Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile/Volume 4/Book 7/Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
It was the 31st of December that we were at Koscam. A proclamation had been made some days before of a general pardon to all that would return to Gondar; but no one had ventured but Ayto Engedan, who was with Fasil as the king's friend; nor were any of those who went with Fasil the object of the proclamation, for it was not thought that the retiring from Socinios with Fasil was doing anything against their allegiance.
That night the bodies of Guebra Denghel, Kefla Mariam, and Sebaat Laab, were taken down from the tree and laid upon the ground; after having been watched in the night by their friends to keep the beasts from them, were at last suffered to be taken privately away, at the intercession of the troops of Tigré, whose country men they were. Chremation and Abba Salama were abandoned to their fortune, and in part putrified; they were covered with heaps of stones thrown upon them by such as were passing, and had no other burial.
The next night, the 1st of January 1771, according to order, I waited upon the king with Confu and Engedan, and with them Yasine: measures were then taken for buying their horses and coats of mail; the Ras had advanced part of the money, the rest was to be made up by the meery, or king's duty, due by the Mahometan provinces, which had not been paid since he went to Tigré; a Mahometan servant of the king was sent for from the custom house; with him was to go a man from Yasine, and with them I sent my letters by the hand of Soliman, a black of Ras el Feel, a man remarkable for his strength, courage, and size, and very shrewd and discerning, under the appearance of an idiot: Yasine was sent with them to get a safe conduct from his friend Fidele Shekh of Atbara, who was to convoy them to Beyla, and thence to Sennaar.
It was not without great dispute and altercation the king would allow me the permission to send letters; at last, seeing he could do no better, it was agreed that, as an immediate engagement between Powussen, Gusho, and Ras Michael, was inevitable, I should swear not to attempt to leave him till that affair was settled some way or other; but the king insisted I should also take an oath, that, should he be victorious over, or reconciled to the rebels, if the engagement I was under in my own country was not fulfilled, and I recovered my health, I should bring as many of my brethren and family as possible, with their horses, muskets, and bayonets; that, if I could not pafs by Sennaar, I should come by the way of the East Indies from Surat to Masuah, which, by how much it was more tedious, was by so much more secure, than that by Sennaar.
I cannot but hope, the impossibility of performing this oath extinguished the sin of breaking it; at any rate, it was personal, and the subsequent death of the king[1] must have freed me from it; be that as it will, it had this good effect, that it greatly composed my mind for the time, as I now no longer considered myself as involved in that ancient and general rule of the country, Never to allow a stranger to return to his home. We that night learned, that the king had been in great straits ever since he came from Tigré; that the Ras, who was possessed of all the revenues of the provinces that were in their allegiance, had never yet given the king an ounce of gold; and that he furnished his daily subsistence from his own house, a cow for his own and great officers table, and two loaves of bread for each of his servants; as small an allowance as any private person gave. It was believed that the Ras had left most of his money in Tigré, and had trusted to the contributions he was to levy upon the great men whenever he should cross the Tacazze; but in this he disappointed himself by his cruelty, for no person came before him, on his arrival at Gondar, from whom he could raise a farthing.
It was about the 20th of January, that a message arrived from Powussen, to tell the Ras he had taken the usurper Socinios prisoner, and held him in irons at the king's disposal. He upbraided Michael with the cruelties of his executions, and declared his resolution of calling him to an account for these personally at Gondar; he warned him in time, to repass the Tacazze, and retire while it was in his power to his government of Tigré, where nobody would molest him, and leave the king at liberty to act for himself. Gusho likewise sent a messenger, but what word he brought did not transpire; after feeing the King and Ras Michael, both these messengers proceeded to Fasil. Soon after this came a message from Fasil, desiring only that the King and the Ras might renew to him the grant of his father's lands and estates, which he formerly possessed: what was the meaning of this message I could never learn; he was already in full possession of what he asked, and more; no person had attempted to take any thing from him, nor was it indeed in their power.
Proclamation was made accordingly in terms of the request, and all the lands that he had possessed were given him: before he could have news of this first grant, a second messenger came, desiring that he might be confirmed in his government of Maitsha, Damot, and Agow. This too was immediately granted him, but a condition was added, that he should bring the troops of these provinces, and as many others as he could raise, to join the king with all possible speed, and take the field with Ras Michael against Powussen and Gusho; and this was but what he had spontaneously promised when he made his peace at Dingleber. At the same time Ayto Aylo, brother to Engedan, was proclaimed governor of Begemder; and all people holding of the king or of Aylo's friends, (for he had a very large estate in that province) were ordered to join him; but a very few came, among whom was the famous Guigarr, chief of the clan, Waag of Lasta, son to Aylo's sister.
Mean time the king used all the means in his power to induce the Iteghé to return to Koscam, for her presence in Gojam kept alive the spirit of a number of people that were attached to her, who bore very impatiently to see her banished, as she then was, though resident with her daughter Ozoro Welleta Israel, and surrounded by the forces of Aylo her grandson, who was governor of Gojam, and to whom half of that province belonged in property. But the queen was resolute never to trust Ras Michael, though it was believed the sent the king a sum in gold privately by Engedan.
It was in the end of January that another message arrived from Fasil, excusing his coming to Gondar on account of the badness of his health; he said, besides, he could not trust Michael unless he gave him Welleta Selasse, his granddaughter, to wife, and sent her to him to Buré. I have already mentioned that the Ras was fond of this young lady himself, and nothing but that hindered him from giving her to the king in marriage; and it was said, and I believe with truth, that some delicacy[2] the king had expressed about this since his return from Tigré, was the reason of coldness between him and the Ras, and of Michael's putting the king on so short allowance on his first coming to Gondar: but all that was now removed by the necessities of the times; gold came from Tigré in plenty; even Powussen had sent some of the revenue of Begemder, all the other provinces, a proportion, with butter, cattle, and cotton cloths, for the maintenance of the king's household and troops: for my part, though I enjoyed the name of several posts, I had partaken since this last revolution of a very small part of their revenues; I had been liberally supplied in the king's absence by Ozoro Esther and the queen. I had few servants, and lived cheaply in the Iteghé's palace at Koscam; but after my arrival, the king, on purpose I believe to disconcert my journey, ran me grievously into debt with the soldiers, and other expences that were, as I was told, absolutely necessary; it is true, these were paid in part at times but very irregularly. Ras Michael was not a man to be craved, nor was my temper such as could be brought to crave him; from this it arose that often I had been in great straits, and obliged to live sparingly, which luckily was never a great hardship upon me, in order to fulfil my promise to others. And now the campaign was beginning, horses, and mules, and every thing necessary were to be purchased, and I was in debt above one hundred pounds, nor would it have been possible I ever should have cleared myself, for my daily expences were enormous, if it had not been for the situation that a certain Greek, named Petros, was in, from whom I borrowed about three hundred pounds, as I shall after mention. With regard to Kasmati Fasil, he sent me, twice, two large jars of honey from my lordship of Geesh, at two different times: the first was taken by Coque Abou Barea, the last tasted so bitter of lupines, that no use could be made of it. I was a Sovereign, it is true, and my revenue was what wise men have said is the best, — the love of the people. It went, however, but little way towards supporting my dignity.
While the king was at Kahha, keeping the festival of the Epiphany, he received a very extraordinary visit from Amha Yasous, son of the governor of Shoa, offering his personal service and assistance to the king, and brought with him, as a present, 500 ounces of gold, and a thousand excellent horsemen ready equipt at all points. Upon his being presented to the king, two young noblemen were instructed to be ready to lay hold of him by the arms, and prevent his throwing himself upon the ground if he intended so to do. The king was seated upon the throne, very richly dressed in brocade, a very fine muslin web wrapt loosely about him, so as to hang in plaits, and in some parts show, and in some conceal, the flowers of the cloth of gold of which his waistcoat was composed. His hair was loose, combed out at its full length, and falling about his head in every direction, and a fork, like a skewer, made of a rhinoceros horn, with a gold button or head upon it, stuck thro' his hair near his temples; he was all perfumed with rose water, and two people flood on the opposite sides of the tent, each of them with a silver bottle full of it.
Amha Yasous with his thousand horse presented himself before the door of the tent, and rode on till he was compleatly in it; he then descended as in a great hurry or surprise, and ran forward, stooping, to the foot of the throne, inclining his body lower and lower as he approached, and, just before the act of prostration, he was seized by Tecla Mariam and Guebra Menfus Kedus, and prevented from kissing the ground; the king held his hand uncovered, but not extended, that is, as if he did not intend or expect that he should kiss it. Amha Yasous, after the struggle was over about the prostration, suddenly seized the king's hand and kissed it, with some resistance on the part of the king, who, when he had kissed the back of his hand, turned the palm likewise; a great mark of familiarity and confidence in this country. There was a small stool, about half a foot from the ground, covered with a Persian carpet. Amha Yasous attempted to speak standing, but was not suffered, but constrained by the two noblemen to sit down on the little stool; they then deluged him so with rose-water, that I do believe he never in his life was so wet with rain. After some general questions the tent was cleared. All this ceremonial was premeditated and studied; the etiquette could not have been more punctually and uniformly observed in any court of Europe, and would have just signified what it did here.
Amha Yasous was a man from twenty-six to twenty-eight years of age, tall, and of a just degree of corpulence, with arms and legs finely made; he had a very beautiful face, small features, and the most affable manners. I have thought, when I have seen them together, that the king, Engedan, and himself, were three of the handsomest men I had ever beheld in any country; besides this, all three had fine understandings, noble sentiments, and courage superior to the greatest danger; charitable too, and humane inclinations, were it not for that accursed indifference, or rather propensity, one of them had to shed human blood; this the young king had imbibed in the school of Michael, but for natural talents he certainly was the first of the three.
Apartments in the palace, and a table, were assigned to Amha Yasous, and he was served by the king's servants as well as his own; a guard was appointed at his door, the officer of which attended to receive his orders and take the word daily. This was the manner of receiving illustrious strangers in my time at Gondar. Anthule, a Greek, master of the king's wardrobe, was ordered from time to time to bring him clothes of the fame kind with those the king wore. All the Ozoros, or noble women at court, fell violently in love with Amha Yasous, as fame reported, except Ozoro Esther. The young prince had not a grain of coldness nor indifference in his nature; he carried himself, wherever he went, with honourable, attentive, and decent gallantry. But his chief attention was paid to Welleta Selasse; nor was Ras Michael jealous, nor, as public report went, was Welleta Selasse unkind. I was often in the evenings in his parties at her house; a fixed, ever-changing melancholy hung upon her face; deep, and involuntary sighs escaped from her under visible constraint: it did not appear to me possible this could have been her behaviour, if in actual enjoyment of successful love; or that, after having gratified it, she could have put in execution that desperate resolution which apparently she had then formed in her mind.
Amha Yasous was son of a sister of Gusho; it was said, afterwards that he had a commission from his father, governor of Shoa, to detach Gusho, if possible, from his alliance with Powussen, and bring him back to his allegiance to the king. Whether this was true or not I cannot say, but that this, or something similar, was the case, seemed to be more than probable from the behaviour of Gusho afterwards, during the whole campaign. Amha Yasous did not come to take part in the war, he only brought, in imitation of old times, a tribute to the king as a testimony of the loyalty of the faithful province of Shoa; but he was so interested for the king, after being admitted into intimacy with him, and so pleased with the society of the young noblemen at court, that he determined to come back with the command of the troops of his father, and in his way force Gusho to return to his duty, if he was not already determined.
He had heard, while at Shoa, from some priests of Debra Libanos, that there was a strange white man in favour with the king at Gondar, who could do every thing but raise the dead; it was among his first requests to the king, to make him acquainted with me. The king therefore ordered me to wait upon him every morning, and I, on my part, did not let slip that opportunity. Insensibly we came to be inseparable companions. Our conversation fell one day to be upon the Abyssinian kings who first lived at Shoa at the time when the kingdom of Adel was a great mart for the East Indian trade, before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope. He said that a book containing their history, he believed, was in some of the churches in Shoa, and that he would immediately send for it. Although I could not help testifying my desire of having a book which I had fought for in vain through the rest of the provinces of Abyssinia, yet I thought it unreasonable to desire a man to send 300 miles merely for the purpose of getting it; I therefore did not press it, being satisfied with his promise; but as my work would have been incomplete without it, I asked my friend Tecla Mariam to mention it to him as from the king. His answer was, "I have already promised to get it for Yagoube, the messenger by this time is in Amhara; depend upon it, my father will not fail to let me have it; for fear of mistake, I have dispatched a very intelligent man, who knows and has seen the book at Debra Libanos." The promise was punctually kept, the book came, and from it I have drawn the history of the Adelan war, and the reign of those kings who had not yet returned to Axum, but reigned in Shoa.
One evening I inquired of him concerning the story which the Portuguese heard, at the discovery of Benin, that the blacks of that country had intercourse with a Christian inland state they acknowledged as sovereign, from which they procured the investiture of their lands, as has been already mentioned in the beginning of this work? whether any such commerce did exist with Shoa at present, or if traces remained of it in older times? if there was any other Christian or Jewish state in his neighbourhood to which this description could apply[3]? He said they knew nothing of Benin at Shoa, nor had he ever heard of the name, nor any custom of the kind that I had mentioned, which either then did, or ever had prevailed in Shoa: he knew of no Christian state farther to the southward, excepting Narea, a great part of which was conquered by the Galla, who were Pagans. The blacks that were next to Shoa, he said, were exceedingly fierce, warlike, and cruel; worst than the Galla, and of the same kind with the Shangalla in Abyssinia. The other nations were partly Mahometan, but chiefly Galla, and some of these had turned Mahometan; but that they had no knowledge of any commerce with the Western, or Atlantic Ocean, though they knew the Eastern or Indian Ocean, which was nearer; were often served with Indian goods from Mahometan merchants from thence; but that the Galla had over-run most of the intermediate countries, and made the ways dangerous.
After Amha Yasous's audience with the king, he waited on Ras Michael also, to whom he brought a present in gold; politely excusing himself for having brought it in that form, on account that any other would have been troublesome, from the length of the way. He well knew, however, that an apology was needless, and that Ras Michael never saw any present in a more agreeable form than that of gold. I was not at the audience, nor do I know what passed at it; only that, on his introduction, the Ras was held up on his feet, and received him standing; they then both sat down upon the same seat, after which they dined heartily together at Ozoro Esther's apartment, who came from Koscam on purpose to prepare their entertainment, and they drank and conversed together till late at night.
The sight of gold, and a thousand horse at the juncture, made Ras Michael as light and chearful as a young man of twenty-five. No words concerning the government of Shoa passed, nor any proclamation relative to the state of that province; and this silence was equal to declare it independent, as it was intended, and indeed it had been considered as such a long time before. As I saw Amha Yasous eat raw beef like the Abyssinians, I asked him if it was the custom of other nations to the southward? He said he believed so, if they were not Mahometans; and inquired of me if it was not likewise the practice among us. I imagine it prevails as far as the Cape of Good Hope.
Another interview, which happened at Kahha, was much more extraordinary in itself, though of much less importance to the state. Guangoul, chief of the Galla of Angot, that is, of the eastern Galla, came to pay his respects to the king and Ras Michael; he had with him about 500 foot and 40 horse; he brought with him a number of large horns for carrying the king's wine, and some other such trifles. He was a little, thin, cross-made man, of no apparent strength or swiftness, as far as could be conjectured; his legs and thighs being thin and small tor his body, and his head large; he was of a yellow, unwholesome colour, not black nor brown; he had long hair plaited and interwoven with the bowels of oxen, and so knotted and twisted together as to render it impossible to distinguish the hair from the bowels, which hung down in long strings, part before his bread and part behind his shoulder, the most extraordinary ringlets I had ever seen. He had likewise, a wreath of guts hung about his neck, and several rounds of the fame about his middle, which served as a girdle, below which was a short cotton cloth dipt in butter, and all his body was wet, and running down with the same; he seemed to be about fifty years of age, with a confident and insolent superiority painted in his face. In his country it seems, when he appears in state, the beast he rides upon is a cow. He was then in full dress and ceremony, and mounted upon one, not of the largest sort, but which had monstrous horns. He had no saddle on his cow. He had short drawers, that did not reach the middle of his thighs; his knees, feet, legs, and all his body were bare. He had a shield of a single hide, warped by the heat in several directions, and much in the shape of a high-crowned, large, straw-hat, with which the fashionable women in our own country sometimes disguise themselves. He carried a short lance in his right hand, with an ill-made iron head, and a shaft that seemed to be of thorn-tree, but altogether without ornament, which is seldom the case with the arms of barbarians. Whether it was necessary for the poizing himself upon the sharp ridge of the beast's back, or whether it was meant as graceful riding, I do not know, being quite unskilled in cowmanship; but he leaned exceedingly backwards, putting his belly forwards, and holding his left arm and shield stretched out on one side of him, and his right, arm and lance in the same way on the other, like wings.
The king was seated on his ivory chair, to receive him, almost in the middle of his tent; the day was very hot, and an insufferable stench of carrion soon made every one in the tent sensible of the approach of this nasty sovereign, even before they saw him. The king, when he perceived him coming, was so struck with the whole figure and appearance, that he could not contain himself from an immoderate fit of laughter, which finding it impossible to stifle, he rose from his chair, and ran as hard as he could into another apartment behind the throne.
The savage got off from his cow at the door of the tent with all his tripes about him; and, while we were admiring him as a monster, seeing the king's seat empty, he took it for his own, and down he sat upon the crimson silk cushion, with the butter running from every part of him. A general cry of astonishment was made by every persson in the tent: he started up I believe without divining the cause, and before he had time to recollect himself, they fell all upon him, and with pushes and blows drove this greasy chieftain to the door of the tent, flaring with wild amazement, not knowing what was next to happen. It is high treason, and punishable by immediate death, to sit down upon the king's chair. Poor Guangoul owed his life to his ignorance. The king had beheld the whole scene through the curtain; if he laughed heartily at the beginning, he laughed ten times more at the catastrophe; he came out laughing, and unable to speak. The cushion was lifted and thrown away, and a yellow Indian shaul spread on the ivory stool; and ever after, when it was placed, and the king not there, the stool was turned on its face upon the carpet to prevent such like accidents.
Guangoul, disappointed of having an audience of the king, went to the Ras, where he was better received, but what passed I know not. His troops, armed like himself, with shields of no resistance, and hedge-rakes burnt and sharpened at the end instead of lances, were no acquisition to any party, especially in the present quarrel, where all the veteran troops in Abyssinia were nearly equally divided on opposite sides; besides, the Shoa horse had taken the eyes of people so much, that they began to think little of any cavalry that was not in some degree equipped like them.
After the king returned to the palace, great diversion was made at Guangoul's appearance, in so much that Ozoro Esther, who hated the very name of Galla, and of this race in particular, insisted upon seeing a representation of it. Doho, accordingly, a dwarf belonging to Ras Michael, very ugly, with a monstrous big head, but very sharp and clever, and capable of acting his part, was brought to represent the person of Guangoul: a burnt stick and a bad shield were provided; but the great difficulity remained, how to persuade Doho the dwarf to put on the raw guts about his neck and waist, and, above all, to plait them in the hair, which he absolutely refused, both from religious and cleanly motives; as for the butter, it was no objection, as all the Abyssinians anoint themselves with it daily, after bathing. Here we were very near at a stand, all the ladies having in vain supplicated him to suffer for their sakes a temporary pollution, with promises that oceans of rose and scented water should be poured upon him afterwards, to restore his former sweetness. Doho was a man who constantly spent his time in reading scripture, the acts of the councils, the works of St John Chrysostom, and other such books as they have among them. He remained inflexible: at last I suggested that several hanks of cotton, dyed blue, red, and yellow, should be got from the weavers in the Mahometan town, and these oiled, greased, and knotted properly, and twisted among the hair, well-anointed with butter, would give a pretty accurate resemblance of what we saw in the king's tent. All hands were immediately set to work; the cotton was provided; Ozoro Esther's servants and slaves decked Doho to the life. I spotted his face with slibium, and others anointed him with butter: an old milk-cow was found, contrary to my expectation, that suffered a rider without much impatience, and in came Guangoul into a great hall in Ozoro Esther's apartment.
Never was any thing better personated or better received; the whole hall resounded with one cry of laughter; Doho, encouraged by this and the perfect indifference and steadiness of his cow, began to act his part with great humour and confidence: he was born in the neighbourhood of these very Galla, knew their manners, and spoke their language perfectly. Amha Yasous, Confu, Aylo brother to Engedan, some servants of the king, acted the part that we did in the tent the day of the audience, that is, stood on each side of the king's chair: the cow was brought into the middle of the room, and Guangoul descended with his lance and shield in great state; a cushion was not spared, nor did Doho spare the cushion; the butter shewed very distinctly where he had been sitting: we all fell upon him and belaboured him heartily, and chaced him to the door. His speedy retreat was not counterfeited. Ozoro Altash, Esther's sister, and a number of the ladies of the court, were present. Ozoro Esther declared she would send for the Ras, he had been in great good humour since the arrival of Amha Yasous. I had not seen him since the recovery of his son, and happened to be at the door next him; he took me by the hand, and said, "Welleta Hawaryat (that is the name of his son) is well, you are very kind."
Michael was esteemed the best orator in his country, and spoke his own language, Tigran, with the utmost purity and elegance; yet in common conversation he was very sententious, two or three words at a time, but never obscure; this he had contracted by a long practice of commanding armies, where he saw as instantly and clearly, as he spoke shortly and distinctly. He bowed very civilly to the ladies, and pointed to me to fit down on the seat by him. Amha Yasous was standing before him, I hastened to sit down on the carpet at his feet, and he seemed to recoiled himself and placed Amha Yasous beside him: it was easy to see his mind was otherwise occupied, and as easy to perceive by his look, that he gave me credit for my behaviour. When they were all seated, "Well, says he, in great good humour, what now, what is the matter? what can I do for you, Yagoube? are the women in your country as idle and foolish as these? has Ozoro Esther chosen a wife for you? she shall give you your dinner: I will give her a portion; and as you are a horseman, the king, with Amha Yasous's leave, said he bowing, shall give you the command of the Shoa horse; I have seen them; the men I think are almost as white as yourself." Amha Yasous bowed in return, and said, "Sir, if the king bestows them so worthily, I promise to bring another thousand as good as these to join them after the rains, before next Epiphany." — "And I, says Ozoro Esther, for my part, I have long had a wife for him, but this is not the present business, we know your time is precious, Guangoul is without, and desires an audience of you." — Poh! says the Ras, Guangoul is gone to Gusho, at Minziro, and there is like to be a pretty story: here are accounts come from Tigré, that he has committed great barbarities in his journey, laid waste some villages, killed the people, for not furnishing him with provisions: here in Belessen he also burnt a church and a village belonging to the Iteghé, and killed many poor people; I do not know what he means; I hope they will keep him where he is, and not send him home again through Tigré.
A communication of this kind, very uncommon from the Ras, occasioned a serious appearance in the whole company; but he had no sooner done with speaking, than in comes Doho upon his cow: neither man nor woman that had yet seen him, ever laughed so heartily as the old Ras; he humoured the thing entirely; welcomed Doho in Galla language, and saw the whole farce, finished by his flight to the door, with the utmost good humour. Then taking Amha Yasous with him, and several great officers who had come in the interim, he returned by a private passage to his own apartments.
As I shall have no occasion for further mention of this chieftain, I will here finish his story, though not in the order of time. Gusho and Powussen had gained Guangoul, and persuaded him to make an irruption with his Galla into the province of Tigré, to create a diversion against Michael, and, for that purpose, they had sent him home nearly the way he had come through that province. From this encouragement he had begun to conduct himself still worse than formerly. Ras Michael, suspecting what would happen, privately dispatched Ayto Confu after him with 600 horse. That young soldier, happy in a command that highly gratified his mother, and guided by the cries of the people, followed with the utmost diligence, and came up with him in the neighbourhood of Lasta, and there, after little resistance, Guangoul and his troops were cut to pieces, those that had escaped being all slain by the exasperated peasants. Confu returned to Gondar the night of the fifth day, together with the bloody trophies of his conquest over Guangoul and his Galla.
I have before mentioned that this chief had brought with him a quantity of large horns for the king's service. Some of this sort having been seen in India filled with civet, have given occasion to those travellers who saw them there to say, that the animal producing these large horns was a carnivorous bull of a prodigious size, inhabiting the interior parts of Africa. That no illustration of this kind may be wanting, a copperplate of this curious bull is, I think, in some of the first volumes of the Philosophical Transactions. The origin of the tale is believed to be in Bernier or Thevenot. It may, however, with great certainty, be relied upon, that no such animal exists in Africa, nor probably in the whole creation. The animal furnishing those monstrous horns is a cow or bull, which would be reckoned of a middling size in England; its head and neck are larger and thicker in proportion, but not very remarkably so. I have been told this animal was first brought by the Galla from near the Line, where it rains continually, and the sun is little seen. This extraordinary size of its horns proceeds from a disease that the cattle have in those countries, of which they die, and is probably derived from their pasture and climate.
Whenever the animal shews symptoms of this disorder, he is set apart in the very best and quietest grazing-place, and never driven nor molested from that moment. His value lies then in his horns, for his body becomes emaciated and lank in proportion as the horns grow large. At the last period of his life the weight of his head is so great that he is unable to lift it up, or at least for any space of time. The joints of his neck become callous at last, so that it is not any longer in his power to lift his head. In this situation he dies, with scarcely flesh covering his bones, and it is then the horns are of the greatest size and value. I have seen horns that would contain as much as a common-sized iron-hooped water-pale, such as they make use of in the houses in England; but the Galla, who have a ready market for these of all sizes, generally kill the beast when his horns will contain something less than fix gallons. Two of these horns, filled with wine or spirits, are carried very commodiously upon a woman's back, flung over her shoulders, I had two of the largest size stole from me that night Socinios, Confu, and Chremation plundered my house, nor could I ever recover them. I have seen them at Gondar sold for four ounces of gold, equal to ten pounds sterling, the pair.
On the 17th of February came messengers from Fasil, with the old language of proposals of submission and peace, and a repetition of his demand, that Welleta Selassé should be given him for a wife, and sent to him, at least as far as Dingleber, where he would advance to meet her; excusing himself from coming to Gondar, because the Ras had already broken his promise to him; for the condition of peace made with the Ras, when he was besieging the mountain, was. That if Michael should bring the king to the Tacazzé, and surrender him there, and then return and content himself with the government of Tigré, without proceeding to Gondar, that Fasil should receive the king and conduct him to the capital, and be created Ras and governor in place of Michael. Fasil had punctually performed his part, and of this Michael had taken advantage, and had violated every article which he had stipulated on the other side; and this was at least the alledged reason why Fasil had refused to come to Gondar. The same evening arrived also messengers from Gusho and Powussen, declaring to Ras Michael, that, if he did not leave Gondar and return to Tigré, they would come and burn the town. They professed great duty to the king, but charged the Ras with every sort of enormity, and upon his refusal sent him a defiance.
The same evening came an express from Shoa, which most punctually brought the book I so much wished for, containing the lives of the first kings that lived at Shoa; a fair and fine copy, wrote upon parchment in a large quarto size, in the pure ancient language of Geez. The author was nearly contemporary with the annals which he writes. I shewed it to the king, who till then had never seen it, and who only said, I fear, Yagoube, you are carrying home these books only to make your kings laugh at ours. The satisfaction I received upon the acquisition of this book was greatly diminished by the loss of the donor, Amha Yasous, who set out the 20th of February, attended with about a hundred men, his own servants, and followed by the regret and the good wishes of all that had known him, mine in particular, having been, from the first time I saw him, very much attached to him.
Before his departure he had two long conferences with the king upon the contents of the dispatches sent by his father from Shoa. The substance he frankly told me was, that he did not intend to meddle with the quarrels of Ras Michael, nor those of Fasil; that they should settle these in their own way; but if either attempted any thing against the king, set up any usurpers, as they had done in the person of Socinios, and continued so far against their allegiance to Tecla Haimanout as to withhold his whole revenue, and not to pay him wherewithal to support his state, that he would consider himself as protector of the royal family of Solamon, as the governors of Shoa had always been. — It was believed very generally, by Amha Yasous coming in person, that a treaty between some of the great men in both sides, begun at his instance, would bring every man that could mount a horse from as far south as Gingiro, to over-run both the provinces of Begemder and Amhara, and either displace the two governors, or at least force them to their duty; and it was owing to this, in all probability, that Gusho acted with such moderation as he did in the campaign that soon followed.