Chapter XVIII: Book VI (4)

It happened that the priests of the church of Mariam Net, in the confusion, had been left unheeded, chained arm to arm, in the rear with Kefla Yasous, and they had began interceding with him to procure their pardon and dismission. He was a man, as I said, of the greatest affability and complacency, and heard every one speak with the utmost patience. These priests, terrified to death lest Michael should pull their eyes out, or exercise some of his usual cruelties upon them, which was certainly his intention by bringing them with him to Gondar, frankly declared to Kefla Yasous what they apprehended. They said that they had never known a ford there before, though they had lived many years in the neighbourhood, nor had ever heard of one at Kerr, the first cataract, which the guides had persuaded the rather of the two; they did believe, therefore, that Michael’s guides had deceived him on purpose, and that they intended the same thing by him to-morrow, if he attempted to pass at Kerr. They told him further, that, about three days before Michael had arrived in the neighbourhood of Samseen, they had heard a nagareet beat regularly every evening at sun-set, behind the high woody hill in front, whereon was the church of Boikon Abbo; that they had seen also a man the day before who had left Welleta Yasous, Fasil’s principal officer and confident, at Goutto, waiting the arrival of some more troops to pass the Nile there, whence they doubted not that there was treachery intended.

The sagacious and prudent Kefla Yasous weighed every word of this in his mind, and, combining all the circumstances together, was immediately convinced that there had been a snare laid by Fasil for them. Entering further into conversation with the priests, and encouraging them with assurances of reward instead of punishment, he inquired if they certainly knew any better ford below. They answered him they knew of no ford but the common one of Delakus, about eight miles below; that it was true it was not good, and it was deeper than ordinary, as the rainy season had begun early, but that it was so perfectly fordable that all the country people had gone with asses loaded with butter and honey, and other provisions, for the market of Gondar last week; from whence they inferred that he could easily ford it, and safely, even with loaded mules. They advised him farther, as the night was dry, and the rain fell generally in the day, to lose no time, but to collect his troops, weary as they were, as soon as possible, and send the heavy baggage before; that there was no river or torrent in their way, but Amlac Ohha, which, at that time of night, was at its lowest, and they might then pass it at their leisure, while he covered them with his troops behind; that in such case they might all be safe over the ford by the time the sun became to be hot in the morning, about which hour they did not doubt he would be attacked by Welleta Yasous. They said farther, that, though they could claim little merit, being prisoners, by offering to be his guides, yet he might perhaps find his use in the measure, and would thereby prove their faith and loyalty to the king.

Although all this bore the greatest shew of probability, and the lives of the informers were in his hands, that cautious general would not undertake a step of so much consequence, as to separate the rear of the army from the king, without further inquiry. There was then in his camp, waiting the event of next day, two of the guides who had brought them to this ford; a third had gone over the river with Ras Michael. There was likewise in his camp a servant of Nanna Georgis, who had arrived some days before with information to Ras Michael. The two guides pretended to be Agows, consequently friends to the king. He called these into his presence, and ordered them to be put in irons, and then sent for the servant of Nanna Georgis. This man immediately knew the one to be his countryman, but declared the other was a Galla, both of them servants of Fasil, and then living in Maitsha.

Kefla Yasous immediately ordered the Kanitz Kitzera (the executioner of the camp) to attend, and having exhorted them to declare the truth for fear of what would speedily follow, and no satisfactory answer being given, he directed the eyes of the eldest, the Galla, to be plucked out; and he continuing still obstinate, he delivered him to the soldiers, who hewed him to pieces with their large knives in presence of his companion. In the mean time the priests had been very earnest with the young one, the Agow, to confess, with better success; but this execution, to which he had been witness, was more prevailing than all their arguments. Upon promise of life, liberty, and reward, he declared that he had left Fasil behind a hill, which he then shewed, about three miles distant, in front of the king’s army, and had gone down to Welleta Yasous, who was waiting at Goutto ready to pass the Nile: that they were sent forward to decoy the king to that passage, under the name of a ford, where they expected great part of the army would perish if they attempted to pass: that Fasil was to attack such part of the king’s army as should have passed as soon as it appeared upon the heights above the river, but not till, by the firing on the east side, he knew that Welleta Yasous was engaged with the rear, or part of the army, which should still remain on that side separated by the river: that they did not imagine Ras Michael could have passed that night, but that to-morrow he would certainly be attacked by Fasil, as his companion, who had crossed with Ras Michael, was to go directly to Fasil and inform him of the situation of the King, the Ras, and the army.

Kefla Yasous sent two of his principal officers, with a distinct detail of this whole affair, to the king. It being now dark, they swam the river on horseback, with much more difficulty and danger than we had done, and they found Ras Michael and the king in council, to whom they told their message with every circumstance, adding, that Kefla Yasous, as the only way to preserve the army, quite spent with fatigue, and encumbered with such a quantity of baggage, had struck his tent, and would, by that time, be on his march for the ford of Delakus, which he should cross, and, after leaving a party to guard the baggage and sick, he should with the freshest of his men join the army. The spy that had passed with Michael and the king was now sought for, but he had lost no time, and was gone off to Fasil at Boskon Abbo. Kefla Yasous, having seen all the baggage on their way before him, did, as his last act, perhaps not strictly consistent with justice, hang the poor unfortunate informer, the Agow, upon one of the trees at the ford, that Welleta Yasous, when he passed in the morning, might see how certainly his secret was discovered, and that consequently he was on his guard.

On the 28th he crossed Amlac Ohha with some degree of difficulty, and was obliged to abandon several baggage-mules. He advanced after this with as great diligence as possible to Delakus, and found the ford, though deep, much better than he expected. He had pitched his tent on the high road to Gondar, before Welleta Yasous knew he was decamped, and of this passage he immediately advised Michael refreshing his troops for any emergency.

About two in the afternoon Welleta Yasous appeared with his horse on the other side of the Nile, but it was then too late. Kefla Yasous was so strongly posted, and the banks of the river so guarded with fire-arms, down to the water-edge, that Fasil and all his army would not have dared to attempt the passage, or even approach the banks of the river.

As soon as Ras Michael received the intelligence, he dispatched the Fit-Auraris, Netcho, to take post upon the ford of the Kelti, a large river, but rather broad than deep, about three miles off. He himself followed early in the morning, and passed the Kelti just at sun-rise, without halting; he then advanced to meet Kefla Yasous, as the army began to want provisions, the little flour that had been brought over, or which the soldiers had taken with them, being nearly exhausted during that night and the morning after. It was found, too, that the men had but little powder, none of them having recruited their quantity since the hunting of the deer; but what they had was in perfect good order, being kept in horns and small wooden bottles, corked in such a manner as to be secured from water of any kind. Kefla Yasous, therefore, being in possession of the baggage, the powder, and the provisions, a junction with him was absolutely necessary, and they expected to effect this at Wainadega, about twenty miles from their last night’s quarters. The ground was all firm and level between Kelti and the Avoley, a space of about 15 miles.

Ras Michael halted after passing the Kelti, and sent on the Fit-Auraris about five miles before him; he then ordered what quantity of flour, or provisions of any kind could be found, to be distributed among the men, and directed them to refresh themselves for an hour before they again began their march, because they might expect soon to engage with Fasil. The day being clear, and the sun hot, those that the cold affected, from the passage of last night, began to recover their former health and agility; their clothes were now all dry, clean washed, and comfortable; and had it not been for the fatigue that remained from the two last days, and the short allowance to which they were reduced, perhaps there were few occasions wherein the army was fitter for an engagement. Being now disembarrassed from dangerous rivers, they were on dry solid ground, which they had often marched over before in triumph, and where all the villages around them, lying in ruins, put them in mind of many victorious campaigns, and especially the recent one at Fagitta over this same Fasil. Add to all this, they were on their way home to Gondar, and that alone made them march with a tenfold alacrity. Gondar, they thought, was to be the end of all their cares, a place of relaxation and ease for the rest of the rainy season.

It was between twelve and one we heard the Fit-Auraris engaged, and there was sharp firing on both sides, which soon ceased. Michael ordered his army immediately to halt; he and the king, and Billetana Gueta Tecla, commanded the van; Welleta Michael,and Ayto Tesfos of Siré, the rear. Having marched a little farther, he changed his order of battle; he drew up the body of troops which he commanded, together with the king, on a flat, large hill, with two valleys running parallel to the sides of it like trenches. Beyond these trenches were two higher ridges of hills that ran along the side of them, about half a musket-shot from him; the valleys were soft ground which yet could bear horses, and these hills, on his right and on his left, advanced about 100 yards on each side farther than the line of his front. The gross of these side-divisions occupied the height; but a line of soldiers from them came down to the edge of the valleys like wings. In the plain ground, about three hundred yards directly in his front, he had placed all the cavalry, except the king’s body-guards drawn up before him, commanded by an old officer of Mariam Barea. As prince George was in the cavalry, he strongly solicited the Ras at least to let him remain with them, and see them engage; but the Ras, considering his extreme youth and natural rashness, called him back, and placed him beside me before the king. It was not long before the Fit-Auraris’s two messengers arrived, running like deer along the plain, which was not absolutely flat, but sloped gently down towards us, declining, as I should guess, not a fathom in fifteen.

Their account was, that they had fallen in with Fasil’s Fit-Auraris; that they had attacked him smartly, and, though the enemy were greatly superior, being all horse, except a few musqueteers, had killed four of them. The Ras having first heard the message of the Fit-Auraris alone, he sent a man to report it to the king; and, immediately after this, he ordered two horsemen to go full gallop along the east side of the hill, the low road to Wainadega, to warn Kefla Yasous of Fasil’s being near at hand; he likewise directed the Fit-Auraris to advance cautiously till he had seen Fasil, and to pursue no party that should retreat before him.

The King, the Ras, and the whole army, began to be in pain for Kefla Yasous; and we should have changed our ground, and marched forward immediately, had we not heard the alarm-guns fired by Fit-Auraris Netcho, and presently he and his party came in, the men running, and the horses at full gallop. Ras Michael had given his orders, and returned to the presence of the king on his mule; he could not venture among horse, being wounded in the middle of the thigh, and lame in that leg, but always charged on a mule among the musquetry. He said shortly to the king, “No fear, Sir, stand firm; Fasil is lost if he fights to-day on this ground.”

Fasil appeared at the top of the hill. I have no guess about the number of such large bodies of troops, but, by those more used to such computations, it is said he had about 3000 horse. It was a fine sight, but the evening was beginning to be overcast. After having taken a full view of the army, they all began to move slowly down the hill, beating their kettle-drums. There were two trees a little before the cavalry, that were advanced beyond our front. Fasil sent down a party to skirmish with these, and he himself halted after having made a few paces down the hill. The two bodies of horse met just half way at the two trees, and mingled together, as appeared at least, with very decisive intention; but whether it was by orders or from fear, (for they were not overmatched in numbers) our horse turned their backs and came precipitately down, so that we were afraid they would break in upon the foot. Several shots were fired from the center at them by order of the Ras, who cried out aloud in derision, “Take away these horses and send them to the mill.” They divided, however, to the right and left, into the two grassy valleys under cover of the musquetry, and a very few horse of Fasil’s were carried in along with them, and slain by the soldiers on the side of the hill. On the king’s side no man of note was missing but Welleta Michael, nephew of Ras Michael, whose horse falling, he was taken prisoner and carried off by Fasil.

A few minutes after this, arrived a messenger from Fasil, a dwarf, named Doho, a man always employed on errands of this kind; it is an intercourse which is permitted, and the messenger not only protected, but rewarded, as I have before observed; it is a singular custom, and none but shrewd fellows are sent, very capable of making observations, and Doho was one of these. He told the Ras to prepare immediately, for Fasil intended to attack him as soon as he had brought his foot up: Doho further added a request from his master, as a mark of his duty, that the king might not change his dress that day, lest he might fall into the hands of some of the stranger troops of Galla, who might not know him otherwise, or shew the proper respect to his person. The Ras, I was told afterwards, for he was too far before us to hear him, laughed violently at this compliment. “Tell Fasil, says he, to wait but a few minutes where he now is, and I promise him that the king shall dress in any way he pleases.” When Doho’s message was told to the king, he sent back answer to Ras Michael, “Let Doho tell Fasil from me, that, if I had known those two trees had been where they are, I would have brought Welleta Gabriel, Ozoro Esther’s steward, to him; by which he very archly alluded to the battle of Fagitta, where that drunkard, shooting from behind a tree, and killing one Galla, made all the rest fly for fear of the zibib.”

Doho being thus dismissed, the whole army advanced immediately at a very brisk pace, hooping and screaming, as is their custom, in a most harsh and barbarous manner, crying out Hatzé Ali! Michael Ali! But Fasil, who saw the forward countenance of the king’s troops, and that a few minutes would lay him under necessity of risking a battle, which he did not intend, withdrew his troops at a smart trot over the smooth downs, returning towards Boskon Abbo. It seems, as we heard afterwards, he was in as great anxiety about the fate of Welleta Yasous, of whom he had no intelligence, as we had been for that of Kefla Yasous; and he had got as yet no intelligence till he had taken Welleta Michael prisoner; he had heard no firing, nor did he consequently know whether Kefla Yasous had passed the Nile with the Ras or not; he had, therefore, left his camp, and marched with his horse only to take a view of Michael, but had no sort of intention to give him battle; and he was now very much exasperated against both Gusho and Powussen, by whom he saw plainly that he had been betrayed.

This is what was called the battle of Limjour, from a village burnt by Ras Michael last campaign, which stood where the two trees are; the name of a battle is surely more than it deserves. Had Fasil been half as willing as the Ras, it could not have failed being a decisive one. The Ras, who saw that Fasil would not fight, easily penetrated his reasons, and no sooner was he gone, and his own drums silent, than he heard a nagareet beat, and knew it to be that of Kefla Yasous. This general encamped upon the river Avoley, leaving his tents and baggage under a proper guard, and had marched with the best and freshest of his troops to join Michael before the engagement. All was joy at meeting, every rank of men joined in extolling the merit and conduct of their leaders; and, indeed, it may be fairly said, the situation of the king and the army was desperate at that instant, when the troops were separated on different sides of the Nile; nor could they have been saved but by the speedy resolution taken by Kefla Yasous to march without loss of time and pass at the ford of Delakus, and the diligence and activity with which he executed that resolution.

Although a good part of Kefla Yasous’s soldiers were left at the Avoley, the Ras, as a mark of confidence, gave him the command of the rear. We were retreating before an enemy, and it was, therefore, the post of honour, where the Ras would have been himself, had not Kefla Yasous joined us. We soon marched the five miles, or thereabout, that remained to the Avoley, and arrived just as the sun was setting, and there heard from the spies that Welleta Yasous with his troops had retired again to Goutto, after having been joined by Woodage Asahel. There again were fresh rejoicings, as every one recovered their baggage and provisions, many rejoined their friends they had given over as lost at the passage, and the whole army prepared their supper. All but Ras Michael seemed to have their thoughts bent upon sleep and rest; whilst he, the most infirm and aged of the army, no sooner was under cover of his tent than he ordered the drum to beat for assembling a council. What passed there I did not know; I believe nothing but a repetition of the circumstances that induced Kefla Yasous to advance to Delakus, for, after supper, just before the king went to bed in the evening, a man from Kefla Yasous brought the four priests of Mariam Net, who had been the guides to the ford at Delakus. The king ordered meat to be set before them, but they had done very well already with Kefla Yasous, and, therefore, only took a small piece of bread and a cup of bouza, the eating and drinking in presence of the king being an assurance that their life was safe and pardon real. They had then five ounces of gold, and several changes of clothes given to each of them, and the king took them to Gondar with him, to provide for them there, out of the reach of the revenge of Fasil, and placed them in the church of Hamar Noh[116].

The army marched next day to Dingleber, a high hill, or rock, approaching so close to the lake as scarcely to leave a passage between. Upon the top of this rock is the king’s house. As we arrived very early there, and were now out of Fasil’s government, the king insisted upon treating Ras Michael and all the people of consideration. A great quantity of cattle had been sent thither from Dembea by those who had estates in the neighbourhood, out of which he gave ten oxen to Ras Michael, ten to Kefla Yasous, the same number to several others, and one to myself, with two ounces of gold for Strates and Sebastos to buy mules; but they had already provided themselves; for, besides the two they rode upon of mine, they and my servants had picked up four others in very good condition, whose masters had probably perished in the river, for they were never claimed afterwards.

Just as the king sat down to dinner an accident happened that occasioned great trepidation among all his servants. A black eagle[117] was chased into the king’s tent by some of the birds of prey that hover about the camp; and it was after in the mouth of every one the king would be dethroned by a man of inferior birth and condition. Every body at that time looked to Fasil: the event proved the application false, though the omen was true. Powussen of Begemder was as low-born as Fasil, as great a traitor, but more successful, to whom the ominous presage pointed; and, though we cannot but look upon the whole as accident, it was but too soon fulfilled.

In the evening of the 29th arrived at Dingleber two horsemen from Fasil, clad in habits of peace, and without arms; they were known to be two of his principal servants, were grave, genteel, middle-aged men; this message had nothing of Doho’s buffoonery. They had an audience early after their coming, first of the Ras, then of the King. They said, and said truly, that Fasil had repassed the Kelti, was encamped on the opposite side, and was not yet joined by Welleta Yasous. Their errand was, to desire that the Ras might not fatigue his men by unnecessarily hurrying on to Gondar, because he might rest secured of receiving no further molestation from Fasil their master, as he was on his march to Burè. They told the Ras the whole of the conspiracy, as far as it regarded him, and the agreement that Powussen and Gusho had made with their master to surround him at Derdera: they mentioned, moreover, how sensible Fasil was of their treason towards him; that, instead of keeping their word, they had left him to engage the King and the Ras’s whole force at a time when they knew the greatest part of his Galla troops were retired to the other side of the Nile, and could be assembled with difficulty: That if the Ras by chance had crossed at Delakus, as Kefla Yasous had done, instead of embarrassing his army among the rivers of Maitsha, and crossing the Nile at that most dangerous place near Amlac-Ohha, (a passage never before attempted in the rainy season) the consequence would have been, that he must have either fought at great disadvantage with an inferior army against the Ras, or have retired to Metchakel, leaving his whole country to the mercy of his enemies. Fasil declared his resolution never again to appear in arms against the king, but that he would hold his government under him, and pay the accustomed taxes punctually: he promised also, that he would renounce all manner of connection with Gusho and Powussen, as he had already done, and he would take the field against them next season with his whole force, whenever the king ordered him. The messengers concluded, with desiring the Ras to give Fasil his grand-daughter, Welleta Selassé, in marriage, and that he would then come to Gondar without distrust.

At the audience they had of the king the same night, they added, That Fasil could not trust Ras Michael, he broke his word so often, and had so many reservations and evasions in his promises.

The Ras, though he did not believe all this, made no difficulty in agreeing to every thing that they desired. He promised the grand-daughter; and, as an earnest of his believing the rest, the king’s two nagareets were brought to the door of the tent, where, to our very great surprise, we heard it proclaimed, “Fasil is governor of the Agow, Maitsha, Gojam, and Damot; prosperity to him, and long may he live a faithful servant to the king our master!”--This was an extraordinary revolution in so small a space of time. It was scarce 43 hours since Fasil had laid a scheme for drowning the greater part of the army in the Nile, and cutting the throats of the residue on both sides of it; it was not twenty-four hours, since he had met us to fight in open field, and now he was become the king’s lieutenant-general in four of the most opulent provinces of Abyssinia. This was produced, however, by the necessity of the times, and both parties were playing at the same game who should over-reach the other. Fasil’s messengers were magnificently cloathed, and it was first intended they should have gone back to him; but, after reflection, another person was sent, these two chusing to go to Gondar with the king to remain hostages for Fasil’s word, and to bring back his investiture from thence to Burè. The whole camp abandoned itself to joy.

Late in the evening Ozoro Esther came to the king’s tent. She had been ill, and alarmed, as she well might, at the passage of the Nile, which had given her a more delicate look than ordinary; she was dressed all in white, and I thought I seldom had seen so handsome a woman. The king, as I have mentioned, had sent ten oxen to Ras Michael, but he had given twenty to Ozoro Esther; and it was to thank him for this extraordinary mark of favour that she had come to visit him in his tent. I had for some time past, indeed, thought they were not insensible to the merit of each other. Upon her thanking the king for the distinction he had shewn her, Madam, said he, your husband Ras Michael is intent upon employing, in the best way possible for my service, those of the army that are strong and vigorous; you, I am told, bestow your care on the sick and disabled, and, by your attention, they are restored to their former health and activity; the strong active soldier eats the cows that I have sent to the Ras; the enfeebled and sick recover upon yours, for which reason I sent you a double portion, that you may have it in your power to do double good. After this the room was cleared; and she had an audience alone for half an hour. I doubt very much whether Ras Michael had any share in the conversation; the king was in the very gayest humour, and went to rest about twelve. The Ras loved Ozoro Esther, but was not jealous.

I had violent threatenings of the ague, and had gone to bed full of reflections on extraordinary events that, in a few hours, had as it were crowded upon one another. I had appointed Fasil’s servants to come to my tent in the evening. I understood a council had been called, to which Welleta Kyrillos, the king’s historiographer, had been sent for, and instructed how to give an account of this campaign of Maitsha, the passage of the Nile, and the meeting with Fasil at Limjour. Kefla Yasous’s march to Delakus, and passage there, were ordered to be written in gold letters, and so was Fasil’s appointment to Damot and Maitsha. From this authentic copy, and what I myself heard or observed, I formed these notes of the campaign.

On the 30th of May nothing material happened, and, in a few days, we arrived at Gondar. The day before we entered, being encamped on the river Kemona, came two messengers from Gusho and Powussen, with various excuses why they had not joined. They were very ill received by the Ras, and refused an audience of the king. Their present, which is always new clothes to some value, was a small piece of dark-blue Surat cloth, value about half-a-crown, intended as an affront; they were not suffered to sleep in the camp, but forwarded to Fasil where they were going.

The 3d of June the army encamped on the river Kahha, under Gondar. From the time we left Dingleber, some one or other of the Ras’s confidential friends had arrived every day. Several of the great officers of state reached us at the Kemona, many others met us at Abba Samuel. I did not perceive the news they brought increased the spirits either of the King or the Ras; the soldiers, however, were all contented, because they were at home; but the officers, who saw farther, wore very different countenances, especially those that were of Amhara.

I, in particular, had very little reason to be pleased; for, after having undergone a constant series of fatigues, dangers, and expences, I was returned to Gondar disappointed of my views in arriving at the source of the Nile, without any other acquisition than a violent ague. The place where that river rises remained still as great a secret as it had been ever since the catastrophe of Phaeton:--

_Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem,
Occuluitque caput, quod adhuc latet._----
OVID. METAM. lib. ii.

CHAP. VII.

_King and Army retreat to Tigré--Interesting Events following that Retreat--The Body of Joas is found--Favourable Turn of the King’s Affairs--Socinios, a new King, proclaimed at Gondar._

The king had heard that Gusho and Powussen, with Gojam under Ayto Aylo, and all the troops of Belessen and Lasta, were ready to fall upon him in Gondar as soon as the rains should have swelled the Tacazzé, so that the army could not retire into Tigré; and it was now thought to be the instant this might happen, as the king’s proclamation in favour of Fasil, especially the giving him Gojam, it was not doubted, would hasten the motion of the rebels. Accordingly that very morning, after the king arrived, the proclamation was made at Gondar, giving Fasil Gojam, Damot, the Agow, and Maitsha; after which his two servants were again magnificently cloathed, and sent back with honour.

As I had never despaired, some way or other, of arriving at the fountains of the Nile, from which we were not fifty miles distant when we turned back at Karcagna, so I never neglected to improve every means that held out to me the least probability of accomplishing this end. I had been very attentive and serviceable to Fasil’s servants while in the camp. I spoke greatly of their master, and, when they went away, gave each of them a small present for himself, and a trifle also for Fasil. They had, on the other hand, been very importunate with me as a physician to prescribe something for a cancer on the lip, as I understood it to be, with which Welleta Yasous, Fasil’s principal general, was afflicted.

I had been advised, by some of my medical friends, to carry along with me a preparation of hemlock, or cicuta, recommended by Dr Stork, a physician at Vienna. A considerable quantity had been sent me from France by commission, with directions how to use it. To keep on the safe side, I prescribed small doses to Welleta Yasous, being much more anxious to preserve myself from reproach than warmly solicitous about the cure of my unknown patient. I gave him positive advice to avoid eating raw meat; to keep to a milk diet, and drink plentifully of whey when he used this medicine. They were overjoyed at having succeeded so well in their commission, and declared before the king, That Fasil their master would be more pleased with receiving a medicine that would restore Welleta Yasous to health, than with the magnificent appointments the king’s goodness had bestowed upon him. “If it is so, said I, in this day of grace, I will ask two favours.”--“And that’s a rarity, says the king; come, out with them; I don’t believe anybody is desirous you should be refused; I certainly am not; only I bar one of them, you are not to relapse into your usual despondency, and talk of going home.”--“Well, Sir, said I, I obey, and that is not one of them. They are these--You shall give me, and oblige Fasil to ratify it, the village Geesh, and the source where the Nile rises, that I may be from thence furnished with honey for myself and servants; it shall stand me instead of Tangouri, near Emfras, and, in value, it is not worth so much. The second is, That, when I shall see that it is in his power to carry me to Geesh, and shew me those sources, Fasil shall do it upon my request, without fee or reward, and without excuse or evasion.”

They all laughed at the easiness of the request; all declared that this was nothing, and wished to do ten times as much. The king said, “Tell Fasil I do give the village of Geesh, and those fountains he is so fond of, to Yagoube and his posterity for ever, never to appear under another’s name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him, or exchanged, either in peace or war. Do you swear this to him in the name of your master.” Upon which they took the two fore fingers of my right hand, and, one after the other, laid the two fore fingers of their right hand across them, then kissed them; a form of swearing used there, at least among those that call themselves Christians. And as Azage Kyrillos, the king’s secretary and historian, was then present, the king ordered him to enter the gift in the deftar, or revenue-book, where the taxes and revenue of the king’s lands are registered. “I will write it, says the old man, in letters of gold, and, poor as I am, will give him a village four times better than either Geesh or Tangouri, if he will take a wife and stay amongst us, at least till my eyes are closed.” It will be easily guessed this rendered the conversation a chearful one. Fasil’s servants retired to set out the next day, gratified to their utmost wish, and, as soon as the king was in bed, I went to my apartment likewise.

But very different thoughts were then occupying Michael and his officers. They could not trust Fasil, and, besides, he could do them no service; the rain was set in, and he was gone home; the western part of the kingdom was ready to rise upon them; Woggora, to the north, immediately in his way, was all in arms, and impatient to revenge the severities they had suffered when Michael first marched to Gondar. The Tacazzé, which separates Tigrè from Woggora, and runs at the foot of the high mountains of Samen, was one of the largest and most rapid rivers in Abyssinia, and, though not the first to overflow, was, when swelled to its height, impassable by horse or foot, rolling down prodigious stones and trees with its current. Dangerous as the passage was, however, there was no safety but in attempting it: Michael, therefore, and every soldier with him, were of opinion that, if they must perish, they should rather meet death in the river, on the confines of their own country, than fall alive into the hands of their enemies in Amhara. For this, preparation had been making night and day, since Ras Michael entered Gondar, and probably before it.

There was in Belessen, on the nearest and easiest way to a ford of the Tacazzè, a man of quality called Adero, and his son Zor Woldo. To these two Ras Michael used to trust the care of the police of Gondar when he was absent upon any expedition; they were very active and capable, but had fallen from their allegiance, and joined Powussen and Gusho, at least in councils. The Ras, immediately upon arriving at Gondar, dissembling what he knew of their treason, had sent to them to prepare a quantity of flour for the troops that were to pass their way; to get together what horses they could as quietly as possible; to send him word what state the ford was in; and also, if Powussen had made any movement forward; or if Ayto Tesfos, governor of Samen, had shewn any disposition to dispute the passage through Woggora into Tigré. Word was immediately returned by the traitor Adero, that the ford was as yet very passable; that it was said Powussen was marching towards Maitsha; that Ayto Tesfos was at home upon his high rock, the seat of his government, and that no time was to be lost, as he believed he had already flour enough to suffice; he added also, that it would be dangerous to collect more, for it would give the alarm. This was all received as truth, and a messenger sent back with orders, that Zor Woldo should leave the flour in small bags at Ebenaat, and that he should himself and his father wait the Ras at the ford, with what horse they had, the fourth day from that, in the evening.

The next morning the whole army was in motion. I had the evening before taken leave of the king in an interview which cost me more than almost any one in my life. The substance was, That I was ill in my health, and quite unprepared to attend him into Tigré; that my heart was set upon completing the only purpose of my coming into Abyssinia, without which I should return into my own country with disgrace; that I hoped, through his majesty’s influence, Fasil might find some way for me to accomplish it; if not, I trusted soon to see him return, when I hoped it would be easy; but, if I then went to Tigré, I was fully persuaded I should never have the resolution to come again to Gondar.

He seemed to take heart at the confidence with which I spoke of his return. “You, Yagoube, says he, in a humble, complaining tone, could tell me, if you pleased, whether I shall or not, and what is to befal me; those instruments and those wheels, with which you are constantly looking at the stars, cannot be for any use unless for prying into futurity.”--“Indeed, said I, prince, these are things by which we guide ships at sea, and by these we mark down the ways that we travel by land; teach them to people that never passed them before, and, being once traced, keep them thus to be known by all men for ever. But of the decrees of Providence, whether they regard you or myself, I know no more than the mule upon which you ride.”--“Tell me then, I pray, tell me, what is the reason you speak of my return as certain?”--“I speak, said I, from observation, from reflections that I have made, much more certain than prophecies and divinations by stars. The first campaign of your reign at Fagitta, when you was relying upon the dispositions that the Ras had most ably and skillfully made, a drunkard, with a single shot, defeated a numerous army of your enemies. Powussen and Gusho were your friends, as you thought, when you marched out last, yet they had, at that very instant, made a league to destroy you at Derdera; and nothing but a miracle could have saved you, shut up between two lakes and three armies. It was neither you nor Michael that disordered their councils, and made them fail in what they had concerted. You was for burning Samseen, whilst Woodage Asahel was there in ambush with a large force, with a knowledge of all the fords, and master of all the inhabitants of the country. Remember how you passed those rivers, holding hand in hand, and drawing one another over. Could you have done this with an enemy behind you, and such an enemy as Woodage Asahel? He would have followed and harrassed you till you took the ford at Goutto, and there was Welleta Yasous waiting to oppose you with 6000 men on the opposite bank. When Ras Michael marched by Mariam Net, he found the priests at their homes. Was that the case in any of the other churches we passed? No; all were fled for fear of Michael; yet these were more guilty than any by their connections with Fasil; notwithstanding which, they alone, of all others, staid, though they knew not why; an invisible hand held them that they might operate your preservation. Nothing could have saved the army but the desperate passage, so tremendous that it will exceed the belief of man, crossing the Nile that night. Yet if the priests had crossed before this, not a man would have proceeded to the ford. The priests would have been Ras Michael’s prisoners, and, on the other side, they never would have spoken a word whilst in the presence of Michael. Providence, therefore, kept them with Kefla Yasous; all was discovered, and the army saved by the retreat, and his speedy passing at the ford of Delakus.”

What would have happened to Kefla Yasous, had Fasil marched down to Delakus either before or after the passage? Kefla Yasous would have been cut off before Ras Michael had passed the Kelti; instead of which, an unknown cause detained him, most infatuated-like, beating his kettle-drums behind Boskon Abbo, while our army under the Ras was swimming that dangerous river, and most of us passing the night, naked, without tents, provision, or powder. Nor did he ever think of presenting himself till we had warmed ourselves by an easy march in a fine day, when we were every way his superiors, and Kefla Yasous in his rear. From all these special marks of the favour of an over-ruling Providence, I do believe stedfastly that God will not leave his work half finished. “He it is who, governing the whole universe, has yet reserved specially to himself the department of war; he it is who has stiled himself the God of Battles.” The king was very much moved, and, as I conceived, persuaded. He said, “O Yagoube, go but with me to Tigrè, and I will do for you whatever you desire me.”--“You do, Sir, said I, whatever I desire you, and more. I have told you my reasons why that cannot be; let me stay here a few months, and wait your return.” The king then advised me to live entirely at Koscam with the Iteghé, without going out unless Fasil came to Gondar, and to send him punctually word how I was treated. Upon this we parted with inexpressible reluctance. He was a king worthy to reign over a better people; my heart was deeply penetrated with those marks of favour and condescension which I had uniformly received from him ever since I entered his palace.

On the 5th of June, while Powussen, Adero, and the conspirators were waiting his passage through Belessen, (that is to the S. W.) the king’s army marched towards Koscam, over the mountain Debra Tzai towards Walkayt, and the low, hot provinces of Abyssinia which lie to the N. E. so that the distance between them increased every day in the greatest proportion possible.

The queen ordered her gates at Koscam to be shut. A little before the Ras mounted his mule, Ozoro Esther and her servants took refuge with her mother the Iteghè; Gondar was like a town which had been taken by an enemy; every one that had arms in his hands did just what he pleased.

Two very remarkable things were said to have happened the night before Michael left the city. He had always pretended, that, before he undertook an expedition, a person, or spirit, appeared to him, who told him the issue and consequence of the measures he was then taking; this he imagined to be St Michael the archangel, and he presumed very much upon this intercourse. In a council that night, where none but friends were present, he had told them that his spirit had appeared some nights before, and ordered him, in his retreat, to surprise the mountain of Wechné, and either slay or carry with him to Tigré the princes sequestered there. Nebrit Tecla, governor of Axum, with his two sons, (all concerned in the late king’s murder) were, it is said, strong advisers of this measure; but Ras Michael, (probably satiated with royal blood already) Kefla Yasous, and all the more worthy men of any consequence, acting on principle, absolutely refused to consent to it. It was upon this the passage by Belessen was substituted instead of the attempt on Wechné, and it was determined to conceal it.

The next advice which, the Ras said, this devil, or angel, gave him, was, that they should set fire to the town of Gondar, and burn it to the ground, otherwise his good fortune was to leave him there for ever; and for this there was a great number of advocates, Michael seeming to lean that way himself. But, when it was reported to the king, that young prince put a direct negative upon it, by declaring that he would rather stay in Gondar, and fall by the hands of his enemies, than either conquer them, or escape from them, by the commission of so enormous a crime. When this was publicly known, it procured the king universal good-will, as was experienced afterwards, when he and Michael were finally defeated, and taken prisoners, upon their march in return to Gondar.

The army advanced rapidly towards Walkayt. Being near the Tacazzé, they turned short upon Mai-Lumi, (the River of Limes) the governor of which, as I have already said, in our journey from Masuah, detained us several days at Addergey with a view to rob us, upon a report prevailing that Ras Michael was defeated at Fagitta. This thief the king surprised and made prisoner, set fire to his house after having plundered it, and carried him as hostage to Tigré, for the payment of a sum which he laid upon every village to save them from being set on fire.

Being now safely arrived on the banks of the Tacazzè, the first province beyond which is that of Sirè, Michael sent before him Ayto Tesfos the governor, a man exceedingly beloved, to assemble all sort of assistance for passing the river. Every one flocked to the stream with the utmost alacrity; the water was deep, and the baggage wet in crossing, but the bottom was good and hard; they passed both expeditiously and safely, and were received in Siré, and then in Tigré, with every demonstration of joy.

Michael, now arrived in his government, set himself seriously to unite every part under his own jurisdiction. It was now the rainy season; there was no possibility of taking the field, and a rebellion prevailed in two different districts of his province. The sons of Kasmati Woldo, whose father Ras Michael put to death, had declared for themselves, in their paternal government of Enderta, and Netcho who married Ras Michael’s daughter, had taken possession of the mountain Aromata, commonly called Haramat, an ancient strong-hold of his father’s, of which Michael had made himself master, while yet a young man, after besieging it fifteen years. Netcho had also united himself with Za Menfus Kedus, a man of great property in that and the neighbouring country. Enderta is a flat, fertile territory, in the very south-east of Abyssinia, depending on Tigré, and the mountain Aromata is situated near the middle of that province; before taking the field, Michael had directed the two Woldos to be assassinated during a feast at Enderta, and their party dispersed of itself without farther effort.

The mountain shewed a better countenance, and seemed to promise employment for a long time; it was garrisoned by old and veteran troops who had served under Ras Michael. Netcho was the son of his hereditary enemy, anciently governor of that mountain, whom he had reconciled by giving him his daughter in marriage; notwithstanding which he had now rebelled, just as the Ras marched to Maitsha against Fasil, by the persuasion of Gusho and Powussen, purposely that he might form a diversion in Tigré, and for this reason he had little hopes of mercy, if ever he fell into the hands of Ras Michael. I had seen him often, and knew him; he was a tall, thin, dull man, of a soft temper, and easily imposed upon. Za Menfus, the other chief in the mountain, was a very active, resolute, enterprising man, of whom Michael was afraid. He had a large property all around the mountain; had been put in irons by Michael, and had escaped; besides, on his return to Tigré, he had slain the father of Guebra Mascal, Michael’s nephew by marriage, who was commander in chief of all the musquetry Michael had brought from Tigrè, so that he feared nothing so much as falling into Ras Michael’s hands.

Ras Michael saw the danger of leaving an enemy so prepared and so situated behind him; he therefore, before the rainy season was yet finished, ordered the whole mountain to be surrounded with barracks, or huts, for his soldiers; he also erected three houses for himself, the principal officers, and the king. The country people were called in to plow and sow the ground in the neighbourhood, so that his intention was plainly never to rise from thence till he had reduced the mountain of Aromata for the second time, after having once before succeeded in taking it, after fifteen years siege, from Netcho’s father. There we shall leave him at this siege, and return to Gondar.

It was on the 10th of June that Gusho and Powussen entered Gondar, and next day, the 11th, waited upon the queen; they both beseeched her to return from Koscam to the capital, and take into her hands the reins of government for the interim: this she positively refused, unless peace was first made with Fasil. She said, that Fasil was the only person who had endeavoured to avenge his master Joas’s death; that he had continued till that day in arms in that quarrel; and, notwithstanding all the offers that could be made her, she never would come to Gondar, nor take any part in public business, without this condition. Fasil, moreover, informed her by a messenger, that there was no trust to be put either in Gusho or Powussen; that they had failed in their engagement of following and fighting Ras Michael in Maitsha, and had purposely staid at home till a superior army should fall upon him singly, and ravage his country: That they had broken their word a second time by entering into Gondar without him; whereas the agreement was, that they all three should have done this at once, to settle the form of government by their joint deliberation. Many days passed in these negociations; Fasil always promising to come upon some condition or other, but never keeping his word, or stirring from Buré.