Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile/Volume 3/Book 5/Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
Journey from Dixan to Adowa, Capital of Tigrè.
It was on Nov. 25th, at ten in the morning, we left Dixan, descending the very steep hill on which the town is situated. It produces nothing but the Kol-quall tree all around it. We passed a miserable village called Hadhadid, and, at eleven o'clock, encamped under a daroo tree, one of the finest I have seen in Abyssinia, being 7½ feet diameter, with a head spreading in proportion, standing alone by the side of a river which now ran no more, though there is plenty of fine water still stagnant in its bed. This tree and river is the boundary of the territory, which the Naybe farms from Tigré, and stands within the province of Baharnagash, called Midrè Bahar.
Hagi Abdelcader had attended us thus far before he left us; and the noted Saloomè came likewise, to see if some occasion would offer of doing us further mischief; but the king's servants, now upon their own ground, began to take upon them a proper consequence. One of them went to meet Saloomé at the bank of the river, and making a mark on the ground with his knife, declared that his patience was quite exhausted by what he had been witness to at Masuah and Dixan; and if now Saloomé, or any other man belonging to the Naybe, offered to pass that mark, he would bind him hand and foot, and carry him to a place where he should be left tied to a tree, a prey to the lion and hyæna. They all returned, and there our persecution from the Naybe ended. But it was very evident, from Achmet's behaviour and discourse, had we gone by Dobarwa, which was the road proposed by the Naybe, our sufferings would not have been as yet half finished, unless they had ended with our lives.
We remained under this tree the night of the 25th; it will be to me a station ever memorable, as the first where I recovered a portion of that tranquillity of mind to which I had been a stranger ever since my arrival at Masuah. We had been joined by about twenty loaded asses driven by Moors, and two loaded bulls; for there is a small sort of this kind called Ber, which they make life of as beasts of burden. I called all these together to recommend good order to them, desiring every one to leave me that was not resolved to obey implicitly the orders I should give them, as to the hours and places of encamping, keeping watch at night, and setting out in the morning. I appointed Yasine the judge of all disputes between them; and, if the difference should be between Yasine and any one of them, or, if they should not be content with his decision, then my determination was to be final. They all consented with great marks of approbation. We then repeated the fedtah, and swore to stand by each other till the last, without confidering who the enemy might be, or what his religion was, if he attacked us.
The 26th, at seven in the morning, we left our most pleasant quarters under the daroo-tree, and set forward with great alacrity. About a quarter of a mile from the river we crossed the end of the plain Zarai, already mentioned. Though this is but three miles long, and one where broadest, it was the largest plain we had seen since our passing Taranta, whose top was now covered wholly with large, black, and very heavy clouds, from which we heard and saw frequent peals of thunder, and violent streams of lightning. This plain was sown partly with wheat, partly with Indian corn; the first was cut down, the other not yet ripe. Two miles farther we passed Addicota, a village planted up on a high rock; the sides towards us were as if cut perpendicular like a wall. Here was one refuge of the Jesuits when banished Tigrè by Facilidas, when they fled to the rebel John Akay. We after this passed a variety of small villages on each side of us, all on the top of hills; Darcotta and Embabuwhat on the right, Azaria on the left.
At half an hour past eleven we encamped under a mountain, on the top of which is a village called Hadawi, consisting of no more than eighty houses, though, for the present, it is the seat of the Baharnagash. The present Baharnagash had bought the little district that he commanded, after the present governor of Tigré, Michael Suhul, had annexed to his own province what he pleased of the old domains, and farmed the other part to the Naybe for a larger revenue than he ever could get from any other tenant. The Naybe had now no longer a naval force to support him, and the fear of Turkish conquest had ceased in Tigrè. The Naybe could be reduced within any bounds that the governor of Tigrè might please to prescribe him; and the Baharnagash was a servant maintained to watch over him, and starve him into obedience, by intercepting his provisions whenever the governor of Tigré commanded him.
This nobleman paid me a visit in my tent, and was the first Abyssinian I had seen on horseback; he had seven attendant horsemen with him, and about a dozen of others on foot, all of a beggarly appearance, and very ill-armed and equipped. He was a little man, of an olive complexion, or rather darker; his head was shaved close, with a cowl, or covering, upon it; he had a pair of short trousers; his feet and legs were bare; the usual coarse girdle was wrapt several times about him, in which he stuck his knife; and the ordinary web of cotton cloth, neither new nor clean, was thrown about him. His parts seemed to be much upon the level with his appearance. He asked me, if I had ever seen horses before? I said, Very seldom. He then described their qualities in such a manner as would never have given me any idea of the animal if I had seen it seldom. He excused himself for not having sent us provisions, because he had been upon an expedition against some rebellious villages, and was then only just returned.
To judge by his present appearance, he was no very respectable personage; but in this I was mistaken, as I afterwards found. I gave him a present in proportion to the first idea, with which he seemed very well content, till he observed a number of fire-arms tied up to the pillar in the middle of the tent, among which were two large ship-blunderbusses. He asked me if there was no danger of their going off? I said, that it happened every now and then, when their time was come. A very little after this, he took the cushion upon which he sat, went out, and placed himself at the door of the tent. There the king's servant got hold of him, and told him roundly, he must furnish us with a goat, a kid, and forty loaves, and that immediately, and write it off in his deftar, or account-book, if he pleased. He then went away and sent us a goat and fifty cakes of teff bread.
But my views upon him did not end here. His seven horses were all in very bad order, though there was a black one among them that had particularly struck my fancy. In the evening I sent the king's servants, and Janni's, for a check, to try if he would sell that black horse. The bargain was immediately made for various pieces of goods, part of which I had with me, and part I procured from my companions in the caravan. Every thing was fashionable and new from Arabia. The value was about L.12. Sterling, forty shillings more than our friend at Dixan had paid for a whole family of four persons. The goods were delivered, and the horse was to be sent in the evening, when he proved a brown one, old, and wanting an eye. I immediately returned the horse, insisting on the black one; but he protested the black horse was not his own; that he had returned it to its master; and, upon a little further discourse, said, that it was a horse he intended as a present for the king.
My friends treated this with great indifference, and desired their goods back again, which were accordingly delivered. But they were no sooner in the tent, when the black horse was sent, and refused. The whole, however, was made up, by sending us another goat, which I gave to Yasine, and two jars of bouza, which we drank among us, promising, according to the Baharnagash's request, we would represent him well at court. We found, from his servants, that he had been upon no expedition, nor one step from home for three months past.
I was exceedingly pleased with this first acquisition. The horse was then lean, as he stood about sixteen and a half hands high, of the breed of Dongola. Yasine, a good horseman, recommended to me one of his servants, or companions, to take care of him. He was an Arab, from the neighbourhood of Medina, a superior horseman himself, and well-versed in every thing that concerned the animal. I took him immediately into my service. We called the horse Mirza, a name of good fortune. Indeed, I might say, I acquired that day a companion that contributed always to my pleasure, and more than once to my safety; and was no slender means of acquiring me the first attention of the king. I had brought my Arab stirrups, saddle, and bridle with me, so that I was now as well equipped as a horseman could be.
On the 27th we left Hadawi, continuing our journey down a very steep and narrow path between two stony hills; then ascended one still higher, upon the top of which stands the large village of Goumbubba, whence we have a prospect over a considerable plain all sown with the different grain this country produces, wheat, barley, teff, and tocusso; simsim, (or sesame) and nook; the last is used for oil.
We passed the village of Dergate, then that of Regticat, on the top of a very high hill on the left, as the other was on our right. We pitched our tent about half a mile off the village called Barranda, where we were overtaken by our friend the Baharnagash, who was so well pleased with our last interview, especially the bargain of the horse, that he sent us three goats, two jars of honey-wine, and some wheat-flour. I invited him to my tent, which he immediately accepted. He was attended by two servants on foot, with lances and shields; he had no arms himself, but, by way of amends, had two drums beating, and two trumpets blowing before him, sounding a charge.He seemed to be a very simple, good-natured man, indeed, remarkably so; a character rarely found in any degree of men in this country. He asked me how I liked my horse? said, he hoped I did not intend to mount it myself? I answered, God forbid; I kept him as a curiosity. He commended my prudence very much, and gave me a long detail about what horses had done, and would do, on occasions. Some of the people without, however, shewed his servants my saddle, bridle, and stirrups, which they well knew, from being neighbours to the Arabs of Sennaar, and praised me as a better horseman by far than any one in that country; this they told to the Baharnagash, who, nothing offended, laughed heartily at the pretended ignorance I had shewn him, and shook me very kindly by the hand, and told me he was really poor, or he would have taken no money from me for the horse. He shewed so much good nature, and open honest behaviour, that I gave him a present better than the first, and which was more agreeable, as less expected. Razors, knives, steels for striking fire, are the most valuable presents in this country, of the hardware kind.
The Baharnagash now was in such violent good spirits, that he would not go home till he had seen a good part of his jar of hydromel finished; and he little knew, at that time, he was in the tent with a man who was to be his chief customer for horses hereafter. I saw him several times after at court, and did him some services, both with the king and Ras Michael. He had a quality which I then did not know: With all his simplicity and buffoonery, no one was braver in his own person than he; and, together with his youngest son, he died afterwards in the king's defence, fighting bravely at the battle of Serbraxos.
At five o'clock this afternoon we had a violent shower of hailstones. Nothing is more common than aggravation about the size of hail; but, stooping to take up one I thought as large as a nutmeg, I received a blow from another just under my eye, which I imagined had blinded me, and which occasioned a swelling all the next day.
I had gained the Baharnagash's heart so entirely that it was not possible to get away the next day. We were upon the very verge of his small dominions, and he had ordered a quantity of wheat-flour to be made for us, which he sent in the evening, with a kid. For my part, the share I had taken yesterday of his hydromel had given me such a pain in my head that I scarce could raise it the whole day.
It was the 29th we left our station at Barranda, and had scarcely advanced a mile when we were overtaken by a party of about twenty armed men on horseback. The Shangalla, the ancient Cushites, are all the way on our right hand, and frequently venture incursions into the flat country that was before us. This was the last piece of attention of the Baharnagash, who sent his party to guard us from danger in the plain. It awakened us from our security; we examined carefully the state of our fire-arms; cleaned and charged them anew, which we had not done since the day we left Dixan.
The first part of our journey to-day was in a deep gully; and, in half an hour, we entered into a very pleasant wood of acacia-trees, then in flower. In it likewise was a tree, in smell like a honeysuckle, whose large white flower nearly resembles that of a caper. We came out of this wood into the plain, and ascended two easy hills; upon the top of these were two huge rocks, in the holes of which, and within a large cave, a number of the blue fork-tailed swallows had begun their nests. These, and probably many, if not all the birds of passage, breed twice in the year, which seems a provision against the losses made by emigration perfectly consonant to divine wisdom. These rocks are, by some, said to be the boundaries of the command of the Baharnagash on this side; though others extend them to the Balezat.
We entered again a straggling wood, so overgrown with wild oats that it covered the men and their horses. The plain here is very wide. It reaches down on the west to Serawé, then distant about twelve miles. It extends from Goumbubba as far south as Balezat. The soil is excellent; but such flat countries are very rare in Abyssinia. This, which is one of the finest and widest, is abandoned without culture, and is in a state of waste. The reason of this is, an inveterate feud between the villages here and those of Serawé, so that the whole inhabitants on each side go armed to plow and to sow in one day; and it is very seldom either of them complete their harvest without having a battle with their enemies and neighbours.
Before we entered this wood, and, indeed, on the preceding day, from the time we left Hadawi, we had seen a very extraordinary bird at a distance, resembling a wild turkey, which ran exceedingly fast, and appeared in great flocks. It is called Erkoom[1] in Amhara; Abba Gumba, in Tigrè; and, towards the frontiers of Sennaar, Tier el Naciba, or, the Bird of Destiny.
Our guides assembled us all in a body, and warned us that the river before us was the place of the rendezvous of the Serawè horse, where many caravans had been entirely cut off. The cavalry is the best on this side of Abyssinia. They keep up the breed of their horses by their vicinity to Sennaar whence they get supply. Nevertheless, they behaved very ill at the battle of Limjour; and I cannot say I remember them to have distinguished themselves any where else. They were on our right at the battle of Serbraxos, and were beat by the horse of Foggora and the Galla.
After passing the wood, we came to the river, which was then standing in pools. I here, for the first time, mounted on horseback, to the great delight of my companions from Barranda, and also of our own, none of whom had ever before seen a gun fired from a horse galloping, excepting Yasine and his servant, now my groom, but neither of these had ever seen a double-barrelled gun. We passed the plain with all the diligence consistent with the speed and capacity of our long-eared convoy; and, having now gained the hills, we bade defiance to the Serawè horse, and sent our guard back perfectly content, and full of wonder at our fire-arms, declaring that their master the Baharnagash, had he seen the black horse behave that day, would have given me another much better.
We entered now into a close country covered with brush-wood, wild oats, and high bent-grass; in many places rocky and uneven, so as scarce to leave a narrow part to pass. Just in the very entrance a lion had killed a very fine animal called Agazan. It is of the goat kind; and, excepting a small variety in colour, is precisely the same animal I had seen in Barbary near Capsa. It might be about twelve stone weight, and of the size of a large ass. (Whenever I mention a stone weight, I would wish to be understood horseman's weight, fourteen pound to the stone, as most familiar to the generality of those who read these Travels.) The animal was scarcely dead; the blood was running; and the noise of my gun had probably frightened its conqueror away: every one with their knives cut off a large portion of flesh; Moors and Christians did the same; yet the Abyssinians aversion to any thing that is dead is such, unless killed regularly by the knife, that none of them would lift any bird that was shot, unless by the point or extreme feather of its wing. Hunger was not the excuse, for they had been plentifully fed all this journey; so that the distinction, in this particular case, is to be found in the manners of the country. They say they may lawfully eat what is killed by the lion, but not by the tiger, hyæna, or any other beast. Where they learned this doctrine, I believe, would not be easy to answer; but it is remarkable, even the Falasha themselves admit this distinction in favour of the lions.
At noon we crossed the river Balezat, which rises at Ade Shiho, a place on the S.W. of the province of Tigrè; and, after no very long course, having been once the boundary between Tigrè and Midré Bahar, (for so the country of the Baharnagash was called) it falls into the Mareb, or ancient Astusaspes. It was the first river, then actually running, that we had seen since we passed Taranta; indeed, all the space is but very indifferently watered. This stream is both clear and rapid, and seems to be full of fish. We continued for some time along its banks, the river on our left, and the mountains on our right, through a narrow plain, till we came to Tomumbusso, a high pyramidal mountain, on the top of which is a convent of monks, who do not, however, reside there, but only come hither upon certain feasts, when they keep open house and entertain all that visit them. The mountain itself is of porphyry.
There we encamped by the river's side, and were obliged to stay this and the following day, for a duty, or custom, to be paid by all passengers. These duties are called Awides, which signifies gifts; though they are levied, for the most part, in a very rigorous and rude manner; but they are established by usage in particular spots; and are, in fact, a regality annexed to the estate. Such places are called Ber, passes; which are often met with in the names of places throughout Abyssinia, as Dingleber, Sankraber; and so forth.
There are five of these Awides which, like turnpikes, are to be paid at passing between Masuah and Adowa; one at Samhar, the second at Dixan, the third at Darghat, the fourth here at Balezat, and the fifth at Kella. The small village of Sebow was distant from us two miles to the east; Zarow the same distance to the S.S.E. and Noguet, a village before us, were the places of abode of these tax-gatherers who farm it for a sum from their superior, and divide the profit pro rata of the sums each has advanced. It is much of the same nature as the caphar in the Levant, but levied in a much more indiscreet, arbitrary manner. The farmer of this duty values as he thinks proper what each caravan is to pay; there is no tariff, or restraint, upon him. Some have on this account been detained months; and others in time of trouble or bad news, have been robbed of every thing: this is always the case upon the least resistance; for then the villages around you rise in arms; you are not only stript of your property, but sure to be ill-treated in your person.
As I was sent for by the king, and going to Ras Michael, in whose province they were, I affected to laugh when they talked of detaining me; and declared peremptorily to them, that I would leave all my baggage to them with great pleasure rather than that the king's life should be in danger by my stay. They were now staggered, and seemed not prepared for an incident of this kind. As I kept up a high tone we were quit with being detained a day, by paying five pieces of blue Surat cotton cloth, value ¾ of a pataka each, and one piece of white, value one pataka. Our companions, rather than stay behind, made the best bargain they could; and we all decamped, and set forward together. I was surprised to see, at the small village Zarow, several families as black as perfect negroes, only they were not woolly-headed, and had prominent features. I asked if they descended from slaves, or sons of slaves? They said, No; their particular families of that and the neighbouring village Sebow, were of that colour from time immemorial; and that this did not change, though either the father or mother were of another colour.
On the 1st of December we departed from Balezat, and ascended a steep mountain upon which stands the village Noguet, which we passed about half an hour after. On the top of the hill were a few fields of teff. Harvest was then ended, and they were treading out the teff with oxen. Having passed another very rugged mountain, we descended and encamped by the side of a small river, called Mai Kol-quall, from a number of these trees growing about it. This place is named the Kella, or Castle, because, nearly at equal distances, the mountains on each side run for a considerable extent, straight and even, in shape like a wall, with gapes at certain distances, resembling embrasures and bastions. This rock is otherwise called Damo, anciently the prison of the collateral heirs-male of the royal family.
The river Kol-quall rises in the mountains of Tigrè, and, after a course nearly N.W. falls into the Mareb. It was at Kella we saw, for the first time, the roofs of the houses made in form of cones; a sure proof that the tropical rains grow more violent as they proceed westward.
About half a mile on the hill above is the village Kaibara, wholly inhabited by Mahometan Gibbertis; that is, native Abyssinians of that religion. Kella being one of these bers, or passages, we were detained there three whole days, by the extravagant demands of these farmers of the Awide, who laughed at all the importance we gave ourselves. They had reasons for our reasons, menaces for our menaces, but no civilities to answer ours. What increased the awkwardness of our situation was, they would take no money for provisions, but only merchandise by way of barter. We were, indeed, prepared for this by information; so we began to open shop by spreading a cloth upon the ground, at the sight of which, hundreds of young women poured down upon us on every side from villages behind the mountains which we could not see. The country is surprisingly populous, notwithstanding the great emigration lately made with Michael. Beads and antimony are the standard in this way-faring commerce; but beads are a dangerous speculation. You lose sometimes every thing, or gain more than honestly you should do; for all depends upon fashion; and the fancies of a brown, or black beauty, there, gives the ton as decisively as does the example of the fairest in England.To our great disappointment, the person employed to buy our beads at Jidda had not received the last list of fashions from this country; so he had bought us a quantity beautifully flowered with red and green, and as big as a large pea; also some large oval, green, and yellow ones; whereas the ton now among the beauties of Tigré were small sky-coloured blue beads, about the size of small lead shot, or seed pearls; blue bugles, and common white bugles, were then in demand, and large yellow glass, flat in the sides like the amber-beads formerly used by the better sort of the old women-peasants in England. All our beads were then rejected, by six or seven dozen of the shrillest tongues I ever heard. They decried our merchandize in such a manner, that I thought they meant to condemn them as unsaleable, to be confiscated or destroyed.
Let every man, travelling in such countries as these, remember, that there is no person, however mean, who is in his company, that does not merit attention, kindness, and complacency. Let no man in travelling exalt himself above the lowest, in a greater degree than he is able to do superior service; for many that have thought themselves safe, and been inattentive to this, have perished by the unsuspected machinations of the lowest and meanest wretch among them. Few have either made such long or such frequent journies of this kind as I, and I scarcely recollect, any person so insignificant that, before the end of a moderate journey, had not it in his power to return you like for like for your charity or unkindness, be the difference of your quality and condition what it would.
Of all the men in our company, none had any stock of the true small sky-blue beads, and no one had one grain of the large yellow-glass ones, but the poor Moor, whose ass was bit by the hyæna near Lila, and whose cargo, likely to be left behind at the foot of Taranta, I had distributed among the rest of the asses of the caravan; and, leaving the wounded one for the price he would fetch, had next day bought him another at Halai, with which, since that time, he continued his journey. That fellow had felt the obligation in silence; and not one word, but Good-day, and Good-e'en, had parted between us since conferring the favour. Understanding now what was the matter, he called Yasine, and gave him a large package, which he imprudently opened, in which was a treasure of all the beads in fashion, all but the white and blue bugles, and these Yasine himself furnished us with afterwards.
A great shout was set up by the women-purchasers, and a violent scramble followed. Twenty or thirty threw themselves upon the parcel, tearing and breaking all the strings as if they intended to plunder us. This joke did not seem to be relished by the servants. Their hard-heartedness before, in professing they would let us starve rather than give us a handful of flour for all our unfashionable beads, had quite extinguished the regard we else would have unavoidably shewn to the fair sex. A dozen of whips and sticks were laid unmercifully upon their hands and arms, till each dropped her booty. The Abyssinian men that came with them seemed to be perfectly unconcerned at the fray, and stood laughing without the least sign of wishing to interfere in favour of either side. I believe the restitution would not have been complete, had not Yasine, who knew the country well, fired one of the ship-blunderbusses into the air behind their backs. At hearing so unexpectedly this dreadful noise, both men and women fell flat on their faces; the women were immediately dragged off the cloth, and I do not believe there was strength left in any hand to grasp or carry away a single bead. My men immediately wrapped the whole in the cloth, so for a time our market ended.
For my part, at the first appearance of the combat I had withdrawn myself, and sat a quiet spectator under a tree. Some of the women were really so disordered with the fright, that they made but very feeble efforts in the market afterwards. The rest beseeched me to transfer the market to the carpet I sat on under the tree. This I consented to; but, growing wise by misfortune, my servants now produced small quantities of every thing, and not without a very sharp contest and dispute, somewhat superior in noise to that of our fish-women. We were, however, plentifully supplied with honey, butter, flour, and pumpkins of an exceeding good taste, scarcely inferior to melons.
Our caravan being fully victualled the first and second day, our market was not opened but by private adventurers, and seemingly savoured more of gallantry than gain. There were three of them the most distinguished for beauty and for tongue, who, by their discourse, had entertained me greatly. I made each of them a present of a few beads, and asked them how many kisses they would give for each? They answered very readily, with one accord, "Poh! we don't sell kisses in this country: Who would buy them? We will give you as many as you wish for nothing." And there was no appearance but, in that bargain, they meant to be very fair and liberal dealers.
The men seemed to have no talent for marketing; nor do they in this country either buy or sell. But we were surprised to see the beaux among them come down to the tent, the second day after our arrival, with each of them a single string of thin, white bugles tied about their dirty, black legs, a little above their ancle; and of this they seemed as proud as if the ornament had been gold or jewels.
I easily saw that so much poverty, joined to so much avarice and pride, made the possessor a proper subject to be employed. My young favourite, who had made so frank an offer of her kindness, had brought me her brother, begging that I would take him with me to Gondar to Ras Michael, and allow him to carry one of my guns, no doubt with an intention to run off with it by the way. I told her that was a thing easily done; but I must first have a trial of his fidelity, which was this, That he would, without speaking to anybody but me and her, go straight to Janni at Adowa, and carry the letter I should give him, and deliver it into his own hand, in which case I would give him a large parcel of each of these beads, more than ever she thought to possess in her lifetime. She frankly agreed, that my word was more to be relied upon than either her own or her brother's and, therefore, that the beads, once shewn to them both, were to remain a deposit in my hand. However, not to send him away wholly destitute of the power of charming, I presented him the single string of white bugles for his ancle. Janni's Greek servant gave him a letter, and he made such diligence that, on the fourth day, by eight o'clock in the morning, he came to my tent without ever having been missed at home.At the same time came an officer from Janni, with a violent mandate, in the name of Ras Michael, declaring to the person that was the cause of our detention, That, was it not for ancient friendship, the present messenger should have carried him to Ras Michael in irons; discharging me from all awides; ordering him, as Shum of the place, to furnish me with provisions; and, in regard to the time he had caused us to lose, fixing the awides of the whole caravan at eight piasters, not the twentieth part of what he would have exacted. One reason of this severity was, that, while I was in Masuah, Janni had entertained this man at his own house; and, knowing the usual vexations the caravans met with at Kella, and the long time they were detained there at considerable expence, had obtained a promise from the Shum, in consideration of favours done him, that he should let us pass freely, and, not only so, but should shew us some little civility. This promise, now broken, was one of the articles of delinquency for which he was punished.
Cohol, large needles, goats skins, coarse scissars, razors, and steels for striking fire, are the articles of barter at Kella. An ordinary goat's skin is worth a quart of wheat-flour. As we expected an order of deliverance, all was ready upon its arrival. The Moors with their asses, grateful for the benefit received, began to bless the moment they joined us; hoping, in my consideration, upon our arrival at the customhouse of Adowa, they might meet with further favour.
Yasine, in the four days we had staid at Kella, had told me his whole history. It seems he had been settled in a province of Abyssinia, near to Sennaar, called Ras el Feel; had married Abd el Jilleel, the Shekh's daughter; but, growing more popular than his father-in-law, he had been persecuted by him, and obliged to leave the country. He began now to form hopes, that, if I was well received, as he saw, in all appearance, I was to be, he might, by my interest, be appointed to his father-in-law's place; especially if there was war, as every thing seemed to indicate. Abd el Jilleel was a coward, and incapable of making himself of personal valued to any party. On the contrary, Yasine was a tried man, an excellent horseman, strong, active, and of known courage, having been twice with the late king Yasous in his invasions of Sennaar, and both times much wounded there. It was impossible to dispute his title to preferment; but I had not formed that idea of my own success that I should be able to be of any use or assistance to him in it. Kella is in lat. 14° 24′ 34″ North.
It was in the afternoon of the 4th that we set out from Kella; our road was between two hills covered with thick wood. On our right was a cliff, or high rock of granite, on the top of which were a few homes that seemed to hang over the cliff rather than stand upon it. A few minutes after three o'clock we passed a rivulet, and a quarter of an hour afterwards another, both which run into the Mareb. We still continued to descend, surrounded on all sides with mountains covered with high grass and brushwood, and abounding with lions. At four, we arrived at the foot of the mountain, and passed a small stream which runs there.
We had seen no villages after leaving Kella. At half past four o'clock we came to a considerable river called Angueah, which we crossed, and pitched our tent on the farther side of it. It was about fifty feet broad and three in depth. It was perfectly clear, and ran rapidly over a bed of white pebbles, and was the largest river we had yet seen in Habesh. In summer there is very little plain ground near it but what is occupied by the stream; it is full of small fish, in great repute for their goodness.
This river has its name from a beautiful tree, which covers both its banks. This tree, by the colour of its bark and richness of its flower, is a great ornament to the banks of the river. A variety of other flowers fill the whole level plain between the mountain and the river, and even some way up the mountains. In particular, great variety of jessamin, white, yellow, and party-coloured. The country seemed now to put on a more favourable aspect; the air was much fresher, and more pleasant, every step we advanced after leaving Dixan; and one cause was very evident; the country where we now passed was well-watered with clear running streams; whereas, nearer Dixan, there were few, and all stagnant.The 5th, we descended a small mountain for about twenty minutes, and passed the following villages, Zabangella, about a mile N.W.; at a quarter of an hour after, Moloxito, half a mile further S.E.; and Mansuetemen, three quarters of a mile E.S.E. These villages are all the property of the Abuna; who has also a duty upon all merchandise passing there; but Ras Michael had confiscated these last villages on account of a quarrel he had with the last Abuna, Af-Yagoube.
We now began first to see the high mountains of Adowa, nothing resembling in shape to those of Europe, nor, indeed, any other country. Their sides were all perpendicular rocks, high like steeples, or obelisks, and broken into a thousand different forms.
At half past eight o'clock we left the deep valley, wherein runs the Mareb W.N.W.; at the distance of about nine miles above it is the mountain, or high hill, on which stands Zarai, now a collection of villages, formerly two convents built by Lalibala; though the monks tell you a story of the queen of Saba residing there, which the reader may be perfectly satisfied she never did in her life.
The Mareb is the boundary between Tigré and the Baharnagash, on this side. It runs over a bed of soil; is large, deep, and smooth; but, upon rain falling, it is more dangerous to pass than any river in Abyssinia, on account of the frequent holes in its bottom. We then entered the narrow plain of Yeeha, wherein runs the small river, which either gives its name to, or takes it from it. The Yeeha rises from many sources in the mountains to the west; it is neither considerable for size nor its course, and is swallowed up in the Mareb.
The harvest was in great forwardness in this place. The wheat was cut, and a considerable share of the teff in another part; they were treading out this last-mentioned grain with oxen. The Dora, and a small grain called telba, (of which they make oil) was not ripe.
At eleven o'clock we rested by the side of the mountain whence the river falls. All the villages that had been built here bore the marks of the justice of the governor of Tigré. They had been long the most incorrigible banditti in the province. He surrounded them in one night, burnt their houses, and extirpated the inhabitants; and would never suffer any one since to settle there. At three o'clock in the afternoon we ascended what remained of the mountain of Yeeha; came to the plain upon its top; and, at a quarter before four, passed the village of that name, leaving it to the S.E. and began the most rugged and dangerous descent we had met with since Taranta.
At half part five in the evening we pitched our tent at the foot of the hill, close by a small, but rapid and clear stream, which is called Ribieraini. This name was given it by the banditti of the villages before mentioned, because from this you see two roads; one leading from Gondar, that is, from the westward; the other from the Red Sea to the eastward. One of the gang that used to be upon the outlook from this station, as soon as any caravan came in sight, cried out, Ribieraini, which in Tigrè signifies they are coming this way; upon which notice every one took his lance and shield, and stationed himself properly to fall with advantage upon the unwary merchant; and it was a current report, which his present greatness could not stifle, that, in his younger days, Ras Michael himself frequently was on these expeditions at this place. On our right was the high, steep, and rugged mountain of Samayat, which the same Michael, being in rebellion, chose for his place of strength, and was there besieged and taken prisoner by the late king Yasous.
The rivulet of Ribieraini is the source of the fertility of the country adjoining, as it is made to overflow every part of this plain, and furnishes a perpetual store of grass, which is the reason of the caravans chusing to stop here. Two or three harvests are also obtained by means of this river; for, provided there is water, they sow in Abyssinia in all seasons. We perceived that we were now approaching some considerable town, by the great care with which every small piece of ground, and even the steep sides of the mountains, were cultivated, though they had ever so little soil.
On Wednesday the 6th of December, at eight o'clock in the morning, we set out from Ribieraini; and in about three hours travelling on a very pleasant road, over easy hills and through hedge-rows of jessamin, honey-suckle, and many kinds of flowering shrubs we arrived at Adowa, where once resided Michael Suhul, governor of Tigrè. It was this day we saw, for the first time, the small, long-tailed green paroquet, from the hill of Shillodee, where, as I have already mentioned, we first came in sight of the mountains of Adowa.
- ↑ See the article Erkoom in the Appendix.