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extent. Adama, in Amharic, signifies pleasant; and nothing can be
more wildly so than the view from this station.

Tchober is close at the foot of the mountain, surrounded on every

side, except the north, by a deep valley covered with wood. On the
other side of this valley are the broken hills which constitute the
rugged banks of the Anzo. On the point of one of these, most
extravagantly shaped, is the village Shahagaanah, projecting as it
were over the river; and, behind these, the irregular and broken
mountains of Salent appear, especially those around Hauza, in forms
which European mountains never wear; and still higher, above these,
is the long ridge of Samen, which run along in an even stretch till
they are interrupted by the high conical top of Lamalmon, reaching
above the clouds, and reckoned to be the highest hill in Abyssinia,
over the steepest part of which, by some fatality, the reason I do not
know, the road of all caravans to Gondar must lie.

As soon as we passed the Anzo, immediately on our right is that part

of Waldubba, full of deep valleys and woods, in which the monks
used to hide themselves from the incursions of the Shangalla, before
they found out the more convenient defence by the prayers and
superior sanctity of the present saints. Above this is Adamara, where
the Mahometans have considerable villages, and, by their
populousness and strength, have greatly added to the safety of the
monks, perhaps not altogether completed yet by the purity of their
lives. Still higher than these villages is Tchober, where we now
encamped.

On the left hand, after passing the Anzo, all is Shahagaanah, till you
come to the river Zarima. It extends in an east and west direction,
almost parallel to the mountains of Samen, and in this territory are
several considerable villages; the people are much addicted to
robbery, and rebellion, in which they were engaged at this time.
Above Salent is Abbergalè, and above that Tamben, which is one of
the principal provinces in Tigrè, commanded at present by Kefla
Yasous, an officer of the greatest merit and reputation in the
Abyssinian army.

On the 6th, at six o’clock in the morning, we left Tchober, and

passed a wood on the side of the mountain. At a quarter past eight
we crossed the river Zarima, a clear stream running over a bottom of
stones. It is about as large as the Anzo. On the banks of this river,
and all this day, we passed under trees larger and more beautiful
than any we had seen since leaving the Tacazzé. After having
crossed the Zarima, we entered a narrow defile between two
mountains, where ran another rivulet: we continued advancing along
the side of it, till the valley became so narrow as to leave no room
but in the bed of the rivulet itself. It is called Mai-Agam, or the water
or brook of jessamin and falls into the Zarima, at a small distance
from the place wherein we passed it. It was dry at the mouth, (the
water being there absorbed and hid under the sand) but above,
where the ground was firmer, there ran a brisk stream of excellent
water, and it has the appearance of being both broad, deep, and
rapid in winter. At ten o’clock we encamped upon its banks, which
are here bordered with high trees of cummel, at this time both
loaded with fruit and flowers. There are also here a variety of other
curious trees and plants; in no place, indeed, had we seen more,
except on the banks of the Tacazzé. Mai-Agam consists of three
villages; one, two miles distant, east-and-by-north, one at same
distance, N. N. W.; the third at one mile distance, S. E. by south.

On the 7th, at six o’clock in the morning, we began to ascend the

mountain; at a quarter past seven the village Lik lay east of us.
Murass, a country full of low but broken mountains, and deep
narrow valleys, bears N. W. and Walkayt in the same direction, but
farther off. At a quarter past eight, Gingerohha, distant from us
about a mile S. W. it is a village situated upon a mountain that joins
Lamalmon. Two miles to the N. E. is the village Taguzait on the
mountain which we were ascending. It is called Guza by the Jesuits,
who strangely say, that the Alps and Pyreneans are inconsiderable
eminences to it. Yet, with all deference to this observation, Taguzait,
or Guza, though really the base of Lamalmon, is not a quarter of a
mile high.

Ten minutes before nine o’clock we pitched our tent on a small plain
called Dippebaha, on the top of the mountain, above a hundred
yards from a spring, which scarcely was abundant enough to supply
us with water, in quality as indifferent as it was scanty. The plain
bore strong marks of the excessive heat of the sun, being full of
cracks and chasms, and the grass burnt to powder. There are three
small villages so near each other that they may be said to compose
one. Near them is the church of St George, on the top of a small hill
to the eastward, surrounded with large trees.

Since passing the Tacazzé we had been in a very wild country, left
so, for what I know, by nature, at least now lately rendered more so
by being the theatre of civil war. The whole was one wilderness
without inhabitants, unless at Addergey. The plain of Dippebaha had
nothing of this appearance; it was full of grass, and interspersed
with flowering shrubs, jessamin, and roses, several kinds of which
were beautiful, but only one fragrant. The air was very fresh and
pleasant; and a great number of people, passing to and fro,
animated the scene.

We met this day several monks and nuns of Waldubba, I should say
pairs, for they were two and two together. They said they had been
at the market of Dobarké on the side of Lamalmon, just above
Dippebaha. Both men and women, but especially the latter, had
large burdens of provisions on their shoulders, bought that day, as
they said, at Dobarkè, which shewed me they did not wholly depend
upon the herbs of Waldubba for their support. The women were
stout and young, and did not seem, by their complexion, to have
been long in the mortifications of Waldubba. I rather thought that
they had the appearance of healthy mountaineers, and were, in all
probability, part of the provisions bought for the convent; and, by
the sample, one would think the monks had the first choice of the
market, which was but fit, and is a custom observed likewise in
Catholic countries. The men seemed very miserable, and ill-clothed,
but had a great air of ferocity and pride in their faces. They are
distinguished only from the laity by a yellow cowl, or cap, on their
head. The cloth they wear round them is likewise yellow, but in
winter they wear skins dyed of the same colour.

On the 8th, at three quarters past six o’clock in the morning, we left
Dippebaha, and, at seven, had two small villages on our left; one on
the S. E. distant two miles, the other on the south, one mile off.
They are called Wora, and so is the territory for some space on each
side of them; but, beyond the valley, all is Shahagaanah to the root
of Lamalmon. At a quarter past seven, the village of Gingerohha was
three miles on our right; and we were now ascending Lamalmon,
through a very narrow road, or rather path, for it scarcely was two
feet wide any where. It was a spiral winding up the side of the
mountain, always on the very brink of a precipice. Torrents of water,
which in winter carry prodigious stones down the side of this
mountain, had divided this path into several places, and opened to
us a view of that dreadful abyss below, which few heads can (mine
at least could not) bear to look down upon. We were here obliged to
unload our baggage, and, by slow degrees, crawl up the hill,
carrying them little by little upon our shoulders round these chasms
where the road was intersected. The mountains grow steeper, the
paths narrower, and the breaches more frequent as we ascend.
Scarce were our mules, though unloaded, able to scramble up, but
were perpetually falling; and, to increase our difficulties, which, in
such cases, seldom come single, a large number of cattle was
descending, and seemed to threaten to push us all into the gulf
below. After two hours of constant toil, at nine o’clock we alighted in
a small plain called Kedus, or St Michael, from a church and village
of that name, neither beast nor man being able to go a step further.

The plain of St Michael, where we now were, is at the foot of a steep

cliff which terminates the west side of Lamalmon. It is here
perpendicular like a wall, and a few trees only upon the top of the
cliff. Over this precipice flow two streams of water, which never are
dry, but run in all seasons. They fall into a wood at the bottom of
this cliff, and preserve it in continual verdure all the year, tho’ the
plain itself below, as I have said, is all rent into chasms, and cracked
by the heat of the sun. These two streams form a considerable
rivulet in the plain of St Michael, and are a great relief both to men
and cattle in this tedious and difficult passage over the mountain.

The air on Lamalmon is pleasant and temperate. We found here our

appetite return, with a chearfulness, lightness of spirits, and agility
of body, which indicated that our nerves had again resumed their
wonted tone, which they had lost in the low, poisonous, and sultry
air on the coast of the Red Sea. The sun here is indeed hot, but in
the morning a cool breeze never fails, which increases as the sun
rises high. In the shade it is always cool. The thermometer, in the
shade, in the plain of St Michael, this day, was 76°, wind N. W.

Lamalmon, as I have said, is the pass through which the road of all
caravans to Gondar lies. It is here they take an account of all
baggage and merchandise, which they transmit to the Negadé Ras,
or chief officer of the customs at Gondar, by a man whom they send
to accompany the caravan. There is also a present, or awide, due to
the private proprietor of the ground; and this is levied with great
rigour and violence, and, for the most part, with injustice; so that
this station, which, by the establishment of the customhouse, and
nearness to the capital, should be in a particular manner attended to
by government, is always the place where the first robberies and
murders are committed in unsettled times. Though we had nothing
with us which could be considered as subject to duty, we submitted
every thing to the will of the robber of the place, and gave him his
present. If he was not satisfied, he seemed to be so, which was all
we wanted.

We had obtained leave to depart early in the morning of the 9th, but
it was with great regret we were obliged to abandon our Mahometan
friends into hands that seemed disposed to shew them no favour.
The king was in Maitsha, or Damot, that is to say, far from Gondar,
and various reports were spread abroad about the success of the
campaign; and these people only waited for an unfavourable event
to make a pretence for robbing our fellow-travellers of every thing
they had.

The persons whose right it was to levy these contributions were two,
a father and son; the old man was dressed very decently, spoke
little, but smoothly, and had a very good carriage. He professed a
violent hatred to all Mahometans, on account of their religion, a
sentiment which seemed to promise nothing favourable to our friend
Yasine and his companions: but, in the evening, the son, who
seemed to be the active man, came to our tent, and brought us a
quantity of bread and bouza, which his father had ordered before.
He seemed to be much taken with our fire-arms, and was very
inquisitive about them. I gave him every sort of satisfaction, and,
little by little, saw I might win his heart entirely; which I very much
wished to do, that I might free our companions from bondage.

The young man it seems was a good soldier; and, having been in
several actions under Ras Michael, as a fusileer, he brought his gun,
and insisted on shooting at marks. I humoured him in this; but as I
used a rifle, which he did not understand, he found himself
overmatched, especially by the greatness of the range, for he shot
straight enough. I then shewed him the manner we shot flying,
there being quails in abundance, and wild pigeons, of which I killed
several, on wing, which left him in the utmost astonishment. Having
got on horseback, I next went through the exercise of the Arabs,
with a long spear and a short javelin. This was more within his
comprehension, as he had seen something like it; but he was
wonderfully taken with the fierce and fiery appearance of my horse,
and, at the same time, with his docility, the form of his saddle,
bridle, and accoutrements. He threw at last the sandals off his feet,
twisted his upper garment into his girdle, and set off at so furious a
rate, that I could not help doubting whether he was in his sober
understanding.
It was not long till he came back, and with him a man-servant
carrying a sheep and a goat, and a woman carrying a jar of honey-
wine. I had not yet quitted the horse; and when I saw what his
intention was, I put Mirza to a gallop, and, with one of the barrels of
the gun, shot a pigeon, and immediately fired the other into the
ground. There was nothing after this that could have surprized him,
and it was repeated several times at his desire; after which he went
into the tent, where he invited himself to my house at Gondar. There
I was to teach him every thing he had seen. We now swore
perpetual friendship; and a horn or two of hydromel being emptied,
I introduced the case of our fellow-travellers, and obtained a
promise that we should have leave to set out together. He would,
moreover, take no awide, and said he would be favourable in his
report to Gondar.

Matters were so far advanced, when a servant of Michael’s arrived,

sent by Petros, (Janni’s brother) who had obtained him from Ozoro
Esther. This put an end to all our difficulties. Our young soldier also
kept his word, and a mere trifle of awide was given, rather by the
Moor’s own desire than from demand, and the report of our
baggage, and dues thereon, were as low as could be wished. Our
friend likewise sent his own servant to Gondar with the billet to
accompany the caravan. But the news brought by his servant were
still better than all this. Ras Michael had actually beaten Fasil, and
forced him to retire to the other side of the Nile, and was then in
Maitsha, where it was thought he would remain with the army all the
rainy season. This was just what I could have wished, as it brought
me at once to the neighbourhood of the sources of the Nile, without
the smallest shadow of fear or danger.

On the 9th of February, at seven o’clock, we took leave of the

friends whom we had so newly acquired at Lamalmon, all of us
equally joyful and happy at the news. We began to ascend what still
remained of the mountain, which, though steep and full of bushes,
was much less difficult than that which we had passed. At a quarter
past seven we arrived at the top of Lamalmon, which has, from
below, the appearance of being sharp-pointed. On the contrary, we
were much surprised to find there a large plain, part in pasture, but
more bearing grain. It is full of springs, and seems to be the great
reservoir from whence arise most of the rivers that water this part of
Abyssinia. A multitude of streams issue from the very summit in all
directions; the springs boil out from the earth in large quantities,
capable of turning a mill. They plow, sow, and reap here at all
seasons; and the husbandman must blame his own indolence, and
not the soil, if he has not three harvests. We saw, in one place,
people busy cutting down wheat; immediately next to it, others at
the plough; and the adjoining field had green corn in the ear; a little
further, it was not an inch above the ground.

Lamalmon is on the N. W. part of the mountains of Samen. That of

Gingerohha, with two pointed tops, joins it on the north, and ends
these mountains here, and is separated from the plain of St Michael
by a very deep gully. Neither Lamalmon nor Gingerohha, though
higher than the mountains of Tigré, are equal in height to some of
those of Samen. I take those to the S. E. to be much higher, and,
above all, that sharp-pointed hill Amba Gideon, the present
residence of the governor of Samen, Ayto Tesfos. This is otherwise
called the Jews-Rock, famous in the history of this country for the
many revolts of the Jews against the Abyssinian kings.

The mountain is everywhere so steep and high, that it is not enough

to say against the will, but without the assistance of those above, no
one from below can venture to ascend. On the top is a large plain,
affording plenty of pasture, as well as room for plowing and sowing
for the maintenance of the army; and there is water, at all seasons,
in great plenty, and even fish in the streams upon it; so that,
although the inhabitants of the mountain had been often besieged
for a considerable time together, they suffered little inconvenience
from it, nor ever were taken unless by treason; except by
Christopher de Gama and his Portuguese, who are said, by their own
historians, to have stormed this rock, and put the Mahometan
garrison to the sword. No mention of this honourable conquest is
made in the annals of Abyssinia, though they give the history of this
campaign of Don Christopher in the life of Claudius, or Atzenaf
Segued.

On the top of the cliff where we now were, on the left hand of the
road to Gondar, we filled a tube with quick-silver, and purged it
perfectly of outward air; it stood this day at 20⅞ English inches.
Dagashaha bears N. E. by E. from our present station upon
Lamalmon. The language of Lamalmon is Amharic; but there are
many villages where the language of the Falasha is spoken. These
are the ancient inhabitants of the mountains, who still preserve the
religion, language, and manners of their ancestors, and live in
villages by themselves. Their number is now considerably
diminished, and this has proportionally lowered their power and
spirit. They are now wholly addicted to agriculture, hewers of wood
and carriers of water, and the only potters and masons in Abyssinia.
In the former profession they excel greatly, and, in general, live
better than the other Abyssinians; which these, in revenge, attribute
to a skill in magic, not to superior industry. Their villages are
generally strongly situated out of the reach of marching armies,
otherwise they would be constantly rifled, partly from hatred, and
partly from hopes of finding money.

On the 10th, at half past seven in the morning, we continued along

the plain on the top of Lamalmon; it is called Lama; and a village of
the same name bore about two miles east from us. At eight o’clock
we passed two villages called Mocken, one W. by N. at one mile and
a half, the other S. E. two miles distant. At half past eight we
crossed the river Macara, a considerable stream running with a very
great current, which is the boundary between Woggora and
Lamalmon. At nine o’clock we encamped at some small villages
called Macara, under a church named Yasous. On the 11th of
February, by the meridian altitude of the sun at noon, and that of
several fixed stars proper for observation, I found the latitude of
Macara to be 13° 6´ 8´´. The ground was everywhere burnt up;
and, though the nights were very cold, we had not observed the
smallest dew since our first ascending the mountain. The province of
Woggora begins at Macara; it is all plain, and reckoned the granary
of Gondar on this side, although the name would denote no such
thing, for Woggora signifies the stony, or rocky province.

The mountains of Lasta and Belessen bound our view to the south;
the hills of Gondar on the S. W.; and all Woggora lies open before us
to the south, covered, as I have said before, with grain. But the
wheat of Woggora is not good, owing probably to the height of that
province. It makes an indifferent bread, and is much less esteemed
than that of Foggora and Dembea, low, flat provinces, sheltered with
hills, that lie upon the side of the lake Tzana.

On the 12th we left Macara at seven in the morning, still travelling

through the plain of Woggora. At half past seven saw two villages
called Erba Tensa, one of them a mile distant, the other half a mile
on the N. W. At eight o’clock we came to Woken, five villages not
two hundred yards distant from one another. At a quarter past eight
we saw five other villages to the S. W. called Warrar, from one to
four miles distant, all between the points of east and south. The
country now grows inconceivably populous; vast flocks of cattle of all
kinds feed on every side, having large and beautiful horns,
exceedingly wide, and bosses upon their backs like camels; their
colour is mostly black.

At a quarter past eight we passed Arena, a village on our left. At

nine we passed the river Girama, which runs N. N. W. and
terminates the district of Lamalmon, beginning that of Giram. At ten
the church of St George remained on our right, one mile from us; we
crossed a river called Shimbra Zuggan, and encamped about two
hundred yards from it. The valley of that name is more broken and
uneven than any part we had met with since we ascended
Lamalmon. The valley called also Shimbra Zuggan, is two miles and
a half N. by E. on the top of a hill surrounded with trees. Two small
brooks, the one from S. S. E. the other from S. E. join here, then fall
into the rivulet.
The 13th, at seven in the morning, we proceeded still along the
plain; at half past seven came to Arradara; and afterwards saw
above twenty other villages on our right and left, ruined and
destroyed from the lowest foundation by Ras Michael in his late
march to Gondar. At half past eight the church of Mariam was about
a hundred yards on our left. At ten we encamped under Tamamo.
The country here is full of people; the villages are mostly ruined,
which, in some places, they are rebuilding. It is wholly sown with
grain of different kinds, but more especially with wheat. For the
production of this, they have everywhere extirpated the wood, and
now labour under a great scarcity of fuel. Since we passed
Lamalmon, the only substitute for this was cows and mules dung,
which they gather, make into cakes, and dry in the sun. From
Addergey hither, salt is the current money, in large purchases, such
as sheep or other cattle; cohol, and pepper, for smaller articles, such
as flour, butter, fowls, &c. At Shimbra Zuggan they first began to
inquire after red Surat cotton cloth for which they offered us thirteen
bricks of salt; four peeks of this red cloth are esteemed the price of
a goat. We began to find the price of provisions augment in a great
proportion as we approached the capital.

This day we met several caravans going to Tigré, a certain sign of

Michael’s victory; also vast flocks of cattle driven from the rebellious
provinces, which were to pasture on Lamalmon, and had been
purchased from the army. Not only the country was now more
cultivated, but the people were cleanlier, better dressed, and
apparently better fed, than those in the other parts we had left
behind us. Indeed, from Shimbra Zuggan hither, there was not a
foot, excepting the path on which we trode, that was not sown with
some grain or other.

On the 14th, at seven o’clock in the morning, we continued our

journey. At ten minutes past seven, we had five villages of Tamamo
three miles on our left; our road was through gentle rising hills, all
pasture ground. At half past seven, the village of Woggora was three
miles on our right; and at eight, the church of St George a mile on
our left, with a village of the same name near it; and, ten minutes
after, Angaba Mariam, a church dedicated to the virgin, so called
from the small territory Angaba, which we are now entering. At fifty
minutes past eight, we came to five villages called Angaba, at small
distances from each other. At nine o’clock we came to Kossogué, and
entered a small district of that name. The church is on a hill
surrounded with trees. On our left are five villages all called
Kossoguè, and as it were on a line, the farthest at 3 miles distance;
near ten we came to the church of Argiff, in the midst of many
ruined villages. Three miles on our left hand are several others,
called Appano.

After having suffered, with infinite patience and perseverance, the

hardships and danger of this long and painful journey, at forty
minutes past ten we were gratified, at last, with the sight of Gondar,
according to my computation about ten miles distant. The king’s
palace (at least the tower of it) is distinctly seen, but none of the
other houses, which are covered by the multitude of wanzey-trees
growing in the town, so that it appears one thick, black wood.
Behind it is Azazo, likewise covered with trees. On a hill is the large
church of Tecla Haimanout, and the river below it makes it
distinguishable; still further on is the great lake Tzana, which
terminates our horizon.

At forty-five minutes past ten we began to ascend about two miles

through a broken road, having on our right, in the valley below, the
river Tchagassa; and here begins the territory of that name. At fifty-
five minutes past ten, descending still the hill, we passed a large
spring of water, called Bambola, together with several plantations of
sugar-canes which grow here from the seed. At eleven o’clock the
village Tchagassa was about half a mile distant from us on our right,
on the other side of the river. It is inhabited by Mahometans, as is
Waalia, another small one near it. At twelve o’clock we passed the
river Tchagassa over a bridge of three arches, the middle of which is
Gothic, the two lesser Roman. This bridge, though small, is solid and
well cemented, built with stone by order of Facilidas, who probably
employed those of his subjects who had retained the arts of the
Portuguese, but not their religion.

The Tchagassa has very steep, rocky banks: It is so deep, though

narrow, that, without this bridge, it scarce would be passable. We
encamped at a small distance from it, but nearer Gondar. Here again
we met with trees, (small ones indeed) but the first we had seen
since leaving Lamalmon, excepting the usual groves of cedars. It is
the Virginia cedar, or oxy-cedros, in this country called Arz, with
which their churches are constantly surrounded.

On the 15th, at ten minutes past seven, we began to ascend the

mountain; and, at twenty minutes after seven, passed a village on
our left. At seven and three quarters we passed Tiba and Mariam,
two churches, the one on our right, the other on our left, about half
a mile distant; and near them several small villages, inhabited by
Falasha, masons and thatchers of houses, employed at Gondar. At
half past eight we came to the village Tocutcho, and, in a quarter of
an hour, passed the river of that name, and in a few minutes rested
on the river Angrab, about half a mile from Gondar.

Tchacassa is the last of the many little districts which, together,

compose Woggora, generally understood to be dependent on
Samen, though often, from the turbulent spirit of its chiefs,
struggling for independency, as at the present time, but sure to pay
for it immediately after. In fact, though large, it is too near Gondar
to be suffered to continue in rebellion; and, being rich and well
cultivated, it derives its support from the capital, as being the mart
of its produce. It is certainly one of the fruitfulest provinces in
Abyssinia, but the inhabitants are miserably poor, notwithstanding
their threefold harvests. Whereas, in Egypt, beholden to this country
alone for its fertility, one moderate harvest gives plenty everywhere.

Woggora is full of large ants, and prodigious swarms of rats and

mice, which consume immense quantities of grain; to these plagues
may be added still one, the greatest of them all, bad government,
which speedily destroys all the advantages they reap from nature,
climate, and situation.
 CHAP. VIII.
Reception at Gondar—Triumphal Entry of the King—The Author’s first
Audience.

W E were much surprised at arriving on the Angrab, that no

person had come to us from Petros, Janni’s brother. We found
afterwards, indeed, that he had taken fright upon some menacing
words from the priests, at hearing a Frank was on his way to
Gondar, and that he had, soon after, set out for Ibaba, where the
Ras was, to receive his directions concerning us. This was the most
disagreeable accident could have happened to me. I had not a single
person to whom I could address myself for any thing. My letters
were for the king and Ras Michael, and could be of no use, as both
were absent; and though I had others for Petros and the Greeks,
they, too, were out of town.

Many Mahometans came to the Angrab to meet the caravan. They

all knew of my coming perfectly, and I soon explained my situation. I
had Janni’s letters to Negadé Ras Mahomet, the chief of the Moors
at Gondar, and principal merchant in Abyssinia, who was absent
likewise with the army. But one of his brethren, a sagacious, open-
hearted man, desired me not to be discouraged; that, as I had not
put off my Moorish dress, I should continue it; that a house was
provided for Mahomet Gibberti, and those that were with him, and
that he would put me immediately into possession of it, where I
might stay, free from any intercourse with the priests, till Petros or
the Ras should return to Gondar. This advice I embraced with great
readiness, as there was nothing I was so much afraid of as an
encounter with fanatical priests before I had obtained some
protection from government, or the great people in the country.
After having concerted these measures, I resigned myself to the
direction of my Moorish friend Hagi Saleh.

We moved along the Angrab, having Gondar on our right situated

upon a hill, and the river on our left, proceeding down till its junction
with a smaller stream, called the Kahha, that joins it at the Moorish
town. This situation, near running water, is always chosen by the
Mahometans on account of their frequent ablutions. The Moorish
town at Gondar may consist of about 3000 houses, some of them
spacious and good. I was put in possession of a very neat one,
destined for Mahomet Gibberti. Flour, honey, and such-like food,
Mahometans and Christians eat promiscuously, and so far I was well
situated. As for flesh, although there was abundance of it, I could
not touch a bit of it, being killed by Mahometans, as that communion
would have been looked upon as equal to a renunciation of
Christianity.

By Janni’s servant, who had accompanied us from Adowa, his kind

and friendly master had wrote to Ayto Aylo, of whom I have already
spoken. He was the constant patron of the Greeks, and had been so
also of all the Catholics who had ventured into this country, and
been forced after to leave it. Though no man professed greater
veneration for the priesthood, no one privately detested more those
of his own country than he did; and he always pretended that, if a
proper way of going to Jerusalem could be found, he would leave his
large estates, and the rank he had in Abyssinia, and, with the little
money he could muster, live the remaining part of his days among
the monks, of whom he had now accounted himself one, in the
convent of the holy sepulchre. This perhaps was, great part of it,
imagination; but, as he had talked himself into a belief that he was
to end his days either at Jerusalem, which was a pretence, or at
Rome, which was his inclination, he willingly took the charge of
white people of all communions who had hitherto been unhappy
enough to stray into Abyssinia.

It was about seven o’clock at night, of the 15th, when Hagi Saleh
was much alarmed by a number of armed men at his door; and his
surprise was still greater upon seeing Ayto Aylo, who, as far as I
know, was never in the Moorish town before, descend from his mule,
and uncover his head and shoulders, as if he had been approaching
a person of the first distinction. I had been reading the prophet
Enoch, which Janni had procured me at Adowa; and Wemmer’s and
Ludolf’s dictionaries were lying upon it. Yasine was sitting by me,
and was telling me what news he had picked up, and he was well
acquainted with Ayto Aylo, from several commissions he had
received for his merchants in Arabia. A contention of civilities
immediately followed. I offered to stand till Aylo was covered, and
he would not sit till I was seated. This being got over, the first
curiosity was, What my books were? and he was very much
astonished at seeing one of them was Abyssinian, and the European
helps that I had towards understanding it. He understood Tigrè and
Amharic perfectly, and had a little knowledge of Arabic, that is, he
understood it when spoken, for he could neither read nor write it,
and spoke it very ill, being at a loss for words.

The beginning of our discourse was in Arabic, and embarrassed

enough, but we had plenty of interpreters in all languages. The first
bashfulness being removed on both sides, our conversation began in
Tigré, now, lately since Michael had become Ras, the language most
used in Gondar. Aylo was exceedingly astonished at hearing me
speak the language as I did, and said after, “The Greeks are poor
creatures; Peter does not speak Tigré so well as this man.” Then,
very frequently, to Saleh and the by-standers, “Come, come, he’ll do,
if he can speak; there is no fear of him, he’ll make his way.”

He told us that Welled Hawaryat had come from the camp ill of a
fever, and that they were afraid it was the small pox: that Janni had
informed them I had saved many young people’s lives at Adowa, by
a new manner of treating them; and that the Iteghé desired I would
come the next morning, and that he should carry me to Koscam and
introduce me to her. I told him that I was ready to be directed by his
good advice; that the absence of the Greeks, and Mahomet Gibberti
at the same time, had very much distressed me, and especially the
apprehensions of Petros. He said, smiling, That neither Petros nor
himself were bad men, but that unfortunately they were great
cowards, and things were not always so bad as they apprehended.
What had frightened Petros, was a conversation of Abba Salama,
whom they met at Koscam, expressing his displeasure with some
warmth, that a Frank, meaning me, was permitted to come to
Gondar. “But,” says Ayto Aylo, “we shall hear to-morrow, or next day.
Ras Michael and Abba Salama are not friends; and if you could do
any good to Welled Hawaryat his son, I shall answer for it, one word
of his will stop the mouths of a hundred Abba Salamas.” I will not
trouble the reader with much indifferent conversation that passed.
He drank capillaire and water, and sat till past midnight.

Abba Salama, of whom we shall often speak, at that time filled the
post of Acab Saat, or guardian of the fire. It is the third dignity of
the church, and he is the first religious officer in the palace. He had
a very large revenue, and still a greater influence. He was a man
exceedingly rich, and of the very worst life possible; though he had
taken the vows of poverty and chastity, it was said he had at that
time, above seventy mistresses in Gondar. His way of seducing
women was as extraordinary as the number seduced. It was not by
gifts, attendance, or flattery, the usual means employed on such
occasions; when he had fixed his desires upon a woman, he forced
her to comply, under pain of excommunication. He was exceedingly
eloquent and bold, a great favourite of the Iteghè’s, till taken in to
be a counsellor with Lubo and Brulhè. He had been very
instrumental in the murder of Kasmati Eshté, of which he vaunted,
even in the palace of the queen his sister. He was a man of a
pleasing countenance, short, and of a very fair complexion;
indifferent, or rather averse to wine, but a monstrous glutton, nice in
what he had to eat, to a degree scarcely before known in Abyssinia;
a mortal enemy to all white people, whom he classed under the
name of Franks, for which the Greeks, uniting their interests at
favourable times, had often very nearly overset him.

The next morning, about ten o’clock, taking Hagi Saleh and Yasine
with me, and dressed in my Moorish dress, I went to Ayto Aylo, and
found him with several great plates of bread, melted butter, and
honey, before him, of one of which he and I ate; the rest were given
to the Moors, and other people present. There was with him a priest
of Koscam, and we all set out for that palace as soon as we had ate
breakfast. The rest of the company were on mules. I had mounted
my own favourite horse. Aylo, before his fright at Sennaar, was one
of the first horsemen in Abyssinia; he was short, of a good figure,
and knew the advantage of such make for a horseman; he had
therefore a curiosity to see a tall man ride; but he was an absolute
stranger to the great advantage of Moorish furniture, bridles, spurs,
and stirrups, in the management of a violent, strong, high-mettled
horse. It was with the utmost satisfaction, when we arrived in the
plain called Aylo Meydan, that I shewed him the different paces of
the horse. He cried out with fear when he saw him stand upright
upon his legs, and jump forward, or aside, with all four feet off the
ground.

We passed the brook of St Raphael, a suburb of Gondar, where is

the house of the Abuna; and upon coming in sight of the palace of
Koscam, we all uncovered our heads, and rode slowly. As Aylo was
all-powerful with the Iteghé, indeed her first counsellor and friend,
our admittance was easy and immediate. We alighted, and were
shewn into a low room in the palace. Ayto Aylo went immediately to
the queen to inquire about Welled Hawaryat, and his audience lasted
two long hours. He returned to us with these news, that Welled
Hawaryat was much better, by a medicine a saint from Waldubba
had given him, which consisted in some characters written with
common ink upon a tin plate, which characters were washed off by a
medicinal liquor, and then given him to drink. It was agreed,
however, that the complaint was the small-pox, and the good it had
done him was, he had ate heartily of brind, or raw beef after it, tho’
he had not ate before since his arrival, but called perpetually for
drink. Aylo said he was to remain at Koscam till towards evening,
and desired me to meet him at his own house when it turned dark,
and to bring Petros with me, if he was returned.

Petros was returned when I arrived, and waited for me at Hagi

Saleh’s house. Although he shewed all the signs of my being
welcome, yet it was easy to read in his countenance he had not
succeeded according to his wish, in his interview with Michael, or
that he had met something that had ruffled and frightened him
anew. And, indeed, this last was the case, for going to the Ras’s
tent, he had seen the stuffed skin of the unfortunate Woosheka,
with whom he was well acquainted, swinging upon a tree, and
drying in the wind. He was so terrified, and struck with such horror,
at the sight, that he was in a kind of hysteric fit, cried, started,
laughed hideously, and seemed as if he had in part lost his senses.

I was satisfied by the state I saw him in, though he had left Ibaba
three days, that, as the first sight of Woosheka’s stuffed skin must
have been immediately before he went to the Ras, he could not have
had any distinct or particular conversation with him on my account;
and it turned out after, that he had not spoken one word upon the
subject from fear, but had gone to the tent of Negadè Ras Mahomet,
who carried him to Kefla Yasous; that they, too, seeing the fright he
was in, and knowing the cause, had gone without him to the Ras,
and told him of my arrival, and of the behaviour of Abba Salama,
and my fear thereupon, and that I was then in the house of Hagi
Saleh, in the Moorish town. The Ras’s answer was, “Abba Salama is
an ass, and they that fear him are worse. Do I command in Gondar
only when I stay there? My dog is of more consequence in Gondar
than Abba Salama.” And then, after pausing a little, he said, “Let
Yagoube stay where he is in the Moors town; Saleh will let no priests
trouble him there.” Negadé Ras Mahomet laughed, and said, “We will
answer for that;” and Petros set out immediately upon his return,
haunted night and day with the ghost of his friend Woosheka, but
without having seen Ras Michael.

I thought, when we went at night to Ayto Aylo, and he had told the
story distinctly, that Aylo and he were equally afraid, for he had not,
or pretended he had not, till then heard that Woosheka had been
flayed alive. Aylo, too, was well acquainted with the unfortunate
person, and only said, “This is Esther, this is Esther; nobody knew
her but I.” Then they went on to inquire particulars, and after, they
would stop one another, and desire each other to speak no more;
then they cried again, and fell into the same conversation. It was
impossible not to laugh at the ridiculous dialogue. “Sirs,” said I, “you
have told me all I want; I shall not stir from the Moors town till Ras
Michael arrives; if there was any need of advice, you are neither of
you capable of giving it; now I would wish you would shew me you
are capable of taking mine. You are both extremely agitated, and
Peter is very tired; and will besides see the ghost of Woosheka
shaking to and fro all night with the wind; neither of you ate supper,
as I intend to do; and I think Peter should stay here all night, but
you should not lie both of you in the same room, where Woosheka’s
black skin, so strongly impressed on your mind, will not fail to keep
you talking all night in place of sleeping. Boil about a quart of gruel,
I will put a few drops into it; go then to bed, and this unusual
operation of Michael will not have power to keep you awake.”

The gruel was made, and a good large doze of laudanum put into it.
I took my leave, and returned with Saleh; but before I went to the
door Aylo told me he had forgot Welled Hawaryat was very bad, and
the Iteghè, Ozoro Altash, his wife, and Ozoro Esther, desired I would
come and see him to-morrow. One of his daughters, by Ozoro
Altash, had been ill some time before his arrival, and she too was
thought in great danger. “Look,” said I, “Ayto Aylo, the small-pox is a
disease that will have its course; and, during the long time the
patient is under it, if people feed them and treat them according to
their own ignorant prejudices, my seeing him, or advising him, is in
vain. This morning you said a man had cured him by writing upon a
tin plate; and to try if he was well, they crammed him with raw beef.
I do not think the letters that he swallowed will do him any harm,
neither will they do him any good; but I shall not be surprised if the
raw beef kills him, and his daughter Welleta Selassé, too, before I
see him to-morrow.”

On the morrow Petros was really taken ill, and feverish, from a cold
and fatigue, and fright. Aylo and I went to Koscam, and, for a fresh
amusement to him, I shewed him the manner in which the Arabs
use their firelocks on horseback; but with this advantage of a
double-barrelled gun, which he had never before seen. I shot also
several birds from the horse; all which things he would have
pronounced impossible if they had been only told him. He arrived at
Koscam full of wonder, and ready to believe I was capable of doing
every thing I undertook.

We were just entering into the palace-door, when we saw a large

procession of monks, with the priests of Koscam at their head, a
large cross and a picture carried with them, the last in a very dirty,
gilt frame. Aylo turned aside when he saw these; and, going into the
chamberlain’s apartment, called Ayto Heikel, afterwards a great
friend and companion of mine. He informed us, that three great
saints from Waldubba, one of whom had neither ate nor drank for
twenty years of his life, had promised to come and cure Welled
Hawaryat, by laying a picture of the Virgin Mary and the cross upon
him, and therefore they would not wish me to be seen, or meddle in
the affair. “I assure you, Ayto Aylo,” said I, “I shall strictly obey you.
There is no sort of reason for my meddling in this affair with such
associates. If they can cure him by a miracle, I am sure it is the
easiest kind of cure of any, and will not do his constitution the least
harm afterwards, which is more than I will promise for medicines in
general; but, remember what I say to you, it will, indeed, be a
miracle, if both the father and the daughter are not dead before to-
morrow night.” We seemed all of us satisfied in one point, that it was
better he should die, than I come to trouble by interfering.

After the procession was gone, Aylo went to the Iteghè, and, I
suppose, told her all that happened since he had seen her last. I
was called in, and, as usual, prostrated myself upon the ground. She
received that token of respect without offering to excuse or to
decline it. Aylo then said, “This is our gracious mistress, who always
gives us her assistance and protection. You may safely say before
her whatever is in your heart.”

Our first discourse was about Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulchre,

Calvary, the City of David, and the Mountain of Olives, with the
situations of which she was perfectly well acquainted. She then
asked me to tell her truly if I was not a Frank? “Madam,” said I, “if I
was a Catholic, which you mean by Frank, there could be no greater
folly than my concealing this from you in the beginning, after the
assurance Ayto Aylo has just now given; and, in confirmation of the
truth I am now telling, (she had a large bible lying on the table
before her, upon which I laid my hand), I declare to you, by all those
truths contained in this book, that my religion is more different from
the Catholic religion than your’s is: that there has been more blood
shed between the Catholics and us, on account of the difference of
religion, than ever was between you and the Catholics in this
country; even at this day, when men are become wiser and cooler in
many parts of the world, it would be full as safe for a Jesuit to
preach in the market-place of Gondar, as for any priest of my religion
to present himself as a teacher in the most civilized of Frank or
Catholic countries.”—“How is it then,” says she, “that you don’t
believe in miracles?”

“I see, Madam,” said I, “Ayto Aylo has informed you of a few words
that some time ago dropt from me. I do certainly believe the
miracles of Christ and his apostles, otherwise I am no Christian; but
I do not believe these miracles of latter times, wrought upon trifling
occasions, like sports, and jugglers tricks.”—“And yet,” says she, “our
books are full of them.”—“I know they are,” said I, “and so are those
of the Catholics: but I never can believe that a saint converted the
devil, who lived, forty years after, a holy life as a monk; nor the story
of another saint, who, being sick and hungry, caused a brace of
partridges, ready-roasted, to fly upon his plate that he might eat
them.”—“He has been reading the Synaxar,” says Ayto Aylo. “I
believe so,” says she, smiling; “but is there any harm in believing too
much, and is not there great danger in believing too
little?”—“Certainly,” continued I; “but what I meant to say to Ayto
Aylo was, that I did not believe laying a picture upon Welled
Hawaryat would recover him when delirious in a fever.” She
answered, “There was nothing impossible with God.” I made a bow
of assent, wishing heartily the conversation might end there.

I returned to the Moors town, leaving Aylo with the queen. In the
afternoon I heard Welleta Selassé was dead; and at night died her
father, Welled Hawaryat. The contagion from Masuah and Adowa
had spread itself all over Gondar. Ozoro Ayabdar, daughter of Ozoro
Altash, was now sick, and a violent fever had fallen upon Koscam.
The next morning Aylo came to me and told me, the faith in the
saint who did not eat or drink for twenty years was perfectly
abandoned since Welled Hawaryat’s death: That it was the desire of
the queen, and Ozoro Esther, that I should transport myself to
Koscam to the Iteghé’s palace, where all their children and
grandchildren, by the different men the queen’s daughters had
married, were under her care. I told him, “I had some difficulty to
obey them, from the positive orders I had received from Petros to
stay in the Moors town with Hagi Saleh till the Ras should arrive;
that Koscam was full of priests, and Abba Salama there every day;
notwithstanding which, if Petros and he so advised me, I would
certainly go to do any possible service to the Iteghé, or Ozoro
Esther.”
He desired half an hour’s absence before he gave me an answer, but
did not return till about three hours afterwards, and, without
alighting, cried out at some distance, “Aya, come, you must go
immediately.” “I told him, that new and clean clothes in the Gondar
fashion had been procured for me by Petros, and that I wished they
might be sent to his house, where I would put them on, and then go
to Koscam, with a certainty that I carried no infection with me, for I
had attended a number of Moorish children, while at Hagi Saleh’s
house, most of whom happily went on doing well, but that there was
no doubt there would be infection in my clothes.” He praised me up
to the skies for this precaution, and the whole was executed in the
manner proposed. My hair was cut round, curled, and perfumed, in
the Amharic fashion, and I was thenceforward, in all outward
appearance, a perfect Abyssinian.

My first advice, when arrived at Koscam, was, that Ozoro Esther, and
her son by Mariam Barea, and a son by Ras Michael, should remove
from the palace, and take up their lodging in a house formerly
belonging to her uncle Basha Eusebius, and give the part of the
family that were yet well a chance of escaping the disease. Her
young son by Mariam Barea, however, complaining, the Iteghè
would not suffer him to remove, and the resolution was taken to
abide the issue all in the palace together.

Before I entered upon my charge, I desired Petros (now recovered)

Aylo, Abba Christophorus, a Greek priest who acted as physician
before I came to Gondar, and Armaxikos priest of Koscam, and
favourite of the Iteghè, to be all present. I stated to them the
disagreeable task now imposed upon me, a stranger without
acquaintance or protection, having the language but imperfectly, and
without power or controul among them. I professed my intention of
doing my utmost, although the disease was much more serious and
fatal in this country than in mine, but I insisted one condition should
be granted me, which was, that no directions as to regimen or
management, even of the most trifling kind, as they might think,
should be suffered, without my permission and superintendence,
otherwise I washed my hands of the consequence, which I told
before them would be fatal. They all assented to this, and Armaxikos
declared those excommunicated that broke this promise; and I saw
that, the more scrupulous and particular I was, the more the
confidence of the ladies increased. Armaxikos promised me the
assistance of his prayers, and those of the whole monks, morning
and evening; and Aylo said lowly to me, “You’ll have no objection to
this saint, I assure you he eats and drinks heartily, as I shall shew
you when once these troubles are over.”

I set the servants all to work. There were apartments enough. I

opened all the doors and windows, fumigating them with incense
and myrrh, in abundance, washed them with warm water and
vinegar, and adhered strictly to the rules which my worthy and skilful
friend Doctor Russel had given me at Aleppo.

The common and fatal regimen in this country, and in most parts in
the east, has been to keep their patient from feeling the smallest
breath of air; hot drink, a fire, and a quantity of covering are added
in Abyssinia, and the doors shut so close as even to keep the room
in darkness, whilst this heat is further augmented by the constant
burning of candles.

Ayabdar, Ozoro Altash’s remaining daughter, and the son of Mariam

Barea, were both taken ill at the same time, and happily recovered.
A daughter of Kasmati Boro, by a daughter of Kasmati Eshtès, died,
and her mother, though she survived, was a long time ill afterwards.
Ayabdar was very much marked, so was Mariam Barea’s son.

At this time, Ayto Confu, son of Kasmati Netcho by Ozoro Esther, had
arrived from Tcherkin, a lad of very great hopes, though not then
fourteen. He came to see his mother without my knowledge or her’s,
and was infected likewise. Last of all the infant child of Michael, the
child of his old age, took the disease, and though the weakest, of all
the children, recovered best. I tell these actions for brevity’s sake
altogether, not directly in the order they happened, to satisfy the
reader about the reason of the remarkable attention and favour
shewed to me afterwards upon so short an acquaintance.

The fear and anxiety of Ozoro Esther, upon smaller occasions, was
excessive, and fully in proportion in the greater that now existed;
many promises of Michael’s favour, of riches, greatness, and
protection, followed every instance of my care and attention towards
my patients. She did not eat or sleep herself; and the ends of her
fingers were all broke out into pustules, from touching the several
sick persons. Confu, the favourite of all the queen’s relations, and
the hopes of their family, had symptoms which all feared would be
fatal, as he had violent convulsions, which were looked upon as
forerunners of immediate death; they ceased, however, immediately
on the eruption. The attention I shewed to this young man, which
was more than overpaid by the return he himself made on many
occasions afterwards, was greatly owing to a prepossession in his
favour, which I took upon his first appearance. Policy, as may be
imagined, as well as charity, alike influenced me in the care of my
other patients; but an attachment, which providence seemed to
have inspired me with for my own preservation, had the greatest
share in my care for Ayto Confu.

Though it is not the place, I must not forget to tell the reader, that,
the third day after I had come to Koscam, a horseman and a letter
had arrived from Michael to Hagi Saleh, ordering him to carry me to
Koscam, and likewise a short letter written to me by Negadè Ras
Mahomet, in Arabic, as from Ras Michael, very civil, but containing
positive orders and command, as if to a servant, that I should repair
to the Iteghè’s palace, and not stir from thence till future orders,
upon any pretence whatever.

I cannot say but this positive, peremptory dealing, did very much
shock and displease me. I shewed the letter to Petros, who
approved of it much; said he was glad to see it in that stile, as it was
a sign the Ras was in earnest. I shewed it to Ayto Aylo, who said not
much to it either the one way or the other, only he was glad that I
had gone to Koscam before it came; but he taxed Ozoro Esther with
being the cause of a proceeding which might have been proper to a
Greek or slave, but was not so to a free man like me, who came
recommended to their protection, and had, as yet, received no
favour, or even civility. Ozoro Esther laughed heartily at all this, for
the first time she had shewn any inclination to mirth; she confessed
she had sent a messenger every day, sometimes two, and
sometimes three, ever since Welled Hawaryat had died, and by
every one of them she had pressed the Ras to enjoin me not to
leave Koscam, the consequence of which was the order above
mentioned; and, in the evening, there was a letter to Petros from
Anthulé, Janni’s son-in-law, a Greek, and treasurer to the king,
pretty much to the same purpose as the first, and in no softer terms,
with direction, however, to furnish me with every thing I should
want, on the king’s account.

One morning Aylo, in presence of the queen, speaking to Ozoro

Esther of the stile of the Ras’s letter to me, she confessed her own
anxiety was the cause, but added, “You have often upbraided me
with being, what you call, an unchristian enemy, in the advices you
suppose I frequently give Michael; but now, if I am not as good a
friend to Yagoube, who has saved my children, as I am a steady
enemy to the Galla, who murdered my husband, say then Esther is
not a Christian, and I forgive you.” Many conversations of this kind
passed between her and me, during the illness of Ayto Confu. I
removed my bed to the outer door of Confu’s chamber, to be ready
whenever he should call, but his mother’s anxiety kept her awake in
his room all night, and propriety did not permit me to go to bed.
From this frequent communication began a friendship between
Ozoro Esther and me, which ever after subsisted without any
interruption.

Our patients, being all likely to do well, were removed to a large

house of Kasmati Eshté, which stood still within the boundaries of
Koscam, while the rooms underwent another lustration and
fumigation, after which they all returned; and I got, as my fee, a
present of the neat and convenient house formerly belonging to
Basha Eusebius, which had a separate entry, without going through
the palace. Still I thought it better to obey Ras Michael’s orders to
the letter, and not stir out of Koscam, not even to Hagi Saleh’s or
Ayto Aylo’s, though both of them frequently endeavoured to
persuade me that the order had no such strict meaning. But my
solitude was in no way disagreeable to me. I had a great deal to do.
I mounted my instruments, my thermometer and barometer,
telescopes and quadrant. Again all was wonder. It occasioned me
many idle hours before the curiosity of the palace was satisfied. I
saw the queen once every day at her levee, sometimes in the
evening, where many priests were always present. I was, for the
most part, twice a-day, morning and evening, with Ozoro Esther,
where I seldom met with any.

One day, when I went early to the queen, that I might get away in
time, having some other engagements about noon, just as I was
taking my leave, in came Abba Salama. At first he did not know me
from the change of dress; but, soon after recollecting me, he said,
as it were, passing, “Are you here? I thought you was with Ras
Michael.” I made him no answer, but bowed, and took my leave,
when he called out, with an air of authority, Come back, and
beckoned me with his hand.

Several people entered the room at that instant, and I stood still in
the same place where I was, ready to receive the Iteghé’s orders:
she said, “Come back, and speak to Abba Salama.” I then advanced
a few paces forward, and said, looking to the Iteghé, “What has
Abba Salama to say to me?” He began directing his discourse to the
queen, “Is he a priest? Is he a priest?” The Iteghè answered very
gravely, “Every good man is a priest to himself; in that sense, and no
other, Yagoube is a priest.”—“Will you answer a question that I will
ask you?” says he to me, with a very pert tone of voice. “I do not
know but I may, if it is a discreet one,” said I, in Tigrè. “Why don’t
you speak Amharic?” says he to me in great haste, or seeming
impatience. “Because I cannot speak it well,” said I. “Why don’t you,
on the other hand, speak Tigré to me? it is the language the holy
scriptures are written in, and you, a priest, should understand
it.”—“That is Geez,” says he; “I understand it, though I don’t speak
it.”—“Then,” replied I, “Ayto Heikel,” the queen’s chamberlain, who
stood behind me, “shall interpret for us; he understands all
languages.”

“Ask him, Heikel,” says he, “how many Natures there are in Christ.”
Which being repeated to me, I said, “I thought the question to be
put was something relating to my country, travels, or profession, in
which I possibly could instruct him; and not belonging to his, in
which he should instruct me. I am a physician in the town, a
horseman and soldier in the field. Physic is my study in the one, and
managing my horse and arms in the other. This I was bred to; as for
disputes and matters of religion, they are the province of priests and
schoolmen. I profess myself much more ignorant in these than I
ought to be. Therefore, when I have doubts I propose them to some
holy man like you, Abba Salama, (he bowed for the first time) whose
profession these things are. He gives me a rule and I implicitly follow
it.” “Truth! truth!” says he; “by St Michael, prince of angels, that is
right; it is answered well; by St George! he is a clever fellow. They
told me he was a Jesuit. Will you come to see me? Will you come to
see me? You need not be afraid when you come to me.” “I trust,”
said I, bowing, “I shall do no ill, in that case shall have no reason to
fear.” Upon this I withdrew from among the crowd, and went away,
as an express then arrived from Ras Michael.

It was on the 8th or 9th of March I met him at Azazo. He was

dressed in a coarse dirty cloth, wrapt about him like a blanket, and
another like a table-cloth folded about his head: He was lean, old,
and apparently much fatigued; sat stooping upon an excellent mule,
that carried him speedily without shaking him; he had also sore
eyes. As we saw the place where he was to light by four cross
lances, and a cloth thrown over them like a temporary tent, upon an
eminence, we did not speak to him till he alighted. Petros and the
Greek priest, besides servants, were the only people with me,
Francis15 had joined us upon our meeting the Ras.

We alighted at the same time he did, and afterwards, with anxiety

enough we deputed the Greek priest, who was a friend of Michael,
to tell him who I was, and that I was come to meet him. The
soldiers made way, and I came up, took him by the hand, and kissed
it. He looked me broad in the face for a second, repeated the
ordinary salutation in Tigrè. “How do you do? I hope you are well;”
and pointed to a place where I was to sit down. A thousand
complaints, and a thousand orders came immediately before him,
from a thousand mouths, and we were nearly smothered; but he
took no notice of me, nor did he ask for one of his family. In some
minutes after came the king, who passed at some distance to the
left of him; and Michael was then led out of the shelter of his tent to
the door, where he was supported on foot till the king passed by,
having first pulled off the towel that was upon his head, after which
he returned to his seat in the tent again.

The king had been past about a quarter of a mile, when Kefla
Yasous came from him with orders to the Ras, or rather, as I believe,
to receive orders from him. He brought with him a young nobleman,
Ayto Engedan, who, by his dress, having his upper garment twisted
in a particular manner about his waist, shewed that he was carrier of
a special message from the king. The crowd by this time had shut us
quite out, and made a circle round the Ras, in which we were not
included. We were upon the point of going away, when Kefla Yasous,
who had seen Francis, said to him, “I think Engedan has the king’s
command for you, you must not depart without leave.” And, soon
after, we understood that the king’s orders were to obtain leave from
the Ras, to bring me, with Engedan, near, and in sight of him,
without letting me know, or introducing me to him. In answer to
this, the Ras had said, “I don’t know him; will people like him think
this right? Ask Petros; or why should not the king call upon him and
speak to him; he has letters to him as well as to me, and he will be
obliged to see him to-morrow.”
Engedan went away on a gallop to join the king, and we proceeded
after him, nor did we receive any other message either from the king
or the Ras. We returned to Koscam, very little pleased with the
reception we had met with. All the town was in a hurry and
confusion; 30,000 men were encamped upon the Kahha; and the
first horrid scene Michael exhibited there, was causing the eyes of
twelve of the chiefs of the Galla, whom he had taken prisoners, to
be pulled out, and the unfortunate sufferers turned out to the fields,
to be devoured at night by the hyæna. Two of these I took under my
care, who both recovered, and from them I learned many particulars
of their country and manners.

The next day, which was the 10th, the army marched into the town
in triumph, and the Ras at the head of the troops of Tigrè. He was
bareheaded; over his shoulders, and down to his back, hung a
pallium, or cloak, of black velvet, with a silver fringe. A boy, by his
right stirrup, held a silver wand of about five feet and a half long,
much like the staves of our great officers at court. Behind him all the
soldiers, who had slain an enemy and taken the spoils from them,
had their lances and firelocks ornamented with small shreds of
scarlet cloth, one piece for every man he had slain.

Remarkable among all this multitude was Hagos, door-keeper of the

Ras, whom we have mentioned in the war of Begemder. This man,
always well-armed and well-mounted, had followed the wars of the
Ras from his infancy, and had been so fortunate in this kind of single
combat, that his whole lance and javelin, horse and person, were
covered over with the shreds of scarlet cloth. At this last battle of
Fagitta, Hagos is said to have slain eleven men with his own hand.
Indeed there is nothing more fallacious than judging of a man’s
courage by these marks of conquest. A good horseman, armed with
a coat of mail, upon a strong, well-fed, well-winded horse, may,
after a defeat, kill as many of these wretched, weary, naked
fugitives, as he pleases, confining himself to those that are weakly,
mounted upon tired horses, and covered only with goat’s-skins, or
that are flying on foot.
Behind came Gusho of Amhara, and Powussen, lately made governor
of Begemder for his behaviour at the battle of Fagitta, where, as I
have said, he pursued Fasil and his army for two days. The Ras had
given him also a farther reward, his grand-daughter Ayabdar, lately
recovered from the small-pox, and the only one of my patients that,
neither by herself, her mother, nor her husband, ever made me the
least return. Powussen was one of the twelve officers who, after
being delivered to Lubo by the Galla, together with Mariam Barea,
had fled to Michael’s tent, and were protected by him.

One thing remarkable in this cavalcade, which I observed, was the

head-dress of the governors of provinces. A large broad fillet was
bound upon their forehead, and tied behind their head. In the
middle of this was a horn, or a conical piece of silver, gilt, about four
inches long, much in the shape of our common candle extinguishers.
This is called kirn, or horn, and is only worn in reviews or parades
after victory. This I apprehend, like all other of their usages, is taken
from the Hebrews, and the several allusions made in scripture to it
arise from this practice:—“I said unto fools, Deal not foolishly; and to
the wicked, Lift not up the horn”—“Lift not up your horn on high;
speak not with a stiff neck16”—“For promotion cometh,” &c.—“But
my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn”—“And the horn
of the righteous shall be exalted with honour.” And so in many other
places throughout the Psalms.

Next to these came the king, with a fillet of white muslin about three
inches broad, binding his forehead, tied with a large double knot
behind, and hanging down about two feet on his back. About him
were the great officers of state, such of the young nobility as were
without command; and after these, the household troops.

Then followed the Kanitz Kitzera, or executioner of the camp, and his
attendants; and, last of all, amidst the King’s and the Ras’s baggage,
came a man bearing the stuffed skin of the unfortunate Woosheka
upon a pole, which he hung upon a branch of the tree before the
king’s palace appropriated for public executions.
Upon their arrival at Gondar, all the great men had waited both upon
the Ras and the King. Aylo had been with them, and Ozoro Esther
was removed to Gondar; but, by my advice, had left the child at
Koscam. Her son Confu, though recovered of the small-pox, had
evident signs of a dysentery, and took no care of himself in point of
regimen, or avoiding cold.

It was now the 13th of March,and I had heard no word from Ozoro
Esther, or the Ras, though removed to a house in Gondar near to
Petros. I had gone every day once to see the children of Koscam; at
all which times I had been received with the greatest cordiality and
marks of kindness by the Iteghé, and orders given for my free
admittance upon all occasions like an officer of her household. As to
the rest, I never was in appearance more neglected, than in this
present moment, by all but the Moors. These were very grateful for
the successful attention I had shewed their children, and very
desirous to have me again among them. Hagi Saleh, in particular,
could not satiate himself with cursing the ingratitude of these cafers,
and infidels, the Christians. He knew what had passed at Koscam, he
saw what he thought likely to happen now, and his anger was that
of an honest man, and which perhaps many former instances which
he had been witness of might have justified, but in the present one
he was mistaken.

In the evening, Negadè Ras Mahoment came to my house; he said

Mahomet Gibberti was arrived, had been twice on private business
with the Ras, but had not yet delivered him his presents; and he had
not informed me of this, as he thought I was still at Koscam, and
that Saleh his brother knew nothing of it, as he had not seen him
since he came home. He also informed me that Ayto Aylo was with
the Ras twice the day after he entered Gondar, and once with
Mahomet Gibberti: all this was about me; and that, at Ayto Aylo’s
proposal, it was agreed that I should be appointed Palambaras,
which is master of the king’s horse. It is a very great office, both for
rank, and revenue, but has no business attending it; the young
Armenian had before enjoyed it. I told Mahomet, that, far from
being any kindness to me, this would make me the most unhappy of
all creatures; that my extreme desire was to see the country, and its
different natural productions; to converse with the people as a
stranger, but to be nobody’s master nor servant; to see their books;
and, above all, to visit the sources of the Nile; to live as privately in
my own house, and have as much time to myself as possible; and
what I was most anxious about at present, was to know when it
would be convenient for them to admit me to see the Ras, and
deliver my letters as a stranger.

Mahomet went away, and returned, bringing Mahomet Gibberti, who

told me, that, besides the letter I carried to Ras Michael from Metical
Aga his master, he had been charged with a particular one, out of
the ordinary form, dictated by the English at Jidda, who, all of them,
and particularly my friends Captain Thornhill, and Capt. Thomas
Price of the Lyon, had agreed to make a point with Metical Aga,
devoted to them for his own profit, that his utmost exertion of
friendship and interest, should be so employed in my
recommendation, as to engage the attention of Ras Michael to
provide in earnest for my safety and satisfaction in every point.

This letter I had myself read at Jidda; it informed Michael of the

power and riches of our nation, and that they were absolute masters
of the trade on the Red Sea, and strictly connected with the
Sherriffe, and in a very particular manner with him, Metical Aga; that
any accident happening to me would be an infamy and disgrace to
him, and worse than death itself, because, that knowing Michael’s
power, and relying on his friendship, he had become security for my
safety, after I arrived in his hands; that I was a man of consideration
in my own country, servant to the king of it, who, though himself a
Christian, governed his subjects Mussulmen and Pagans, with the
same impartiality and justice as he did Christians. That all my desire
was to examine springs and rivers, trees and flowers, and the stars
in the heavens, from which I drew knowledge very useful to
preserve man’s health and life; that I was no merchant, and had no
dealings whatever in any sort of mercantile matters; and that I had
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