CHAPTERXXI.
Spinning cotton.—​Of police force of Shoa.—​Mode of administering justice.—​Priest lawyers.—​Politics of Shoa.—​French intrigues.—​Different kinds of cotton.—​Process of cleaning it.—​Instruments used.—​Return from market.
Spinning cotton.—​Of police force of Shoa.—​Mode of administering justice.—​Priest lawyers.—​Politics of Shoa.—​French intrigues.—​Different kinds of cotton.—​Process of cleaning it.—​Instruments used.—​Return from market.
I laywatching the cotton-spinners some time, thinking upon the effect produced in the human form by occupation, as I noticed that the arms of the whole party were the most beautifully moulded I had ever seen. I could attribute this general characteristic of Abyssinian women, to no other cause than the action and exercise dependent upon spinning, which requires both arms to be in constant motion, without any heavy labour being imposed at the same time. The white fleecy cotton, reposing like a wreath of snow upon the bronze red skin of the hand and wrist, is gradually carried to its farthest extent one way, whilst drawing from it the long slender thread, the other hand conducts, in an opposite direction, the short thin reed tipped with a piece of ivory or horn that forms the reel, which spinning as it hangs, its effect upon the thread depends upon the slowness or quickness with which the cotton is drawn out. Continued gentle exercisein some light occupation, would lead to somewhat similar effects in forming a beautiful arm, and I recommend it to my countrywomen, whom I certainly thought of when I made the observation in Aliu Amba.
An unfortunate Arab, named Allee Chous, one of the discharged servants of the mission, now came in. He had that morning been robbed of sixty-three ahmulahs, the last money he had in the world, and although he hoped to discover the thief, had nothing with which to purchase his next week’s provision in the market. I understood the statement to be an appeal for assistance, and as I felt some sympathy for his situation, I gave him the last two salt-pieces I had in the house. Tinta coming in soon after, I made some inquiries respecting the police of Shoa, and learned that there was a regular body of men employed as thief-takers, calledLabarshoitsh, who have anullica, or superior, and form a portion of the royal household. They are agents of the King’s commands alone, and it is not until directions have been given by him that they proceed to apprehend culprits. Thieves must therefore have been denounced by name before aLabarshiis sent upon his errand. The Negoos refuses to entertain charges where the accused parties are unknown, on the same plea that, according to Abyssinian ideas, the devil will be repulsed at the last day by our Saviour; on his demand for justice, the monks say he will be asked the names of the souls that belong to him, which,not being able to give, Jesus will then answer, “Begone from hence, for I know none of thine.â€
Most cases of theft, however, are not brought before the Negoos at all, but before the governors of the towns in which the crime has occurred, a summary kind of conviction takes place, the stolen articles being returned to the owner, and the property of the thief confiscated, who, if dissatisfied, can make an appeal to the Negoos; but in that case he must have very good evidence of innocence, or he will, in addition to the loss of his property, receive a severe flogging, commonly inflicted by the Labarshi, at the gate of the inner court of the palace, where the Negoos, if he pleases, may see the punishment.
In cases of suspicion or doubtful guilt, singularly enough, the Shoans follow certain instructions which they say are contained in the epistles of St. Paul, and point more particularly to that passage in the sixth chapter of Hebrews, where it is said, “An oath for confirmation is the end of all strife.†It is, therefore, customary for the accuser and the accused to present themselves at a church, where before a priest mutual oaths are required to be taken; the former swearing to the loss of his property, the latter that the crime laid to his charge is unfounded, and there, unless further evidence is obtained, the matter ends. Should the accused refuse to purge himself in this manner of the accusation, it is considered as a confession of guilt, and the priest then acts as mediator, and generallyreceiving a small fine for the use of the Church from the delinquent, he is made the agent to restore the stolen property to the rightful owner, and the affair is quietly hushed up amongst them.
Originally, I believe European lawyers were priests, and, perhaps, in this portion of the duties of the clergy in Abyssinia, we have at the present day, law practice as it existed amongst our ancestors in an early state of society. In making wills, it may be also observed, where a number of sons are left behind, the monks in Shoa are the only executors, three of them being closeted with the dying father, receive his commands, and after the celebration of thetescar, or funeral feast of the deceased, they then assemble the children, and divide what property is left, according to the verbal directions of the testator, and from their allotment there is no appeal, even if they should disinherit, with a single ahmulah, the son that has been supposed to have been the greatest favourite with the father.
Tinta had made the visit to-day, to ask me if I would accompany him in the evening to visit Abdoanarch, the new governor, who had expressed a wish that I should call upon him. I excused myself upon the plea of ill-health; for I did not choose that it should be supposed because I was not upon good terms with the Embassy, that I was anxious to be friendly with those who avowed open hostility to the English, and all white men. Tinta naturally disliked the new governor, so soon agreedwith me that he was a cunning old fox, and that it was as well to have as little to do with him as possible, “for,†said he, “he is older than you, and cleverer than I am, and he will make us,missala oolet hiyahoitsh, like two donkies, carry his grain to market.†Abdoanarch, although crafty, was not clever, and his first act as governor rather startled Sahale Selassee, for he released all the market people from paying the usual toll, and he ought to have known that the monarch did not bestow Aliu Amba upon him, for the purpose of purchasing popularity among some very restless subjects, the Mahomedans of Efat. No apparent disapprobation, however, was evinced at this, and the smiling Abdoanarch, proud in his place of honour by the side of the King, little suspected how admirably he was fooled to the top of his bent, like many others of far superior education were by the master mind that managed, like those of children, the shallow intellects that were politically opposed to him.
The only foreigner in Shoa, whilst I was there, able to compete with Sahale Selassee, was the Frenchman, M. Rochet d’Hericourt; him the King liked, and yet feared, but I am afraid he will now have secured to himself a place high in the royal confidence, whilst his daring schemes, suited exactly to the genius of Sahale Selassee, will lead, I am convinced, to an unlocked for revolution in the political relations of the various petty kingdoms into which Abyssinia is at present divided. OurGovernment has no idea of the ability which is now directing French intrigues in one of the richest countries upon the face of the earth, and which can yield within its own limits every valuable product of the temperate and torrid zone; in that country, to the northern limits of which the gold searching expeditions of Mahomed Allee, successful beyond all European knowledge, have and are continuing daily to add to his treasury, whilst to the south, the spices and rich wares of the market of Zanzibar are now competing with the similar productions of our East Indian possessions. Our Government will see, too late, the Phœnician empire again established in the north of Africa, supplied by its own inland provinces, with all those luxuries, for which, at present, Europe is dependent upon our possessions in Asia. At the same time, the Americans are successfully nursing on the Eastern coast a rival market, where their vessels can be supplied almost upon their own terms, with those products which, until the last twenty years, were only to be obtained in English or Dutch settlements in the East Indies. The policy of the talented Zaid Zaid, Imaum of Muscat and of Zanzibar, towards us is apparently the most friendly; but it is notorious, that in every indirect manner he can, he favours more highly the interests of the United States.
Walderheros returning from market, brought a large bag of cotton, around which the girls allthronged to pass judgment upon his purchase. Tufts of the down-embedded seed were taken out, and pulled to pieces, handsful were extended in the light, and after a deal of examination it was decided “that he might have made a better bargain, had he taken more trouble about it.†The cotton was good, but slightly discoloured, which was attributed to the late rainy weather, as they asserted its yellowish tint was produced by moisture, and that it had been allowed to remain too long upon the tree. Specimens of two very different kinds of cotton were taken out and shown to me, one very frizzly, with short fibre, was calledEfatee tut, Efat cotton; the other, with a longer fibre, and more like unspun silk, was calledGondaree tut, Gondar cotton, and is by far the most superior, and none known to America or Europe equals it in excellence.
Cotton is brought to Aliu Amba, chiefly from the country around Farree, and appears to flourish best at an elevation of between three or four thousand feet above the level of the sea. This is in latitude 10° north. Some small plantations may be found, even so high up the scarp of the Abyssinian table-land as six thousand feet, but these are not productive, and yield very indifferent cotton. The young plants require to be from three to four years old, before they bear available crops of pods. During this time, the cotton nurseries are cultivated with jowarhee, though I should thinknot upon any sound principle of husbandry, for the ripening of the tall grain must interfere with the full development of the lowly shrub, which is seldom more than three or four feet high. A cotton plantation reminded me very much of the appearance of the vineyard in the south of Europe, although the little snowball-like tufts of the burst pods, sprinkle the dark green foliage with numerous white spots.
My last ahmulahs having been expended, I had to send Walderheros to market again with a dollar, whilst I directed my attention, as all other visitors had departed, to the party now busily employed cleaning cotton, for as soon as the supply was brought from the market, Wallata Gabriel and her sisters, had set about preparing it for spinning. Flat stones, something larger than bricks, with a smooth upper surface, were placed upon the ground, my three factory girls kneeling down before them, each with an iron rod in her hands, about twelve inches long, and three quarters of an inch thick in the middle, and tapering to the extremities. This instrument is called amedamager; and with it a small quantity of seeded tufts of cotton, being laid upon the near end of the stone, is rolled out; the seeds, by the pressure being forced before the medamager, until they fall over the farther extremity of the stone. By this simple, but very effectual process a large portion of the cotton was soon in a state fit to be farther cleaned from dustand other extraneous matter, and which is the next part of the process it has to be submitted to before it is in a fit condition to be spun into thread.
The instrument employed for this purpose is calledduggar, and is a large bow, the extremities of which are connected by a strong line of catgut. The cotton to be operated upon is placed in a clean soft hide spread upon the floor, whilst a woman, kneeling, holds the bow in the left hand over the cotton, so that the string is just high enough to catch the topmost fibres, whilst with the other hand, in which she holds the smooth curved neck of a gourd-shell, she continually keeps twanging away, each vibration of the string scattering and throwing up quantities of the lighter filaments, whilst all heavier matter sinks, as if in a fluid, to the bottom. The finer portions, upon the summit of the heap, as it appears satisfactory, is taken off, and placed carefully in a large covered basket made of mat, and a fresh supply of the unclean cotton is added to the heap in the ox skin, when the twanging process goes on again for a short time longer until another interval marks the removal of more of the approved material into the aforesaid covered receptacle. An instrument, exactly the same as theduggar, is used in England by hat-makers, to clean wool and fur for hats.
After the cotton has been cleansed in this manner, the ox skin is removed, and the dirtand dust resulting from the operation thrown away. The beautifully white dressed material is then taken out of the basket and piped, by portions being twined around the medamager, which being withdrawn, leaves a twisted lock. These, in numbers of six or seven, are folded together into a single knot, and laid by in a clean skin bag, until they are required for spinning into thread.
Long before Walderheros made his appearance on his return from the market, his voice was heard in the narrow lane that led from my house. He always made a practice of thus intimating his approach by conversing in a loud tone with any of the neighbours who might happen to be looking over the top of their inclosure, to examine the passers by in the hollow way beneath. Talking as he came along, he never concluded until after he had entered the wicket of my garden, and as he closed it behind him, a benediction, that might have been heard to the market-place, generally finished these conversations with his friends, just in time to begin another with me before he had entered the house.
As he now came in he took down from his shoulder the large goat skin bag, which formed the elegant purse for about ten pounds weight of salt, the small change for the dollar he had been nearly two hours employed in getting. One by one he arranged the ahmulahs in a long row, like a lot of thin, narrow bricks, at my feet, that I might sufficiently admire their bulky character, and compliment himupon the excellent choice he had displayed in their selection.
His labours for the day closed with this, and the sun being nearly on the point of setting, the cotton spinners laid aside their reels. The father of Wallata Gabriel, Goodaloo, and Walder-Yoannes, all came in from the market together, and fast or no fast, young and old, on my proposal that they should taste some of my home brewed ale, a large gambo was broached, and soon disappeared, whilst they certainly did confine themselves to a meal of bread and cayennewort, in which, as usual, a fowl had been boiled to rags, although Wallata Gabriel, out of a tender regard for the conscience of her religious old father, had fished up the bones with a spoon, that he might suppose its rich consistence depended only upon a thickening of meal.