Amhara people

“ Their 38 forms are not fully developed until they have arrived at the same years of puberty as ourselves; and it is very uncommon for women under seventeen to bear children. The features of the women conform to a general characteristic type, and less variations from this are observed among them than in the men. This observation extends to other races besides the Amhara, for I have invariably found more consistency of countenance, more nationality preserved in the features of females than in the males of the many different people I have met with in my travels in Abyssinia. ”

“ Some of these are of very large extent: the kingdoms of Tigre, Bagameder, and Goiama are as big as Portugal, or bigger; Amhara and Damote are something less. The provinces are inhabited by Moors, Pagans, Jews, and Christians: the last is the reigning and established religion. This diversity of people and religion is the reason that the kingdom in different parts is under different forms of government, and that their laws and customs are extremely various. ”

“ Our English translation calls them the mingled people* [22] , whereas it should be the separate nations, who, though met and settled together, did not mingle, which is strictly Convenæ. The inhabitants then who possessed Abyssinia, from its southern boundary to the tropic of Cancer, or frontiers of Egypt, were the Cushites, or polished people, living in towns, first Troglodytes, having their habitations in caves. The next were the Shepherds; after these were the nations who, as we apprehend, came from Palestine — Amhara, Agow of Damot, Agow of Tchera, and Gafat. ”

“ Neither Amhara, or Galla, had, as yet, appeared upon their naturally defended and very extensive fortress. In their social institutions the great principle of foreign policy, was the exclusion of strangers; and their isolated situation, easily enabled them to effect this. One character of civilization, the geography of the desert-surrounded table-lands of Africa, is eminently calculated to prosper and promote, that peculiar social condition, the consistency and continuance of which, requires little or no intercourse to be kept up with the rest of mankind ”

“ Immediately next to this is Amhara, between the two rivers Bashilo and Geshen. The length of this country 255 from E. to W. is about 120 miles, and its breadth something more than 40. It is a very mountainous country, full of nobility; the men are reckoned the handsomest in Abyssinia, as well as the bravest. With the ordinary arms, the lance and shield, they are thought to be superior to double the number of any other soldiers in the kingdom. ”

“ The Galla always chose for their residence a very level country, because they are now become all horsemen. The country of Amhara, on the contrary, is full of high mountains, and only accessible by certain narrow passes. The king, therefore, instead of marching directly to the enemy, passed above them, and left them still advancing, burning the villages and churches in the country below. ”

“ That our Saviour will appear again, is the cherished hope of every enlightened Mahomedan, and he glories in affirming that all the inhabitants of the world will then become his followers. This is so general an idea, that even the ignorant Mahomedans of the East, firmly believe that the Amhara, or Christian population, of Abyssinia, will at a future time seize Mecca, and destroy the temple. ”

“ The Amhara face is ovate, having a considerably greater expression of breadth in the upper than in the lower part. The scalp in front encroaches upon the forehead, making its length disproportionate to its height, and, in consequence, it appears exceedingly low. The eyes are long, but rather full, and the separation of the eyelids longitudinal, as in Europeans. Their cheeks are high, yet finely rounded, and sometimes, with the long forehead, giving to the countenance a nearly triangular form. ”

“ On the west, they have intermarried with the ancient Berbers, and with the blacks of the Soudan, who must not be confused with the Niger, Congo, and Zambesi tribes. On the east, Semitic peoples, Arabs and Himyarites, having crossed the Red Sea in the fourth century b.c., conquered the whole eastern coast of Africa, and settled chiefly in the province called, after them, Amhara. The invasion of the Galla tribes, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, spread through all this region, and especially towards the south. ”

“ The first intrusion of the Amhara I have in another place endeavoured to show was in the time of the Egyptian king, Psammeticus, and to trace their history, in connexion with the changes consequent upon their colonization of the left banks of the Abi and the Abiah, would be most easy and interesting; for the present generation possess sufficient documentary evidence, to supply the necessary materials ”

“ The inhabitants of the kingdom of Amhara are the most civilised and polite; and next to them the natives of Tigre, or the true Abyssins. The rest, except the Damotes, the Gasates, and the Agaus, which approach somewhat nearer to civility, are entirely rude and barbarous. Among these nations the Galles, who first alarmed the world in 1542, have remarkably distinguished themselves by the ravages they have committed, and the terror they have raised in this part of Africa. They neither sow their lands nor improve them by any kind of culture ”

“ Dark-skinned people, though of different tribes, inhabit this region. A portion of the population who formerly dwelt in the eastern part of the country are Jews. The ruling race are the Amharas, who are a warlike and intelligent people, but of cruel and bloodthirsty disposition. They are Christians, having been converted about the fourth century, but their Christianity has been greatly corrupted. The country has for centuries remained in a state of chronic disorder, the chiefs rebelling against the sovereign, and being in a constant state of warfare amongst themselves. ”

“ Amhara, also bears the same interpretation in Amharic, and although it has another meaning, that of beautiful, this is only because of the national taste directing the name of the favourite complexion among them, to be employed as the term for beauty itself. The Dankalli slave-merchant well understands this, for a light-red Abyssinian girl is the Circassian of oriental harems. In Arabia, where the original word still conveys the more common idea, we find “hamah” employed to express the colour red. ”

“ Some nobles of Amhara, upon the first news of the catastrophe at Damo, conveyed the infant king Del Naad, now the only remaining prince of his race, into the powerful and loyal province of Shoa, and by this means the royal family was preserved to be again restored. ”

“ The wilds of Abyssinia are not easily explored by the solitary traveller, and I therefore gladly embraced the opportunity of acquiring important information relative to the mode of Amhára warfare, as well as of visiting regions almost unknown. Superstition, policy, and fear, alike influenced the wily monarch in his expressed desire to be accompanied by his British guests. The presence of the stranger being considered to shed a blessing over the army, is invariably enforced by royal mandate, which extends indiscriminately to all residing within the kingdom ”

“ The second division of Abyssinia (coloured blue in the map) is always termed by the natives of the country Amhara, an appellation, in all probability, retained on account of the language prevailing there, notwithstanding that province [69] properly so called, has been, for a long time, almost entirely in the possession of the Galla. ”

“ The Edjow and Woolo, two of the most powerful tribes of southern Galla, taking advantage of the absence of Ras Anastasius, had entered Amhara by a pass, on the side of which is situated Melec Shimfa, one of the principal towns of the province.
The king, leaving old Anastasius to the government of Gondar, took upon himself the relief of Amhara; and, being joined by all the troops in his way, he arrived at Melec Shimfa before the Galla had any intelligence of him. The Galla always chose for their residence a very level country, because they are now become all horsemen. ”

“ The mekanet, or girdle, generally woven for the purpose, is considered to be worth one ahmulah for a cubit, or from the point of the elbow to the extreme tip of the middle finger, which is the only measure of cloth in Abyssinia. Neither hats nor shoes are worn by the Amhara; but the Islam men wear sandals, made something like the Dankalli ones, and I think those which are brought into the market are made by some settler in Aliu Amba, either from Adal, or the city of Hurroo, and not by a native Abyssinian. ”

“ King and nobles rushed into the court-yard, and every hut which crowned the pinnacle of the capital poured forth its inmates to gaze at the wondrous spectacle. High over the up-reared peak of the mountain soared a rich rosy cloud, lit by the last glorious rays of the setting sun, and charged with a freight more prized than the fine gold of Kordofán. Amhára’s fairest daughters were revealed to the unhallowed view of the gaping multitude, and no envious vest shrouded their amazing charms. ”

“ It happened that Palambaras Duré died; and as the succession fell regularly upon the unpopular Woodage, the king’s uncle, Lubo obtained a promise of the government 669 of Amhara for himself. All Gondar was shocked at this strange choice: Amitzo and his Edjow were already upon the southern frontiers of that province, domiciled there; and there was no doubt but this nomination would put Amhara into his possession for ever. All the inhabitants of Gondar were ready to run to their arms to oppose this appointment of the king ”

“ Individuals possessing what I believe to have been the characteristic features of the genuine Amharic countenance are but seldom seen on the high land of Shoa, although it might naturally be expected that their situation would favour a lighter complexion than the dark-brown Shoans exhibit. This is to be attributed to the very recent period that their Galla ancestorial relations intruded themselves into this former Amhara district, as Abyssinian history records that the first appearance of these 40 invaders from the low plains of Adal occurred no later than the year 1537. ”

“ The seat of government, or rather of overlordship, has usually been in Amhara, the ruler of which, calling himself negus negusti (king of kings, or emperor) , has exacted tribute, when he could, from the other provinces. The title of negus negusti has been to a considerable extent based on the blood in the veins of the claimant. All the emperors have based their claims on their direct descent from Solomon and the queen of Sheba; but it is needless to say that in many, if not in most, cases their success has been due more to the force of their arms than to the purity of their lineage. ”

“ Only one town remains of the once mighty kingdom of Adal, the city of Hurrah, the former capital of 429 Mahomed Grahne, before whose time Christianity was here at least tolerated and professed by numbers of its inhabitants. Within the last century another lingering remnant of this population of Adal has been entirely driven out. Owssa, now exclusively Mahomedan Dankalli, was formerly the capital of Amhara kings of Adal, and the traditions of the present occupiers record the late residence in that country of a Christian population. ”

“ They have, indeed, possessed Walaka, a small province between Amhara and Shoa; but this has been permitted politically by the governor of Shoa, as a barrier between him and Abyssinia, on whose sovereign he scarcely acknowledges any dependence but for form’s sake, his province being at present an hereditary government descending from father to son.
All these tribes of Galla gird Abyssinia round at all points from east to west, making inroads, and burning and murdering all that fall into their hands. The privities of the men they cut off, dry, and hang them up in their houses. ”

“ It is singular to observe the pertinacity of custom, and how characteristic of descent particular habits and ceremonies become long after the separation of different nations from their original root. The Arabs, the Amhara, or the Abyssinians, and the Jews, all precede the slaughter of animals for food with some short prayer, which, differing in form, is still the same custom, and which, I think, originated at a period antecedent to their dispersion as different nations into the several countries they now occupy. ”

“ It prevails in Shoa, as well as in all the provinces included between the Taccázê and the blue Nile, and is thus spoken by the greater portion of the population of Abyssinia.
The province from which the language has derived its appellation is at the present day in occupation of the Yedjow, and other Mohammadan Galla tribes, who speak a distinct dialect; but the fact of “Amhára” being a term held synonymous with “Christian,” would prove that it must formerly have exerted pre-eminent influence in the empire. ”

“ The high range of mountains in Samen, extending from Waldubha to the south of Lasta, together with the line of the Tacazze, which shapes its course north-easterly along its base, sufficiently point out the boundaries of the two larger divisions of Tigré and Amhara: and when we consider, in addition to these natural obstacles to communication, that the inhabitants of both countries speak distinct languages, and are so materially different in character, it can only remain matter of surprise, that they ever became united under one government. ”