CHAPTERXII.
Study of Amharic.—Remarks upon wet season in Abyssinia.—Sad prospect of recovery.—Accident to Walderheros.—Books in the Amharic language.—Messages from the Negoos.—Inconvenience of living with Miriam.—Require a house.—Expenditure.—Choosing a residence.
Study of Amharic.—Remarks upon wet season in Abyssinia.—Sad prospect of recovery.—Accident to Walderheros.—Books in the Amharic language.—Messages from the Negoos.—Inconvenience of living with Miriam.—Require a house.—Expenditure.—Choosing a residence.
Forseveral days I continued to apply closely to the study of the Amharic language. My fever paroxysms on alternate days, became gradually less violent, and my simple fare and regular habits whilst living in Aliu Amba, seemed to promise the re-establishment of my health. The only thing I dreaded was the continual wet weather, which had now set in decidedly.
In Shoa the rains commence in the month of June, Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf say about the 21st, and from the long residence of those gentlemen in Abyssinia, they must be considered very good authority. This year, the first rain that fell was on the 7th of July, but this was an extraordinary irregularity, for which the inhabitants could only account by referring it to the presence of the “Gypt sowitsh;” as subsequently, when it came down in greater quantities than they desired, andcontinued for a still more extraordinary long season. This evil was also charged to their unlucky visitors, many old monks having denounced the appearance of the white men as being the threatening harbinger of some coming evil.
On making some inquiries respecting the commencement of the rainy season, Walderheros and others, whom I questioned, stated the first day was generally considered to be St. Michael’s-day, the eighteenth of June, when the King distributes the yearly clothing to his courtiers and slaves. This custom may, in some measure, be determined by the commencement of the rains, and in that case the observation of the natives differs but slightly from those of the English missionaries.
A severe thunder storm, attended by two distinct shocks of an earthquake, at an interval of a few seconds, ushered in the first heavy fall of rain. No very serious consequences resulted; a few rocks were detached from the heights above, blocking up the narrow road to Ankobar in some places, and in others, ploughing deep channels through the young green crops. A few days previously to this convulsion, the town of Ankobar, and the ridge on each side of it, had been enveloped in clouds, that hung low down the precipitous cliffs like immensely large festooned curtains, which were now raised, and again lowered, as the morning, mid-day, or afternoon sun acted differently upon the temperature of the atmosphere.
An unpleasant circumstance was communicated to me very feelingly during the storm on this occasion. The straw roof of Miriam’s house was a great resort of lizards, and their long serpentine burrows in the thatch were so many irrigating canals, all of which, for my sins, I suppose, according to Abyssinian ideas of judgment, terminated over my bed-place, and I found that unless something was done to remedy this evil, either by altering my course of life, or by applying more straw to the roof, I must drag out the remainder of my life in a shower-bath. As to getting well of an ague under such circumstances, even my sanguine disposition gave up the idea, and Walderheros, whose fortune at court depended upon my health being established, was shockingly excited at this sad prospect of recovery, and was up and looking into the matter immediately after the brief thunder-storm had ceased.
The lowness of the walls facilitated his examination, and stepping from the ground he essayed to mount the roof, but the very next moment I saw his black naked leg thrust quite through the frail stick construction; filling the whole place with decayed thatch and dirt, besides threatening my ribs beneath the hanging foot, with no gentle application of his heel, as he convulsively, but vainly endeavoured to extricate himself. Fortunately, a straw-band, which in his agony he had seized and held on by as a centre of support, broke with the violence ofthe struggles he made to escape, and he was again tumbled backwards out of the hole, head and neck over on to the ground, quite as suddenly and as expeditiously as he had before fallen into the dilemma. Confounding his zeal, and that of all such injudicious friends, I was in no humour to laugh when he came in, covered with mud and broken bits of straw, as if he had been tarred and feathered; whilst the shouts and jeers of all the boys of the neighbourhood, and Miriam’s high displeasure, was all the return he got for the readiness he shewed to risk in my service, his very heavy carcase upon a rotten roof. An ahmulah was the estimate of the damage done: Walderheros’ procuring for that sum straw sufficient to thatch the whole roof afresh, and before night, such was his dexterity, and that of some of the neighbours who good-naturedly came forward to assist him, the work was finished, and the house several ahmulahs better for comfort, considering the season, than previously to the accident.
A long coarse grass, called “cimbyllal,” three or four feet long, which grows chiefly in what is called, “Wana daggan middre,” that is land situated between the “colla” or low land, and the “daggan,” or elevated table land, is chiefly used in thatching Abyssinian houses. Straw is too valuable as fodder, to be so employed, even if its broken and bruised condition after the grain has been thrashed out, in the usual manner, by the feetof oxen, admitted of its being so used. The cimbyllal grass is cultivated in inferior soils, where grain will not grow; but this convenience, I should suppose, is not a sufficient recommendation for its introduction into England, as an economical substitute for straw for the purposes of thatching cottages or littering cattle.
For some days I continued closely at my studies, having procured, through the kindness of Dr. Roth, some Amharic school-books, published by the Church Missionary Society, and which were compiled by the industry and the very creditable zeal of the Rev. Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf, in the discharge of their duties as missionaries of the Gospel, and as agents for the diffusion of Christian civilization. A geography which had been written by the former gentleman in the Amharic language, was particularly useful to me in acquiring a knowledge of the meaning of many words, which would otherwise have been a difficult business with a native teacher, who knew nothing of English, and but very little Arabic; although much more, certainly, of the latter, than myself. The Amharic signification of Arab words familiar to Sheik Tigh, I soon learnt, and other names of visible objects were as readily gained, but words expressive of abstruse qualities I only acquired by reading with him the geography; descriptive terms of well-known subjects, conveying by a little exercise of mind, the required words for other purposes ofapplication. With this work I therefore got on very well, for one great advantage was, the interest my teacher took in the subject, which, of all others, next to sacred writings, is most calculated to excite the attention of an active but ignorant mind. Long after Sheik Tigh had given up his duty of attending me, when he returned again to Aliu Amba from Bulga, he reminded me of my promise to bestow upon him my geographical lesson-book, and I was pleased to see with what reverence he received, and the care with which he prevented it from receiving any injury, by making a strong leathern case, in which he deposited it when not in use.
This was not the only instance, I observed, of the desire on the part of the people of Shoa, both Christians and Mahomedans, to possess the Amharic translations published by the Church Missionary Society. The Christians, of course, generally asked for the books of Moses, and of the four Evangelists. Tinta, in return for some trifling memolagee, or gift, desired me to procure him both these works, but before I could oblige him, an opportunity offered, of purchasing the latter in the market. He immediately bought it, and the next time he called upon me, one of his servants carried the purchase before him in triumph, and I was desired to get him a geography instead of the book he had procured himself.
Tinta, in his character as my “balderabah,”frequently brought me messages from the Negoos, sometimes asking about my health, or wishing to know if I required anything, “for was not Sahale Selassee my father?” to supply me with whatever I wanted in his country. After one of these visits, Walderheros put me in mind, that a house of my own would be very desirable. A very decent one was vacant in the town, and the owner had offered to sell it to me for five dollars, but not having any to spare, I was obliged to decline purchasing it. Walderheros’ suggestion, that I should ask the Negoos to give me one, was a very sensible idea, as I certainly felt I should be much more comfortable in a house I could call my own, without interfering with the ways and the convenience of others. Miriam was particularly anxious that I should make myself as much “at home” with her, as possible; still I found, that Walderheros and myself occupied the whole house, to the exclusion of her and her two children. For the accommodation thus afforded me, I paid a rent treble the amount of what she would have received from any one else; three ahmulahs a-week is considered a most extravagant price for lodgings in Shoa, and I gave Miriam two dollars a month, being ten ahmulahs a-week. Unfortunately for me, Lieut. Barker had resided in the same house nearly four months, and having always had a plentiful supply of cash, I could see my economical housekeeping greatly disappointed the expectation of Miriam’sfriends, who, on my taking up my quarters in her house had congratulated her on the favour of Allah, which was so evidently shown to her by another “Gypt” coming to reside with her.
The poor woman herself, however, was very thankful for the few salt pieces I could offer her weekly, and being sensible that it was only because I had not more to give, she never annoyed me with hints of disappointed expectations, or invidious comparisons with the habits of my predecessor; although others, who had no business to expect anything from me, were much less delicate in their allusions to the liberality of the “Kapitan,” who, to judge by the kind inquiries respecting him, made by male and female, old and young, seemed to have been a universal favourite among the inhabitants of Aliu Amba.
Walderheros, whose greatest weakness was to be considered the servant of a most powerful and influential master, felt any sneers at my poverty a great deal more acutely than myself, and which, after all, he generally excited himself, by his assumption of importance, and the affectation of swearing by my name, “Ahkeem e moot,” “may the doctor die,” if a thing was not so and so, as if I had been a magnate of the land; for besides swearing by the life of the Negoos upon all important matters, the dependents of Abyssinian noblemen are accustomed, in private life, or on trivial occasions, to asseverate the truth of anything by similarimprecations upon the lives of their masters. This practice has not a bad effect upon a listening stranger, being a very pleasing characteristic of the natural affection that ought to exist between master and servant.
Several affronts that Walderheros had received about my economy, and the small establishment I kept up, determined him at length to put it to Tinta himself, if such a scandalous little place I lived in was fit for a friend of the Negoos, and as I supported this expostulation by a direct request to have a proper domicile appointed for me during my stay in Shoa, my worthy balderabah undertook to see the Negoos next day about the matter. This was so far satisfactory to Walderheros, who could now talk about nothing else but my new house, and a large garden which was to be attached to it, and where, according to his account, teff grass, jowarhee, and cayenne pepper plants would all flourish most advantageously, especially as regarded my expenditure. According to his account, there could be no question about the success of my housekeeping. Everything was propitious, and he amused me by the manner in which he used to endeavour to convince me how comfortable we should be. He had a wife, and he had a slave girl, caught by himself on some Galla expedition; besides these, I was to buy a donkey, and then there was himself, all of whom were to work like horses, and save methree ahmulahs a-week, about seven-pence halfpenny, and, in fact, my whole expenditure, by his making out, was to be a dollar a-month, one-half for his wages during that time, and the remainder for the purchase of poultry and sheep.
Tinta, in two or three days, brought a reply from the Negoos, that I was to look out what house would suit me, and if I were well enough to visit him at Ankobar, where he was coming to from Angolahlah, in the course of the week, he would then give the necessary directions to put me in possession of my choice.
Night and morning we were now to be seen, Walderheros and myself, slowly walking along the narrow confined lanes in search of a house that would suit us. I leaning upon him on one hand, and in the other, to assist in supporting my weakened frame, I carried a slender rod, about seven feet long, called a “zank,” in common use, as an aid when walking, by the people of Shoa. We visited every vacant house in the town to examine their condition and character, and occupied ourselves entirely by suggesting alterations and repairs, or devising sundry projects of domestic comfort, in connexion with the expected grant by the Negoos of the one which I should prefer. For five or six days we thus amused ourselves, and when the eve of the day came on which I was to see the Negoos at Ankobar, we were as far from having come to a decisive choice, as upon the first day we commencedthe search. Some were too old, some stood in a crowded neighbourhood, the repairs of others would have required an outlay of five or six dollars, here the thatch was nearly all gone, and there the garden was too small, and the last was worse than all, for, by a curious accident, the roof settled down on the top of us as we entered, the wattled wall on the outside giving way as we pushed open the dilapidated door to get in. There was not one, in fact, that I could fix my mind upon, and Walderheros being equally difficult to please, we might have continued a long time without coming to a decision, had not the next day’s visit to the Negoos rendered it necessary to fix upon some one, that I might be prepared to answer the Negoos’s usual question, “What is it you desire?” in return for the memolagee or offering I had prepared for his acceptance, and which, as it was of a peculiar kind, it shall be treated of in the next chapter.