Gojam

“ It is a very flat country, and all in pasture; has few mountains, but these are very high ones, and are chiefly on the banks of the Nile, to the south, which river surrounds the province; so that, to a person who should walk round Gojam, the Nile would be always on his left hand, from where it went south, falling out of the lake Tzana, till it turns north through Fazuclo into the country of Sennaar and Egypt.
Gojam is full of great herds of cattle, the largest in the high parts of Abyssinia. The men are in the lowest esteem as soldiers, but the country is very populous. ”

“ She upbraided Gusho with avarice, pride, and malice, declared him a greater tyrant than Michael, without his capacity, forbidding him to appear any more before her, and with great difficulty could be prevailed to go on to Koscam instead of returning to Gojam. It is impossible to conceive the enthusiasm with which the fight of the old queen inspired all sorts of people. Gusho had no troops, the king as few, being left even without a servant in his palace. ”

“ Very soon afterwards, the king being in Gojam, a message was brought to him from the principal people of Narea, informing him plainly, “That Benero, having become cruel and avaricious, put many people to death wantonly, and many more for the sake of their money; having taken from them their wives and daughters, either for his own pleasure, or to sell them as slaves to the Galla—they had at last murdered him, and chosen a man in his room distinguished for his virtue and goodness.” ”

“ Gojam, a province always inveterate against any thing that bore the smallest inclination to the church of Rome, declared against the king; and, before he went to join his associates, the traitor, Za Selassé, in a conference he had with the Abuna Petros, proposed to him to absolve Za Denghel's subjects and soldiers from their oaths of allegiance to their sovereign. The Abuna, a man of very corrupt and bad life, very hearty in the cause, and an enemy to the king, was staggered at this proposal ”

“ Soon after Sela Christos had left Gojam to join the king, by forced marches he surrounded Melca Amba, where Emana Christos was, and had assembled a number of troops to descend into the plain and create a diversion in favour of Julius. The mountain had neither water in it nor food for such a number of men, nor had Emana Christos forces enough to risk a battle with an officer of the known experience of Af Christos, who had chosen the ground at his full leisure, and with complete knowledge of it. ”

“ The first thing the king did was to dispatch a large body of troops to reinforce Dermin, governor of Gojam, and to him he sent positive orders to force Amda Sion to fight wherever he should find him, while he, with the royal army, came forward with all expedition to keep the people in awe, and prevent them from joining his rival. ”

“ In the beginning of February 1629 the king marched from Dancaz towards Gojam, where he collected an army of 30,000 men, which, with the baggage, servants, and attendants, at that time very great and numerous, amounted to above 80,000 men.
Socinios detached a number of small parties to enter Lasta at different places. On the other hand, Melca Christos assembled his troops on the most inaccessible rocks ”

“ Buco was governor of Gojam; the king had sent Sela Christos to his assistance, and was intending to follow with another army himself. In the mean time, the passes through which the Galla used to enter were all lined with men, and every preparation made to receive them.
These barbarians advanced to the Nile in multitudes never seen before; and, finding the province perfectly on its guard, they feigned a panic, or disagreement among themselves, retired in seeming confusion, and dispersed, some, as it was said, to their own homes, and some to an expedition against Narea. ”

“ The greatest part of the loss fell upon the common men of Gojam, of the clans Elmana and Densa. No man of note among them was lost; only Amda Sion, who fell at their head in the beginning of the engagement, fighting with all the bravery that could be expected from a man in his circumstances. The rebel army was entirely dispersed. 531 On the king’s side no man of consideration was slain, but Anastè, son of Ozoro Sabel Wenghel.
After having reinforced Dermin, the first thing the king did was to send three of his brothers, David, Hannes, and Jonathan, to be imprisoned on the mountain of Wechné. ”

“ War had for some months past been raging on the western frontier betwixt Góshoo, the ruler of Gojam, and his son Birroo, who had risen in open rebellion, and the messenger brought a confirmation of the long-rumoured defeat of the former, and of the forces of Ras Ali, which had been sent to his assistance. The return of killed and wounded is in this country never suffered to fall short of the reality, and on the present occasion it had certainly not lost by the distance it had travelled. ”

“ These populations, still half pagans although each village has its church, are the bravest, and the only Abyssinians who succeeded in evading the razzias ordered by the ruthless Theodore; in no other region of Abyssinia are the people more distinguished for courage and honesty. South of Gojam, in the vicinity of the Liben Gallas, are situated in two tributary valleys of the Abaï, close to its southern bend, the two neighbouring commercial towns of Yejihheh and Basso, where Abyssinians and Ilm Ormas assemble to barter the products of their respective lands. ”

“ Woldo told me it was all spent in regretting the horse’s ill-fortune, and Fasil’s cruelty, in having bestowed him upon a white man, who would not feed him, or ever let him return to Bizamo. Bizamo is a country of Galla south of the Nile, after it makes its southmost turn, and has surrounded the kingdom of Gojam. I was better pleased with this genuine mark of kindness to the horse, than all the proofs of humanity Woldo had attributed to his chieftain for not frequently putting to death pregnant women. When I remarked this, Bad men! bad men! ”

“ This wretch was a native of a very barbarous nation near Shoa, S. E. of Gojam. The name of their country is Guragué. They are Troglodytes, and all robbers: their constant occupation is attending the Abyssinian camps, and stealing horses, mules, or whatever they can get, which they do in a very singular manner. ”

“ After having passed the great chain of mountains, called Dyre and Tegla, between lat. 11° and 12° N. where are the great cataracts, they again came into the flat country of the Gongas, as far as Bizamo, nearly in 9° N. there the river, leaving its hitherto constant direction, N. and S. turns due E. and surrounds Gojam.
It is probable the discoverers, always looking for it to the south, took this unusual sudden turn east to be only a winding of the river, which would soon be compensated by an equal return to the west where they would meet it again ”

“ 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. ”

“ Tascar, the son of Jacob, died a minor; he rebelled against his uncle Menas, in confederacy with the Baharnagash, as we have already seen; and his army being beat by his uncle and sovereign, he was, by his order, thrown over the steep precipice of Lamalmon, and dashed to pieces. Facilidas, the second remaining son of the same minor Jacob, lived many years, possessed great estates in Gojam, and died afterwards in battle, fighting against the Galla, in defence of these possessions. ”

“ At this time a piece of bad news was circulated at Gondar, that Kasmati Boro, whom the Ras had left governor at Damot, had been beaten by Fasil, and obliged to retire to his own country in Gojam, to Stadis Amba, near the passage of the Nile, at Minè ”

“ The Ras also mentioned to me, that besides these, the Maitsha, and the Boren Galla, who reside in Gojam, another tribe is found near the Abay, or White River, more barbarous in its character than any of the others, called Woldutchi, which retains all the sanguinary ferocity of its first ancestors. The Woldutchi, like the Assubo, drink the warm blood of animals, [12] adorning themselves, in the same way as some of the southern natives of Africa, with the entrails of animals, and still continuing the practice of riding on oxen. ”

“ Accordingly, no sooner was Sertza Denghel dead, perhaps some time before, but a conspiracy was formed to change the order of succession, and this was immediately executed by order of this triumvirate, who sent a body of soldiers and seized Za Denghel, and carried him close prisoner to 239 Dek, a large island in the lake Tzana, belonging to the queen, where he was kept for some time, till he escaped and hid himself in the wild inaccessible mountains of Gojam, which there form the banks of the Nile. ”

“ The king, in his march through the low country of Dembea, was attacked by a putrid fever, very common in those parts, which so increased upon him that he was obliged to be carried back to Tchekla Wunze. This accident discouraged his whole party. His army, with Honorius, took the road to Gojam, but did not disperse, awaiting the recovery of the king. 'But the queen, Malacotawit, no sooner heard that Yasous her husband was sick at Tchekla Wunze, than she sent to her son Tecla Haimanout to leave his unwholesome station, and march back immediately to Gondar ”

“ Compare what Tellez says in his summary of the rivers of Ethiopia—“There is another celebrated river called Zebee, said 109 to be greater than the Nile itself, rising in a territory called Bora, in the kingdom of Narea, which is the most southerly, and whereof we shall speak hereafter. It begins its course westward, a few leagues farther turns to the northward, and runs about the kingdom of Zingero, of which we shall also give an account, making it a sort of peninsula, as the Nile does the kingdom of Gojam. After leaving this kingdom, it takes its course to the southward ”

“ I repeated. "Who are they?"
"They are a people among the Gojin who love life and light. It is their land that I wish to reach, if possible."
"Where is it?" I asked, eagerly.
"I cannot explain," said Layelah. "I can only trust to my own skill, and hope to find the place. We may have to pass over different lands of the Gojin, and if so we may be in danger."
"What is the reason why the athaleb goes to Magones every season?" I asked.
"To take there the chief pauper of the season, who has won the prize of death by starvation. It is one of the greatest honors among the Kosekin." ”

“ The Scythae of Asia, who, as we have seen, were only a partial emigration, or reflux, from their ancient stock in Europe, cannot, with any soundness of criticism, be taken account of in this argument.
"Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands," is also to form a part of the Gogue's confederacy against the Holy Land in "the time of the end." There is little said about Togarmah in history beyond conjecture. He was a son of Gomer, therefore his posterity would migrate originally from the same locality as Gomer's other descendants-namely, from the mountains of Taurus and Amanus ”

“ In fact, these magical substances are some of the Joïas which the medicine-men exhibit at the Kuringal. As each Gommera has a totem name, his Budjan and the magical substance belonging to it are his special Joïas.
It is the evil magic of the Budjan that in great measure commands obedience, but there is also the belief that the Gommera can see in dreams the actions of the novices, and punish them by Joïa. In the old times a novice, known to have broken the food rules after initiation, would have been killed by violence. ”

“ Sam continued. "Thurwinker let the word leak out to the natives that Goma had captured Roy. This made Goma a bigger hero than ever. We marched Roy down to the first transport that came in as if he was a prisoner and kept our guns ready until they took off just to impress the natives. Of course, we had to let our hair grow but we got the iridium and that's what we were after. Just as long as the natives don't see anyone with a haircut, everything will be fine." ”

“ Many houses were burned, a damage, "which, although slight, was some punishment for so great baseness and treachery as they had displayed toward us, ... and was done, so that when Spaniards, vassals of his majesty, anchor there another time, the natives shall give them a better reception, and maintain more steadfastly the friendship made with them." "This island of Goam is high and mountainous, and throughout, even to its seacoast, is filled with groves of cocoa-palms and other trees, and thickly inhabited. Even in the valleys, where there are rivers, it is inhabited. ”

“ He divines the wants of his masters by his quick wit, and never neglects or forgets anything. Gohah is from the Soudan, and a perfect Congo negro in features and texture of skin—lips protruding and nose absolutely level with his cheeks; as faithful and affectionate as a Newfoundland dog, a mild, gentle boy. What another servant would know through his sharpened interest, Gohah comprehends by his affections.
I have described these persons, because they are types of the almost infinite variety of races and tribes in Egypt. ”