CHAPTERIX.
Court dress.—Palace of Angolahlah.—Interview with Negoos.—Memolagee.—Invited to house of Tinta.—Supplies from palace.—Return to Ankobar.
Court dress.—Palace of Angolahlah.—Interview with Negoos.—Memolagee.—Invited to house of Tinta.—Supplies from palace.—Return to Ankobar.
June 30th.—This morning, after a breakfast of bread and cayenne pottage, which proved to be the contents of the little earthenware jar carried back from the palace the day before, I was sent for, to present myself immediately before the Negoos. Understanding that it was etiquette to appear before royalty either with the upper part of the body, above the waist, quite naked, or else, on the contrary, closely clothed up, I chose the latter alternative, and put over my blowse dress my black Arab cloak, and following the messenger, walked up the side of the low hill upon which the Palace of Angolahlah stands. This ridge, scarcely one hundred feet high, is a red ferruginous basaltic dyke, which has here protruded through the general surface rock of grey columnar porphyry. The rock of which it consists contains so much iron as to render the compass completely useless in taking bearings, and the oxidization, where it isexposed to the action of the atmosphere, occasions the bright red colour of the hill. The circumscribed, but nearly level summit, is occupied by the several courts of the royal residence, the palace buildings, long thatched houses, standing in the centre of all.
An irregular stockade of splinteredted(a juniper pine), twelve or fourteen feet high, is carried around the edge of the ridge, and the enclosed area, in its longest direction, exceeds three hundred yards. This is subdivided into courts, the first of which is entered from the town by a low gateway that scarcely affords passage to a person mounted upon a mule, although it is a privilege of the principal courtiers to ride so far before they dismount, when they visit the Negoos.
Through this court we passed, for about twenty yards, between two rows of noisy beggars, male and female, old, middle-aged, and young; who, leprous, scrofulous, and maimed, exhibited the most disgusting sores, and implored charity for the sake of Christ and the Virgin Mary. I was glad to escape from their piteous importunity, and I passed quickly through another row of palings by a narrow wicket into a second court, something more extensive than the other, where I found a crowd of people listening to an orator, who, with shoulders and body bare to his middle, was addressing three or four turbaned monks who sat in an open alcove, beneath the long projecting eaves of a thatchedroof. This I was given to understand by Walderheros, who followed close behind me, was a court of justice, from whose decision, if the parties did not feel satisfied, they appealed to the King. As we passed through a third wicket, a small enclosure on one side attracted my attention, from the circumstance of several prisoners, shackled by the wrists and ancles with bright and apparently much-worn fetters, endeavouring to get a peep at me through the interstices of their wooden prison. In the next court was collected a great heap of stones, upon which a number of people were sitting; and here also I was desired to be seated, as I found out, among the noblemen of the country; for at first I objected to such a lowly couch, until I saw the Wallasmah, whom I knew to be the most powerful of any of the subjects of Sahale Selassee, sitting very contented, wrapt up in his white tobe, his black bald head, little eyes and snub nose, alone appearing from above its ample folds. There were many others of nearly equal rank, who were waiting to see the Negoos; so choosing the sunniest spot unoccupied, did in Shoa as I saw the Shoans do, and sat down with the rest upon the hard stones.
I had scarcely comported myself so unassumingly when its due reward followed, by being summoned immediately afterwards into the presence of the Negoos. I found his majesty in the next court, which was nearly circular, and surrounded by a low stone wall instead of the high, ragged palisades, thatthree times before fence his retreat about. Several long low houses stood around, serving as stores and offices, and conspicuous among them was the little round cottage, about twenty-two feet in diameter, that was then being erected by Capt. Graham. One of the thatched houses was raised to a second story, open in front, each side of which was ornamented with trellicework of very rude carpentry. In this elevated alcove, upon a couch, covered with red velvet, and reposing upon large cushions of yellow-coloured satin lay the Negoos of Shoa, Sahale Selassee, whilst many-coloured Persian carpets covered the floor, and hung over outside into the court.
I uncovered my head after the most approved court fashion, at least as far as I knew anything of the matter, but a slight movement of the considerate monarch instructed me that he desired I should keep my cap on whilst standing in the sun, addressing me at the same time by an Arabic expression, signifying “How do you do.”
This mode of commencing the conversation rather puzzled me, for simple as was the salutation, I had forgotten the meaning of “kiphanter” and fancying it to be some Amharic word, turned for assistance to Walderheros, who, however, dropped his nether jaw, and looked a vacant “I don’t know; don’t ask me.” Waarkie, who stood with numerous other courtiers around the royal couch, came to the edge of the stage, and repeated the word, upon which, recollectingmyself, I bowed in return, and taking out my letter I had received in Calcutta, held it up for Waarkie to take it, and hand to the Negoos, as I hoped from his being so conversant with Arabic, he might be able to decipher it without the aid of an interpreter. This, however, I soon saw he could not do, for upon looking at it, not being able to make anything of it the right way, he turned it upside down, to see if it would read any easier in that position. Two mollums, or learned Mahomedan scribes, attendants of the Wallasmah Mahomed, were now summoned, but they soon confessed themselves at fault with the Persian character. Very fortunately for my reputation, a large round Government seal occupied one-third of the paper, and some of the characters upon it being recognised as Arabic, the document at length was reported to be genuine, or I should have been set down as an impostor as well as an adventurer. The seal having thus impressed them with the official character of the letter, the mollums satisfied the King that they could make out that I was represented in it to be a good man, and after one of them had been instructed to ask me what presents I had brought for the Negoos, they were ordered to depart.
Having understood from the members of the Mission, on my first arrival, that it was an invariable custom, on introduction to the monarch, to make him some present, I had accordingly providedmyself with a few yards of rich Chinese silk velvet, and a curiously-worked bead purse, which contained a stone ring, cut out of a piece of green-coloured jaspar. Each was handed up in succession to the Negoos for his inspection; after having been duly described and registered upon a strip of parchment by a scribe who stood at my elbow for that purpose. As each was presented, the Negoos slightly bowed, and said, in his own language, “Egzeer ista” (God return it to you).
A short conversation with his courtiers, who stood with the upper parts of the body completely uncovered, was followed by a request on the part of the Negoos, that I should ask from him whatever I desired. I begged to be allowed to remain in Shoa until after the rains, and then to have permission and his assistance to proceed to Enarea. A slight inclination of assent, with an abrupt recommendation of me to the care of heaven by his majesty, terminated the interview, and I retired, followed by Walderheros, who appeared highly delighted with the graciousness of my reception, and was evidently speculating upon the bright prospects before him from the opportunities I might have of pushing his fortunes at court, for the precincts of which he seemed to have a great predilection.
Immediately after returning to my tent, a large goat was sent to me by the Negoos, and an inconvenient command that I should remain for the day at Angolahlah. There was nothing that I desiredless, for the cold weather, the thin shelter of the tent, and my expected attack of the fever paroxysm on this day, made me anxious to proceed at once, after my visit to the palace, to my comparatively comfortable quarters in Aliu Amba, where the climate was so much more temperate and agreeable. I sent Walderheros to report the circumstance of my being very ill, and he fortunately met Tinta, who was coming down to see me, having been appointed to act as my “balderabah.” This is an officer who attends to the wants of a stranger guest, and is responsible to the Negoos for any neglect of the duties of hospitality. He also is the channel of communication between the monarch and his visitors, nor can any other person of the royal household undertake the duties of, or become the deputy of another in this office, so that it not unfrequently happens that an inconvenient detention in one of the courts of the palace takes place, if the balderabah happens not to be present to announce to the Negoos the presence or the business of his client. As the balderabah is always chosen from among the principal men about the court, the office is somewhat analogous to that of the patrons which characterized the state of society among the ancient Romans. The signification of the name “balderabah,” in the Amharic language is, the master or opener of the door.
Tinta came down, and after announcing to me that I had permission to remain in his town, andthat he was appointed my “friend at court,” gave into my hand a little piece of parchment, about an inch and a half square upon which was written in the Geez language, “Give to this Gypt, eating and drinking,” nothing more, but which constituted me a “balla durgo,” that is, master or receiver of rations. “Gypt,” the Amharic for Egyptian, is the cognomen generally applied to all white men who visit Abyssinia, they being supposed to come from Egypt.[8]
The durgo, or rations, supplied to strangers whilst resident in their country, is a general custom among Abyssinian princes, and is of very great antiquity. It is considered that all persons visiting the kingdom come only as friends of the monarch, who, in the exercise of his hospitality, takes upon himself the whole expense of their sustenance, so that no excuse may be made for intriguing or interfering in the ordered state of things, as regards the rule or security of the kingly power. A deviationfrom the policy of non-interference on the part of the guest would then be justly considered an act of great ingratitude; nor when such a conservative principle is involved in the observance of hospitality towards strangers, can we be surprised at the indignation which marks several tirades in the productions of the ancient poets, when this custom was more general than in modern times, against individuals who have thus erred in their duties to the hosts who have entertained them.
Moreover, when departing from an Abyssinian country, the audience of leave-taking is supposed to terminate with a blessing bestowed upon the king by the guest, who acknowledges in this manner the kindness with which he has been received. The blessing being withheld implies the reverse, and no little uneasiness and superstitious alarm would be occasioned in the mind of a monarch, by the idea that the stranger would revenge himself by a curse, for any neglect he may suppose himself to have been treated with.
These customs being borne in mind, to apply our knowledge of them usefully, we must compare them with similar observances which did, and still do, characterize some oriental courts; and readers perhaps will recall to mind some in the histories of ancient and modern Asiatic monarchies, that may have originated from some former connexion in one extensive empire, of the now very different and widely separated countries in which such customsare still retained. I shall content myself, however, with pointing out their strict accordance with similar usages at the court of Pharaoh, as recorded in Genesis, and which is well illustrated in the reception of the patriarch Jacob, at the court of that monarch. In the forty-seventh chapter of that book, Joseph from his connexion with the monarch, introduces his five brethren, but he first reports their arrival and obtains leave; and in nearly the same manner he acts as balderabah of Jacob, and the remainder of the family whom we find on their arrival were constitutedballa-durgoitsh“receivers of rations,” for we read in the same chapter that Joseph “nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household with bread according to their families.” We are also told when Jacob retired from the presence of the monarch, “that Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.”
At the hazard of being considered tedious, I shall here allude to two other instances of customs existing at the present day in Abyssinia, and which are intimately connected with the subject we are upon. The only public oath used by the inhabitants of Shoa, is of a remarkable character. “Sahale Selassee e moot.” ‘May Sahale Selassee die,’ if such a thing be not true! is the constant ejaculation of a protesting witness, or a positive informant; and if upon a serious business, the immediate confiscation of property, and incarceration inprison, would be consequent upon a perjured imprecation made against the life of the Negoos. Joseph, accusing his brethren, in the fifteenth verse of the forty-second chapter of Genesis, says, “Hereby shall ye be proved:By the life of Pharaohye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither;” and again, in the next verse, “or elseby the life of Pharaohsurely ye are spies.” The very language substituting the name Sahale Selassee for that of Pharaoh, under similar circumstances, which would be used in the court of Shoa at the present day.
In the years 1830 and 1831, when cholera made its circuit of the whole earth, it visited the kingdom of Shoa. It was preceded for two successive years by a great failure of crops, both of grain and cotton, and the people in consequence, were reduced to the greatest extremity for food and clothing. Numbers fell victims from hunger alone, and to relieve their necessities, numerous acts of violence and robbery disturbed the usually peaceful state of society in Shoa. The Negoos, at this time, secured to himself the love of his subjects by the liberality of his frequent distributions of grain; but another calamity made its appearance, the cholera commenced its ravages, and he began to fear that his bounty must end by the exhaustion of his means. The famine increasing from want of the cattle which had died, to cultivate the land, the difficulty of obtaining food began also to be feltby those who had the means of purchasing it, and these intruding with their applications were supplied at a price, whilst the wretched poor were left to die. In this position, having nothing to dispose of but their labour, a starving multitude of some thousands appealed to the Negoos to grant them food, and in return to receive their freedom, or at least their services for life. This was granted, and even after the cholera had swept off nearly two-thirds of their number, above a thousand such individuals were found to be in bondage to the Negoos, and duly registered as slaves. This condition was certainly little more than nominal, for, except upon extraordinary occasions, such as constructing the bridge dams over the streams on the roads to Angolahlah, and to Debra Berhan, or when employed building stone enclosures for the Negoos, a service scarcely ever exceeding three days in three months, this class of slaves were never called upon for regular or long-continued labour.
In the course of the ten succeeding years, however, children were born to these people, and the question then arose, as to whether they shared the bondage of their parents, or were free. This was brought to issue by the Negoos bestowing certain lands, upon which were domiciled several of these bondsmen, upon a courtier, who made a demand of service from the children, which the parents refused to admit as his right, and an appeal was made to the Negoos in consequence. The court of“Wombaroitsh,” or judges of an inferior kind, who relieve the king of all first hearings of cases, except in most important ones, and who sit in judgment in one of the courts of the palace, decided in favour of the children; but this decision, on an appeal by the courtier, was negatived by the Negoos himself, without any hearing of those unfortunates who were most interested. The “Wombaroitsh” put in a plea, however, founded upon the canons of their Church, and the numerous solicitations of the free relations of the bondpeople, induced the Negoos to acknowledge himself to have been in error, and to proclaim that the people alone, whom he had fed and clothed in the time of the famine, were his slaves for life, and that their children for the future must be considered free.
These circumstances I became acquainted with in consequence of having the daughter of one of these very bondsmen in my service, and who was old enough, at the time of the famine, to recollect the sad miseries that fell upon her own family during its continuance, until her father and two brothers sold themselves for their food, in the manner I have above related, to the future service of the Negoos.
Among others who addressed the Negoos in favour of the children, whose numbers amounted to scarcely more than five hundred, were the officers of the British Mission, a fact, however, of which I never heard until my arrival in this country, nor is it, I am afraid, very generallyknown to have been the case by the inhabitants of Shoa, who have no other idea but that it was the effect of religious feeling, and of the great sense of justice, for which their sovereign, Sahale Selassee, is celebrated all over the eastern horn of Africa, and far into the interior towards the west.
I was never given to understand that the proclamation that announced the freedom of the children at all affected the condition of their parents, who, I believe, still are and will continue until death the bond servants of the Negoos.
When these circumstances were first related to me, I could not help being struck by the exact correspondence they exhibit, with the proceedings of Joseph acting as the steward of Pharaoh towards the starving Egyptians, during the infliction of the seven years’ famine upon that country; and which is another instance of the similarity of custom and of situation between that ancient people and the modern Abyssinians. The appeal, indeed, of the former to Joseph, expresses exactly the request made to the Negoos of Shoa by his subjects; “Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and the land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh, and give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land be not desolate.”
FOOTNOTES:[8]It is rather a singular circumstance that in England we apply the term Gipsey to the descendants of an outcast people, and that a name of similar origin should designate ourselves among the only remnant of an Egyptian people that have preserved a national independency in the country whither they had fled. It reminded me of another ethnological fact I had observed in Aden, where the flaxen-haired, light-coloured Jews, so different in appearance from the darker complexioned Arabs among whom they lived, were oppositely contrasted with those dark-eyed, dark-haired descendants of Israel, who have retained these characteristics of an eastern origin, although long resident among the fair-skinned inhabitants of northern Europe.
[8]It is rather a singular circumstance that in England we apply the term Gipsey to the descendants of an outcast people, and that a name of similar origin should designate ourselves among the only remnant of an Egyptian people that have preserved a national independency in the country whither they had fled. It reminded me of another ethnological fact I had observed in Aden, where the flaxen-haired, light-coloured Jews, so different in appearance from the darker complexioned Arabs among whom they lived, were oppositely contrasted with those dark-eyed, dark-haired descendants of Israel, who have retained these characteristics of an eastern origin, although long resident among the fair-skinned inhabitants of northern Europe.