James Bruce

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The marsh, and the fountains, upon comparison with the rise of many of our rivers, became now a trifling object in my sight. I remembered that magnificent scene in my own native country, where the Tweed, Clyde, and Annan rise in one hill; three rivers, as I now thought, not inferior to the Nile in beauty, preferable to it in the cultivation of those countries through which they flow; superior, vastly superior to it in the virtues and qualities of the inhabitants, and in the beauty of its flocks; crowding its pastures in peace, without fear of violence from man or beast. ”

“ Aylo was fast asleep, and Ayto Heikel and the Greeks cursing their master in their heart for spoiling the good supper that Anthulè his treasurer had prepared for us. This, as we afterwards found out, the king very well knew, and resolved to try our patience to the utmost. At last, Ayto Aylo stole away to bed, and every body else after him, except those who had accompanied me, who were ready to die with thirst, and drop down with weariness. ”

“ It appeared to our warm imaginations, that the neighbourhood of such a lake, in so remote a part of the world, ought infallibly to produce something perfectly beautiful, or altogether new. In this, however, we were disappointed, as indeed we always were in meadows, and where grass grew so exuberantly as it did all over this plain.
At eleven o’clock we crossed the river Tedda; here the road divides: that branch to the east leads to Wechnè, in the wild, uncultivated territory of Belessen, famous for no production but that of honey. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Among the crowd I met first Tecla Mariam, the king’s secretary, who taking me by the hand, said, with a laughing countenance, “O ho, I wish you joy; this is like a man; you are now no stranger, but one of us; why was not you at court?” I said I had no particular business there, but that I came hither to see Ayto Confu, that he might speak in favour of Yasine to get him appointed deputy of Ras el Feel. “Why don’t you appoint him yourself? says he; what has Confu to do with the affair now? You don’t intend always to be in leading strings? ”

“ Like a man of sense, and master of his subject, he laughed at the dastardly spirit of the modern Egyptians, anxious and trembling lest the Nile should not overflow land enough to give them bread, when they had the power in their hands to procure plenty in abundance for six times the number of the people then in Egypt. ”

“ On the right hand of the valley the hills slope gently up, the ground is firm, and grass short like sheep pasture; the hills on the left are steeper and more craggy, the lower part of the valley had been cleared of wood, and sown with different sorts of grain, by the industry of the inhabitants of the village of that name—industry that had served them to very little purpose, as the encampment of this wild army destroyed in one night every vestige of culture they had bestowed upon it. ”

“ And we find, in the history of Abyssinia, that the army and kingdom have often owed their safety to the personal behaviour and circumstance of the king distinguishing and exposing himself in battle, which advantage they must have lost had the ancient custom been observed. However, to this day, when he is abroad riding, or sitting in any of his apartments at home where people are admitted, his head and forehead are perfectly covered, and one of his hands covers his mouth, so that nothing but his eyes are seen; his feet, too, are always covered. ”

“ There are three remarkable appearances attending the inundation of the Nile; every morning in Abyssinia is clear, and the sun shines. About nine, a small cloud, not above four feet broad, appears in the east, whirling violently round as if upon an axis, but, arrived near the zenith, it first abates its motion, then loses its form, and extends itself greatly, and seems to call up vapours from all opposite quarters. These clouds having attained nearly the same height, rush against each other with great violence, and put me always in mind of Elisha foretelling rain on Mount Carmel139. ”

“ These conducting off the water that spills over the fountain by trenches, the neighbouring lands have quickly produced a plentiful vegetation: gardens and verdure are spread on every side, large groves of palm tree have been planted, and the overflowings of every fountain have produced a little paradise, like so many beautiful and fruitful islands amidst an immense ocean. ”

“ It is a mistake that there is no wine in Abyssinia, for a quantity of excellent strong wine is made at Dreeda, south-west from Gondar about thirty miles, which would more than supply the quantity necessary for the celebration of the eucharist in all Abyssinia twenty times over. The people themselves are not fond of wine, and plant the vine in one place only; and in this they have been imitated by the Egyptians, their colony; but a small black grape, of an excellent flavour, grows plentifully wild in every wood in Tigré. ”

“ The old man likewise assisted me when out of the tent; I found he was Guebra Ehud, Ayto Aylo’s brother, whose servant we had met on the road. I returned then to my tent, and the blood was soon staunched by washing my face with cold water. I sat down to recollect myself, and the more I calmed, the more I was dissatisfied at being put off my guard; but it is impossible to conceive the provocation without having proved it. I have felt but too often how much the love of our native soil increases by our absence from it ”

“ My dear Strates, said I, it is the fortune of war, and many princes and great men, who, at this moment I am speaking to you, live in the enjoyment of every thing they can desire, before a month expires, perhaps, will be stretched on the cold ground, a prey to the birds and wild beasts of the field, without so much as a carpet to cover them such as you have. ”

“ Socinios, then king, gave them the grounds, with money for the expence; they built it with their own hands, and lined it elegantly with cedar. The king, who was a zealous Roman Catholic, chose afterwards a country-house for himself there, and encouraged them much by his presents and by his charity; it is one of the pleasantest situations in the world; the vast expanse of the lake is before you; Dembea, Gojam, and Maitsha, flat and rich countries all round, are in view; and the tops of the high hills of Begemder and Woggora close the prospect. ”

“ Even Ozoro Esther, enemy to Joas on account of the death of her husband Mariam Barea, after I had attended her one Sunday from church to the house of the Iteghé, and when she was set down at the head of a circle of all those that were of distinction at the court, called out aloud to me, as I was passing behind, and pointing to one of the most honourable seats in the room, said, Sit down there, Yagoube; God has exalted you above all in this country, when he has put it in your power, though but a stranger, to confer charity upon the king of it. ”

“ Now, this country, when uncultivated, naturally produces lupines, and the blossoms of these becoming food for the bees, gives the honey such a bitterness that no person will eat it, or use it any way in food or for drink.—After the king had bestowed the village of Geesh upon me, though with the consent of Fasil its governor, that egregious shuffler, to make the present of no use to me, sent me, indeed, the tribute of the honey in very large jars, but it all tasted so much of the lupines that it was of no earthly use whatever. ”

“ As for the opinion of those, that the Nile may be turned into the Red Sea from Nubia or Egypt, it deserves no answer. What could be the motive of such an undertaking? Would the Egyptians suffer such an operation to be carried on in their own country for the sake of starving themselves? and if the country had been taken from them by an enemy, still it could not be the interest of that conqueror to let the inhabitants, now become his subjects, perish, and much less to reduce them to the necessity of so doing by such an undertaking. ”

“ They told us that Gusho and Powussen were in rebellion against the king, and confederated with Fasil, that they were advancing fast to cut off the Ras’s retreat to Gondar, and that Guebra Mehedin, and Confu, Powussen’s Fit-Auraris, had fallen in 407 with our servants; and plundered them, as belonging to the king and the Ras.
I was, for some minutes, in the utmost astonishment at this torrent of bad news. Whether the others knew more than I, it is impossible to say; dissimulation, in all ranks of these people, is as natural as breathing. ”

“ Well, said I, Strates, I will not dispute with you; I believe they suffer much the same after they are dead; but you, I thank God, have only lost your cloaths, and you are now most comfortably, though not ornamentally, wrapped up in my carpet; as soon as we get to Dara, you shall be dressed from head to foot, by Negadé Ras Mahomet, at the expence of the king, in better cloaths than you ever wore in your life, at least since I knew you; only give me your gun till your passion is allayed; you know it is a valuable one ”

“ For this reason, if you are well, deluge yourself from head to foot, even in the house, where water is plenty, by directing a servant to throw buckets upon you at least once a-day when you are hottest; not from any imagination that the water braces you, as it is called, for your bracing will last you only a very few minutes; but these copious inundations will carry watery particles into your blood, though not equal to bathing in running streams, where the total immersion, the motion of the water, and the action of the limbs, all conspire to the benefit you are in quest of. ”

“ The south end of the province near Nefas Musa is cut into prodigious gullies apparently by floods, of which we have no history. It is the great barrier against the encroachments of the Galla; and, by many attempts, they have tried to make a settlement in it, but all in vain. Whole tribes of them have been extinguished in this their endeavour.
In many provinces of Abyssinia, favour is the only necessary to procure the government; others are given to poor noblemen, that, by fleecing the people, they may grow rich, and repair their fortune. ”

“ It is a man like you that goes far in safety, which is the end we all aim at. I feel the affront offered you more than you do, but will not have the punishment attributed to you; this affair shall turn to your honour and security, and in that light only I can pass over his insolence.” “Welleta Selassé, says he, falling into a violent passion in an instant, What sort of behaviour is this my men have adopted with strangers? and my stranger, too, and in the king’s palace, and the king’s servant? ”

“ Nor did he ever think of presenting himself till we had warmed ourselves by an easy march in a fine day, when we were every way his superiors, and Kefla Yasous in his rear. From all these special marks of the favour of an over-ruling Providence, I do believe stedfastly that God will not leave his work half finished. “He it is who, governing the whole universe, has yet reserved specially to himself the department of war; he it is who has stiled himself the God of Battles.” ”

“ I am neither son, nor brother of a king. I am a private Englishman. If you, Sidi Achmet, saw my prince, the eldest, or any son of the king of England, you would then be able to form a juster idea of them, and that would for ever hinder you from confounding them with common men like me. ”

“ I care as little for priests as Michael does, and for prophets too, but I would have you consider the men of this country are not like yours; a boy of these Galla would think nothing of killing a man of your country. You white people are all effeminate; you are like so many women; you are not fit for going into a province where all is war, and inhabited by men, warriors from their cradle. ”

“ If a traveller finds, that he is as well after having been some time in this country as he was before entering it, his best way is to make no innovation in his regimen, further than in abating something in the quantity. But if he is of a tender constitution, he cannot act more wisely than to follow implicitly the regimen of sober, healthy people of the country, without arguing upon European notions, or substituting what we consider as succedaneums to what we see used on the spot. All spirits are to be avoided; even bark is better in water than in wine. ”