CHAPTERVIII.
Water cure.—Nearly killed by it.—Ordered to leave Shoa.—Proceed to Angolahlah.—Courteous treatment of the officers of the Negoos.—Entertainment.—Remarks upon the character of Sahale Selassee.—The Mahomedan religion.
Water cure.—Nearly killed by it.—Ordered to leave Shoa.—Proceed to Angolahlah.—Courteous treatment of the officers of the Negoos.—Entertainment.—Remarks upon the character of Sahale Selassee.—The Mahomedan religion.
Myillness increasing, each succeeding paroxysm of fever leaving me in a more weakened condition, my servant proposed a remedy, boasted never to fail in effecting a cure. I had but a scanty stock of medicines, that I had brought with me from Aden, and these seemed to have little or no effect upon my disease; so I determined to give Walderheros a chance of distinguishing himself by conferring health upon his “gaitah” (master).
To do this properly, it was deemed necessary that some water should be fetched from a spring by a man, and as this is a species of labour always performed by women, Walderheros, not to be seen at such employment, undertook to take the water-jar for that purpose the next morning before daylight. I also learnt that the cure was to be effected by a kind of shower-bath, to which I was to submit, sitting down whilst the water was poured from a heightupon my head, during the attack of the rigors which preceded the hot stage of the ague fit.
The next day, accordingly, the water having been properly procured, on the first symptoms of the fit coming on, I sat down in the shade of a large ankor tree, a variety of the myrrh, that grows at an elevation of seven thousand feet above the sea, but yields no gum. Here, wrapt up in an Abyssinian tobe, which upon the first fall of the water I was to drop from my shoulders, I awaited the coming shower from above, for Walderheros had climbed into the tree, whilst some assistants lifted up to him the large jar which contained the water. The remedy, however, when it did come down, immediately laid me full length upon the earth, for what with the collapse of the system attendant upon the cold stage and the cold falling water, it certainly cut short the fever, but nearly at the expense of my life, for even when I recovered from the first shock, and was taken back to my bed, I was delirious for several hours after,—a circumstance that I have often had reason to be thankful for, had not been a very usual symptom of my disease.
After this experience, that white men required a very different medical treatment to the red Abyssinians (for in this manner Walderheros endeavoured to account for the failure of his hydropathic remedy), I was not asked again to submit to any more native means of cure for some time; as my recovery, however, was of the greatest importanceto me, I commenced a regular course of quinine and James’s Powder, and had it not been for a most disagreeable interruption in the quiet and retired life I was leading in Aliu Amba, I might, perhaps, have been soon restored to health.
On the tenth day after my last visit to Ankobar, the Negoos and the members of the Embassy having, in the meantime, left that city for Angolahlah, a message was brought to Miriam’s house for me to go immediately to the Governor of the town, who had just arrived from the Court on purpose to have me brought before him.
Feeling a little better than I had been for some time, and being curious to know what business the Governor could have with me, I followed his messenger, taking with me, as a present on being introduced, an old pocket telescope. It was fortunate that I recollected to do this, for on my giving it to him he was so highly pleased, that he told me, through an Islam Hadjji named Abdullah, that he was willing to serve me in any way he could in the very awkward position I now learned I was placed in, by the order he had received from the Negoos. For some reason or other, my presence in the kingdom had raised a jealous feeling somewhere, and, in consequence, a most arbitrary mandate, considering the then relations between Shoa and England, was issued, and I was directed to leave the country the very next day. Whilst we were speaking, two men were sent withWalderheros for my boxes, to be brought at once to the Governor’s house, previous to their being forwarded to Farree, where the Kafilah with which I had come up, and which was now on the eve of starting, afforded the opportunity of my proceeding to the sea-coast. Here was another practical proof of the value of the commercial treaty, and bitterly I commented, as may be supposed, upon the worthless parchment. I felt quite assured that it would be of no use applying to our Ambassador for redress, so considered it would be best to submit in peace, and made no objections, therefore, to my boxes being taken to the Governor’s house.
Not having made up my mind though, for all that, to leave the country, I determined, after I had left Tinta (the name of the Governor) to go and consult with a sincere friend of mine, an Edjow Galla named Sheik Tigh, who had shown himself possessed of the kindest disposition by his disinterested and patient attendance upon my sick bed during the short period I had resided in Aliu Amba. He was a Mahomedan mollum, or scribe, for his occupation was writing copies of the Koran, which he used to sell to the slave merchants who came from the more barbarous countries around Shoa. Either on account of the trifling sum that these manuscript Korans can be purchased for in Abyssinia, or the excessive neatness with which Amhara Mahomedans write Arabic compared with even Arabs themselves, these Abyssinian copies arehighly prized even along the sacred or eastern coast of the Red Sea, and in Jeddah will command an increased value of two hundred per cent. upon their original cost.
Sheik Tigh concurred immediately in my proposed plan, either of endeavouring to remain in Shoa by a personal request to be made to the Negoos; or of going away to Giddem, and from there to the court of Beroo Lobo, the Mahomedan chief of that portion of the Argobbah, or valley country that extends to the north of Efat, as far as the river Tahlahlac, one of the most northern tributaries of the Hawash. The state of my finances, however, I found would not admit of this latter alternative; for, excepting the thirteen dollars remaining of the Hy Soumaulee money, I had only seven dollars in the world.
It was at length determined amongst us, for Hadjji Abdullah had joined in our consultation, that I should take another present to Tinta, as a kind of bribe, and the real object of which Sheik Tigh was to explain to him. I accordingly packed up a damask table-cloth, and provided myself with three of the most favoured dollars I was possessed of, and thus armed, went again in the dusk of the evening to the house of the Governor. My offering was very quietly received and concealed, by which I perceived the business had been properly managed by Sheik Tigh, and that it was understood I was to have unmolested, three hours’ start of him the nextmorning, to get over the most difficult portion of the road to Angolahlah before he followed in pursuit; a little manœuvre necessary to keep up appearances with the Negoos; for although it would have been no very heinous offence to have permitted me the opportunity of appealing to the justice of Sahale Selassee, Tinta might have suffered for his generosity in permitting me to come to Angolahlah, when he had received orders to accompany me to Farree. Tinta, like most Abyssinians, was a really kind-hearted man, but his education as a courtier, and that in a despotic court, had taught him dissimulation and caution.
Walderheros, it may be supposed, was violently affected at the prospect of losing his father, mother, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins, all being, according to his account, rolled up in me. He often used to observe, he was my child; though he was (beautiful boy) at least ten years older than myself. He now protested he should never survive our cruel separation. If it had not been for that “kaffu” (wicked) Hawash, those “kaffu Adaloitsh,” (wicked Dankalli,) and that “kaffu bahr,” (wicked sea,) he swore that he would have followed me over the rest of the world. In this manner he went on talking during the whole of the evening, with many imprecatory bursts of “woi Negoos,” and “min Abat,” at the same time busying himself making preparations for our sanctioned escape next morning to Angolahlah, andwhat with cooking and expostulating with some imaginary evil destiny that pursued him, he kept me awake nearly the whole night.
As Hadjji Abdullah, after it was dark, had brought me his own mule, it was stabled for the night in my house, and long before cock-crow the next morning we were carefully descending in the dark the step-like road of rough stones which leads from the top of Aliu Amba into the direct road to Ankobar. We were obliged to be very cautious in our progress along the steep slippery bank, and the edges of deep muddy pools produced by the first showers of the rainy season, which had fallen the few days previously, and had not at all improved the condition of the road.
The sun had risen before we reached Ankobar. On this occasion it was unnecessary to go through that town; so having surmounted the long ridge in front, instead of continuing along it, we crossed directly over, leaving the little wooden cross and church of Goodis Gorgis (St. George) in its encircling grove of quolqual and wild fig-trees, on our left hand. The road we followed was exceedingly narrow, and fell very gradually in a prolonged sweep down the steep descent into the valley of the Airahra. Half way down is a broad terrace of considerable extent covered with immense boulders from the destruction of the ridge above, and which appears to be more rapidly denuded upon this face than upon the opposite one looking towards AliuAmba. On a mound of the detached rocks and soil in this situation is built a church, dedicated to “Abbo,” the father, the only one I have ever seen so situated except the meeting-houses of the Tabibe sect, who do not pay that respect to ancient superstitions that still influences the other Christians of Abyssinia. A sufficient reason, however, accounts for its low elevation.
At the commencement of the reign of the present Negoos, a great portion of the ancient grove of Abbo and its church still occupied the highest point of the ridge over which we had just come. The denuding operations of the conjointed actions of earthquakes and rainy seasons overcame every endeavour that was made to protect the sacred spot from being encroached upon, it having been one of the most ancient and most revered of the sacred edifices in Shoa. Annually large portions were precipitated into the valley of the Airahra; and ultimately the last portion of the walls of the church disappeared, after a violent convulsion of the earth, and a single line of trees, the remains of a once extensive grove, now marks its former site. The spot is still considered sacred, and so attached were the monks upon the establishment, to the ancient edifice, that, observing that the greater portion of the debris had fallen upon the terrace beneath, they determined to erect upon it a representative of the old church, although on solow an elevation compared with the numerous heights around.
This is, however, the only instance I know of a church of the Abyssinian Christians being so situated, for it is a particular feature of the worship in this country that all religious buildings should surmount “some earth o’ertopping mountain;” and to such an extent is this feeling carried, that sacred hills which have become lowered in consequence of the greater denudation of their summits, is a reason sometimes for changing the site of the church to some neighbouring hill that, from more favourable causes, has preserved its height undiminished. A striking instance of this change, and its assigned cause, is found in the circumstances connected with the erection of the new church of St. Michael, which stands upon a hill to the east of the Negoos’s residence, in the valley of the “Michael wans.” Here two groves are observed standing on hills near to each other, the more modern one being of much greater elevation than the other. Both are dedicated to the same saint, and on asking Walderheros why there should be two, he pointed out the difference in the height of the hills upon which they stood as a reason why the lower should be deserted, and preference given to the higher hill for the site of the “bate y Christian,” and the residence of the monks.
Looking upon these groves surrounding temples ofreligion, and serving as retreats for officiating priests, each of whom has his little cottage among the trees, it is impossible to help reflecting upon the changes in man’s history, recalled by observing such existing monuments of former feelings and religious prejudices. The question naturally suggested itself, what could have been the popular belief when the more ancient of the St. Michael’s groves was first planted; for a long period must have elapsed to have occasioned, by the disintegrating action of its vegetation, so much denudation of the hill it crowns, as to make it more than one hundred feet lower than the present frequented one; and originally it must have been the highest in the neighbourhood. I have observed other customs existing in Abyssinia that strongly reminded me of Druidism and of similar characteristic observances among the ancient Persians; and I certainly looked with some degree of interest upon a grove, that might once have been the scene of the celebration of religious ceremonies, of a very different character to those which distinguish the modern faith.
Although it was so early when we reached the church of Abbo, Walderheros proposed breakfasting. I accordingly dismounted, and after a gaze upwards at the largest tree I had seen since I left England, took my seat beneath its widely-extended branches, upon one of a number of small boulders which had rolled from the rocks above. A quantity of long strips of grilled mutton, was produced,and some teff bread, a large manuscript-like roll of which Walderheros carried tied up in his mekanet or girdle. This useful part of an Abyssinian dress is only worn by the men when engaged out of doors. It is one long piece of cotton cloth, about one cubit, or from the point of the elbow to the ends of the fingers, broad, and fifteen, twenty, or sometimes even thirty cubits long. A girdle similar to this was worn by the Jews. Sometimes in Abyssinia it is taken from the loins of a prisoner to secure his hands, exactly as it is said to have been done in Judea.
After breakfast we proceeded along the base of the large hill upon which Ankobar stands, the road winding around its south and west aspects. We then fell into the usual high road on the west of the town, which proceeds along the steep face of the valley, midway between its crest and the level of the stream below. We crossed, by gentle undulations of the road, several short projecting spurs, all of which seemed to be the productive farms of industrious individuals. Thatched residences of mud and sticks, with yellow stacks of grain, were perched upon their extremities, overlooking the sudden cliff-like termination of these subordinate ridges, cut by the action of the constantly running water of the Airahra.
Fording this river, we commenced the fatiguing ascent of the Tchakkah, and after little less than an hour’s trot were breathing ourselves at the “resting stone,” Koom Dingi. After a short halt,we continued our journey over the moor-like solitary fields that, unbroken by hedge, stone fence, or ditch, appeared in endless succession before us. But the reader must understand that, although the general appearance of the country is so flat, he is only reminded of it by the long level lines that bound the view on each side, for, generally speaking, the road lies in broad shallow water-worn channels, which, like hollow ways with banks ten or twelve feet high, have intersected in all directions this formerly undeviating level country. I always fancied that at one time it must have been the bottom of a deeply rolling sea, and what adds considerably to this impression is, the almost total absence of trees, and the bald, gray, stony, appearance of the stratum of light coloured porphyritic trachyte which overlies the whole country, and which looks as if it had only been raised from the waters a short time before. This super stratum of rock is very easily decomposed, and forms a fertile soil for the cultivation of wheat and barley, but its general appearance, unless covered with the crops, is quite the reverse.
About half way to Angolalah we crossed two or three of the earlier tributaries of the Barissa, which is a small river that collects the waters falling to the west of Tchakkah, and conducts them to the Abi or Nile of Bruce. All streams to the east of Tchakkah descend precipitously to join the Hawash. The Barissa derives its name from having been, previous to the reign of the present Negoos, the“boundary” between the Gallas and the Christian inhabitants of Shoa. It passes to the west of Debra Berhan, flowing towards the north, and joins the Jumma in the district of Marabetee. The Jumma also receives the Tcherkos river, or Lomee wans, which is now the western boundary of the kingdom of Shoa, the district intervening between it and the Barissa, a distance of about sixteen miles, having been annexed to his dominions within the last few years by Sahale Selassee. The Jumma, after receiving the Barissa, and other streams, of the kingdoms of Amhara and of Shoa, joins the Abi near where that river, after flowing to the south from Lake Dembea, turns suddenly to the west, and forms the southern border of the province of Gojam.
We arrived at Angolahlah before noon, and Walderheros took me to the house of a friend of his, named Karissa. The weather, although only the latter end of June, was dreadfully cold, and being very tired and ill, I preferred rolling myself immediately up in my bed-clothes, consisting of two Abyssinian tobes, which my servant had carried with him in a skin-bag, rather than sit up to eat of some hard parched corn which was set before me by one of the women of the house.
In the mean time, Walderheros went to the palace to announce my arrival, and to request an interview with the Negoos. It was a long time before he returned, and I began to think, that likeMr. Krapf’s servant at Farree, he might have been imprisoned for aiding me in coming to Angolalah without permission. In about two hours, however, he made his appearance, bearing on his head a large conical covered straw basket, which contained a flat loaf of excellent wheaten bread. With one hand he steadied this load in its elevated position, whilst in the other, he carried by a strong loop handle of rope, a round earthenware pot, the contents of which were as yet a secret to me. Across one shoulder was also slung an enormous bullock’s horn, the diameter of the base of which was not less than seven inches, full of an agreeable sweet wine, called “tedge,” made of honey, and not at all a bad beverage. I was astonished at the ease with which he seemed to have procured these provisions; and the visions of my Dankalli servant in Adal and the representation I had seen of the Egyptian god, Harpocrates, similarly burdened, recurred to my mind, as the abundance of the land I was in, was illustrated by the appearance of Walderheros on his return from the palace. Besides the refreshments that he bore himself, he was followed by a stream of people, two of them carrying a tressel for my bed, another an oxskin to throw over it, then came others with fire-wood, also two women with large jars of water, and the procession closed by four men bearing a small black tent of coarse woollen cloth, which was set up in a very short time, for my accommodation.
When I had taken possession of my new quarters, the tent was thronged for the rest of the day by curious or busy people, some bearing messages for Walderheros from the palace; others, making anxious inquiries as to my reasons for coming to Angolalah; and not a few were begging of me to intercede for them with the Negoos, to reinstate them into his good graces, which, for some dereliction of duty it seemed, they had lost; and now hoped that by my mediation their sins would be forgiven. Two superior officers of the household of the Negoos, also sat with me nearly the whole day, Waarkie, an Armenian, long resident in Shoa, and Sartwold the chief of the “affaroitsh,” or distributors of the rations to stranger guests. The former understood a little Arabic, and we managed to converse together very well. He told me, that instead of my being sent out of the kingdom, he was quite certain I should become a great favourite with the Negoos. The order sent for my removal from Aliu Amba, was occasioned by the ill-natured un-English representations of the officers of the Embassy who had told Waarkie himself, that I did not belong to their party, that they did not know who I was, and adding, to assist me still more, that I was very poor, and could give no presents to the Negoos. I felt very much hurt, and annoyed, at these unfair representations, and produced a letter which I had received from the Indian Government in Calcutta, addressed to theprinces in Africa, who were friendly disposed to England. This I had previously kept back from a feeling of delicacy towards our representative at the Court of Shoa, but now determined to forward it to the Negoos by Sartwold, who readily consented to carry it up to the palace, Walderheros accompanying him to bring me back the answer. Waarkie, who could not read the Persian character, in which the letter was written, went in search of some Islam visitor at Court, who would be able to translate it for the Negoos.
As evening now closed in, I retired to rest; sometime after which my servant returned with the letter, and a couple of lemons sent by the Negoos, with a message that I should be called on the morrow to an interview with him.
Long before it was light, I was awakened by loud shouts of “abiad,” “abiad,” raised at short intervals, and apparently at some distance. On applying to Walderheros for an explanation of this uproar, he made me understand with some difficulty, that it arose from the petitioners for justice, calling upon the Negoos to hear them. It appears that after a case has been heard in the lower courts, if they may be so called, held before the governors of the town in which the conflicting parties reside, if either complain of his decision, an appeal may be made to the king himself. A company of the friends of the dissatisfied assemble, in as great a number as the influence of the partyor the justice of the case can collect. These sometimes, so early as midnight, take up a position on a height overlooking the town, and opposite to that on which the palace stands. Half-a-mile, at least, intervenes between the two places. Here they keep up a continual shouting “abiad,” “abiad,” (justice,) until a messenger from the Negoos comes to know the nature of their complaint, and to introduce them into his presence. On this occasion, I did not understand sufficient of the language to learn the particulars of the case, but as the Negoos is the most easily accessible, the most patient listener, and the most upright judge that I ever heard praised by word of mouth, or read of among the most laudatory history of kings, I have no doubt that the cry of his people that awoke me this morning was duly attended to, the case investigated, and the strictest justice awarded.
The Dankalli may well style Sahale Selassee, “a fine balance of gold,” for even now, when thinking of his character, the most lively pictures recur to my mind of instances of his kindness and feeling for the happiness of his subjects, which I have witnessed myself. Excepting the cruelty, and dissimulation, practised towards the unfortunate tribes of Gallas who surround his dominions, and which he has been taught to consider from his childhood, to be praiseworthy acts, which will secure the approbation of God; excepting this, nothing in his character can, I think, be justlyassailed. The fears of his Christian, and the hopes of his Islam subjects, that he would renounce the faith in which he has been brought up, and profess Islamism, redounds considerably to his character as a reflecting man, and a proof of the really capacious mind he possesses; for none who are aware of the gross superstition and confusion most confused, of the tenets of the Greek Church as professed in Abyssinia, can feel surprised that a naturally sagacious mind, should refuse the trammels of absurdity and error, to embrace the reasonable simplicity of the profession of one true and only God, which is the real basis and great recommendation of the Mahomedan belief.
It is the false consolation of an easily-satisfied Christianity to believe, that the licentiousness, which an abuse of the Mahomedan religion most certainly encourages, is the chief inducement which converts so rapidly, whole states to the profession of the Islam faith. A little observation soon proves, that although the sensual indulgences it sanctions, and the promises contained in the Koran, enlist the worst passions of man in favour of its continuance, when once that religion has obtained a firm hold upon the opinion of a people; still, that these causes have but little influence in effecting a change from a previous belief.
Wherever a patriarchal, or even a feudal government exists, there the mass of the people are directed in their conduct, and in their ideas ofright and wrong, entirely by the leading minds that circumstances have made their superiors. The doctrine that “the king can do no wrong,” appears to be a traditional continuance of this blind confidence in the ruling powers which characterized the state of society in Europe, at an early date; and which is still, to this day, the universal principle of government in all native African states. In that Continent, sagacious and intelligent princes, concentrate the energies of extensive empires, but at their decease, revolutions occur to re-adjust the limits of power again, according to the capabilities of the various ambitious claimants that may spring up. The greatest minds obtain the largest dominion, and when these appear among the professors of superstitious religions, soon feel a contempt for the absurd pretensions and the moral falsehoods their superior mental powers instinctively detect. Too frequently, having no idea of a rational system of theology, but aware of the value of religion as an engine of state policy, they wisely profess and encourage the ancient faith. Let, however, a doctrine be preached that is more adapted to reason and common sense, and which promises equal security to the continuance of social order and of kingly rule: its professors in that case are always found to be received into the highest favour by wise and sagacious princes, who perceive in the new opinions upon an important subject, that satisfaction of the reason which the absurd representationsof superstitious religion have only disgusted or amused. Such princes converted to a rational belief, have but to promulgate their adhesion to be followed by the whole of their courtiers, who again impose it upon their dependants, from whom the process passes on to their slaves, and one universal obsequiousness characterizes the conversion of people so situated.
This was the principle that led whole states of Europe, in the earlier feudal ages, to be baptized together, and which, at the present time, is the chief cause of the fast progress of Mahomedanism in Africa. Princes of extraordinary powers of intellect are first converted, who, in the simple unembodied unity of the Deity perceive no absurdity, nor yet dare to deny. Atheism is a sin peculiarly of civilization, for the nearer man approaches barbarism the more predisposed he becomes to a belief in a Providence; and this, in fact, distinguishes him, in his most abject state, from the beasts of the field who defile the inanimate idols he in his ignorance bows down to and worships. The Christianity of Abyssinia is a religion spoiled by human intervention; it appears to be a faith too pure for the nature of the inhabitants, and they have accordingly disfigured it to reduce it to their condition. Abyssinians have, by their abuse of the revered name of the Redeemer of mankind, brought his religion into contempt; whilst the professors of Islamism respect Jesus as a prophet, and profess toworship the Deity he adored. Is it, therefore, to be wondered at, that princes of superior intellects should reject the former and adopt the latter faith, as we know to have been the case with the previously Christian King of Enarea, who, within the last few years, has professed the Mahomedan belief. Sahale Selassee, the monarch of Shoa, universally acknowledged to be the greatest of Abyssinian potentates, was on the verge of a similar repudiation of the religion of his predecessors, when the worthy and exemplary missionaries, Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf appeared in his country. I am too apt to feel the zealot, but every one must admit with me, that that important visit was not a human ordination, for Sahale Selassee’s conversion would have been the downfall of the Christian religion in Abyssinia. Even the political mission to Shoa, which has failed in its proposed objects, yet affords some consolation by supposing that the evidences of our wealth and power, demonstrated by the presents which were laid at his feet by our representative, will confirm him in his renewed attachment to our religion, which only requires his countenance, to contend successfully in Abyssinia against the encroachments of the Islam faith, until fresh efforts shall be made by the friends of the Gospel in this country, more firmly to establish the pure faith of Christ in thatbenightedland.
Among more savage tribes, again, Islamism has other recommendations, for the missionaries of thatreligion, the merchants from the sea-coast who journey in to the interior of Africa, are immeasurably more affluent than the chiefs whose territories they visit. Besides, the imposing effect of publicly praying, the apparent devotion of their many genuflections and prostrations, the splendid finery of their large rosaries, added to which, their great ostentation of wealth where personal security is assured, soon influence the poor, ignorant, and wondering natives. The Islam factor is confessedly the greatest man among them; and his manners are copied, and his creed adopted, by the operation of the same human feelings, which in England or France make alionor constitute a fashion, with this recommendation on the part of the savages, that their admiration is by far the most permanent.