Chapter XIX: Book VI (5)

On the 20th, the queen’s servants, who had gone to offer terms of reconciliation to Fasil on the part of Gusho and Powussen, returned to their homes. The same day he ordered it to be proclaimed in the market-place, That Ayto Tesfos should be governor of Samen, and that whoever should rob on that road, or commit any violence, should suffer death. This was an act of power, purposely intended to affront Powussen and Gusho, and seemed to be opening a road for a correspondence with Ras Michael; but, above all, it shewed contempt for their party and their cause, and that he considered his own as very distinct from theirs; for Tesfos had taken arms in the late king’s lifetime, at the same time, and upon the same principles and provocation, as Fasil, and had never laid down his arms, or made peace with Ras Michael, but kept his government in defiance of him.

On the 24th, for fear of giving umbrage, I waited upon Gusho and Powussen at Gondar. I saw them in the same room where Ras Michael used to sit. They were both lying on the floor playing at draughts, with the figure of a draught-table drawn with chalk upon the carpet; they offered no other civility or salutation, but, shaking me each by the hand, they played on, without lifting their heads, or looking me in the face.

Gusho began by asking me, “Would it not have been better if you had gone with me to Amhara, as I desired you, when I saw you last at Gondar? you would have saved yourself a great deal of fatigue and trouble in that dangerous march through Maitsha.” To this I answered, “It is hard for me, who am a stranger, to know what is best to be done in such a country as this. I was, as you may have heard, the king’s guest, and was favoured by him; it was my duty therefore to attend him, especially when he desired it; and such I am informed has always been the custom of the country; besides, Ras Michael laid his commands upon me.” On this, says Powussen, shaking his head, “You see he cannot forget Michael and the Tigré yet.”--“Very naturally, added Gusho, they were good to him; he was a great man in their time; they gave him considerable sums of money, and he spent it all among his own soldiers, the king’s guard, which they had given him to command after the Armenian. Yagoube taught him and his brother George to ride on horseback like the Franks, and play tricks with guns and pikes on horseback; folly, all of it to be sure, but I never heard he meddled in affairs, or that he spoke ill of any one, much less did any harm, like those rascals the Greeks when they were in favour in Joas’s time, for it was not their fault they did not direct every thing.”--“I hope I never did, said I; sure I am I never so intended, nor had I any provocation. I have received much good usage from every one; and the honour, if I do not forget, of a great many professions and assurances of friendship from you, said I, turning to Gusho. He hesitated a little, and then added very superciliously, “Aye, aye, we were, as I think, always friends.”--“You have had, says Powussen, a devilish many hungry bellies since we left Gondar.”--“You will excuse me, Sir, replied I, as to that article; I at no time ever found any difference whether you was in Gondar or not.”--“There, says Gusho, by St Demetrius, there is a truth for you, and you don’t often hear that in Begemder. May I suffer death if ever you gave a jar of honey to any white man in your life.”--“But I, says Powussen, sitting upright on the floor, and leaving off play, will give you, Yagoube, a present better than Gusho’s paultry jars of honey. I have brought with me, addressing himself to me, your double-barrelled gun, and your sword, which I took from that son of a wh--e Guebra Mehedin: by St Michael, continued Powussen, if I had got hold of that infidel I would have hanged him upon the first tree in the way for daring to say that he was one of my army when he committed that unmanly robbery upon your people. The Iteghé, your friend, would yesterday have given me ten loads of wheat for your gun, for she believes I am to carry it back to Begemder again, and do not mean to give it you, but come to my tent to-morrow and you shall have it.” I very well understood his meaning, and that he wanted a present; but was happy to recover my gun at any rate.

I arose to get away, as what had passed did not please me; for before the king’s retreat to Tigré, Gusho had sat in my presence uncovered to the waist, in token of humility, and many a cow, many a sheep, and jar of honey he had sent me; but my importance was now gone with the king; I was fallen! and they were resolved, I saw, to make me sensible of it. I told the queen, on my return, what had passed. They are both brutes, said she; but Gusho should have known better.

The next morning, being the 25th, about eight o’clock, I went to Powussen’s tent. His camp was on the Kahha, near the church of Ledata, or the Nativity. After waiting near an hour, I was admitted; two women sat by him, neither handsome nor cleanly dressed; and he returned me my gun and sword, which was followed by a small present on my part. This, says he, turning to the women, is a man who knows every thing that is to come; who is to die, and who is to live; who is to go to the devil, and who not; who loves her husband, and who cuckolds him.”--“Tell me then, Yagoube, says one of the women, will Tecla Haimanout and Michael ever come to Gondar again?”--“I do not know who you mean, Madam, said I; is it the king and the Ras you mean?”--“Call him the King, says the other woman in half a whisper; he loves the king.”--“Well, aye, come, let it be the king then, says she; will the King and Ras Michael ever come to Gondar?”--“Surely, said I, the king is king, and will go to any part of his dominions he pleases, and when he pleases; do you not hear he is already on his way?”--“Aye, aye, by G--d, says Powussen, no fear he’ll come with a vengeance, therefore I think it is high time that I was in Begemder.” He then shrugged up his shoulders, and rose, upon which I took my leave. He had kept me standing all the time; and when I came to Koscam I made my report as usual to the Iteghé, who laughed very heartily, though the king’s arrival, which was prophecied, was likely to be a very serious affair to her.

That very day, in the evening, came a servant from Ras Michael, with taunts and severe threats to the queen, to Powussen, and Gusho; he said he was very quickly bringing the king back to Gondar, and being now old, intended to pass the rest of his life in Tigré; he, therefore, hoped they would await the king’s coming to Gondar, and chuse a Ras for his successor from among themselves, as he understood they were all friends, and would easily agree, especially as it was to _oblige him_.

On the 27th, Gusho and Powussen waited upon the queen to take their leave. They declared it was not their intention to stay at Gondar, merely to be alternately the subject of merriment and scoffing to Michael and to Fasil, and upon this they immediately set out on their way home, without drum or trumpet, or any parade whatever.

Immediately after, arrived another servant from Fasil to the queen, desiring that Powussen and Gusho might halt at Emfras, adding, that he had just then begun his march from Buré, and would be at Gondar in a few days. Gusho and Powussen did accordingly halt there, and were detained for the space of six weeks, amused by false pretences and messages, in very uncomfortable quarters, till their armies disbanded, the soldiers, from hunger and constant rains, deserted their leaders, and went every man to his home.

In the beginning of August the queen came to Gondar, and sat on the throne all day. She had not been there these three years, and I sincerely wished she had not gone then. It was in meditation that day to chuse a new king; she was present at that deliberation, and her intention was known to place a son of Aylo, Joas’s brother, a mere infant, upon the throne. All those that were in fear of Michael, and it was very general at that time, cried out against an infant king at such a critical period; but, old as that princess was, the desire of reigning had again returned.

Upon the return of the Iteghé that night to Koscam, Sanuda held a council of the principal officers that had remained at Gondar, and fixed upon one Welleta Girgis, a young man of about 24 years of age, who had, indeed, been reputed Yasous’s son, but his low life and manners had procured him safety and liberty by the contempt they had raised in Ras Michael. His mother, indeed, was of a noble origin, but so reduced in fortune as to have been obliged to gain her livelihood by carrying jars of water for hire. The mother swore this son was begot by Yasous, and as that prince was known not to have been very nice in his choice of mistresses, or limited in their number, it was, perhaps, as likely to be true as not, that Welleta Girgis was his son. He took the name of Socinios. On the morning after, the new king came to Koscam, attended by Sanuda and his party, with guards, and all the ensigns of royalty. He threw himself at the Iteghé’s feet, and begged her forgivenness if he had vindicated the rights of his birth, without her leave or participation; he declared his resolution to govern entirely by her advice, and begged her to grant his request and come to Gondar, and again take possession of her place as Iteghé, or regent of the kingdom.

It was about the 10th of August that an accident happened, which it was generally thought would have determined Fasil to come to Gondar. A common woman, wife of a Galla at Tchelga, a town upon the frontiers of Sennaar, being at variance with her husband, upbraided him with being the person that, with his own hand, had assassinated the late king Joas. This Galla was immediately seized and sent to Gondar, and was examined before the queen, where I was present. He, with very little hesitation, declared, That, on a night immediately after the battle of Azazo, he was sent for to Ras Michael, who gave him some money and large promises, on condition that he would undertake to murder the king that night. The persons present were Laeca Netcho, and his two sons, Nebrit Tecla and his two sons, Shalaka Becro relation to the present king, and Woldo Hawaryat a monk of Tigré The prisoner said, he was afraid, if he should refuse, they would murder him for the sake of secrecy. He further said, that they had given him spirits to drink till he was intoxicated, and then delivered to him the keys of the apartments where Joas was confined, and they all went with him to the palace; they found the unfortunate king alone, walking in his apartment, very pensive, and, though at the late hour of twelve at night, dressed in his usual habit. Two of Laeca Netcho’s sons attempted to put a cord round his neck, but the king, being young and strong, shewed a disposition to defend himself, and wrested the cord out of the murderers hands; upon which Zor Woldo (the name of the Galla) struck him a violent blow with a bludgeon on the head, which felled him to the ground: The others then, with a short cord, strangled him, the monk, Woldo Hawaryat, crying, dispatch him quickly; after this they carried the body to the neighbouring church of St Raphael, where a grave, or rather hole, was ready, into which they threw it with the clothes just as he was. The prisoner said, That, when they were carrying the king’s body out of the palace into the church-yard, over a breach in the church-yard wall, they were challenged by a person, who asked them what they were about? to which they replied, Burying a stranger who died that day of a pestilential fever.

Immediately upon this confession, the Galla was carried out and hanged upon the daroo-tree before the king’s gate. Many condemned this hasty execution, but many likewise thought it prudent; for he had already named a great part of the people about the queen as accessary to the death of her son.

I have said his name was Zor Woldo; he was of the race of Galla, called Toluma, on the borders of Amhara; he had been formerly a servant to Kasmati Becro; was of small stature, thin and lightly made; his complexion a yellowish black, and singularly ill-favoured. When under the tree, he acknowledged the murder of the king with absolute indifference; nor did he desire any favour, or shew any fear of death. Zor Woldo’s examination and declaration were sent immediately to Fasil, who, as usual, promised to come to Gondar quickly. The body of Joas was raised also, and laid in the church (in his clothes, just as he was dug up) upon a little straw; his features were easily distinguishable, but some animal had ate part of his cheek.

The day after, I went from Koscam to Gondar without acquainting the Iteghé, and took a Greek called Petros with me; he had been chamberlain to Joas. We went about eleven o’clock in the forenoon to the church of St Raphael, expecting to have seen many as curious as ourselves, but, by reason of the atrociousness of the act, now for the first time known to be true, and the fear of Ras Michael threatening Gondar every day, not a living soul was there but a monk belonging to the church itself, who kept the key. It was thought criminal to know what it was apparent Michael had wished to conceal. Petros no sooner saw his master’s face than, saying, It is he! he ran off with all the speed possible: for my part, I was shocked at the indecent manner in which the body was exposed; it affected me more than the murder itself, for it appeared as if it had been thrown down upon the ground, the head, arms, and legs lying in all sorts of directions, and great part of his haunch and thigh bare. I desired the monk to lock the door, and come along with me to Petros’s house. Petros was a merchant who sold carpets, and such sort of goods used in the country, which he brought from Cairo. It was full an hour before we could make him behave sensibly, or deliver me a small Persian carpet, such as Mahometans use to pray upon, that is about seven feet long and four feet broad, and a web of coarse muslin, which I bought of him. I told the priest (for Petros absolutely refused to return to the church) how to lay the body decently upon the carpet, and to cover his face and every part with the muslin cloth, which might be lifted when any body came to see the corpse.

The priest received the carpet with great marks of satisfaction, and told me it was he who had challenged the murderers when carrying the body over the wall; that he knew them well, and suspected they had been about some mischief; and, upon hearing the king was missing the next day, he was firmly convinced it was his body that had been buried. Upon going also to the place early in the morning, he had found one of the king’s toes, and part of his foot, not quite covered with earth, from the haste the murderers were in when they buried him; these he had put properly out of sight, and constantly ever after, as he said, had watched the place in order to hinder the grave from being disturbed, or any other person being buried there.

About the beginning of October, Guebra Selassé, a servant of the king and one of the porters in the palace, came on a message to the queen. It was a laconic one, but very easily understood.--“Bury your boy, now you have got him; or, when I come, I will bury him, and some of his relations with him.” Joas, upon this, was privately buried. As this Selassé was a favourite of mine, who took care of my shoes when I pulled them off to go into the audience-room, I waited impatiently for this messenger’s coming to my apartment, which he did late in the evening. I was alone, and he advanced so softly that I did not at first hear or know him; but, when the door was shut, he began to give two or three capers; and, pulling out a very large horn, “Drink! drink! G--d d--n! repeating this two or three times, and brandishing his horn over his head. Selassé, said I, have you lost your senses, or are you drunk? you used to be a sober man.”--“And so I am yet, says he, I have not tasted a morsel since noon; and, being tired of running about on my affairs, I am now come to you for my supper, as I am sure you’ll not poison me for my master’s sake, nor for my own either, and I have now enemies enough in Gondar.”--“I then asked, How is the king?”--“Did not you hear, said he--Drink!--the king told me to say this to you that you might know me to be a true messenger.” And an Irish servant of mine, opening the door in the instant, thinking it was I that called _drink_! Selassé adroitly continued, “He knows you are curious in horns, and sent you this, desiring me first to get it filled at the Iteghé’s with good red wine, which I have done; and now, Hallo! Drink! Englishman!” He then added in a whisper, when the servant had shut the door, “I’ll tell it you all after supper, when the house is quiet, for I sleep here all night, and go to Tigré to-morrow morning.”

The time being come, he informed me Ras Michael and Fasil had made peace; Welleta Michael, the Ras’s nephew, taken by Fasil at the battle of Limjour, had been the mediator; that the king and Michael, by their wise behaviour, had reconciled Tigré as one man, and that the Ras had issued a proclamation, remitting to the province of Tigré their whole taxes from the day they passed the Tacazzé till that time next year, in consideration of their fidelity and services; and this had been solemnly proclaimed in several places by beat of drum. The Ras declared, at the same time, that he would, out of his own private fortune, without other assistance, bear the expence of the campaign till he seated the king on his throne in Gondar. A kind of madness, he said, had seized all ranks of people to follow their sovereign to the capital; that the mountain Haramat still held out; but that all the principal friends, both of Za Menfus and Netcho, had been up with the governors of that fortress offering terms of peace and forgivenness, and desiring they would not be an obstacle in the king’s way, and a hinderance to his return, but that all terms had been as yet refused; however, says he, you know the Ras as well as I, he will play them a trick some of these days, winking with his eye, and then crying out, Drink!

I asked him if any notice had been taken of the carpet I had procured to cover the body of Joas, and hoped it had given no umbrage. He said, “No; none at all; on the contrary, the king had said twenty kind things upon it; that he was present also when a priest told it to Ras Michael, who only observed, Yagoube, who is a stranger in this country, is shocked to see a man taken out of his grave, and thrown like a dog upon the bare floor. This was all Michael said, and he never mentioned a word on the subject afterwards;” nor did he, or the king, ever speak of it to me upon their return to Gondar.

The Iteghé, too, had much commended me, so did all the nobility, more than the thing deserved; for surely common humanity dictated thus much, and the fear of Michael, which I had not, was the only cause that so proper an action was left in a stranger’s power. Even Ozoro Esther, enemy to Joas on account of the death of her husband Mariam Barea, after I had attended her one Sunday from church to the house of the Iteghé, and when she was set down at the head of a circle of all those that were of distinction at the court, called out aloud to me, as I was passing behind, and pointing to one of the most honourable seats in the room, said, Sit down there, Yagoube; God has exalted you above all in this country, when he has put it in your power, though but a stranger, to confer charity upon the king of it. All was now acclamation, especially from the ladies; and, I believe, I may safely say, I had never in my life been a favourite of so many at one time.

I dispatched Guebra Selassé with a message to the king, that I was resolved now to try once more a journey to the head of the Nile; that I thought I should have time to be there, and return to Gondar, before the Tacazzé was fordable, soon after which I expected he would cross it, and that nothing but want of health would prevent me from joining him in Belessen, or sooner, if any opportunity should offer.

Before I took my last resolutions I waited upon the queen. She was exceedingly averse to the attempt; she bade me remember what the last trial had cost me; and begged me to defer any further thoughts of it till Fasil arrived in Gondar; that she would then deliver me into his hands, and procure from him sure guides, together with a safe conduct. She bade me beware also of troops of Pagan Galla which were passing and repassing to and from his army, who, if they fell in with me, would murder me without mercy. She added, that the priests of Gojam and Damot were mortal enemies to all men of my colour, and, with a word, would raise the peasants against me. This was all true; but then many reasons, which I had weighed well, concurred to shew that this opportunity, dangerous as it was, might be the only time in which my enterprise could be practicable; for I was confident a speedy rupture between Fasil and Michael would follow upon the king’s return to Gondar. I determined therefore to set out immediately without farther loss of time.

CHAP. VIII.

_Second Journey to discover the Source of the Nile--Favourable Turn of the King’s Affairs in Tigré--We fall in with Fasil’s Army at Bamba._

Though the queen shewed very great dislike to my attempting this journey at such a time, yet she did not positively command the contrary; I was prepared, therefore, to leave Gondar the 27th of October 1770, and thought to get a few miles clear of the town, and then make a long stretch the next day. I had received my quadrant, time-keeper, and telescopes from the island of Mitraha, where I had placed them after the affair of Guebra Mehedin, and had now put them in the very best order.

But, about twelve o’clock, I was told a message from Ras Michael had arrived with great news from Tigré. I went immediately to Koscam as fast as I could gallop, and found there Guebra Christos, a man used to bring the jars of bouza to Ras Michael at his dinner and supper: low men are always employed on such errands, that they may not, from their consequence excite a desire of vengeance. The message that he brought was to order bread and beer to be ready for 30,000 men who were coming with the king, as he had just decamped from before the mountain Haramat, which he had taken, and put Za Menfus to the sword, with every man that was in it: this message struck the queen with such a terror that she was not visible the whole day.

After asking the messenger if he had any word from the king to me, he said, “Very little;” that the king had called him to tell me he should soon begin his march by Belessen; and that he would send for me to meet him when he should arrive at Mariam-Ohha; he told me besides, that the king had got a stone for me with writing upon it of old times, which he was bringing to me; that it had been dug up at Axum, and was standing at the foot of his bed, but that he did not order him to tell me this, and had only learned it from the servants. My curiosity was very much raised to know what this stone could be, but I soon saw it was in vain to endeavour to learn any thing from Guebra Christos; he answered in the affirmative to every inquiry: when I asked if it was blue, it was blue; and if black, it was black; it was round, and square, and oblong, just as I put my question to him: all he knew about it at last, he said, was, that it cured all sort of sickness; and, if a man used it properly, it made him invulnerable and immortal: he did not, however, pretend to warrant this himself, but swore he had the account from a priest of Axum who knew it. I was perfectly satisfied all further inquiry was unnecessary; he had got a very plentiful portion of bouza from his friends, and was, I saw, fast engaged in the pursuit of more, so I gave him a small present for his good news, and took my leave, my mind being full of reflections upon the king’s goodness, who, after such an absence, and in so critical a situation as he then was, still remembered the trifling pursuits in which he had seen me often engaged.

In the afternoon I received a message from Ozoro Esther, as brought to her by a servant of Ras Michael. It seems the giving up the king’s revenue due from Tigré, and all sort of taxes upon the inhabitants, had interested the whole province so strongly, that all of them, as one man, endeavoured to remove the obstacle which stood in the way of the king’s return: Michael, moreover, offered peace and pardon to the rebels, certain compensations, and an amnesty of all that was past. All the friends, both of Netcho and Za Menfus, and the other leaders upon the mountain, endeavoured to persuade them to accept the terms offered, whilst all the priests and hermits, eminent for sanctity, became as mediators between them and Ras Michael: this intercourse, though it had no effect upon Za Menfus, had seduced Netcho, and opened a large field for treachery.

In the midst of this treaty, Kefla Yasous, with a detachment of chosen men, in a very stormy night, was appointed to ascend up a private path to that part of the mountain where Netcho kept the principal guard, and being admitted, found the garrison mostly asleep; he surprised and obliged them to surrender, with very little bloodshed; Za Menfus was taken prisoner, and, while Kefla Yasous conducted him to the camp, was met by Guebra Mascal, who thrust him through with a lance, as a retaliation for his father’s death. Netcho and the rest of the garrison being pardoned, all joined Ras Michael’s army. I looked upon these news as a good omen, and experienced a degree of confidence and composure of mind to which I for a long time had been a stranger. I slept sound that night, and it was not till half after nine in the morning that I was ready for my journey.

In the evening before, I had endeavoured to engage my old companion Strates to accompany me on this attempt as he had done, on the former; but the recollection of past dangers and sufferings was not yet banished from his mind; and upon my asking him to go and see the head of this famous river, he coarsely, according to his stile, answered, Might the devil fetch him if ever he sought either his head or his tail again.

It was on the 28th of October, at half past nine in the morning, that we left Gondar, and passed the river Kahha at the foot of the town; our route was W. S. W. the road a little rugged upon the side of a hill, but the day was fair, with sunshine; and a small breeze from the north had risen with the sun, and made the temperature of the air perfectly agreeable. We left the church of Ledeta about a mile on the right, and passed by several poor villages called Abba Samuel; thence we came to the small river Shimfa, then to the Dumaza, something larger. Upon the banks of this river, very pleasantly situated, is Azazo, a country-house built by the late king Yasous, who often retired here to relax himself with his friends. It is surrounded, I may say covered, with orange-trees, so as to be scarcely seen; the trees are grown very large and high; they are planted without order, the only benefit expected from them being the shade. At some small distance is the village Azazo, originally built for the accommodation of the king’s servants while he resided there, but now chiefly occupied by monks belonging to the large church of Tecla Haimanout, which is on a little hill adjoining. Azazo, though little, is one of the most chearful and pleasant villages in the neighbourhood of Gondar. The lemon-tree seems to thrive better and grow higher than the orange; but the house itself is going fast to ruin, as the kings of this country have a fixed aversion to houses built by their predecessors.

The Dumaza is a very clear and pleasant stream, running briskly over a small bed of pebbles: both this river and the Shimfa come from Woggora on the N. W. they pass the hill of Koscam, called Debra Tzai, join below Azazo, and, traversing the flat country of Dembea, they meet the Angrab, which passes by Gondar, and with it fall into the Tacazzè, or Atbara.

At noon we passed a small rivulet called Azzargiha, and, soon after, the Chergué, where there began a most violent storm of rain, which forced us, much against our will, into the village, one of the most miserable I ever entered; it consisted of small hovels built with branches of trees, and covered with thatch of straw. These rains that fall in the latter season are what the natives very much depend upon, and without which they could not sow the latter crops; for, though it rains violently every day from May to the beginning of September, by the end of October the ground is so burnt that the country would be unfit for culture.

Our quarters here were so bad that we were impatient to depart, but came to a water just below Chergué, which quickly made us wish ourselves back in the village; this is a torrent that has no springs in the hills, but only great basons, or reservoirs, of stone; and, though it is dry all the year else, yet, upon a sudden, violent shower, as this was, it swells in an instant, so that it is impassable for man or horse by any device whatever. This violence is of short duration; we waited above half an hour, and then the peasants shewed us a place, some hundred yards above, where it was shallower; but even here we passed with the utmost difficulty, from the impetuosity of the stream, after getting all possible assistance from four people of the village; but we stood very much in need of some check to our impatience, so eager were we to get forward and finish our journey before some revolution happened.

We had not many minutes been delivered from this torrent, before we passed two other rivers, the one larger, the other smaller. All these rivers come from the north-west, and have their sources in the mountains a few miles above, towards Woggora, from which, after a short course on the side of the hills, they enter the low, flat country of Dembea, and are swallowed up in the Tzana.

We continued along the side of the hill in a country very thinly inhabited; for, it being directly in the march of the army, the peasants naturally avoided it, or were driven from it. Our road was constantly intersected by rivers, which abound, in the same space, more than in any other country in the world. We then came to the river Derma, the largest and most rapid we had yet met with, and soon after a smaller, called Ghelghel Derma. In the afternoon, at a quarter past three, we passed another river, called Gavi-Corra; these, like the others, all point as radii to the center of the lake, in which they empty themselves. A little before four o’clock we encamped on the side of the river Kemona. Upon the hill, on the other side of the river, stands the village of that name; it was full of cattle, very few of which we had seen during the fore-part of the journey; we had all that day travelled six hours and a quarter, which we computed not to exceed 14 miles: the reason of this slowness was the weight of my quadrant, which, though divided into two, required four men to carry it, tied upon bamboo, as upon two chair-poles. The time-keeper and two telescopes employed two men more. We pitched our tent on the side of the river, opposite to the village, and there passed the night.

On the 29th of October, at seven in the morning, we left our station, the river Kemona; our direction was W. S. W. after, about an hour, we came to a church called Abba Abraham, and a village that goes by the same name; it is immediately upon the road on the left hand. At the distance of about a mile are ten or twelve villages, all belonging to the Abuna, and called Ghendi, where many of his predecessors have been buried. The low, hot, unwholesome, woody part of the Abyssinian Kolla, and the feverish, barren province of Walkayt, lay at the distance of about fourteen or sixteen miles on our right. We had been hitherto ascending a gentle rising-ground in a very indifferent country, the sides of the hill being skirted with little rugged wood, and full of springs, which join as they run down to the low country of Walkayt. We saw before us a small hill called Guarré, which is to the south-west. At half past ten we rested under the before-mentioned hill; it stands alone in the plain, in shape like a sugar-loaf, and seems almost as regular as if it had been a work of art. At a quarter past eleven we resumed our journey, our course always nearly west south-west; we passed the small village of Bowiha, at the distance of about a mile; and, on the left, about six miles, is Gorgora, a peninsula that runs into the lake Tzana for several miles.

There was one of the first and most magnificent churches and monasteries of the Portuguese Jesuits, in the time of their mission to convert this country: Socinios, then king, gave them the grounds, with money for the expence; they built it with their own hands, and lined it elegantly with cedar. The king, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, chose afterwards a country-house for himself there, and encouraged them much by his presents and by his charity; it is one of the pleasantest situations in the world; the vast expanse of the lake is before you; Dembea, Gojam, and Maitsha, flat and rich countries all round, are in view; and the tops of the high hills of Begemder and Woggora close the prospect.

The lake here, I am told, has plenty of fish, which is more than can be said for many of the other parts of it; the fish are of two kinds, both of them seemingly a species of what the English call _bream_. I never could make them to agree with me, which I attribute to the drug with which they are taken; it is of the nature of _nux vomica_, pounded in a morter, and thrown into streams, where they run into the lake; the fish, feeding there, are thus intoxicated and taken; however, it would admit of a doubt of this being the reason, because the queen and all the great people in Gondar eat them in Lent without any bad consequences.

The great elevation of the peninsula of Gorgora makes it one of the healthiest, as well as beautiful parts of the country; for, out of this neck of land, at several different seasons of the year, the inhabitants of the flat country suffer from malignant fevers. From Gondar hither we had always been edging down to the lake.

At a quarter before noon we halted to rest upon the banks of a small river called Baha; the country was rich, and cultivated; great part of it, too, was laid out in pasture, and flocked with an immense quantity of cattle. At one o’clock we resumed our journey, going west south-west as before; we were apparently turning the north end of the lake as short as possible, to set our face due south to the country of the Agows. At a quarter before three we pitched our tents at Bab Baha, after having travelled five hours and three quarters, which we computed to be equal to twelve miles. The first part of our journey this day was not like that of the day before; the road was, indeed, rough, burled through very agreeable valleys and gentle-rising hills; it appeared, on the whole, however, that we had ascended considerably since we left Gondar.

The country about Bab Baha is the richest in Abyssinia; this on the south, and Woggora on the north, are the two granaries that supply the rest of the kingdom. Bab Baha is a parcel of small villages, more considerable in number and strength than those at Kemona, and is near the lake Tzana. The queen and many of her relations have here their houses and possessions, and these, therefore, being respected by Michael, had not been involved in the devastation of the late war. The villages are all surrounded with Kol-quall trees, as large at the trunk as those we met on the side of the mountain of Taranta, when we ascended it on our journey from Masuah to enter into the province of Tigré; but the tree wants much of the beauty of those of Tigré; the branches are fewer in number, less thorny, and less indented, which seems to prove that this is not the climate for them.

The 30th of October, at six in the morning, we continued our journey from Bab Baha still rounding the lake at W. S. W. and on the very brink of it: the country here is all laid out in large meadows of a deep, black, rich soil, bearing very high grass, through the midst of which runs the river Sar-Ohha, which, in English, is the Grassy River; it is about forty yards broad and not two feet deep, has a soft clay bottom, and runs from north to south into the lake Tzana.

We turned out of the road to the left at Bab Baha, and were obliged to go up the hill; in a quarter of an hour we reached the high road to Mescala Christos. At seven o’clock we began to turn more to the southward, our course being S. W.; three miles and a half on our right remained the village of Tenkel; and four miles and a half that of Tshemmera to the N. N. W.; we were now close to the border of the lake, whose bottom here is a fine sand. Neither the fear of crocodiles, nor other monsters in this large lake, could hinder me from swimming in it for a few minutes. Though the sun was very warm, the water was intensely cold, owing to the many fresh streams that pour themselves continually into the lake Tzana from the mountains. The country here is sown with dora, which is maize, or millet; and another plant, not to be distinguished from our marigold either in size, shape, or foliage; it is called Nook[118], and furnishes all Abyssinia with oil for the kitchen, and other uses.

At a quarter past nine we rested a little at Delghi Mariam; the village called simply Delghi, adjoining to it, is but small, and on the S. W. is the hill of Goy Mariam, where the queen-mother has a house. All the habitations in this country were burnt by Ras Michael in his return to Gondar after the battle of Fagitta. The mountain Debra Tzai above Koscam, was seen this day at N. E. and by E. from us.

At a quarter past ten we again set out, our route being S. W. at eleven we left the small village Arrico, about two miles on our right. At a quarter past eleven we halted to rest our men; we passed the church of St Michael on our right, and at a quarter past one we passed two small islands in the lake, called Kedami Aret; and, half an hour after, we passed a small river, and came to Mescala Christos, a large village upon a high mountain, the summit of which it occupies entirely; it is surrounded on both sides by a river, and the descent is steep and dangerous. We thought to have staid here all night; but, after mounting the hill with great fatigue and trouble, we found the whole village abandoned, on intelligence that Waragna Fasil was on his march to Gondar, and not far distant.

This intelligence, which came all at once upon us, made us lay aside the thoughts of sleeping that night; we descended the hill of Mescala Christos in great haste, and with much difficulty, and came to the river Kemon below it, clear and limpid, but having little water, running over a bed of very large stones. This river, too, comes from the north-west, and falls into the lake a little below; we rested on its banks half an hour, the weather being very sultry; from this place we had a distinct view of the Nile, where, after crossing the lake, it issues out near Dara, the scene of our former misfortunes; we set it carefully by the compass, and it bore nearly S. W.

We began our journey again at three quarters after two, and at half after three we passed a river, very clear, with little water, the name of which I have forgot; by the largeness of its bed it seemed to be a very considerable stream in winter; at present it had very little water, but a fine gravelly bottom; here we met multitudes of peasants flying before the army of Fasil, many of whom, seeing us, turned out of the way; one of these was a servant of Guebra Ehud, brother to Ayto Aylo, my most intimate friend: he told us it was very possible that Fasil would pass us that night, advised us not to linger in the front of such an army, but fall in as soon as possible with his Fit-Auraris, rather than any other of his advanced posts; he was carrying a message to his master’s brother at Gondar. I told him I had rather linger in the front of such an army than in the rear of it, and should be very sorry to be detained long, even in the middle of it; that I only wished to salute Fasil, and procure a pass and recommendations from him to Agow Midre.

Ayto Aylo’s servant, who was with me, presently made acquaintance with this man, and I trusted him to learn from him as much as he knew about Fasil; the result was, that Fasil pretended to be in a violent hurry, from what motive was not known; but that he, at the same time, marched very slowly, contrary to his usual custom; that his speech and behaviour promised peace, and that he had hurt nobody on the way, but proclaimed constantly, that all people should keep their houses without fear; that Ayto Woldo of Maitsha, a great robber, was his Fit-Auraris, and never distant from him more than three miles; that the troops of Agow, Maitsha, and Damot, were with him, and with some Galla of Gojam and Metchakel composed the van and center of his army, whilst his rear consisted of wild lawless Galla, whom he had brought from the other side of the Nile from Bizamo, his own country, and were commanded by Ayto Welleta Yasous, his great confident; that these Galla were half a day generally behind him, and there was some talk that, the same day, or the next, he was to send these invaders home; that he marched as if he was in fear; always took strong posts, but had received every body that came to him, either from the country or Gondar, affably and kindly enough, but no one knew any thing of his intentions.

About half past four o’clock we fell in with Woldo, his Fit-Auraris, whom I did not know. Ayto Aylo’s servant, however, was acquainted with him; we asked him some questions about his master, which he answered very candidly and discreetly; on his part he made no inquiry, and seemed to have little curiosity about us; he had taken his post, and was advancing no farther that night. I made him a little present at taking my leave, which he seemed surprised at; and, very much contrary to my expectations, had some difficulty about receiving, saying, he was ashamed that he had not any return for us; that he was a soldier, and had nothing but the lance in his hand and the goat’s skin on his shoulders, neither of which he could be sure to possess for twenty-four hours; he then told us that Fasil had, by that time, pitched his tent at Bamba, within a mile of us, and was to dispatch the wild Galla from thence to their own country: he gave us a man who, he said, would take care of us, and desired us not to dismiss him till we had seen Fasil, and not to pitch our tent, but rather to go into one of the empty houses of Bamba, as all the people had fled. We now parted equally contented with each other; at the same time I saw he sent off another man, who went swiftly on, probably to carry advice of us to Fasil: we had staid with him something less than half an hour.

CHAP. IX.

_Interview with Fasil--Transactions in the Camp._

We found Bamba a collection of villages, in a valley now filled with soldiers. We went to the left with our guide, and got a tolerable house, but the door had been carried away. Fasil’s tent was pitched a little below us, larger than the others, but without further distinction: it was easily known, however, by the lights about it, and by the nagareet, which still continued beating: he was then just alighting from his horse. I immediately sent Ayto Aylo’s servant, whom I had with me, to present my compliments, and acquaint him of my being on the road to visit him. I thought now all my difficulties were over: for I knew it was in his power to forward us to our journey’s end; and his servants, whom I saw at the palace near the king, when Fasil was invested with his command, had assured me, not only of an effectual protection, but also of a magnificent reception if I chanced to find him in Maitsha.

It was now, however, near eight at night of the 30th before I received a message to attend him. I repaired immediately to his tent. After announcing myself, I waited about a quarter of an hour before I was admitted; he was sitting upon a cushion with a lion’s skin upon it, and another stretched like a carpet before his feet, and had a cotton cloth, something like a dirty towel, wrapped about his head; his upper cloak, or garment, was drawn tight about him over his neck and shoulders, so as to cover his hands; I bowed, and went forward to kiss one of them, but it was so entangled in the cloth that I was obliged to kiss the cloth instead of the hand. This was done either as not expecting I should pay him that compliment, (as I certainly should not have done, being one of the king’s servants, if the king had been at Gondar) or else it was intended for a mark of disrespect, which was very much of a-piece with the rest of his behaviour afterwards.

There was no carpet or cushions in the tent, and only a little straw, as if accidentally, thrown thinly about it. I sat down upon the ground, thinking him sick not knowing what all this meant; he looked stedfastly at me, saying, half under his breath, Endett nawi? bogo nawi? which, in Amharic, is, How do you do? Are you very well? I made the usual answer, Well, thank God. He again stopt, as for me to speak; there was only one old man present, who was sitting on the floor mending a mule’s bridle. I took him at first for an attendant, but observing that a servant uncovered held a candle to him, I thought he was one of his Galla, but then I saw a blue silk thread, which he had about his neck, which is a badge of Christianity all over Abyssinia, and which a Galla would not wear. What he was I could not make out; he seemed, however, to be a very bad cobler, and took no notice of us.

Ayto Aylo’s servant, who stood behind me, pushed me with his knee, as a sign that I should speak, which I accordingly began to do with some difficulty. “I am come, said I, by your invitation, and the king’s leave, to pay my respects to you in your own government, begging that you would favour my curiosity so far as to suffer me to see the country of the Agows, and the source of the Abay, or Nile, part of which I have seen in Egypt.” “The source of the Abay! exclaimed he, with a pretended surprise, do you know what you are saying? Why, it is, God knows where, in the country of the Galla, wild, terrible people. The source of the Abay! Are you raving! repeats he again: Are you to get there, do you think, in a twelvemonth, or more, or when?” “Sir, said I, the king told me it was near Sacala, and still nearer Geesh; both villages of the Agows, and both in your government.” “And so you know Sacala and Geesh? says he, whistling and half angry[119].” “I can repeat the names that I hear, said I; all Abyssinia knows the head of the Nile.”--“Aye, says he, imitating my voice and manner, but all Abyssinia won’t carry you there, that I promise you.” “If you are resolved to the contrary, said I, they will not; I wish you had told the king so in time, then I should not have attempted it; it was relying upon you alone I came so far, confident, if all the rest of Abyssinia could not protect me there, that your word singly could do it.”