Chapter XI: Book VII (9)

The next day the unfortunate troops of Tigrè, loaded with curses and opprobrious language, pelted with stones and dirt, and a few way-laid and slain for private injuries, were conducted up the hill above Debra Berhan, on the road through Woggora to Tigrè, by a guard of horse from Gusho's camp, who protected them with great humanity as far as they were able; but it was out of the power of any force but that of an army to protect them from the enraged populace, over whom they had tyrannised so many years. Arrived at the river Angrab, in the rear of Powussen's army, they were consigned to him, and he delivered them to Ayto Tesfos, who was to escort them across the Tacazzé. Many of the mob, however, continued to pursue them even farther; but these were all to a man disarmed, and stript naked, on their return to Gondar, by Tesfos and Powussen's soldiers, who justly judged, that in the like situation they would themselves have met with no better treatment.

While every rank of people was intent upon this spectacle, a body of Galla, belonging to Maitsha, stole privately into the town, and plundered several houses: they came next into the king's palace, and into the presence-chamber, where he was sitting alone in an alcove, whilst, just by his side, but out of sight, and without the alcove, I and two of his servants were sitting on the floor. This room, in the time of Yasous and the Iteghé, (the days of luxury and splendour of the Abyssinian court), had been magnificently hung with mirrors, brought at great expence from Venice, by way of Arabia and the Red Sea; these were very neatly fixed in copper-gilt frames by some Greek filligrane-workers from Cairo; but the mirrors were now mostly broken by various accidents, especially when the palace was set on fire, in Joas's time, upon Michael's coming from the campaign of Begemder. These savages, though they certainly saw the king at the other end of the room, attached themselves to the glass nearest the door, which was a large oblong one, and after they had made many grimaces, and a variety of antics before it, one of them struck it just in the middle with the butt-end of his lance, and broke it to shivers, which fell tinkling on the floor. Some of these pieces they took up, but in the end they were mostly reduced to powder with the repeated strokes of their lances. There were three glasses in the alcove where the king sat, as also one in the wings on each side without the alcove; under the king's right hand we three were sitting, and the Galla were engaged with a mirror near the door, at the other end of the room, on the left side, so that there was but one glass more to break before they arrived at those in the alcove where the king was sitting.

I was in great fear of the consequences, as they were about thirteen or fourteen in number; nor did we know how many more of their companions might be below, or in the town, or of what party they were, nor whether resistance on our part was lawful. We three had no arms but a short knife at our girdle, nor had the king any, so that we were in the greatest fear that, if their humour of breaking the glasses had continued when they came near the king, he would strike one of them, and we should be all massacred: We all three therefore got up and stood before the king, who made a gentle motion with his hand, as if to say, "Stay a little, or, have patience." At this instant, Tensa Christos, (a man of considerable authority in Gondar, who was understood by Gusho to be trusted with the care of the town, though he had no name or post, for there was yet no form of government settled,) hearing the Galla had plundered houses, and gone into the palace, followed them as fast as possible, with about a hundred stout young men belonging to Gondar, well-armed. The Galla soon saw there was a more serious occupation awaiting them, and ran out to the great hall of the king's chamber, called Aderasha, when one of these soldiers of Gondar shut the door of the room where the king sat. The Galla at first made a shew of resistance; but two of them being very much wounded, and seeing themselves in a house where they did not know their way, and all assistance from their comrades impossible, they surrendered their arms; they then were tied two and two, and sent in this manner down to Gusho's camp, who immediately ordered two of them to be hanged, and the rest to be whipt and dismissed.

Tensa Christos, after having done this good service, came into the room to the king, and kissed the ground in the usual manner before him. The king immediately ordered him to rise, gave him his hands to kiss, and then permitted him to withdraw, without having said one word in his commendation for having delivered him from so great a danger. That same day, a little after noon, a party of soldiers was sent into the town, who apprehended Shalaka Becro and his son; Nebrit Tecla, and his two sons; two sons of Lika Netcho a priest, and another man, whose name I have forgot, in all eight persons, natives of the province of Tigrè, dependants and servants of Ras Michael, and murderers of the late king Joas. These being brought to the market-place, were delivered into the hands of the Edjow Galla, formerly Joas's guard. Becro and his son were hewn to pieces with knives; Nebrit Tecla's sons, the eldest first, and then the youngest, were thrust through with lances; and their father being then brought to them where they lay, and desired to say if he knew who they were, and answering in the negative, he was immediately cut to pieces, as were the others, with great circumstances of cruelty, and their mangled bodies thrown about the streets. These were all the executions which followed this great and sudden revolution; a proof of very exemplary moderation in the conquerors, considering the number of people concerned in the parricide first, and the consequential rebellion after. Lika Netcho, in particular, fully as guilty as his sons, was nevertheless spared, because he had married one of the king's relations.

As yet none of the chiefs of the rebels had entered Gondar. Messages had passed, but not frequently, between the king and Gusho; fewer still between him and Powussen; as for the rest, they seemed to take no lead at all.

On the 1st of June, Gusho and Powussen came both to the house of the Ras, where they interrogated him very roughly as to all his past conduct. Till the execution of Joas's murderers, he had constantly dressed himself in his very best apparel, with all the insignia of command. As soon as this was told him, he cloathed himself plainly, and constantly in white, with a cowl of the same colour on his head, like the monks, a sign he had retired from the world. It seemed as if this was done through a fondness for life, for by that act he devoted the remainder of his days to obscurity and penitence. Nothing remarkable happened at this interview, at least as far as was known. From thence Gusho and Powussen went to the king's palace, where they did homage, and took the oaths of allegiance.

It was there resolved that Gusho should be Ras, and the other places were all disposed of. From this time forward the king began to have a shew of government, no party having testified any sort of discontent with him; on the contrary, each of the rebel chiefs now waited upon him separately, and had long conferences with him; but, what bade fairest to re-establish his authority entirely was, the dissentions that evidently reigned among the leaders of the rebels themselves, whom we, however, shall no longer consider as such, not because their treason had prospered, but because they were now returned to their duty. It was strongly suspected that a treaty was on foot between Gusho and Michael, by which the latter, in consideration of a large sum, was to put the former again in possession of the province of Tigrè; others again said, that Kefla Yasous, at Ras Michael's desire, was to be made governor of Tigrè, and to have a large sum of gold, which Michael was supposed to have concealed there, and which he was to remit to Gusho, whilst he and Michael were to understand each other about the government of the province.

Be that as it may, Powussen, on the 4th of June, without any previous notice given to Gusho, marched into Gondar with a thousand horse, and, without further ceremony, ordered Ras Michael to be placed upon a mule, and, joining the rest of his army, who had all struck their tents, marched away so suddenly to Begemder, that Ozoro Esther, then residing at the queen her mother's house at Koscam, had scarcely time to send her old husband a fresh mule, and some supply of necessary provisions. All the rest of the troops decamped immediately after, the rains beginning now to be pretty constant, and the soldiers desirous to be at home. Some of the great men, indeed, remained at Gondar, such as Ayabdar, Engedan, and others, who had views of preferment. Gusho took possession of the Ras's house and office; the king's officers and servants returned to the palace; the places of those that had fallen in battle were filled, and the whole town began to resume an appearance of peace, which every one who considered feared would be of a very short duration.

A few days after the army of Begemder had left Gondar, Powussen sent the usurper Socinios, loaded with irons, from Agar Salam, a small town in Begemder, where he had been kept prisoner. He was brought before the king in the same equipage he arrived, and being interrogated who he was, answered with great boldness, that he was Socinios, son to king Yasous, son of Bacussa; that he had not sought to be made king, but was forced by the Iteghé and Sanuda; this every one knew to be true. Soon after his mother was examined; but denying now what she had formerly sworn, that she ever had any intimate connection with the late king Yasous, Socinios was sentenced to death; but being in his manners, figure, and conversation perfectly despicable, the king directed he should serve as a slave in his kitchen, whence he was taken, some time afterwards, and hanged for theft.

On the 21st of June, the Iteghé arrived from Gojam, and all the people of Gondar flocked to see her without the town. Gusho had met her at Tedda; and, at the same time that he welcomed her, told her, as from the king, that it was his orders that neither Palambaras Mammo, nor Likaba Beecho, were to enter the town with her. This she considered as a very high affront, and the work of Gusho, not the king's orders. She upbraided Gusho with avarice, pride, and malice, declared him a greater tyrant than Michael, without his capacity, forbidding him to appear any more before her, and with great difficulty could be prevailed to go on to Koscam instead of returning to Gojam. It is impossible to conceive the enthusiasm with which the sight of the old queen inspired all sorts of people. Gusho had no troops, the king as few, being left even without a servant in his palace. Then was the season for mischief, had not Fasil been hovering with his army, without declaring his approbation or disapprobation of any thing that had been done, or was doing.

About the end of June he came at once to Abba Samuel, without announcing himself before hand, according to his usual custom, and he paid his first visit to the Iteghé, then a short one to the king, where I saw him: he was very facetious with me, and pretended I had promised him my horse when I returned from Maitsha, which I excused, by observing the horse was out of town. Well, well, says he, that shall not save you; tell me where he is and I will send for him, and give you the best mule in the army in exchange, and take my chance of recovering him wherever he is. With all my heart, replied I; you will find him perhaps in the valley of Serbraxos, at the foot of the hill, opposite to the south ford of the river Mariam. He laughed heartily at this, shook me by the hand at parting, saying, Well, well, for all this you shall not want your mule.

The king was exceedingly pleased at what had passed, and said, "I wish you would tell me, Yagoube, how you reconcile all these people to you. It is a secret which will be of much more importance to me than to you. There is Gusho now, for example, so proud of his present fortune, that he scarcely will say a civil word to me; and Fasil has brought me a list of his own servants, whom he wants to make mine without asking my leave, (Adera Tacca Georgis, whom he named to be Fit-Auraris to the king, as he had done formerly when he wanted to quarrel with Socinios, Gubena to be Cantiba, and some others), yet he never sees you come into the room but he begins immediately joking and pleasant conversation."

After these appointments, which were not disputed with him, though otherwise very much against the king's inclination, Fasil retired with his army to Maitsha.

In the mean time, Gusho set every thing to sale, content with the money the offices produced, and what he could squeeze from people who had crimes, real or alledged, to compound for. He did not perceive that steps were taking by his enemies which would soon deprive him of all the advantages he enjoyed. Instead of attending to this, he amused himself with mortifying the Iteghé, whose daughter, Welleta Israel, he had formerly married, but who had long left him by the persuasion of her mother. He thought it was an affront to his dignity that the king had pardoned Likaba Beecho, and Palambaras Mammo, the very day after he had forbid them to enter the town; and, what was still stronger, that the king, without his consent, had sent an invitation to the Iteghé to return to Gondar, and govern, as his mother, to the extent she did in the time of Joas; he resolved therefore to attempt the creating a misunderstanding between the king and queen, a matter not very difficult in itself to bring about.

Gusho had confiscated, in the name of the king, all the queen's villages, which made her believe that this offer of the king to bring her to Gondar was an insidious one. In order to make the breach the wider, he had also prevailed upon the king's mother to come to Gondar, and insist with her son to be crowned, and take the title and state of Iteghé. The king was prevailed upon to gratify his mother, under pretence that the Iteghé had refused to come upon his invitation; but this, as it was a pretence only, so it was expressly a violation of the law of the land, which permits but one Iteghé, and never allows the nomination of a new one while the former is in life, however distant a relation she may be to the then reigning king. In consequence of this new coronation, two large villages, Tshemmera and Tocussa, which belonged to the Iteghé as appendages of her royalty, of course devolved upon the king's own mother, newly crowned, who sending her people to take possession, the inhabitants not only refused to admit her officers, but forcibly drove them away, declaring they would acknowledge no other mistress but their old one, to whom they were bound by the laws of the land.

If Gusho, in this manner, dealt hardly with the queen, his behaviour to the king was neither more just nor generous: he had not only failed to advance any gold for the king's subsistence, but had intercepted that part of his revenue which he knew was ready to be paid him, and in the hands of others of his subjects. A stated daily allowance was, indeed, delivered to the king in kind for the maintenance of his household, but even this was smaller than had been settled by Ras Michael; besides which, 120 jars of honey, being one day sent the king from Damot, and at the same time 1000 cotton coats from Walkayt, both these were seized upon by Gusho, without any part being offered to the king, who thereupon determined to break with him, as did the Iteghé from the former provocation.

Ayabdar, never reconciled to him before the battle of Serbraxos, had fresh reason of difference with him from an unequal distribution of Ras Michael's effects, while Engedan, who had been promised the province of Kuara, and whom the king very much favoured, solicited that post in vain, unless he would advance a thousand ounces of gold, which he positively refused to do. The king fomented all these complaints by sending a person of consequence to Powussen, who advised him to arrest Gusho immediately, and promised, if resistance was made, to be at Gondar in three days. Engedan and Ayabdar were trusted with the execution of this, but as Gusho was beloved by the people of Gondar, the secret was not so well kept but that it came to his ears.

On the 16th of July, (the feast of Saint Michael) Gusho pretended he had made a vow to visit the church of that Saint at Azazo, and accordingly, early in the morning, he set out for that village, attended with thirty horse and fifty musqueteers; but no sooner had he passed the church than his real intention appeared, and he was pursued by Gubeno, Cantiba of Dembea; Ayto Adigo, Palambaras; and Ayto Engedan. Gubeno alone, being hearty in the cause, came up with him first, as they had passed the river Derma, when Gusho, seeing Gubeno's troops close behind him, turned quickly upon them, repassed the river, and, having killed two of the foremost with his own hand, and repelled the rest, he returned across the river, and faced about upon the banks of it. Upon the other troops coming up, he called to Engedan, putting him in mind how lately he had been in his hands, and advising them all to return to Gondar, and tell the king he should again be with him in fifteen days.

A council was thereupon held, and as it was plain, from the countenance of the man, that he was resolved to resist to the utmost, none of the leaders then present thought themselves warranted to risk the death of a person so noble, and so powerfully related, especially in an obscure skirmish, such as was then likely to happen, the motives for which were not publicly known; they accordingly all returned to Gondar, leaving the Ras to pursue his way, who being now advanced as far as Degwassa, and thinking himself out of all danger, was suddenly surrounded by Aclog, governor of a little district there, and even from him he would have escaped by his own courage and exertion, had not his horse sunk in miry ground whence he could not recover him. After receiving these news, the king sent his Fit-Auraris, Adera Tacca Georgis, and Ayto Engedan, with a number of troops, to bring Gusho to town, when he returned a miserable figure, with his head shaven: he was cloathed in black, and was confined that same day (the first of August) a close prisoner, and in irons, in a high, damp, uninhabited tower of the king's house, without being pitied by either party.

It was now the season of the year when this country used to overflow with milk and honey; because, being in all the low part of it covered with rain, the horsemen and soldiers, who used to obstruct the roads, were all retired to quarters, and the peasants, bringing provisions to the market, passed the high grounds in safety; all sorts of people, profiting by the plenty which this occasioned, indulged themselves to the greatest excess in every sort of pleasure to which their respective appetites led them. The rains had fallen, indeed, as usual, but had not, however, stopped the march of the armies, and if not a famine, at least a scarcity of provisions in Gondar, had been the consequence; not a word was heard, indeed, of Ras Michael, whether he was alive or dead, but his familiar spirits seemed to preside in the air, and pour down mischief.

CHAP. XI.

_The Author obtains Liberty to return Home--Takes Leave of the
Iteghé at Koscam--Last Interview with the Monks._

Since the queen came again to Koscam, I had passed a great part of my time there, but my health declining every day, I had obtained, with great difficulty, liberty from her to attempt my return home. The king, too, after a hundred exceptions and provisos, had at length been brought to give an unwilling consent. I had seen also Metical Aga's servant, who, upon finding Ras Michael was disgraced, would not stay, but hasted back, and would fain have prevailed upon me to return with him thro' Tigrè into Arabia. But besides that I was determined to attempt completing my journey through Sennaar and the desert, I by no means liked the risk of passing again through Masuah, to experience a second time the brutal manners of the Naybe and garrison of that place.

Captain Thomas Price, of the Lion of Bombay, had been obliged, by his business with the government of Mecca, to continue at Jidda till the season after I went from thence to Abyssinia. I had already heard once from him, and now a second time. He informed me my countrymen had been in the greatest pain for me; that several reports had been current, both at Jidda and Mocha, of my having been assassinated; sometimes it was said by the Naybe of Masuah; sometimes that it had happened at Gondar; by others at Sennaar, in my return home. Captain Price wrote me in this last letter, that, thinking I must be distressed for want of money, he had left orders with Ibrahim Seraff, the English broker at Jidda, to advance me 1000 crowns, desiring my draft to be sent to Ibrahim, directed to him or his brother at Bombay, and to make it payable to a gentleman of that name who lived in Smithfield. I cannot omit mentioning these instances of the philanthropy and generosity of Mr Price, to whom I bore no relation, and who was but a common acquaintance, whom I had acquired among my countrymen during my stay at Jidda. The only title I had to this consideration was, that he thought I was probably in distress, and that as it was in his power alone to relieve me, this in itself, to a noble mind, constituted a sufficient obligation. I do not believe Captain Price was able to read a word of Latin, so that sentiment in Terence, "Homo sum, nihil humani mihi alienum esse puto," was as much an original in Mr Price's breast as if it had never before been uttered.

I told Metical Aga's servant the bad news I had got from Sennaar, and he agreed perfectly with the contents, adding, that the journey was not practicable; he declared they were so inhuman and so barbarous a race, that he would not attempt the journey, Mahometan as he was, for half the Indies. I begged him to say no more on that head, but to procure from his master, Metical Aga at Mecca, a letter to any man of consequence he knew at Sennaar.

My resolution being therefore taken, and leave obtained, this will be now the place to resume the account of my finances. I have already gone so far as to mention three hundred pounds which I had occasionally borrowed from a Greek whose name was Petros. This man was originally a native of the island of Rhodes, which he must have left early, for he was not at this time much past thirty; he had been by trade a shoemaker. For what reason he left his own country I know not, but he was of a very pleasing figure and address, though very timid. Joas and the Iteghé very much distinguished him, and the king had made him Azeleffa el Camisha, which answers precisely to groom of the stole, or first lord of the bed-chamber in England. Being pliant, civil, and artful, and always well-dressed, he had gained the good graces of the whole court; he was also rich, as the king was generous, and his perquisites not inconsiderable.

After the campaign of Mariam Barea, when the dwarf was shot who was standing before Ras Michael, and the palace set on fire in the fray which followed, the crown, which was under Petros's charge, was melted; the gold, indeed, that it consisted of, was afterwards found, but there was said to have been on the top of it a pearl, or jewel, of immense price and size, larger than a pigeon's egg; and this, whatever it was, had disappeared, being in all probability consumed by the fire. Ras Michael, on the contrary, believed that it had been taken out by Petros with a view to sell it, and for this reason he had constantly refused him liberty to leave Abyssinia, and had kept him always in fear that some day or other he would strip him of all that he had saved. While Michael was besieging the mountain Haramat, Petros beseeched me to take L.300 of him, and give him my first, second, and third bill of exchange upon Messrs Julian and Rosa, my correspondents at Cairo, payable a month after sight, to the Maronite Bishop of Mount Sinai, after which he set out for his own country, _in formâ pauperis_, and thereby escaped the rapacity of both Ras Michael and the Naybe of Masuah. As for the bill, it came duly to hand, and was paid to the bishop, who would very fain have received for each of the duplicates, and was near being bastinado'd for insisting upon this before the Bey at Cairo.

A Bill drawn from Gondar is a very great curiosity when arrived in London; it should be now upon the file in the shop of my very worthy and honourable friends the Messrs Drummond and Company at Charing-Cross. It was the only piece of writing of any kind which found its way to its intended destination, though many had been written by me on different occasions which presented for Arabia; so that I will recommend to all travellers, for the future, to tack bills of exchange to their letters of greatest consequence, as a sure method of preventing their miscarriage.

I had made a shew, and with some degree of ostentation, of sending my gold chain to Cairo by the hands of Metical Aga's servant, declaring always that it was the only piece of Abyssinian gold I should carry out of the country, which I was to leave, both in fact and appearance, a _pauper_. Mules are the only beasts for carriage commonly used in Abyssinia, though bulls and cows, of a particular kind, are bought for the purpose by carriers, merchants, and such like, in that country, especially near the mines or quarries of salt; they are very slow, however, and capable of no great burden, though very easily maintained. I had abundance of mules of my own for carrying my instruments and baggage, and the king and Iteghé furnished me with others for my own riding. I had, besides, two favourite horses, which I intended to attempt to carry home, foolishly enough; for though I thought in my own mind that I was sufficiently informed of, and prepared for all sorts of hardships, I had not foreseen the hundredth part of the difficulties and dangers that were then awaiting me.

On the 6th of August messengers came from Fasil, and the day after from Powussen, Begemder, Gojam, Damot, and Maitsha, which provinces, by their deputies, desired that Gusho might be set at liberty. This the king agreed to, but upon condition that the Ras should instantly pay him 1000 ounces of gold, and 500 musquets, which, on the other side, was as positively refused. Upon this Gusho was put into close confinement, and heavier irons than before: and, what was the most unjust, his two sons, who had left their own country to assist their father in distress, were confined in chains with him. All these violent measures were attributed to Ayabdar, Billetana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mascal, and Basha Hezekias, officers connected with Ras Michael, whom the king had permitted to return from Tigrè, and very much confided in their councils.

On the other hand, Adera Tacca Georgis, (the king's Fit-Auraris) and Guebra Welleta Yasous, principal people in Maitsha, and whom Fasil had put about the king, desired leave to retire to their own country, from which it is probable they will never again return to Gondar, unless as enemies.

Although the king still obstinately insisted that the Ras should pay him his thousand ounces of gold, and five hundred musquets, as a price for his being set at liberty, this was refused by Gusho, in terms that shewed he was not now, as formerly, afraid of the king's power. On the other hand, the king proclaimed Kefla Yasous governor of the province of Tigrè, with the same extent of command as Ras Michael had enjoyed it; and he was already there, and had taken upon him the government of that province. At the same time the king superseded Gusho, and deprived him of his province of Amhara, which was given to his nephew Ayto Adigo, son of Palambaras Durrie, a man of very great interest and property in the province; after which he immediately left Gondar, and took his way thro' Begemder; but at the very entrance into Amhara, he was defeated by a son of Gusho who was expecting him; his troops were dispersed, and his brother, Ayto Aderesson, (the man who lost Gusho's horse at the battle of Tedda) wounded and taken prisoner.

There remained no longer any doubt that, as soon as the rains were over, the former scenes of bloodshed and confusion were to be acted over again; for, by appointing Kefla Yasous to the government of Tigrè, and Ayto Adigo to that of Amhara, and the peaceable passage given to this young nobleman through Begemder, in order to supplant his uncle Gusho, by the great confidence shewn by the king in the old officers and relations of Ras Michael, now at Gondar, and the dismission of Fasil's friends, (Adera Tacca Georgis and Confu Adam) the most ample confession possible was made, that the king had again thrown himself into the arms of the province of Tigrè and Begemder united, to which Amhara was to be added, by keeping Gusho prisoner, till such time as his nephew Adigo could gain entire possession.

To counterpoise this, a messenger arrived from Fasil, demanding privately of the king, that Gusho should be set at liberty, and return to his province of Amhara; that Lika Netcho, one of the murderers of Joas, (who had been spared, as being married to a relation of the king) should be immediately put to death, and that all the officers belonging to Ras Michael, then at court, should be banished for ever to Tigrè, their native country. The king returned a positive refusal, not qualified in any shape whatever.

A disagreement now happened, which, more than all the rest, was interesting, and disturbed me in particular. Positive information was brought to the Iteghé, and, I believe, very authentic, that the king, weary of the many councils held at Koscam by the servants and deputies of the several parties, in the queen's presence, (to which he was not called) had determined to give up the palace of Koscam, in which it was thought there were great riches, to be plundered by his soldiers. As the death of the queen by her confinement in some distant desert and unwholesome convent, must have probably been the consequence of success on one part, so an immediate revolution, and the death of the king, was certainly to follow the miscarriage on the other, that is, should he be defeated in, or after making the attempt.

Troops, headed by Engedan, Ayto Confu, and by Mammo, and all the Iteghé's relations, now crowded into Koscam, into which great plenty of provisions was also carried. The wall was high and strong, the gates lately put into good repair, the tower, or castle, within in perfect good order; the Iteghé had not surrendered her fire-arms, and all the inhabitants around, especially the poorer sort, were firmly attached to her, as in times of distress and famine her charity afforded them a constant refuge.

Since the Iteghé had returned, I always lived at Koscam by her own desire, as her health was very precarious since her residence in Gojam. This suited my intention of withdrawing privately, and therefore, not to multiply the number of leave-takings, I had seen Gusho but once, and that for a moment, and Ayabdar not at all, so that my whole attendance was now between the king and queen. The king had denied publicly his intention of plundering Koscam, but in a manner not at all satisfactory to the Iteghé; I ventured therefore to mention it to him one day when he was alone, on which he said, "I would not do it for your sake, Yagoube, were there no other reason; but my mother (meaning the Iteghé) is ill-advised, and worse informed."

On the 13th of October, Powussen, with a very considerable army, and without any previous intimation, arrived at Koscam, his head-quarters all the last campaign. He continued there till the 22d of the same month, and then decamped, passing by Gondar, without entering it; he came to Ras Gusho's house, under the hill of Koscam, where he had several interviews with the king and Iteghé, to what purport was never known; but it probably was to endeavour some reconcilement between the king and queen, and this was effected a few days afterwards (at least in appearance) by Ayabdar, and some of the great men at Gondar, after which Powussen returned to Begemder. For my part, I neither desired nor obtained an interview; I saw that the storm was ready to break, and I was taking the most speedy and effectual way to be out of the sphere of its action.

On the 12th of November, all Gondar was struck with a panic at the news brought in by the peasants from the country, flying for refuge to the capital, destitute of every thing, and thankful only they had escaped with life. Fasil had marched with a considerable army from Ibaba, and advanced to Dingleber in peace, when he left the main body, under the conduct of Welleta Yasous, and all his baggage, considering that place as the limits of his government. He marched from this, without taking for himself two changes of raiment, at the head of 700 horse, the most wild and desperate banditti that ever were introduced into any unfortunate country. With these he burnt every village and every church between Dingleber and Sar-Ohha, murdered every male, without distinction of priest or layman; killed every woman past the age of child-bearing, and gave the others as slaves to the wild Pagan Galla whom he had with him. In short, he just indulged that body of men in the same enormities that they themselves exercise in the inroads they make into countries unhappy enough to be their neighbours in time of war. The whole country of Degwassa, the district which Aclog commanded, was totally destroyed; men, women, and children, were entirely extirpated, without distinction of age or sex; the houses all razed to the ground, and the country about it left as desolate as after the deluge. The villages belonging to the king were as severely treated; an universal cry was heard from every part, but no one dared to suggest any means of help; parties were so entirely mixed and confounded, that no one could safely enter into any confidence with his neighbour; but the common people, who had little to lose, began again to cry out for the return and government of Ras Michael.

Fasil, having given the king this sample of what he was capable of doing, halted at Sar-Ohha, and from thence sent a peremptory demand that Gusho should be at liberty. His messenger was a crooked, diminutive dwarf, called Dohho, of whom I have already spoken. It was a very bad sign of a treaty when such a one was the manager. He upbraided the king in terms scarcely decent, with the protection, life, and kingdom the Ras Fasil had given him, when the contrary was absolutely in his power. He asked the king if he knew who had protected him the night of the retreat from the hill of Serbraxos? and told him, in plain terms, that, being entirely void of the noble principles of gratitude himself, he had forced him, Fasil, to be wanting to the next great virtue, that of hospitality, in suffering a man of Gusho's quality to be made prisoner after arriving within the limits of his government. He concluded, by telling the king plainly, that, unless he restored Gusho to his liberty and government, without condition, he would, in three days, make Gondar, the metropolis, as desert and destitute of inhabitants as he had left the paltry district of Degwassa.

The king received all this with great composure, for he had as much fortitude, and as little fear as ever fell to the share of any man; his misfortune, however, was, that he had no resources in which he could trust; and the Tigrè officers about him, more imprudent, and fully as fearless as he, gave him the same advices they would have done had he been at the head of the army. Ras Michael was moreover gone, and Kefla Yasous was at a distance; these two were the men for planning and contriving business, and who saved others the trouble of thinking. The rest, such as Billetana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mascal, and Basha Hezekias, were only fit to be trusted with execution, and to proceed according to the letter of the orders they might receive, and the consequences of which they could not, nor did they wish to understand. By being used, however, to constant success in executing plans maturely digested by wiser heads, they had acquired a degree of presumption which made them very dangerous counsellors to a young king, in the present case, where nothing but the greatest prudence, assisted by the manifest interposition of the hand of Heaven, (many examples of which he had already proved) could save him from perdition.

I was not present at the audience, being at Koscam, but his secretary, to whom I am indebted for every thing that passed in private, in this history, and which otherwise was beyond the reach of my knowledge, assured me the king answered these threatenings without any change of countenance or language, and in very few words: "Tell Kasmati Fasil from me, that what I am obliged to do by the rules of justice, is not to be measured either by his inclination or power to do wrong. Men have crucified their Saviour; and many kings in this country (better men than I am) have been, in various manners, slain by their deluded subjects. The race of Solomon, however, God has preserved till this day on the throne, where I am now sitting, while nothing but the memory of those who oppressed them remains loaded with the curses of mankind. I am king of this country, and have often been acknowledged as such by Kasmati Fasil. I will not give up Gusho, but at my own time, if ever; nor can he insist upon it, consistently with the duty of a subject to his sovereign." Noble words these, had he been at the head of an army to enforce them.

This message was quickly conveyed to Fasil, who was advanced to Azazo, where it met him, and he continued his march without halting till he came to Abba Samuel, about two miles from Gondar. It was on the 13th of November that his army made a shew of encamping at Abba Samuel, for there was not above six tents pitched, and next day, the 14th, by eight in the morning, a drum and trumpet, guarded by about a hundred horse, came immediately under the town to the banks of the river Kahha, where the trumpet having sounded three times, and the kettle-drum beat as often, it was proclaimed, That all manner of persons, of what degree soever, whether servants of the palace, or others, should instantly leave Gondar as they regarded their lives; and if any staid after this warning, their blood should be upon their own head. The whole town, therefore, in an instant was deserted, and very few, even of his own servants, remained with the king. I had already once partaken of a similar scene, and found it of the most disagreeable kind; Providence spared me, however, this repetition of it, as I was at Koscam, and determined to be retired there so perfectly, that I did not stir out of my apartment till night, when the gates were locked, and the guards placed.

On the 15th, the king released Ras Gusho from his confinement, who immediately went to the camp to Fasil; and next day, at night, he returned, and had an audience at the palace with the king, and again retired to sleep at Abba Samuel. On the 17th, a little before noon, Fasil came to the palace for an audience, but first took possession of every avenue leading to it; a strong guard was also placed in the anti-chamber, and the charge of the door of the king's presence-chamber was taken from the king's ordinary black servants, and given to Confu Adam, who mounted guard there with about twenty wild Galla. What further passed I did not strictly inquire, being exceedingly distressed, by the bad prospect that presented itself, and firmly resolved to take no further part. In general, however, I understood, that all was humiliation; and Fasil having announced to the king that he had given his daughter to Gusho in marriage, to him the king gave Gojam, and restored the province of Amhara. Aclog was condemned to find security for 1200 ounces of gold, which was said to be the sum Gusho had with him when taken.

The king was to restore to the Iteghé the whole of her villages that she had ever enjoyed, from the time of Bacuffa, her husband, to that present moment. To Fasil, were given Damot, Maitsha, and Agow, and to Confu Adam, Ibaba Azage; and, for the greater solemnity, the king and Fasil took a formal oath, to ratify all these articles, and to remain in friendship for ever. After which, the Abuna, in pontificals, being called to be present, pronounced a formal curse and sentence of excommunication, upon whichever of the parties should first break the vow they had taken.

No word was mentioned of Tigrè, or Kefla Yasous, or of Powussen, nor the smallest notice taken of Ras Ayabdar, who remained in his house and office, as if he had not existed. It appeared to me the party was again made by one half of the kingdom against the other; Kefla Yasous and Powussen against Fasil and Gusho; as for Ayabdar and Ayto Tesfos of Samen, these were left, contemptuously _in medio_, to take any side they pleased, which, indeed, was of no consequence. After this interview, Fasil never again entered the king's house, though he went often to Koscam; but I neither saw him nor sought to see him, nor did he ever inquire after me, as far as I could learn.

On the 19th of November Fasil sent orders to the palace, that four bodies of the king's household-troops, Gimja Bet, Werk Sacala, Ambaselé, and Edjow, should immediately join him, which they did, to the number of 1200 men, all armed. These he carried, with Gusho his son-in-law, in triumph to Damot, nor was this the only instance Fasil gave of the great regard he had to his late oaths, and to the sacred character of the person that administered them; for the morning he marched off, a party of the Galla, meeting the Abuna, and a numerous retinue mounted on mules, going to the king's house, obliged them all to dismount at once, without distinction, taking their mules with them to the camp, from whence they never returned, and leaving the Abuna on foot, to find his way back to his house, at Kedus Raphael, from the top of which, as from a castle, he wisely poured out his excommunications, against an army, composed entirely of Pagans, without one Christian among them.

It is here a proper period to finish the history of Abyssinia, as I was no further present at, or informed of the public transactions which followed. My whole attention was now taken up in preparations for my return through the kingdom of Sennaar and the desert. Neither shall I take up the reader's time with a long narrative of leave-taking, or what passed between me and those illustrious personages with whom I had lived so long in the most perfect and cordial friendship. Men of little, and envious minds, would perhaps think I was composing a panegyric upon myself, from which, therefore, I most willingly refrain. But the several marks of goodness, friendship, and esteem, which I received at parting, are confined within my own breast, where they never shall be effaced, but continue to furnish me with the most agreeable reflections, since they were the fruit alone of personal merit, and of honest, steady, and upright behaviour. All who had attempted the same journey hitherto, had met with disappointment, disgrace, or death; for my part, although I underwent every sort of toil, danger, and all manner of hardship, yet these were not confined to myself. I suffered always honourably, and in common with the rest of the state; and when sun-shiny days happened, (for sun-shiny days there were, and very brilliant ones too) of these I was permitted freely to partake; and the most distinguished characters, both at court and in the army, were always ready to contribute as far as possible, to promote what they thought or saw was the object of my pursuits or entertainment.

I shall only here mention what passed at the last interview I had with the Iteghé, two days before my departure. Tensa Christos, who was one of the chief priests of Gondar, was a native of Gojam, and consequently of the low church, or a follower of Abba Eustathius, in other words, as great an enemy as possible to the Catholic, or as they will call it, _the religion of the Franks_. He was, however, reputed a person of great probity and sanctity of manners, and had been on all occasions rather civil and friendly to me when we met, though evidently not desirous of any intimate connections or friendship; and as I, on my part, expected little advantage from connecting myself with a man of his principles, I very willingly kept at all possible distance; that I might run no risk of disobliging him was my only aim.

This priest came often to the Iteghé's and Ayto Aylo's, with both of whom he was much in favour, and here I now happened to meet him, when I was taking my leave in the evening. I beg of you, says he, Yagoube, as a favour, to tell me, now you are immediately going away from this country, and you can answer me without fear, Are you really a Frank, or are you not? Sir, said I, I do not know what you mean by fear; I should as little decline answering you any question you have to ask had I ten years to stay, as now I am to quit this country to-morrow: I came recommended, and was well received by the king and Ras Michael: I neither taught nor preached; no man ever heard me say a word about my particular mode of worship; and as often as my duty has called me, I have never failed to attend divine service as it is established in this country. What is the ground of fear that I should have, while under the king's protection, and when I conform in every shape to the laws, religion, and customs of Abyssinia? True, says Tensa Christos, I do not say you should be alarmed; whatever your faith is I would defend you myself; the Iteghé knows I always spoke well of you, but will you gratify an old man's curiosity, in telling me whether or not you really are a Frank, Catholic, or Jesuit?

I have too great a regard, replied I, to request of a man, so truly good and virtuous as you, not to have answered you the question at whatever time you could have asked me; and I do now declare to you, by the word of a Christian, that my countrymen and I are more distant in matters of religion, from these you call Catholics, Jesuits, or Franks, than you and your Abyssinians are; and that a priest of my religion, preaching in any country subject to those Franks, would as certainly be brought to the gallows as if he had committed murder, and just as speedily as you would stone a Catholic priest preaching here in the midst of Gondar. They do precisely by us as you do by them, so they have no reason to complain. And, says he, don't you do the same to them? No, replied I; every man in our country is allowed to serve God in his own way; and as long as their teachers confine themselves to what the sacred books have told them, they can teach no ill, and therefore deserve no punishment. No religion, indeed, teaches a man evil, but, when forgetting this, they preach against government, curse the king, absolve his subjects from allegiance, or incite them to rebellion, as being lawful, the sword of the civil power cuts them off, without any blame falling upon their religion, because these things were done in contradiction to what their priests, from the scripture, should have taught them were truly the tenets of that very religion.

The Iteghé now interposed: What do you think, Tensa Christos, if Yagoube is not a priest, should he not be one? Madam, says he, I have one question more to inquire of him, and that shall be all, nor would I ask it if he was not going away to-morrow. It is an unfair one, then said I, but out with it; I cannot suffer in the opinion of good men, by answering directly a question which you put to me out of curiosity. It seems then, says he, you are not a frank, but you think your own religion a better one than theirs; you are not of our religion, however, for you say we are nearer the Catholics than you; now what objection have you to our religion, and what is your opinion of it?