at the same time he did, and afterwards, with anxiety enough we deputed the Greek priest, who was a friend of Michael, to tell him who I was, and that I was come to meet him. The soldiers made way, and I came up, took him by the hand, and kissed it. He looked me broad in the face for a second, repeated the ordinary salutation in Tigrè. “How do you do? I hope you are well;” and pointed to a place where I was to sit down. A thousand complaints, and a thousand orders came immediately before him, from a thousand mouths, and we were nearly smothered; but he took no notice of me, nor did he ask for one of his family. In some minutes after came the king, who passed at some distance to the left of him; and Michael was then led out of the shelter of his tent to the door, where he was supported on foot till the king passed by, having first pulled off the towel that was upon his head, after which he returned to his seat in the tent again.

The king had been past about a quarter of a mile, when Kefla Yasous came from him with orders to the Ras, or rather, as I believe, to receive orders from him. He brought with him a young nobleman, Ayto Engedan, who, by his dress, having his upper garment twisted in a particular manner about his waist, shewed that he was carrier of a special message from the king. The crowd by this time had shut us quite out, and made a circle round the Ras, in which we were not included. We were upon the point of going away, when Kefla Yasous, who had seen Francis, said to him, “I think Engedan has the king’s command for you, you must not depart without leave.” And, soon after, we understood that the king’s orders were to obtain leave from the Ras, to bring me, with Engedan, near, and in sight of him, without letting me know, or introducing me to him. In answer to this, the Ras had said, “I don’t know him; will people like him think this right? Ask Petros; or why should not the king call upon him and speak to him; he has letters to him as well as to me, and he will be obliged to see him to-morrow.”

Engedan went away on a gallop to join the king, and we proceeded after him, nor did we receive any other message either from the king or the Ras. We returned to Koscam, very little pleased with the reception we had met with. All the town was in a hurry and confusion; 30,000 men were encamped upon the Kahha; and the first horrid scene Michael exhibited there, was causing the eyes of twelve of the chiefs of the Galla, whom he had taken prisoners, to be pulled out, and the unfortunate sufferers turned out to the fields, to be devoured at night by the hyæna. Two of these I took under my care, who both recovered, and from them I learned many particulars of their country and manners.

The next day, which was the 10th, the army marched into the town in triumph, and the Ras at the head of the troops of Tigrè. He was bareheaded; over his shoulders, and down to his back, hung a pallium, or cloak, of black velvet, with a silver fringe. A boy, by his right stirrup, held a silver wand of about five feet and a half long, much like the staves of our great officers at court. Behind him all the soldiers, who had slain an enemy and taken the spoils from them, had their lances and firelocks ornamented with small shreds of scarlet cloth, one piece for every man he had slain.

Remarkable among all this multitude was Hagos, door-keeper of the Ras, whom we have mentioned in the war of Begemder. This man, always well-armed and well-mounted, had followed the wars of the Ras from his infancy, and had been so fortunate in this kind of single combat, that his whole lance and javelin, horse and person, were covered over with the shreds of scarlet cloth. At this last battle of Fagitta, Hagos is said to have slain eleven men with his own hand. Indeed there is nothing more fallacious than judging of a man’s courage by these marks of conquest. A good horseman, armed with a coat of mail, upon a strong, well-fed, well-winded horse, may, after a defeat, kill as many of these wretched, weary, naked fugitives, as he pleases, confining himself to those that are weakly, mounted upon tired horses, and covered only with goat’s-skins, or that are flying on foot.

Behind came Gusho of Amhara, and Powussen, lately made governor of Begemder for his behaviour at the battle of Fagitta, where, as I have said, he pursued Fasil and his army for two days. The Ras had given him also a farther reward, his grand-daughter Ayabdar, lately recovered from the small-pox, and the only one of my patients that, neither by herself, her mother, nor her husband, ever made me the least return. Powussen was one of the twelve officers who, after being delivered to Lubo by the Galla, together with Mariam Barea, had fled to Michael’s tent, and were protected by him.

One thing remarkable in this cavalcade, which I observed, was the head-dress of the governors of provinces. A large broad fillet was bound upon their forehead, and tied behind their head. In the middle of this was a horn, or a conical piece of silver, gilt, about four inches long, much in the shape of our common candle extinguishers. This is called _kirn_, or horn, and is only worn in reviews or parades after victory. This I apprehend, like all other of their usages, is taken from the Hebrews, and the several allusions made in scripture to it arise from this practice:--“I said unto fools, Deal not foolishly; and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn”--“Lift not up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck[16]”--“For promotion cometh,” &c.--“But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn”--“And the horn of the righteous shall be exalted with honour.” And so in many other places throughout the Psalms.

Next to these came the king, with a fillet of white muslin about three inches broad, binding his forehead, tied with a large double knot behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. About him were the great officers of state, such of the young nobility as were without command; and after these, the household troops.

Then followed the Kanitz Kitzera, or executioner of the camp, and his attendants; and, last of all, amidst the King’s and the Ras’s baggage, came a man bearing the stuffed skin of the unfortunate Woosheka upon a pole, which he hung upon a branch of the tree before the king’s palace appropriated for public executions.

Upon their arrival at Gondar, all the great men had waited both upon the Ras and the King. Aylo had been with them, and Ozoro Esther was removed to Gondar; but, by my advice, had left the child at Koscam. Her son Confu, though recovered of the small-pox, had evident signs of a dysentery, and took no care of himself in point of regimen, or avoiding cold.

It was now the 13th of March,and I had heard no word from Ozoro Esther, or the Ras, though removed to a house in Gondar near to Petros. I had gone every day once to see the children of Koscam; at all which times I had been received with the greatest cordiality and marks of kindness by the Iteghé, and orders given for my free admittance upon all occasions like an officer of her household. As to the rest, I never was in appearance more neglected, than in this present moment, by all but the Moors. These were very grateful for the successful attention I had shewed their children, and very desirous to have me again among them. Hagi Saleh, in particular, could not satiate himself with cursing the ingratitude of these cafers, and infidels, the Christians. He knew what had passed at Koscam, he saw what he thought likely to happen now, and his anger was that of an honest man, and which perhaps many former instances which he had been witness of might have justified, but in the present one he was mistaken.

In the evening, Negadè Ras Mahoment came to my house; he said Mahomet Gibberti was arrived, had been twice on private business with the Ras, but had not yet delivered him his presents; and he had not informed me of this, as he thought I was still at Koscam, and that Saleh his brother knew nothing of it, as he had not seen him since he came home. He also informed me that Ayto Aylo was with the Ras twice the day after he entered Gondar, and once with Mahomet Gibberti: all this was about me; and that, at Ayto Aylo’s proposal, it was agreed that I should be appointed Palambaras, which is master of the king’s horse. It is a very great office, both for rank, and revenue, but has no business attending it; the young Armenian had before enjoyed it. I told Mahomet, that, far from being any kindness to me, this would make me the most unhappy of all creatures; that my extreme desire was to see the country, and its different natural productions; to converse with the people as a stranger, but to be nobody’s master nor servant; to see their books; and, above all, to visit the sources of the Nile; to live as privately in my own house, and have as much time to myself as possible; and what I was most anxious about at present, was to know when it would be convenient for them to admit me to see the Ras, and deliver my letters as a stranger.

Mahomet went away, and returned, bringing Mahomet Gibberti, who told me, that, besides the letter I carried to Ras Michael from Metical Aga his master, he had been charged with a particular one, out of the ordinary form, dictated by the English at Jidda, who, all of them, and particularly my friends Captain Thornhill, and Capt. Thomas Price of the Lyon, had agreed to make a point with Metical Aga, devoted to them for his own profit, that his utmost exertion of friendship and interest, should be so employed in my recommendation, as to engage the attention of Ras Michael to provide in earnest for my safety and satisfaction in every point.

This letter I had myself read at Jidda; it informed Michael of the power and riches of our nation, and that they were absolute masters of the trade on the Red Sea, and strictly connected with the Sherriffe, and in a very particular manner with him, Metical Aga; that any accident happening to me would be an infamy and disgrace to him, and worse than death itself, because, that knowing Michael’s power, and relying on his friendship, he had become security for my safety, after I arrived in his hands; that I was a man of consideration in my own country, servant to the king of it, who, though himself a Christian, governed his subjects Mussulmen and Pagans, with the same impartiality and justice as he did Christians. That all my desire was to examine springs and rivers, trees and flowers, and the stars in the heavens, from which I drew knowledge very useful to preserve man’s health and life; that I was no merchant, and had no dealings whatever in any sort of mercantile matters; and that I had no need of any man’s money, as he had told Mahomet Gibberti to provide for any call I might have in that country, and for which he would answer, let the sum be what it would, as he had the word of my countrymen to repay it, which he considered better than the written security of any other people in the world. He then repeated very nearly the same words used in the beginning of the letter; and, upon this particular request, Metical Aga had sent him a distinct present, not to confound it with other political and commercial affairs, in which they were concerned together.

Upon reading this letter, Michael exclaimed, “Metical Aga does not know the situation of this country. Safety! where is that to be found? I am obliged to fight for my own life every day. Will Metical call this safety? Who knows, at this moment, if the king is in safety, or how long I shall be so? All I can do is to keep him with me. If I lose my own life, and the king’s, Metical Aga can never think it was in my power to preserve that of his stranger.”--“No, no,” says Ayto Aylo, who was then present, “you don’t know the man; he is a devil on horseback; he rides better, and shoots better, than any man that ever came into Abyssinia; lose no time, put him about the king, and there is no fear of him. He is very sober and religious; he will do the king good.” “Shoot!” says Michael, “he won’t shoot at me as the Armenian did; will he? will he?” “Oh,” continued Aylo, “you know these days are over. What is the Armenian? a boy, a slave to the Turk. When you see this man, you’ll not think of the Armenian.” It was finally agreed, that the letters the Greeks had received should be read to the king; that the letters I had from Metical Aga to the Ras should be given to Mahomet Gibberti, and that I should be introduced to the King and the Ras immediately after they were ready.

The reader may remember that, when I was at Cairo, I obtained letters from Mark, the Greek patriarch, to the Greeks at Gondar; and particularly one, in form of a bull, or rescript, to all the Greeks in Abyssinia. In this, after a great deal of pastoral admonition, the patriarch said, that, knowing their propensity to lying and vanity, and not being at hand to impose proper penances upon them for these sins, he exacted from them, as a proof of their obedience, that they would, with a good grace, undergo this mortification, than which there could be no gentler imposed, as it was only to speak the truth. He ordered them in a body to go to the king, in the manner and time they knew best, and to inform him that I was not to be confounded with the rest of white men, such as Greeks, who were all subject to the Turks, and slaves; but that I was a free man, of a free nation; and the best of them would be happy in being my servant, as one of their brethren, Michael, then actually was. I will not say but this was a bitter pill; for they were high in office, all except Petros, who had declined all employment after the murder of Joas his master, whose chamberlain he was. The order of the patriarch, however, was fairly and punctually performed; Petros was their spokesman; he was originally a shoemaker at Rhodes, clever, and handsome in his person, but a great coward, though, on such an occasion as the present, forward and capable enough.

I think it was about the 14th that these letters were to be all read. I expected at the ordinary hour, about five in the afternoon, to be sent for, and had rode out to Koscam with Ayto Heikel, the queen’s chamberlain, to see the child, who was pretty well recovered of all its complaints, but very weak. In the interim I was sent for to the Ras, with orders to dispatch a man with the king’s present, to wait for me at the palace, whither I was to go after leaving Michael. It was answered, That I was at Koscam, and the errand I had gone on mentioned; which disappointment, and the cause, did no way prejudice me with the Ras. Five in the evening was fixed as the hour, and notice sent to Koscam. I came a little before the time, and met Ayto Aylo at the door. He squeezed me by the hand, and said, “Refuse nothing, it can be all altered afterwards; but it is very necessary, on account of the priests and the populace, you have a place of some authority, otherwise you will be robbed and murdered the first time you go half a mile from home: fifty people have told me you have chests filled with gold, and that you can make gold, or bring what quantity you please from the Indies; and the reason of all this is, because you refused the queen and Ozoro Esther’s offer of gold at Koscam, and which you must never do again.”

We went in and saw the old man sitting upon a sofa; his white hair was dressed in many short curls. He appeared to be thoughtful, but not displeased; his face was lean, his eyes quick and vivid, but seemed to be a little sore from exposure to the weather. He seemed to be about six feet high, though his lameness made it difficult to guess with accuracy. His air was perfectly free from constraint, what the French call _degageé_. In face and person he was liker my learned and worthy friend, the Count de Buffon, than any two men I ever saw in the world. They must have been bad physiognomists that did not discern his capacity and understanding by his very countenance. Every look conveyed a sentiment with it: he seemed to have no occasion for other language, and indeed he spoke little. I offered, as usual, to kiss the ground before him; and of this he seemed to take little notice, stretching out his hand and shaking mine upon my rising.

I sat down with Aylo, three or four of the judges, Petros, Heikel the queen’s chamberlain, and an Azage from the king’s house, who whispered something in his ear, and went out; which interruption prevented me from speaking as I was prepared to do, or give him my present, which a man held behind me. He began gravely, “Yagoube, I think that is your name, hear what I say to you, and mark what I recommend to you. You are a man, I am told, who make it your business to wander in the fields in search after trees and grass in solitary places, and to sit up all night alone looking at the stars of the heavens: Other countries are not like this, though this was never so bad as it is now. These wretches here are enemies to strangers; if they saw you alone in your own parlour, their first thought would be how to murder you; though they knew they were to get nothing by it, they would murder you for mere mischief.” “The devil is strong in them,” says a voice from a corner of the room, which appeared to be that of a priest. “Therefore,” says the Ras, “after a long conversation with your friend Aylo, whose advice I hear you happily take, as indeed we all do, I have thought that situation best which leaves you at liberty to follow your own designs, at the same time that it puts your person in safety; that you will not be troubled with monks about their religious matters, or in danger from these rascals that may seek to murder you for money.”

“What are the monks?” says the same voice from the corner; “the monks will never meddle with such a man as this.”--“Therefore the king,” continued the Ras, without taking any notice of the interruption, “has appointed you Baalomaal, and to command the Koccob horse, which I thought to have given to Francis, an old soldier of mine; but he is poor, and we will provide for him better, for these appointments have honour, but little profit.” “Sir,” says Francis, who was in presence, but behind, “it is in much more honourable hands than either mine or the Armenian’s, or any other white man’s, since the days of Hatzè Menas, and so I told the king to-day.” “Very well, Francis,” says the Ras; “it becomes a soldier to speak the truth, whether it makes for or against himself. Go then to the king, and kiss the ground upon your appointment. I see you have already learned this ceremony of our’s; Aylo and Heikel are very proper persons to go with you. The king expressed his surprise to me last night he had not seen you; and there too is Tecla Mariam, the king’s secretary, who came with your appointment from the palace to-day.” The man in the corner, that I took for a priest, was this Tecla Mariam, a scribe. Out of the king’s presence men of this order cover their heads, as do the priests, which was the reason of my mistake.

I then gave him a present, which he scarce looked at, as a number of people were pressing in at the door from curiosity or business. Among these I discerned Abba Salama. Every body then went out but myself, and these people were rushing in behind me, and had divided me from my company. The Ras, however, seeing me standing alone, cried, “Shut the door;” and asked me, in a low tone of voice, “Have you any thing private to say?” “I see you are busy, Sir,” said I; “but I will speak to Ozoro Esther.” His anxious countenance brightened up in a moment. “That is true,” says he, “Yagoube, it will require a long day to settle that account with you: Will the boy live?” “The life of man is in the hand of God,” said I, “but I should hope the worst is over;” upon which he called to one of his servants, “Carry Yagoube to Ozoro Esther.”

It is needless for me to take up the reader’s time with any thing but what illustrates my travels; he may therefore guess the conversation that flowed from a grateful heart on that occasion. I ordered her child to be brought to her every forenoon, upon condition she returned him soon after mid-day. I then took a speedy leave of Ozoro Esther, the reason of which I told her when she was following me to the door. She said, “When shall I lay my hands upon that idiot Aylo? The Ras would have done any thing; he had appointed you Palambaras, but, upon conversing with Aylo, he had changed his mind. He says it will create envy, and take up your time. What signifies their envy? Do not they envy Ras Michael? and where can you pass your time better than at court, with a command under the king.” I said, “All is for the best, Aylo did well; all is for the best.” I then left her unconvinced, and saying, “I will not forgive this to Ayto Aylo these seven years.”

Aylo and Heikel had gone on to the palace, wondering, as did the whole company, what could be my private conference with Michael, which, after playing abundantly with their curiosity, I explained to them next day.

I went afterwards to the king’s palace, and met Aylo and Heikel at the door of the presence-chamber. Tecla Mariam walked before us to the foot of the throne; after which I advanced and prostrated myself upon the ground. “I have brought you a servant,” says he to the king, “from so distant a country, that if you ever let him escape, we shall never be able to follow him, or know where to seek him.” This was said facetiously by an old familiar servant; but the king made no reply, as far as we could guess, for his mouth was covered, nor did he shew any alteration of countenance. Five people were standing on each side of the throne, all young men, three on his left, and two on his right. One of these, the son of Tecla Mariam, (afterwards my great friend) who stood uppermost on the left hand, came up, and taking hold of me by the hand, placed me immediately above him; when seeing I had no knife in my girdle, he pulled out his own and gave it to me. Upon being placed, I again kissed the ground.

The king was in an alcove; the rest went out of sight from where the throne was, and sat down. The usual questions now began about Jerusalem and the holy places--where my country was? which it was impossible to describe, as they knew the situation of no country but their own--why I came so far?--whether the moon and the stars, but especially the moon, was the same in my country as in theirs?--and a great many such idle and tiresome questions. I had several times offered to take my present from the man who held it, that I might offer it to his Majesty and go away; but the king always made a sign to put it off, till, being tired to death with standing, I leaned against the wall. Aylo was fast asleep, and Ayto Heikel and the Greeks cursing their master in their heart for spoiling the good supper that Anthulè his treasurer had prepared for us. This, as we afterwards found out, the king very well knew, and resolved to try our patience to the utmost. At last, Ayto Aylo stole away to bed, and every body else after him, except those who had accompanied me, who were ready to die with thirst, and drop down with weariness. It was agreed by those that were out of sight, to send Tecla Mariam to whisper in the king’s ear, that I had not been well, which he did, but no notice was taken of it. It was now past ten o’clock, and he shewed no inclination to go to bed.

Hitherto, while there were strangers in the room, he had spoken to us by an officer called Kal Hatzè, _the voice or word of the king_; but now, when there were nine or ten of us, his menial servants, only present, he uncovered his face and mouth, and spoke himself. Sometimes it was about Jerusalem, sometimes about horses, at other times about shooting; again about the Indies; how far I could look into the heavens with my telescopes: and all these were deliberately and circumstantially repeated, if they were not pointedly answered. I was absolutely in despair, and scarcely able to speak a word, inwardly mourning the hardness of my lot in this my first preferment, and sincerely praying it might be my last promotion in this court. At last all the Greeks began to be impatient, and got out of the corner of the room behind the alcove, and stood immediately before the throne. The king seemed to be astonished at seeing them, and told them he thought they had all been at home long ago. They said, however, they would not go without me; which the king said could not be, for one of the duties of my employment was to be charged with the door of his bed-chamber that night.

I think I could almost have killed him in that instant. At last Ayto Heikel, taking courage, came forward to him, pretending a message from the queen, and whispered him something in the ear, probably that the Ras would take it ill. He then laughed, said he thought we had supped, and dismissed us.

CHAP. IX.

_Transactions at Gondar._

We went all to Anthuse’s house to supper in violent rage, such anger as is usual with hungry men. We brought with us from the palace three of my brother Baalomaals, and one who had stood to make up the number, though he was not in office; his name was Guebra Mascal, he was a sister’s son of the Ras, and commanded one third of the troops of Tigré, which carried fire-arms, that is about 2000 men. He was reputed the best officer of that kind that the Ras had, and was a man about 30 years of age, short, square, and well made, with a very unpromising countenance; flat nose, wide mouth, of a very yellow complexion, and much pitted with the small-pox; he had a most uncommon presumption upon the merit of past services, and had the greatest opinion of his own knowledge in the use of fire-arms, to which he did not scruple to say Ras Michael owed all his victories. Indeed it was to the good opinion that the Ras had of him as a soldier that he owed his being suffered to continue at Gondar; for he was suspected to have been familiar with one of his uncle’s wives in Tigré, by whom it was thought he had a child, at least the Ras put away his wife, and never owned the child to be his.

This man supped with us that night, and thence began one of the most serious affairs I ever had in Abyssinia. Guebra Mascal, as usual, vaunted incessantly his skill in fire-arms, the wonderful gun that he had, and feats he had done with it. Petros said, laughing, to him, “You have a genius for shooting, but you have had no opportunity to learn. Now, Yagoube is come, he will teach you something worth talking off.” They had all drank abundantly, and Guebra Mascal had uttered words that I thought were in contempt of me. I believe, replied I peevishly enough, Guebra Mascal, I should suspect, from your discourse, you neither knew men nor guns; every gun of mine in the hands of my servants shall kill twice as far as yours, for my own, it is not worth my while to put a ball in it: When I compare with you, the end of a tallow-candle in my gun shall do more execution than an iron ball in the best of yours, with all the skill and experience you pretend to.

He said I was a Frank, and a liar, and, upon my immediately rising up, he gave me a kick with his foot. I was quite blind with passion, seized him by the throat, and threw him on the ground stout as he was. The Abyssinians know nothing of either wrestling or boxing. He drew his knife as he was falling, attempted to cut me in the face, but his arm not being at freedom, all he could do was to give me a very trifling stab, or wound, near the crown of the head, so that the blood trickled down over my face. I had tript him up, but till then had never struck him. I now wrested the knife from him with a full intention to kill him; but Providence directed better. Instead of the point, I struck so violently with the handle upon his face as to leave scars, which would be distinguished even among the deep marks of the small-pox. An adventure so new, and so unexpected, presently overcame the effects of wine. It was too late to disturb anybody either in the palace or at the house of the Ras. A hundred opinions were immediately started; some were for sending us up to the king, as we were actually in the precincts of the palace, where lifting a hand is death. Ayto Heikel advised that I should go, late as it was, to Koscam; and Petros, that I should repair immediately to the house of Ayto Aylo, while the two Baalomaals were for taking me to sleep in the palace. Anthulè, in whose house I was, and who was therefore most shocked at the outrage, wished me to stay in his house, where I was, from a supposition that I was seriously wounded, which all of them, seeing the blood fall over my eyes, seemed to think was the case, and he, in the morning, at the king’s rising, was to state the matter as it happened. All these advices appeared good when they were proposed; for my part, I thought they only tended to make bad worse, and bore the appearance of guilt, of which I was not conscious.

I now determined to go home, and to bed in my own house. With that intention, I washed my face and wound with vinegar, and found the blood to be already staunched. I then wrapt myself up in my cloak, and returned home without accident, and went to bed. But this would neither satisfy Ayto Heikel nor Petros, who went to the house of Ayto Aylo, then past midnight, so that early in the morning, when scarce light, I saw him come into my chamber. Guebra Mascal had fled to the house of Kefla Yasous his relation; and the first news we heard in the morning, after Ayto Aylo arrived, were, that Guebra Mascal was in irons at the Ras’s house.

Every person that came afterwards brought up some new account; the whole people present had been examined, and had given, without variation, the true particulars of my forbearance, and his insolent behaviour. Every body trembled for some violent resolution the Ras was to take on my first complaint. The town was full of Tigrè soldiers, and nobody saw clearer than I did, however favourable a turn this had taken for me in the beginning, it might be my destruction in the end.

I asked Ayto Aylo his opinion. He seemed at a loss to give it me; but said, in an uncertain tone of voice, he could wish that I would not complain of Guebra Mascal while I was angry, or while the Ras was so inveterate against him, till some of his friends had spoken, and appeared, at least, his first resentment. I answered, “That I was of a contrary opinion, and that no time was to be lost: remember the letter of Mahomet Gibberti; remember his confidence yesterday of my being safe where he was; remember the influence of Ozoro Esther, and do not let us lose a moment.” “What, says Aylo to me in great surprise, are you mad? Would you have him cut to pieces in the midst of 20,000 of his countrymen? Would you be dimmenia, that is, guilty of the blood of all the province of Tigrè, through which you must go in your way home?” “Just the contrary, said I, nobody has so great a right over the Ras’s anger as I have, being the person injured; and, as you and I can get access to Ozoro Esther when we please, let us go immediately thither, and stop the progress of this affair while it is not yet generally known. People that talk of my being wounded expect to see me, I suppose, without a leg or an arm. When they see me so early riding in the street, all will pass for a story as it should do. Would you wish to pardon him entirely?”--“That goes against my heart, too, says Aylo, he is a bad man.”--“My good friend, said I, be in this guided by me, I know we both think the same thing. If he is a bad man, he was a bad man before I knew him. You know what you told me yourself of the Ras’s jealousy of him. What if he was to revenge his own wrongs, under pretence of giving me satisfaction for mine? Come, lose no time, get upon your mule, go with me to Ozoro Esther, I will answer for the consequences.”

We arrived there; the Ras was not sitting in judgment, he had drank hard the night before, on occasion of Powussen’s marriage, and was not in bed when the story of the fray reached him. We found Ozoro Esther in a violent anger and agitation, which was much alleviated by my laughing. On her asking me about my wound, which had been represented to her as dangerous, “I am afraid, said I, poor Guebra Mascal is worse wounded than I.” “Is he wounded too? says she; I hope it is in his heart.” “Indeed, replied I, Madam, there are no wounds on either side. He was very drunk, and I gave him several blows upon the face as he deserved, and he has already got all the chastisement he ought to have; it was all a piece of folly.” “Prodigious! says she; is this so?” “It is so, says Aylo, and you shall hear it all by-and-by, only let us stop the propagation of this foolish story.”

The Ras in the instant sent for us. He was naked, sitting on a stool, and a slave swathing up his lame leg with a broad belt or bandage. I asked him calmly and pleasantly if I could be of any service to him? He looked at me with a grin, the most ghastly I ever saw, as half displeased. “What! says he, are you all mad? Aylo, what is the matter between him and that miscreant Guebra Mascal?”--“Why, said I, I am come to tell you that myself; why do you ask Ayto Aylo? Guebra Mascal got drunk, was insolent, and struck me. I was sober, and beat him, as you will see by his face; and I have now come to you to say I am sorry that I lifted my hand against your nephew; but he was in the wrong, and drunk; and I thought it was better to chastise him on the spot, than trust him to you, who perhaps might take the affair to heart, for we all know your justice, and that being your relation is no excuse when you judge between man and man.” “I order you, Aylo, says Michael, as you esteem my friendship, to tell me the truth, really as it was, and without disguise or concealment.”

Aylo began accordingly to relate the whole history, when a servant called me out to Ozoro Esther. I found with her another nephew of the Ras, a much better man, called Welleta Selassé, who came from Kefla Yasous, and Guebra Mascal himself, desiring I would forgive and intercede for him, for it was a drunken quarrel without malice. Ozoro Esther had told him part. “Come in with me, said I, and you shall see I never will leave the Ras till he forgive him.” “Let him punish him, says Welleta Selassé, he is a bad man, but don’t let the Ras either kill or maim him.” “Come, said I, let us go to the Ras, and he shall neither kill, maim, nor punish him, if I can help it. It is my first request; if he refuses me I will return to Jidda; come and hear.”

Aylo had urged the thing home to the Ras in the proper light--that of my safety. “You are a wise man, says Michael, now perfectly cool, as soon as he saw me and Welleta Selassé. It is a man like you that goes far in safety, which is the end we all aim at. I feel the affront offered you more than you do, but will not have the punishment attributed to you; this affair shall turn to your honour and security, and in that light only I can pass over his insolence.” “Welleta Selassé, says he, falling into a violent passion in an instant, What sort of behaviour is this my men have adopted with strangers? and _my stranger_, too, and in the king’s palace, and the king’s servant? What! am I dead? or become incapable of governing longer?” Welleta Selassé bowed, but was afraid to speak, and indeed the Ras looked like a fiend.

“Come, says the Ras, let me see your head.” I shewed him where the blood was already hardened, and said it was a very slight cut. “A cut, continued Michael, over that part, with one of our knives, is mortal.” “You see, Sir, said I, I have not even clipt the hair about the wound; it is nothing. Now give me your promise you will set Guebra Mascal at liberty; and not only that, but you are not to reproach him with the affair further than that he was drunk, not a crime in this country.” “No, truly, says he, it is not; but that is, because it is very rare that people fight with knives when they are drunk. I scarce ever heard of it, even in the camp.” “I fancy, said I, endeavouring to give a light turn to the conversation, they have not often wherewithal to get drunk in your camp.” “Not this last year, says he, laughing, there were no houses in the country.” “But let me only merit, said I, Welleta Selassé’s friendship, by making him the messenger of good news to Guebra Mascal, that he is at liberty, and you have forgiven him.” “At liberty! says he, Where is he?” “In your house, said I, somewhere, in irons.” “That is Esther’s intelligence, continued the Ras; these women tell you all their secrets, but when I remember your behaviour to them I do not wonder at it, and that consideration likewise obliges me to grant what you ask. Go, Welleta Selassé, and free that dog from his collar, and direct him to go to Welleta Michael, who will give him his orders to levy the meery in Woggora; let him not see my face till he returns.”

Ozoro Esther gave us breakfast, to which several of the Greeks came. After which I went to Koscam, where I heard a thousand curses upon Guebra Mascal. The whole affair was now made up, and the king was acquainted with the issue of it. I stood in my place, where he shewed me very great marks of favour; he was grave, however, and sorrowful, as if mortified with what had happened. The king ordered me to stay and dine at the palace, and he would send me my dinner. I there saw the sons of Kasmati Eshté, Aylo, and Engedan, and two Welleta Selassés; one the son of Tecla Mariam, the other the son of a great nobleman in Goiam, all young men, with whom I lived ever after in perfect familiarity and friendship. The two last were my brethren Baalomaal, or gentlemen of the king’s bed-chamber.

They all seemed to have taken my cause to heart more than I wished them to do, for fear it should be productive of some new quarrel. For my own part, I never was so dejected in my life. The troublesome prospect before me presented itself day and night. I more than twenty times resolved to return by Tigrè, to which I was more inclined by the loss of a young man who accompanied me through Barbary, and assisted me in the drawings of architecture which I made for the king there, part of which he was still advancing here, when a dysentery, which had attacked him in Arabia Felix, put an end to his life[17] at Gondar. A considerable disturbance was apprehended upon burying him in a church-yard. Abba Salama used his utmost endeavours to raise the populace and take him out of his grave; but some exertions of the Ras quieted both Abba Salama and the tumults.

I began, however, to look upon every thing now as full of difficulty and danger; and, from this constant fretting and despondency, I found my health much impaired, and that I was upon the point of becoming seriously ill. There was one thing that contributed in some measure to dissipate these melancholy thoughts, which was, that all Gondar was in one scene of festivity. Ozoro Ayabdar, daughter of the late Welled Hawaryat, by Ozoro Altash, Ozoro Esther’s sister, and the Iteghè’s youngest daughter, consequently grand-daughter to Michael, was married to Powussen, now governor of Begemder. The king gave her large districts of land in that province, and Ras Michael a large portion of gold, muskets, cattle, and horses. All the town, that wished to be well-looked upon by either party, brought something considerable as a present. The Ras, Ozoro Esther, and Ozoro Altash, entertained all Gondar. A vast number of cattle was slaughtered every day, and the whole town looked like one great market; the common people, in every street, appearing loaded with pieces of raw beef, while drink circulated in the same proportion. The Ras insisted upon my dining with him every day, when he was sure to give me a headache with the quantity of mead, or hydromel, he forced me to swallow, a liquor that never agreed with me from the first day to the last.

After dinner we slipt away to parties of ladies, where anarchy prevailed as complete as at the house of the Ras. All the married women ate, drank, and smoaked like the men; and it is impossible to convey to the reader any idea of this bacchanalian scene in terms of common decency. I found it necessary to quit this riot for a short time, and get leave to breathe the fresh air of the country, at such a distance as that, once a day, or once in two days, I might be at the palace, and avoid the constant succession of those violent scenes of debauchery of which no European can form any idea, and which it was impossible to escape, even at Koscam.

Although the king’s favour, the protection of the Ras, and my obliging, attentive, and lowly behaviour to every body, had made me as popular as I could wish at Gondar, and among the Tigrans fully as much as those of Amhara, yet it was easy to perceive, that the cause of my quarrel with Guebra Mascal was not yet forgot.

One day, when I was standing by the king in the palace, he asked, in discourse, “Whether I, too, was not drunk in the quarrel with Guebra Mascal, before we came to blows?” and, upon my saying that I was perfectly sober, both before and after, because Anthulè’s red wine was finished, and I never willingly drank hydromel, or mead, he asked with a degree of keenness, “Did you then soberly say to Guebra Mascal, that an end of a tallow candle, in a gun in your hand, would do more execution than an iron bullet in his?”--“Certainly, Sir, I did so.”--“And why did you say this?” says the king dryly enough, and in a manner I had not before observed. “Because, replied I, it was truth, and a proper reproof to a vain man, who, whatever eminence he might have obtained in a country like this, has not knowledge enough to entitle him to the trust of cleaning a gun in mine.”--“O! ho! continued the king; as for his knowledge I am not speaking of that, but about his gun. You will not persuade me that, with a tallow candle, you can kill a man or a horse.”--“Pardon me, Sir, said I, bowing very respectfully, I will attempt to persuade you of nothing but what you please to be convinced of: Guebra Mascal is my equal no more, you are my master, and, while I am at your court, under your protection, you are in place of my sovereign, it would be great presumption in me to argue with you, or lead to a conversation against an opinion that you profess you are already fixed in.”--“No, no, says he, with an air of great kindness, by no means, I was only afraid you would expose yourself before bad people; what you say to me is nothing.”--“And what I say to you, Sir, has always been as scrupulously true as if I had been speaking to the king my native sovereign and master. Whether I can kill a man with a candle, or not, is an experiment that should not be made. Tell me, however, what I shall do before you that you may deem an equivalent? Will piercing the table, upon which your dinner is served, (it was of sycamore, about three quarters of an inch thick), at the length of this room, be deemed a sufficient proof of what I advanced?”

“Ah, Yagoube, says the king, take care what you say. That is indeed more than Guebra Mascal will do at that distance; but take great care; you don’t know these people; they will lie themselves all day; nay, their whole life is one lie; but of you they expect better, or would be glad to find worse; take care.” Ayto Engedan, who was then present, said, “I am sure if Yagoube says he can do it, he will do it; but how, I don’t know. Can you shoot through my shield with a tallow candle?”--“To you, Ayto Engedan, said I, I can speak freely; I could shoot thro’ your shield if it was the strongest in the army, and kill the strongest man in the army that held it before him. When will you see this tried?”--“Why now, says the king; there is _nobody here_.”--“The sooner the better, said I; I would not wish to remain for a moment longer under so disagreeable an imputation as that of lying, an infamous one in my country, whatever it may be in this. Let me send for _my_ gun; the king will look out at the window.”--“_Nobody_, says he, knows any thing of it; _nobody will come_.”

The king appeared to be very anxious, and, I saw plainly, incredulous. The gun was brought; Engedan’s shield was produced, which was of strong buffalo’s hide. I said to him, “This is a weak one, give me one stronger.” He shook his head, and said, “Ah, Yagoube, you’ll find it strong enough; Engedan’s shield is known to be no toy.” Tecla Mariam brought such a shield, and the Billetana Gueta Tecla another, both of which were most excellent in their kind. I loaded the gun before them, first with powder, then upon it slid down one half of what we call a farthing candle; and, having beat off the handles of three shields, I put them close in contact with each other, and set them all three against a post.

“Now, Engedan, said I, when you please say--Fire! but mind you have taken leave of your good shield for ever.” The word was given, and the gun fired. It struck the three shields, neither in the most difficult nor the easiest place for perforation, something less than half way between the rim and the boss. The candle went through the three shields with such violence that it dashed itself to a thousand pieces against a stone-wall behind it. I turned to Engedan, saying very lowly, gravely, and without exultation or triumph, on the contrary with absolute indifference, “Did not I tell you your shield was naught?” A great shout of applause followed from about a thousand people that were gathered together. The three shields were carried to the king, who exclaimed in great transport, I did not believe it before I saw it, and I can scarce believe it now I have seen it. Where is Guebra Mascal’s confidence now? But what do either he or we know? “We know nothing.” I thought he looked abashed.

“Ayto Engedan, said I, we must have a touch at that table. It was said, the piercing that was more than Guebra Mascal could do. We have one half of the candle left still; it is the thinnest, weakest half, and I shall put the wick foremost, because the cotton is softest.” The table being now properly placed, to Engedan’s utmost astonishment the candle, with the wick foremost, went through the table, as the other had gone through the three shields. “By St Michael! says Engedan, Yagoube, hereafter say to me you can raise my father Eshté from the grave, and I will believe you.” Some priests who were there, though surprised at first, seemed afterward to treat it rather lightly, because they thought it below their dignity to be surprised at any thing. They said it was done (mucktoub) by writing, by which they meant magic. Every body embraced that opinion as an evident and rational one, and so the wonder with them ceased. But it was not so with the king: It made the most favourable and lasting impression upon his mind; nor did I ever after see, in his countenance, any marks either of doubt or diffidence, but always, on the contrary, the most decisive proofs of friendship, confidence, and attention, and the most implicit belief of every thing I advanced upon any subject from my own knowledge.