CHAPTERXXIII.
Wallata Gabriel dismissed.—Reinstated.—Comparison of different races of man.—Of human varieties.—Of the process of brewing.—Abyssinian ale.—Ingredients.—The horn of plenty.
Wallata Gabriel dismissed.—Reinstated.—Comparison of different races of man.—Of human varieties.—Of the process of brewing.—Abyssinian ale.—Ingredients.—The horn of plenty.
August 14th.—Wallata Gabriel was a very good housekeeper, but unfortunately, like most other young women in Shoa, and, I believe, in all Abyssinia, she had a great many followers. Whenever Walderheros and I walked out, some one or other would always be manœuvring to get out of the house unobserved on our return; and although I was rather suspicious of some of her lovers making free with what little property I had, still I had as yet never missed anything. I had frequently reminded Walderheros of this weakness in his wife, but he always, in reply, appealed to me if she was not a good servant, although, he added, that it was for my convenience that he recognised her as his wife, and would previously have divorced her, only he thought that together they were so well adapted to manage my domestic affairs, that he could not do better than keep her. Coming in rather inopportunely this afternoon, after a long walk round the town, I could do nothing else butturn her away at once; whilst Walderheros expostulated with her paramour, among other severe things, asking him if he were not ashamed to intrude in such a manner when theballa bait(the master of the house) was not at home.
About an hour after I had dismissed Wallata Gabriel, an old lady, a relation of Walderheros, made her appearance, bringing some of the sweetly-scented herb calledErr-guftah, as a memolagee. On requesting to know what she required, a long apologizing palliating intercession, of no ordinary character, was made for my delinquent housekeeper. She attributed my severity, she said, entirely to my not knowing Abyssinian customs, and turning to Walderheros, who sat on the raised rim of the hearth, stirring up the dry ashes with a stick, she upbraided him for not raising his voice in the behalf of his lawful wife. I was determined she should not return, and was dismissing the mediatrix with a positive refusal, when Walderheros looked at me with a most grievous expression of countenance, and lifted up the top of the straw bread-basket, to intimate, by its empty condition, how badly we should be off for dinner if I persisted in not recalling his wife. I could not help smiling, and the old lady, seeing me relent, put her head out of the door, and called out “Wallata Gabriel!” two or three times. Thefair penitentvery soon appeared, for she had been sitting in the lane all the time, and came tripping in,laughing and looking quite happy at being reinstated, and without the least trace of sorrow or contrition in her countenance.
This apparent lack of morality amongst the Shoans, like their Church history, is quite beyond my understanding. Yet even as respects this, a person educated in the more correct principles of what is considered to constitute social happiness, does not perceive in Shoa that violence done to propriety, which similar conduct in many of the southern states in Europe is apt to excite. The loose habits and indiscriminate intrigue, which displeased me when I witnessed it among the inhabitants of various countries situated upon the northern shores of the Mediterranean, only occasioned a smile when I observed it in Abyssinia. Among the former it was the pretension and affectation of virtue that made their sins stand in bolder comparison as vices, than a somewhat similar course of conduct among the simple, good-natured inhabitants of the latter country, who have no public opinion to propitiate, or, on the other hand, to control them, and whose naturally yielding disposition renders them too prone to indulgence; where also, let it be recollected, religion applies no curb, for the priests themselves in Shoa have had the decency to cease preaching that, which they never pretend to practise.
I was not many weeks upon the banks of the Ganges, and had not many opportunities ofobserving the native population of India, but the impression upon my mind of the moral character of the people generally of that country, apart from their particular worship, is, that the Indians, especially the women, possess in a great degree that moral principle, that delicacy of the mind, which is essentially the basis of that high sense of honour and personal respect, which constitute female chastity. I was enabled to draw, by my visit to India, a very interesting contrast between the women of that country and those of Shoa. Let me compare two extreme specimens, which will illustrate more broadly that which I wish to establish; that important differences in the constitution of the mind are the primary causes of those varieties in human nature; but which have been previously determined by differences in the features and form. This comparison will assist me, as truth, I think, is sometimes strikingly demonstrated by widely different contrasts; the paradox surprises and amuses the mind, and its effect in consequence is more permanent.
We will first, however, cursorily allude to the physical differences between the Indian girl and the Abyssinian, as a kind of introduction to their habits. The former is tall, thin, long-waisted, with an angular configuration of form, her features regular, sharply defined, bright and placid. She is a Circassian with a dark skin. Turn to theAbyssinian beauty, her eyes smile uncontrollably as you look. Her figure is short, plump, and roundly formed, with small, but full voluptuous features, that appear blended together with an infantile expression.
The minds of both are uneducated and natural: in this circumstance of their character, fortunately for the effect of the comparison, they may be supposed to be alike. But are their dispositions or conduct the same? How very different. The Indian girl has considerable personal vanity, is fond of ornaments and show, and seeks to attract attention by rich clothes, or studied graces. Even in their national attitudinizing, and the alluring nautch, repose and quiet seem to distinguish her from the laughing, romping, dress-neglecting Abyssinian, who, to attract notice, affects the child, and endeavours to please by artlessness and simplicity. As lovers, the Indian girl capriciously selects one lord, but the Abyssinian would consider this to be petty treason against nature, and a crying sin; she always loves the nearest, and whilst the eyes of that one are upon her, is reluctantly constant, but considers all engagements quite at end by absence, however short. Our coquettes, tall girls, with thin lips and cold sparkling eyes, always remind me of the Indian beauty, whilst our laughter-loving romps, even in their features and form, seem to belong to the Abyssinian mould, in some measure demonstratingthe solution of the difficult problem, of accounting for the origin of those differences in the several varieties into which ethnologists have divided mankind. Among our own acquaintances, under external circumstances, exactly alike, nature produces by the mysterious agency of mental endowments, the possible mothers of families of man, which, under different circumstances of situation and of social education, would ultimately present two nations as distinct in every phenomenon of external appearance as are the most opposed specimens of the Circassian or the negro type.
The Shoans are certainly not a virtuous people, according to our ideas, and if we are to judge them by the standard of our moral code; but I positively deny that they are an immodest people, except among those where the dehumanizing influence of Mahomedanism, by degrading woman to the condition of a slave, has engendered the disgusting sensuality which characterizes the professors of that religion, and even these in Abyssinia are as superior as possible in this respect to the Mahomedans of Arabia and Persia. My opinion as to the modesty of the Shoan women may not perhaps be sufficiently understood, to be considered correct; but it was formed by observing the freedom from all restraint which they appear to enjoy in their country and among their families. This implies some confidence on the part of the men, and a woman must be modest to the extent that society requires,to command such a mark of deference and respect from the opposite sex.
I have seen sufficient, indeed, to convince me that the youth of Abyssinia, males and females, whilst influenced by the feelings natural to that age, are diffident, confiding, and good-natured, and however they may become altered by the experience of increasing years, and the education of after life, these moral principles still prevail, and give a favourable inclination to the practice of virtue and justice, that renders their social condition productive of much happiness to themselves, and affords some pleasure to the mind, that contemplates their character and condition, uninfluenced by the bias derived from the moral discipline of a very differently constituted community.
August 15th.—Being unable to go much abroad to extend my acquaintance with the habits and manners of the Shoans, I was particularly desirous that my establishment should be entirely conducted upon the principles of Abyssinian domestic economy. As this exactly suited the inclination of Walderheros, and as it did not matter to Goodaloo in what way things were managed, so that he got a large roll of teff bread in a morning to wrap up in his mekanet when he went to cut fuel, and his supper in the evening when he re turned, the proposal met with universal approbation from the members of my household, and my wishes were attended to in every particular.
Among other employments that occupied Walderheros and his wife two or three days every fortnight, was that of brewing, which was no trifling affair, as a fresh jar of ale, holding at least four gallons, was broached every day. The process is simple enough as performed in Shoa, and instead of being obliged to stand some time after it is made, five or six days is the time that is required to ripen and fine the beverage, which, if made well, is agreeable and very strong, with a slight acidity, that reminded me of the oldest ale I had ever drunk in England.
The ingredients are various, sometimes wheat or barley, or jowarhee grain, but in the kolla or low countries the latter is preferred, and as I also found some useful medical effects resulting from its use, my ale most frequently was made from this grain. The jowarhee is the durra of the Arabs, and is largely grown in India, where I think English residents might, by following the Abyssinian method, always have home-brewed ale in their houses.
When barley is employed for the purpose of brewing, it is first well dried in the sun, and afterwards broken in a mortar to divest it in some measure from the coarse outer skin, and which is separated by the usual process of fining through a grass made sieve. The prepared grain is then placed in a large earthenware saucer, at least two feet in diameter, and in the centre about six inches deep. This being raised upon three supports overa low fire, an attendant keeps stirring the contents, using for this purpose the small reaping hook of the country, the convex curve of which scrapes the barley from the bottom of the saucer, and prevents its burning. Whilst this is going on, another servant washes the jars intended to receive the ale, and which, after being well rinsed out, are fumigated by a few leaves of the bittergaishoplant, placed upon a little lighted charcoal, on a broken piece of earthenware, and is introduced beneath the mouth of the vessel, which is held over it to receive the ascending smoke.
Gaishoare the leaves of a species ofRhamnusindigenous to Shoa, for besides being regularly cultivated in favourable situations between six to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, I have also found it growing wild at the base of the hill of Kundi, above the Tabeeb monastery, in that neighbourhood. These leaves are serrated, and of the form and size of bay leaves, only of a lighter green. When used, after being dried in the sun, they are pulverized in a mortar until a very fine powder of an intensely but not permanent bitter is produced. It is then ready for the purposes required, which are similar to those of hops and gentian in brewing our beer.
After the barley has been well roasted, it is taken out of the pan and ground into a coarse meal, which, after being slightly wetted with water, is again exposed to the action of heat in the samemanner as before, until it has become thoroughly scorched; being kept the whole time well stirred to prevent its burning. During this process, a small jar containing a thin acid mixture of flour and water, calledwahaka, or leaven, to which the powderedgaishohas been previously added, has been standing to infuse in the warm wood ashes. The meal being now removed from the fire, is put into another jar, and sufficient water being added to make it into a paste, thewahakais also added, and the mixture remains for the rest of the day. On the morrow, the whole contents of the lesser jar are transferred into one much larger, capable of holding at least thirty gallons of water, and which is now brought and poured by successive jarsfull into it until full. This is allowed to stand another day, when the surface, showing evidences of a certain point in the process of fermentation having been attained, the whole is then decanted, and strained through a large straw funnel into a number of lesser jars, each of which contains from four to five gallons. These are carefully stoppered by large cakes of a dirty mixture of the refuse of the strainings of the large jar and of clay, and which are plastered over the mouths of the jars. In about three days the ale is ready for use, and if made properly, is most excellent; bright, sparkling, and potent, it reminded me, by a slight acidity, of the best October of England. After nine or ten days, Abyssinian ale gets too sour to be a pleasantdraught, which I attribute to the imperfect covering afforded by the clay plasters which close the jars in which it is contained.
When jowarhee, or durra is used, the grain, after being reduced to a fine meal, is made into a paste, or rather thin batter, with thewahaka. After standing one day and night, it is then made into thin cakes, as in the usual manner of baking teff bread. These cakes are afterwards broken up and placed in the large jar, the gaisho and water being added exactly as in the process where barley is employed, and when fermentation has somewhat progressed, the wort is in the same manner strained and decanted into lesser jars.
There is a red variety of jowarhee, or millet, calledtallangelargely cultivated in Shoa for brewing the tallah alone, as it is considered to produce the best description of the beverage. It is said to be injurious to man eaten in the form ofnuffrau, or bread, although the grain is given to cattle for food. This certainly makes very fine ale, and should the experiment of making jowarhee beer succeed in the East, where I hope it will be tried, it will be very easy to procure sometallangefor seed from Abyssinia, should the plant not exist, as I do not expect it does at present, in India.
In conjunction with all these different grains, and with a mixture of all, which is sometimes employed in the same brewing, it is not unusual to add a little real malt calledbikkalo, generally in the proportionof double the quantity of gaisho. To make the bikkalo, a quantity of barley is placed in a flat dish and well wetted with water, a large stone being placed upon it. This presses the sprouting grain into one mass of a wheel-like form, which, when the operation has proceeded as far as is desired, is taken from the dish, a hole made through the centre, and it is strung upon a rope, where it hangs to dry against the wall, and is a common ornament of the interior of the houses in Shoa. On occasions of brewing, the quantity required is broken off, and its value as an ingredient is well-known, for a common Shoan proverb says, “the more bikkalo the better ale.”
The proportions of the different ingredients are generally from forty to fifty pounds of grain, to which is added one pound ofgaisho, and two pounds ofbikkalo. From these quantities are made about thirty gallons of very good beer, but which, as I have observed before, will not keep more than ten or twelve days, which is one reason why ale is brewed generally in such small quantities.
There is no beverage so largely indulged in by the Shoans, whether Christian or Islam, as tallah. The Hurrahgee people are also extremely addicted to drinking it, and when they arrive in the country, every saltpiece that they can get is sure to be spent in ale. It is, therefore, an essential on all occasions of rejoicings, whether of a religiouscharacter, or at weddings, and even atfunerals. In fact, the number and size of the jars of ale provided for the company indicates the importance of the feast, or the wealth of the entertainer, whilst no one to whom the cornucopœia of ancient mythology is familiar, but detects at once, the origin of that poetical appendage to divinity, as he contemplates the parties engaged in celebrating these jovial meetings. Every one bearing in his hand, a deep drinking-horn, varying in length, from a long span to more than half a cubit, which, as he drains its contents, is handed to the servants in charge of the jars of tallah, who quickly replenish it, and return it to the thirsty soul. Each reveller keeps to his own rude flagon, and nothing could more strikingly typify agricultural wealth and rustic happiness, than the representation of one of these drinking horns; and which, ornamented and embellished by Grecian and Latin poets, still I believe to have been the original of the famous horn of plenty; probably derived from some Egyptian hieroglyphic, which well expressed the condition of man it appears so naturally to characterize.