Volume Three—Chapter One.
The House of Solomon.
Ethiopia is the classical appellation for Abyssinia, or Hábesh, the most ancient as well as the greatest monarchy in Africa. It is by the latter title that the inhabitants themselves, and all their circumjacent neighbours, still distinguish the highlands included between Nubia and the sources of the blue Nile; and the limits of the Christian empire, governed by the sovereigns of Axum, formerly extended over wide tracts of country, now peopled by heathen and stranger nations.
The early history of Hábesh is lost in the fogs of fable. In the Chronicles styled Kebra za Negest, “the glory of the kings,” a romance which pretends to be a faithful repository of the past, Ittopia is modestly stated to have divided with Romia the dominion of the world, received in direct inheritance from Adam.—“Their rulers were both descended from Shem, who was nominated the lineal descendant of Noah, whence all the globe north of Jerusalem belonged unto the former, and all south to the latter!”
This record is believed to have been discovered in the church of Saint Sophia, and it claims for the present royal family descent from the queen of Sheba, whose visit to king Solomon is stated to have placed the sceptre in the hands of the tribe of Judah, with whom it has remained until the present day; and from the peasant to the despot this legend is firmly believed by every native of Abyssinia.
“The queen of Ethiopia,” saith the Chronicle, “whose name was Maqueda, had heard from the merchant Tamerin of the wisdom and the glory of king Solomon; and resolving to visit him in his own country, she proceeded to the land of Israel with all the rich presents that her empire could afford.”
After a season the royal lady returned; and her son Menilek, the result of her visit to the greatest potentate of the age, was born, and in due time transmitted to his august sire, that he might be duly instructed in all the mysteries of Jewish law and science. Having been anointed king under the name of David, he returned to his native land, with a large suite of the nobles of Israel, and a band of her most learned elders under the direction of Ascarias, the son of Zadok the High Priest.
But previously to his setting out, the gates of the temple of Jerusalem were left unguarded, and the doors miraculously opened in order to afford an opportunity, which was not neglected, of stealing and carrying away the holy ark of Zion and the tables of the law. To queen Maqueda also is attributed the inhuman treatment since experienced by the royal princes, for on resigning the reins of authority to her son, about nine hundred and seventy years before the birth of Christ, she caused a solemn obligation to be sworn by all, that henceforward no female should hold sway in the land; and that those princes of the blood-royal upon whom the crown did not devolve, should, until the succession opened to them, or during their natural term of existence, be kept close prisoners on a lofty mountain; a cruel and despotic enactment, which, through a long succession of ages, was jealously observed.
The Emperor of Ethiopia early adopted the title of Negoos, or Negásh; and the coast of the Indian ocean towards Sofala was held by his deputy with the style of Bahr Negásh, “the King of the Sea,”—a vicegerent with the same title, governing Yemen, which from the earliest times down to the Mohammadan conquest of Arabia belonged to Abyssinia. The family of Menilek ibn Hákim are stated in the Kebra za Negest to have worn the crown in uninterrupted felicity until the year of our Lord 960, when an event occurred which nearly obliterated that dynasty, and first spread anarchy, violence, and oppression throughout the once happy realm.
Christianity became the national religion of Abyssinia in the beginning of the fourth century. The Fálashas, descendants of the Jews, who are believed to have accompanied Menilek from Jerusalem, had meanwhile waxed extremely powerful, and refusing to abandon the faith of their forefathers, they now declared independence. Electing a sovereign of their own creed, they took possession of the almost impregnable mountain fastnesses of Simien, where their numbers were augmented by continual accessions from the Jews who were expelled from Palestine and from Arabia. Under the constant titles of Gideon and Judith, a succession of kings and queens held a limited sway until, in the middle of the tenth century, the Princess Esther, styled, by the Amhára, Issát, which signifies “fire,” a woman of extraordinary beauty and talent, conceived the design of subverting the religion, and with it the existing order of succession in the empire. A fatal epidemic had swept off the Emperor, and spread desolation through court and capital. Del Naad, who had been nominated to the crown, was of tender years; and Esther, deeming no opportunity more favourable, surprised the rock Dámo, on which, by virtue of the existing statute, the other scions of the royal house were confined, and having massacred the whole, five hundred in number, proclaimed herself the queen over Abyssinia.
The sole surviving prince of his race was hurried by the Amhára nobility into the distant and loyal province of Shoa; and the reins of government passed into the hands of a Christian family of Lasta, styled Zegue, with whom they remained until the thirteenth century. During the administration of Naakweto Laab, the last of this dynasty, Tekla Haïmanót the monk, a native of Abyssinia, was created Abuna, (Abuna, or more properly Aboon, signifies “our father”) or Primate of Ethiopia. He had previously founded in Shoa the celebrated monastery of Debra Libanos, and was a man celebrated alike for the purity of his life, the soundness of his understanding, and his devotion to his country. Obtaining extraordinary influence over the mind of the king, he prevailed upon him, for conscience-sake, to resign a crown which could never be purified from the stain of usurpation. The banished line of Solomon, content with the dominion of Shoa, had made no effort towards the recovery of their ancient boundaries; but by a treaty now concluded, Yekweno Amlak was restored to the throne of his ancestors. Naakweto Laab was to retain Lasta in perpetual independence, with the golden stool, the silver kettle-drums, and other insignia of royalty, whilst one third of the realm was permanently ceded to the Primate for the maintenance of his ecclesiastical dignity, and for the support of the clergy, convents, and churches. This was styled the “Era of Partition;” and it formed a stipulation, that the functions of Archbishop should in future be vested in none save a Copt, appointed from Cairo by the chair of Saint Mark.
Volume Three—Chapter Two.
The Lineage of Shoa.
Thus affairs continued until the sixteenth century, when the invasion of Mohammad Graan led to the total dismemberment of the Ethiopic empire; and Shoa, amongst other of the richer provinces, was overrun and colonised by the Galla hordes. Nebla Dengel, the emperor of Gondar, fell by the hand of the Moslem conqueror. Fáris, the son of Dilbonach, by a daughter of the house of Solomon, held a Ras-ship under the crown, in the stronghold of Dair, and from his son Sumbellete sprang Nagási, the first monarch of Efát, who was born at Amad Wásha, the capital of Agamcha, and a century and a half ago held his capital in Mans. Prior to the conquest of that province, which was followed by the gradual subjugation of Shoa and its present dependencies, this prince occupied a lofty fortress in the Yedjow country, where some of his descendants still remain. From it are visible the high and impregnable mounts Ambásel and Geshama; the latter of which fastnesses, in the more remote periods of Ethiopic splendour, had served as a place of confinement for the younger brothers of the reigning emperor; whilst the former is in the hands of an independent ruler, whose ancestress becoming the mistress of the Christian governor, the father of the Delilah contrived, during the celebration of her nuptials, to surprise the garrison, and put every man to the sword.
Nagási repaired in due time to Gondar, to be formally invested by the Emperor; but after receiving at the royal hands twelve “nugáreet,” he died suddenly. To one of his four sons he bequeathed on his death-bed a shield, to a second a spear, to a third a ring, and to Sabastiye, his favourite child, a war-steed which he had always ridden to the combat. The youths were summoned to court in order that they might receive their legacies; and on opening an amulet attached to the horse’s neck, it was found to contain the will and testament of the deceased, nominating Sabastiye the successor to his possessions.
This prince reigned twenty-five years, and was succeeded by Abiyé, his eldest son, who after fifteen years was gathered to his fathers at Arámba, which he had wrested from the Aréeo Galla. Emmaha Yasoos, who succeeded next, and reigned thirty-two years, introduced several matchlocks from Gondar, conquered Ankóber, and removed his capital thither from Dokáket. At the period of his accession, the sorcerers predicted that if one Arkarádis should be appointed minister, the empire would be doubled. Diligent search was made throughout the realm, but a mendicant was the sole individual of that name who could be found. He was duly inducted into office; and his first step was to revive among the circumjacent Galla an ancient prophecy, that when fires should be seen on the summits of the three loftiest peaks of the great barrier range, their possessions would be overrun by the Christians. After the lapse of a few months, Arkarádis caused beacon-fires to be kindled during the night on the crests of Kondie, Ankóber, and Mamrat; upon beholding which many of the heathen fled, and without a blow being struck, sundry districts were appended to Shoa.
Asfa Woosen, grandsire to the reigning monarch, succeeded to his father Emmaha Yasoos, and reigned thirty-three and a half years. Of forty-eight male children he was the bravest. He was a great Nimrod, and an unparalleled warrior, slaying three hundred Pagans with his own spear from the back of his favourite war-steed Amádoo. Amongst many other despotic laws enacted during his reign, was one prohibiting the manufacture of hydromel by the subject. Three great rebellions threatened the stability of his empire, which had now shaken off all allegiance to Gondar, but each in turn was quelled by his personal valour. The last insurrection was headed by Woosen Suggud, the heir-apparent. In a pitched battle the youth was wounded by the hand of his father, taken prisoner, and immured throughout the term of the monarch’s life. During the last fifteen years of his reign, Asfa Woosen was totally blind. It is fully believed that the sight of one eye was destroyed by Thavánan, as already narrated in the legend of “the tormentor,” and that one of the royal concubines, whom that sorcerer had spirited away, destroyed the other shortly afterwards, by means of a powerful spell imparted by her paramour.
Since the commencement of the present century, the custom of consigning to a dungeon the brothers and kindred of the reigning monarch has fallen into desuetude in Northern Abyssinia. The princes of the blood-royal now wander over the country unmolested and unheeded, attaching themselves to any chief who may be willing to extend countenance and support, and holding themselves at his disposal in the event of his gaining ascendancy over his rivals, and requiring a titular emperor to perform the indispensable ceremony of nominating a Ras. But the form is still retained, of placing the crown upon the brows of a descendant of the ancient line of Solomon, who is content to be a mere puppet in the hands of the temporary minister; and enjoying a stipend of three hundred dollars per annum, with the paltry revenues accruing from the tolls of the hebdomadal market in the capital, he remains a prisoner upon parole in his palace at Gondar.
Volume Three—Chapter Three.
The Monarch and the Court.
Sáhela Selássie, “the clemency of the Trinity,” seventh king of Shoa, whose surname is Menilek, was twelve years of age when the assassination of Woosen Suggud called him from a monastery to the throne, and placed in his hands the reins of despotic government over a wild Christian nation. His sire had enjoyed a brief, but exceedingly active reign of four and a half years, during which he extended his empire far beyond the limits bequeathed to him by Asfa Woosen—made conquests in the south to the mountains of Garra Gorphoo, and in the west to the Nile. The most despotic measures marked his transient but iron rule; and had he survived, the expectations formed of him would in all probability have been realised, and he would have become monarch of all Abyssinia. But the nation groaned under his oppression; and after a series of the harshest acts, induced by visits in disguise, like those of Haroun Alraschid, the great Kaliph of Bagdad, to the houses of his subjects, and to places of public resort, a Shankela slave, whom he had provoked by ill usage, turned upon his royal master, and having slain him with a sword, set fire to the palace at Kondie, which was burned to the ground; and the wealth amassed in many earthen jars melted, according to the tradition, into a liquid stream of mingled silver and gold, which flowed over the mountain-side.
In Shoa, as in other savage countries, the tidings of the dissolution of the monarch, unless timely concealed, spread like lightning to the furthest extremities of the kingdom, and become a signal for rapine, anarchy, and murder, which rage unrestrained during the continuance of the interregnum. Every individual throughout the realm deems himself at full liberty to act according to the bent of his own vicious inclinations—to perpetrate every atrocity, and to indulge in the gratification of every revengeful and licentious passion, without fear of retribution or of punishment; and it being perfectly understood that there exists neither law nor rule until the new sovereign shall have been proclaimed, the kingless land for a season runs rivers of blood. Fearful was the tragedy that followed the assassination of Woosen Suggud. The royal family residing at Ankóber, and the heir-apparent at a still greater distance from Kondie, there ensued a scene of anarchy and confusion which it would be difficult to describe; and at Debra Libanos alone there fell no fewer than eight hundred victims to private animosity, of whose murder no account was ever taken.
The eyes of the monarch being closed in death, the minister styled Dedj Agafári, “the introducer through the door,” proceeds to the inauguration of the successor, who, unless some other arrangement shall have been willed, is usually the heir-apparent. Presented to the senators and to the inmates of the palace, the herald proclaims aloud, “We have reason to mourn, and also to rejoice, for our old father is dead, but we have found a new one.” The accession thus declared, the king is invested with the robes of state, and taking seat upon the throne, the public officers first in order, and then the people, offer homage, and bow before his footstool.
General mourning is invariably observed during the seven days which follow the promulgation of the national calamity. Men, women, and children, evince their grief by tearing the hair, scarifying the temples with the nails, and casting themselves sobbing and screaming upon the ground—the good qualities of the deceased being extolled the while. But the chief mourners on the melancholy occasion are those princes of the blood-royal who are affected by the barbarous practice handed down from the earliest periods of Abyssinian history. For in the kingdom of Shoa revolutionary projects against the crown have invariably been anticipated by consigning the uncles and brothers of the sovereign to a subterranean dungeon, where they pass the remainder of their days in the elaborate carving of harps and ornaments of ivory.
Widely different from that of the aspiring Rasselas is the lot of these pining members of the dynasty of Shoa. No happy valley is theirs, whom a barbarous policy has from time immemorial condemned thus to linger in hopeless imprisonment during the remnant of their sublunary pilgrimage, unless the demise of the despot without issue should, peradventure, call some one of the captives from the dank vault to the throne. Food, with scanty materials for amusement and occupation, are indeed allowed, together with permission to breathe the air of heaven after the sun has set upon their own green hills. But no domestic tie links them to the society from which they are immured—no sympathy of wife or child can ever, by a word of kindness, alleviate their lonely condition. The bonds of relationship have been rudely snapped asunder, and the very name of brother is the stern curse of those whose only crime is their affinity to the monarch.
Seven princes of the blood-royal were inmates of the vaults of Góncho on the arrival of the British Embassy in Shoa. The legitimate issue male of the reigning sovereign has fortunately been limited to two; but it was not the less melancholy to reflect, that one or other of these interesting youths must, in all human probability, drag out the noon and evening of his days within the walls of that dismal dungeon, where so many have sunk into the grave unrecorded and unpitied. The crown, although hereditary in the house of Solomon, is elective by will at each decease, and the eldest born can assert no exclusive title to succession by right of primogeniture. Bashakh Woorud, “go down if go like,” is an ominous title enough to distinguish the heir-apparent to the throne. Better known by his Christian appellation of Hailoo Mulakoot, and now in his sixteenth year, he has by his royal sire been permitted to accompany the army into the field, when he slew some of the Galla with his own hand; but entertaining a predilection for the church, he is educating in the monastery of Loza; whilst his brother, Seifa Selássie, “the sword of the Trinity,” who is three or four years younger, is the favourite of his father, and may be regarded as the heir-presumptive.
In accordance with the custom of the land, this prince is also secluded in a monastery at Medák, under the Alaka Amda Zion. In addition to a eunuch and a nurse, each of the royal scions is attended by guardians, whose office it is to prevent his playing truant or creating disturbances in the kingdom. They are trained to equestrian and warlike exercises, and to the use of the shield and spear; and are made to attend divine service, to fast, to repeat their prayers, and to peruse the psalms at night. Their course of education differs little from that of other Abyssinian youths, than whom they are even more under monkish influence. The study of the Gebata Hawáriat, or “table of the apostles,” which comprises the seven epistles of Peter, John, James, and Jude, and the acquisition of the Psalter by heart, is followed by the perusal of the Revelation, the epistles of Saint Paul, and the gospels—the histories of the Holy Virgin, of Saints George and Michael, Saint Tekla Haïmanót, and others, completing the course. Few of the priesthood understand the art of writing, and all regard the exercise of the pen as shameful and derogatory. The royal princes therefore stand little chance of instruction in this branch of education, and their acquaintance with the Abyssinian code of jurisprudence must depend also upon the erudition of their preceptors. The strictest discipline is enforced; disobedience is punished by bonds and corporal chastisement, which latter the king causes to be inflicted in his presence; and fully imbued with the conviction that to “spare the rod is to spoil the child,” His Majesty occasionally corrects the delinquent with his own hands.
Queen Besábesh—“thou hast multiplied”—the mother of the young princes, and also of four princesses, is the daughter of the last independent ruler of Morabeitie. She was relict of Tekla Georgis, a commoner of Shoa; and although not permanently resident in the palace, is much beloved by Sáhela Selássie. Five hundred concubines complete the royal harem, of whom seven reside under the palace roof, thirteen in the immediate outskirts, and the residue in various parts of the empire. By these ladies the king has a numerous progeny; the males, who are not obnoxious to imprisonment on a new accession, being created governors of provinces, whilst the illegitimate daughters are bestowed in marriage upon whomsoever his despotic Majesty may think proper to select among the nobles and magnates of the land.
The ceremony of taking into the royal harem a concubine of rank, which measure is usually connected with some political object, consists in an interchange of presents betwixt the monarch and the parents of the damsel. Chámie, the Galla Queen of Moolo Fálada, near the Nile, presented with her daughter, who occupies a niche in the harem, a dower consisting of two hundred milch cows, one hundred teams of oxen with ploughs, a number of horses, and many slaves of both sexes, gássela skins, and other choice peltries, and five hundred vessels of virgin honey, with twelve cats to watch over and protect them from the inroads of the mice. Mohammadans and Pagans are compelled, after the formation of the royal alliance, to embrace the Christianity of Ethiopia; but that fidelity is far from being a consequence of the conversion has been evinced in numerous disgraceful instances, the not least notorious of which involves the reputation and the health of one who long enjoyed a most exalted place in the king’s affections—a sister of Wulásma Mohammad.
Throughout intra-tropical Africa the nugáreet, or kettle-drum, forms the emblem of power, as does the sceptre in other realms. Appointments, edicts, and proclamations, roll with its notes to the ears of the attentive nation of Shoa. It accompanies all forays and campaigns, is the symbol of investiture, and even the Church is controlled by its echoes reverberating from the palace hill. The trumpet is also a concomitant on state occasions, when two large crimson debáboch, or aftabgirs, screen the royal person. The attire of Sáhela Selássie, although usually plain and unassuming, is, on certain pageants, more imposing, and is then assisted by all the gold and tinsel that the wardrobe can boast. The precious metal, for which he entertains a vast affection, forming his exclusive prerogative, is displayed in massive bracelets and rings, and in the embroidery with which his tight vest of green silk is profusely loaded, although partially hidden beneath the enveloping robe of Abyssinia. His Majesty’s crown is an elegantly embossed tiara, with numerous chains hanging in gorgeous clusters around the brow, and surmounted by the imperial plume of white egret feathers.
On the Saturday in Passion week, a solemn assembly is held in the palace court, which is decked out with carpets, and velvets, and gay cloths. The priests then rehearse the military achievements of the monarch, and the gathered population respond with the loud hum of approbation; but with this exception, and that of the great annual review at the feast of Máskal, or the triumphal return from the successful foray against the heathen Galla, there is little pomp or pageant to be witnessed at the present day. Badges and honorary distinctions, however, still continue to be conferred upon the brave in war. The high-sounding titles of household officers are yet scrupulously retained; and these, with the embossed shield, the silver sword, the gauntlet, the bracelet, the armlet, and the glittering akodáma, attest the presence at the court of Shoa of the last remnant of the ancient, but faded grandeur of the proud emperors of Ethiopia.
Volume Three—Chapter Four.
The Reigning Despot.
A more singular contrast of good and evil was perhaps never presented than in the person and administration of the Christian despot. Avarice, suspicion, caprice, duplicity, and superstition, appear to form the basis of his chequered character, and his every act exhibits a proportion of meanness and selfishness, linked with a desire to appear munificent. Yet are these radically bad ingredients tempered and concealed by some amiable and excellent qualities. His virtues are many as they are conspicuous: his faults entail harm chiefly upon himself; and the appropriation of the greater portion of his hours might be held up as a worthy pattern for imitation.
During the entire forenoon of every day in the week, the Sabbath and Saturday excepted, which latter, as a remnant of Jewish religion, is universally reverenced, is he engaged in public affairs—in trying appeals, and in deciding suits which are brought from all quarters of his dominions. Notwithstanding the impediments offered by a weak constitution, and by many bodily infirmities prematurely brought on by excess, he leads a life of constant activity, and, both as respects his public and his private avocations, stands greatly distinguished above other Abyssinian rulers, who too justly incur the reproach of idleness and perpetual debauchery.
After the religious performance of his matin devotions, the king inspects his stables and workshops, bestows charity upon the assembled poor, despatches couriers, and accords private audiences of importance. Then reclining in state upon the throne, he listens for hours to all appeals brought against the decisions of his judges, and adjusts in public the tangled disputes and controversies of his subjects. Here access is easy. Sáhela Selássie listens to all, foreigners or natives, men and women, rich and poor. Every one possesses the right to appear before him, and boldly to explain the nature of his case; and although the established usage of the land compels the subject to prostrate himself, and to pay rather adoration than respect, yet may he urge his complaint without the least hesitation or timidity. Judgment is always prompt, and generally correct; nor will the observer be less struck with the calmness and placidity that mark the royal demeanour in the midst of the most boisterous discussions, than at the method and perspicuity with which such manifold affairs are disposed of; and whilst thus receiving the most favourable impression of His Majesty’s capacity for the transaction of business, a parallel might be drawn between his demeanour and that of many more civilised monarchs, which would be flattering to the semi-barbarous ruler of Shoa.
At three o’clock the king proceeds to dine alone; and no sooner is the royal appetite appeased, than the doors are thrown open, and the long table in the great banqueting-hall is crowded with distinguished warriors and guests. Harpers and fiddlers perform during the entire entertainment, and singers lift up their voices in praise of the munificence and liberality of their sovereign, who, during all this scene of confusion and turmoil, still continues to peruse letters or to issue instructions, until the board has been thrice replenished and as often cleared, and until all of a certain rank have freely partaken of his hospitality. At five he retires with a few of those who enjoy the largest share of intimacy, to the private apartments. Prayers and potent liquors fill up the evening hours, and the company depart, leaving the favourite page who is made the bearer of the royal commands.
Midnight calls His Majesty from his couch to the perusal of psalms and sacred writings. A band of sturdy priests in the antechamber continue during the livelong night to chant a noisy chorus of hymns to preserve his slumbers from the influence of evil spirits or apparitions, and daylight brings a repetition of the busy scene, which is diversified by exercise on horseback, whenever leisure and the fickle sky will permit. Making excursions with from four to five hundred mounted followers, it is then his wont to sit for hours on the splashy banks of some sequestered brook, conversing familiarly with those about him, witnessing the exercise of his stud, and devoting every spare moment to the numerous petitioners who crowd with complaints around the royal person.
Dreading the fate of his father, the monarch never stirs from his threshold without a pistol concealed under his girdle along with his favourite amulet, in which he reposes implicit faith and reliance. His couch is nightly surrounded by tried and trusty warriors, endeared to his person by munificence displayed to no other class of his subjects, whilst the gates of the palace are barred after the going down of the sun, and stoutly guarded.
The principal officers of the royal household, and those most confided in by the suspicious monarch, are the eunuchs. Ayto Baimoot, their late chief, was specially charged with the royal harem, in all its branches, as well as with the establishment of slaves. Long faithfully attached to his indulgent master, he was, whilst he lived, the king’s only intimate counsellor, and was never separated from his person.
Next in order is the herald, or Dech Agafári, who, in addition to the important duties already detailed, is the channel through whom all new appointments by the crown and all royal edicts and proclamations are published to the nation. Armed with a rod of green rushes, he ushers into the presence-chamber all officials, strangers, and visitors, introducing at the appointed time those who have complaints or representations to lay at the footstool of the throne. He is the Alaka of all who have any boon to crave, and is in charge of the host of pages and younger sons of the nobility who attend upon the king—is in general master of the ceremonies on occasions of state or pageant, and introduces guests who may be invited to the banquet.
The keys of the royal library are in the custody of the chief of the Church, the Alaka Wolda Georgis, a layman and a soldier, who was elevated to the exalted post he occupies in direct violation of the established usage of the country. The office of chief smith and Alaka of all the tabiban, “wise people,” or handicraftsmen, throughout the realm, and of Body Physician, are concentrated in the person of Ayto Habti, who must freely partake of all drugs that are to be administered to the king, and, with the Commander-in-Chief of the Body-Guard, the Master of the Horse, and the dwarf Father Confessor, be in constant attendance upon His Majesty.
As well from religious as from worldly motives, Sáhela Selássie entertains a vast number of pensioners, who receive dirgo, or daily rations, in various proportions—some being limited to dry bread, whilst others extend to mead, the greatest luxury which the country can afford. The distribution of this maintenance comes exclusively within the province of the Purveyor-General, the food being prepared in the royal kitchen by the numerous slaves, who, shame to the Christian monarch, compose the entire household establishment. All foreigners and visitors receive it; and, in addition to about one thousand of this class, there are many besides who possess the privilege of always dining at the royal table.
Making munificent donations to churches and monasteries, the king stands in high odour with the fanatic clergy, and thus enjoys the advantage of their influence over the priest-ridden population, whom he rules principally through the church; and, never undertaking any project without consulting some of its members, is in turn much swayed by their exhortations, prophecies, dreams, and visions. Strongly attached to the Christianity of Ethiopia, which abounds in Jewish prejudices, he is still far from being intolerant. According to the best of his uncultivated ideas he encourages letters, and spends considerable sums of money in collecting ancient manuscripts. Possessing natural talents and shrewdness, which have been improved by the rudiments of education, he rules his hereditary dominions with tact and advantage; and might, had his energies been properly directed, have shone one of the greatest potentates that ever wielded the sceptre in the now disorganised empire.
Were the active life of Sáhela Selássie guided by superior principles—could he be brought to despise petty things, and to sink the details of unimportant affairs in matters of greater moment—how wealthy and powerful a monarch might he not still become! He would have time at command to plan truly royal projects; and, possessed as he is of means the most ample, would find leisure to carry through his designs. Although, like other rulers of Abyssinia, he is ever entertaining some project of aggrandisement, his mind is yet filled with trifles, and not sufficiently expanded to mature a plan of operations upon an extended scale. Precluded by want of liberal education or of intercourse with civilised nations, from calculating events, or looking deep into the page of futurity, he lives in fact for little beyond the present day. Old in constitution, though not in years—enfeebled by excess, as well in mind as in body—uncivilised—called early to the throne, and ruling during a long succession of years according to one unvarying system—the dictates of his own caprice—he requires some violent impulse, some imminent and apparent peril, to arouse him from the torpor of security, to stimulate his latent energies to greater exertion, and to induce him temporarily to sacrifice a portion of his idolised gold, in order to reap a harvest five hundred fold.
From the merciful hand of this unique specimen of absolute authority, the sceptre falls lightly upon the head of the offender. “I have before mine eyes the fear of God,” is his frequent exclamation when passing the extreme sentence of the law. Guilty of none of the cruelties or enormities which stain most of the other rulers of Abyssinia—accessible, not easily offended, even-tempered, patient in his investigations, mild and usually just in his despotism—he is universally adored in his own dominions, rather through love than through fear. The oath by the life of the king is the only binding obligation in the land; and from the general success of his military expeditions, he is feared and respected by all the adjacent tribes. Conducting himself with that easy freedom which generally distinguishes conscious superiority, his demeanour is dignified and commanding; and the appearance of the half-civilised Christian savage, who sways the destinies of millions in the heart of heathen Africa, would proclaim his high descent even in the courts of Europe.
Volume Three—Chapter Five.
The Government and the Royal Household.
The hereditary provinces subject to Sáhela Selássie are comprised in a rectangular domain of one hundred and fifty by ninety miles, which area is traversed by five systems of mountains, whereof the culminating point divides the basin of the Nile from that of the Háwash. The Christian population of Shoa and Efát are estimated at one million of souls, and that of the Mohammadan and Pagan population of the numerous dependencies at a million and a half. Without including tribute in kind, the royal revenues are said to amount to about eighty or ninety thousand German crowns, accruing chiefly from import duties on slaves, foreign merchandise, and salt. The annual expenses of the state not exceeding ten thousand dollars, it is probable that His Christian Majesty, during his long reign of nearly thirty years, must have amassed considerable treasure, which is carefully deposited underground, and not lightly estimated by its possessor.
Nearly in the centre of the kingdom presides Zenama Work, “the golden rain,” relict of Woosen Suggud, and mother of the reigning monarch. The seat of her government, it has already been said, is at Zalla Dingai, “the rolling stone;” and she rules over nearly the whole of the north-west, or in fact over almost one half of the realm—appropriating in reversion to the crown the entire revenues of her dependent territories, and appointing her own governors with the royal approval. Judge in her own dominions, her decisions nevertheless lie under appeal to the throne; and even as queen-dowager, she is debarred participation in certain privileges which form the exclusive prerogatives of her son, over whose mind she exerts an influence, compared by the people of Shoa to that which they believe the holy Virgin to exercise over the Redeemer.
Long tired of the world and of its vanities, the venerable lady has made numerous applications for permission to retire to a convent, and assume the veil, the royal entreaties to the contrary having alone delayed the execution of the design. Many years barren, she sought the benediction of the wandering “Wáto,” and her nuptial couch being shortly crowned by the birth of Prince Menilek, the happy event was ascribed to necromantic intervention. Thus the tribe of the soothsayer is to this day left in peaceful occupation of its mountains on the bank of the wooded Háwash, whilst the destroying hand of the Amhára presses in wrath upon the head of the surrounding heathen.
Four hundred governors, styled Shoomant, are appointed under the crown of Shoa, and these with fifty Abogásoch, or guardians of the frontier, literally “fathers of war,” corresponding with the margraves of Germany in olden times, conduct the affairs of the kingdom and its dependencies. Some few of these appointments are hereditary; but the majority are purchased by the highest bidder, and the tenure is at best extremely precarious. A governor on his appointment is invested with a silver sword as a badge of office, and is bound to appear with his contingent of militia, whensoever summoned for military service. His grants are regulated by the amount of his levy; and as he rises in the royal estimation, so he receives badges also for subordinates, who may have distinguished themselves by their zeal, activity, or valour.
No courtier or great man can, after a long absence, approach the throne empty-handed. Thousands of stern warriors bend down with profound and slavish abasement before the fellow-mortal who presides over their sublunary destinies; and even the nobles of the land twice prostrate themselves, and kiss the dust in a manner the most abject and humiliating. All public officers make oblations from time to time in kind; and the king is, besides, in the habit of requiring arbitrarily from those in charge of districts, tribute in honey, clarified butter, cloth, or whatever else he may happen to require. Weak, and at the same time cunning—suspicious of every one, and placing not the smallest confidence in any of his functionaries—he sometimes precipitates them from affluence into a dungeon, when they believe themselves in the enjoyment of the largest share of favour. Resolved to disgrace a nobleman, he either sends for or visits the doomed personage, treats him with marked kindness and condescension, in view to dispel alarm; and embracing a favourable moment when no resistance can be offered, gives the fiat to those in attendance to secure their prisoner.
If not retained by fees and oblations, governments are constantly forfeited and resold. Frequent changes are also made with the design of counteracting collusion and rebellion. Although the power of the Negoos is absolute, it is subdivided amongst all who execute his orders, and little despots arise in all the numerous governors of provinces—each actuated by the same desire of being the executor of his own supreme will. Still they bear a heavy responsibility, and the slightest error in judgment, or, even in the absence of all delinquency, the mere whim of the monarch, may involve them in destruction when least anticipated. Accountable for every event, whether probable or improbable, assiduity in the management of affairs does not always avail. Talents and bravery are sometimes displayed in vain, and mere caprice may hurl the possessor of both from his high estate to the deepest ruin and disgrace.
Armed with the delegated authority of the despot, each governor, enacting the autocrat in his own domains, fashions his habits and privileges after those of his royal master. His fields are cultivated in the same manner, and he possesses the advantage of being able to extort from the inhabitants, for a very inadequate compensation in grain, many days of extra labour in each of the great agricultural operations. A fluctuating tribute in kind, regulated by his will and caprice, is exacted from all land-holders, to meet the demands of His Majesty, who, in addition to an inauguration fee of from four to six hundred dollars, is, unless voluntary offerings be frequently made, ever sending requisitions for live stock and farm produce. This system falls heavily upon all classes. A governor trusting to his own resources is speedily impoverished; whilst he who taxes too roughly is certain to be stripped of authority and property, on representation made to the throne.
But the Abyssinian is never loth to climb up again whence he has fallen, and the humbled grandee, although impoverished and shunned by the servile crowd, strives again to ingratiate himself with his sovereign—frequently succeeds by long and patient attendance, and once more girded with the silver sword of authority, he attains that perilous and giddy pinnacle, where the weapon of destruction hangs over his head suspended only by a single hair.
The essence of despotism pervading the land to its very core, the Negoos is the true God of its adoration. All the best portions of the soil pertain to His Majesty, and the life as well as the property of every subject is at his sole and absolute disposal. Every act is performed with some view to promote his pleasure, and the subject waits on his sovereign will, for favour, preferment, and place. All appointments are at the king’s disposal—all rewards and distinctions come from the king’s hand. In years of famine, food itself is only to be obtained from the royal granaries; and it is not therefore surprising that those over whom one so absolute presides should be mean, servile, and cringing, and that they should, in their aspirations after power and place, mould every action of their life according to his will.
Concealment of any acquisition, howsoever small and valueless, is invariably visited with loss of office and confiscation of property. Gold forms the exclusive privilege of royalty. Personal ornaments and coloured raiment have until now been restricted by the severest sumptuary laws, and none, except the highest chiefs and warriors of the land, were ever honoured by an exemption from the rule. But these harsh prohibitions, which exist under no other government in Abyssinia, originated long before the present reign, and have been enforced during so many generations, that they are now little irksome to the people.
Shoa has hitherto stood exempt from the unceasing endeavours to acquire ascendancy on the part of all the various chieftains who divide the sceptre in the north—allied to-day in bonds of the closest amity, the next arrayed in the most bitter animosity. Engaged in perpetual strife, the march of any one prince beyond the border of his own territories proves the signal to the nearest of his neighbours to carry fire and sword into the heart of his undefended domain; but although torn by civil war from one extremity to the other, the bond of the ancient Ethiopic empire is still not entirely dissolved; and notwithstanding that the “king of kings” has dwindled into the mere spectre of imperial dignity—is deposed and restored to the throne at the caprice of every predominant ruler—his name at least is deemed essential to render valid the title of Ras, and through the latter, of the governors of all the dependent provinces of Abyssinia.
But herein the King of Shoa forms an exception; and fortunate it is for His Majesty as well as for his dominions, that the surrounding Galla tribes, united with natural defences, should have so completely shut him out from participation in the intestine disturbances which have ravaged and laid waste every other province of this beautiful and once prosperous land. Although he propitiates the leader of every party, and pursues a conciliatory policy, it would be in his power to mediate with a high hand for the advantage of all; yet is it curious to observe with what tenacity the Abyssinians adhere to preconceived opinions. The kingdom of Shoa, which was formerly a portion of the empire, still continues in general estimation to form an integral part thereof; and Sáhela Selássie is therefore, but in name only, regarded as a vassal of the puppet Emperor of Gondar, notwithstanding that he is, de facto, an independent monarch.
Volume Three—Chapter Six.
Galla Dependencies in the South.
During the reign of Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sáhela Selássie, the independent states of Shoa and Efát were of very inconsiderable extent. Morát, Morabeitie, Giddem, Bulga, and other districts now appended, were at that period distinct governments, as is now the case in Guráguê where there are more rulers than provinces. It is not therefore surprising, that amid the perpetual quarrels of the Christian princes, the Galla should have been left in undisturbed possession of the lands which they had wrested from Southern Abyssinia. But no sooner had Asfa Woosen subdued King Zeddoo, the usurper of Morabeitie and Morát, with whom sank also those of inferior pretensions, than he began with his united forces to make inroads upon the Galla tribes. The unsettled state of the newly-conquered provinces precluded extensive operations; and the task of reducing the Pagans to obedience was thus principally bequeathed to Woosen Suggud, whose strong arm not only kept in submission the territories conquered by his father, but added greatly to the western limits of Shoa by the acquisition of Moogher on the Nile, and by the conquest of the Abitchu, Wóberi, and Gillán, so far south as the mountains of Garra Gorphoo.
Conceiving that a youth who had scarcely numbered twelve years would be unable to hold them in subjection, the tributary Galla revolted immediately upon the accession of Sáhela Selássie. But subsequent events proved that they were mistaken in the estimate formed of the monarch’s military capacity. He vanquished King Hailoo, who still asserted his dignity in Morát. Having amassed firearms from Gondar and Tigré, as well as from the sea-coast of Tajúra, he was enabled to quell many successive insurrections, and for a number of years was fortunate in the fidelity of the lion-hearted Medóko, who was even more feared than himself by the surrounding Gentiles. He caused all the Galla of the province of Shoa-Méda to be circumcised and baptised; and having commanded them to wear about their necks the “máteb,” or cord of blue silk, to fast, and to eat neither with Mohammadans nor Pagans, nor to touch meat that has not been killed in the name of the Holy Trinity, they have thenceforth been denominated Christians.
Throughout his long reign, it has been the king’s favourite project to re-unite the scattered remnants of Christian population which still mark the extent of the dominions of his forefathers. The countries to the south and south-west have therefore always received the largest share of His Majesty’s attention, and in those directions he has attacked and subdued in succession all the tribes on this side of the Háwash. The Metta, Metcha, Moolo Fálada, Betcho-Woreb, Betcho-Foogook, and Charsa-Dagha, are all appended to Shoa. Moreover the royal arms have crossed the Háwash, and to a certain extent accomplished the reduction of the Sóddo, of the frontiers of Guráguê, of the Karaiyo, Loomi, Jillé, and other remote clans. In the north little progress has been made, and many reverses have deterred further attempts upon the wild mountaineers; but in the north-east the Selmi, the Abóti, and several other tribes previously independent, have been reduced to feudal submission, and by judicious management are made to secure the frontier from invasion.
But although Sáhela Selássie has thus widely extended the limits of his empire, he has adopted no efficient measures to consolidate his conquests. As a contrast between the former and the existing administration, it is said of the southern Galla, “where all was once strength, there is now nothing save weakness. Of yore, tribute was paid by all, whereas at the present day the possession of the dependencies does but entail expense.” Three annual expeditions, made, throughout a period of thirty years, for the purpose of collecting the revenues of the crown, have hitherto proved ineffectual to the preservation of permanent tranquillity amongst the tribes subjugated by his ancestors; and the Sertie lake, with other morasses, remain monuments of the dire disasters which sometimes attend his usually successful arms. He neither erects fortifications, nor does he establish outposts; and the government being continued in heathen hands, the tributary tribes rebel during each rainy season, only to be re-subdued as soon as it is over—the insurgents sometimes tendering their renewed allegiance the instant they perceive the crimson umbrellas of state, but more frequently delaying until the locust-like army of the Amhára has swept their fair fields, and like the devastating stream from the volcano, has left a smoking desert in its train.
Chastised by two or three successful forays, the chiefs and elders of the rebellious and ruined clan, finding the futility of further opposition to the yoke, come in with the tribute exacted, and make feudal submission, whereupon they are suffered to ransom their wives and daughters who have been enslaved. It cannot fail to appear extraordinary, that those who are unprepared for resistance should occupy their beleaguered abodes one minute after they had become aware of the presence of their ruthless and implacable foes; but in almost every instance they are in blood feud with all the surrounding tribes of their own nation, at whose merciless hands they would experience even worse treatment than at those of the Amhára. Neither, during persecution, could the tax-repudiating hope to find an asylum among tributary neighbours, with whom they might perchance be on amicable terms, since their reception would inevitably entail on those who harboured the fugitives the last vengeance of the despot. Thus the choice is left between precarious flight to the mountain fastnesses, in the very teeth of the enemy, and the alternative of lurking in the vicinity of the invaded hamlet, upon the slender chance of eluding the keen scent of the bloodhounds.
The governor, or, in fact, the king of all the Galla now dependent on Shoa, is Abogáz Maretch, who resides at Wona-badéra, south of Angollála. At first a bitter enemy of Sáhela Selássie, this haughty warrior chief, renowned for his bravery, was finally gained over by bribes, and by promises of distinction and advancement, which have actually been fulfilled. Partly by force, and partly by soft words and judicious intermarriages with chiefs of the various tribes, he contrives to keep in some sort of order the wild spirits over whom he presides; but he is taxed with want of proper severity, and although still high in favour, has more than once been suspected of divulging the royal projects.
Abba Mooállé, the governor of Moogher and of the surrounding Galla in the west, was also formerly very inimical to Shoa; but being won over to the royal interests by the espousal of his sister, by preferment to extensive power, and by the hand of one of the despotic princesses, he was four years since converted to Christianity, when the king became his sponsor. The valuable presents which he is enabled to make to the throne, owing to his proximity to the high caravan-road from the interior, preserve him a distinguished place in the estimation of the Negoos, to whom he is little inferior in point of state. At constant war with the Galla occupying the country to the westward, between Sullála Moogher and Gojam, he hastily assembles his troops twice or thrice during the year, and making eagle-like descents across the Nile at the head of ten thousand cavalry, rarely fails to recruit the royal herds with a rich harvest in cattle.
Dogmo, who resides in the mountain of Yerrur, was educated in the palace; and his undeviating attachment to the crown has been rewarded with the hand of one of the king’s illegitimate daughters. Bótha, Shámbo, and Dogmo, are the sons of Bunnie, whose father, Borri, governed the entire tract styled Ghera Méder, “the country on the left,” which includes all the Galla tribes bordering on both sides of the Háwash in the south of Shoa. Bunnie was, in consequence of some transgression, imprisoned in Arámba; and Bótora, another potent Galla chieftain, appointed in his stead. But this impolitic transfer of power creating inveterate hatred between the two families, each strove to destroy the other. Bunnie was in consequence liberated, and restored to his government; but resting incautiously under a tree on his return, not long afterwards, from a successful expedition against the Aroosi, whom he had defeated, he was suddenly surrounded by the enemy, and slain, together with four chiefs, his confederates, and nearly the whole of his followers. His sons were then severally invested with governments; and Boku, the son of Bótora, was at his father’s demise entrusted with the preservation of the avenues to the Lake Zooai, long an object of the royal ambition.
Among the most powerful Galla chieftains who own allegiance to Shoa, is Jhára, the son of Chámie, soi-disant Queen of Moolo Fálada, who, since the demise of her husband, has governed that and other provinces adjacent. Sáhela Selássie, who it will be seen relies more upon political marriages than upon the force of arms, sent matrimonial overtures to this lady, and received for answer the haughty message, “that if he would spread the entire road from Angollála with rich carpets, she might perhaps listen to the proposal, but upon no other conditions!” The Christian lances poured over the border to avenge this insult offered to the monarch of Shoa, and the invaded tribe laid down their arms; but Gobánah, foster-brother to Jhára, and a mighty man of renown, finding that His Majesty proposed burning their hamlets without reservation, rose to oppose the measure. At this critical moment an Amhára trumpeter raised his trombone to his lips. The Galla, believing the instrument to be none other than a musket, fled in consternation, and their doughty chieftain surrendered himself a prisoner at discretion.
Upon learning to whom he had relinquished his liberty, Gobánah, broken-hearted, abandoned himself to despair, and refused all sustenance for many days. The hand of the fair daughter of the queen was eventually the price of his ransom; and on the celebration of the nuptials, the king, who, with reference to his conquest of Moolo Fálada, might have exclaimed, with the Roman dictator, “Veni, vidi, vici” conferred upon Jhára the government of all the subjugated Galla as far as the sources of the Háwash, and to the Nile in the west. Warlike, daring, and ambitious, exercising his important functions almost beyond the ken of his sovereign, and possessing from his proximity to Gojam and Dámot, the means of creating himself the leader of a vast horde, there can be little doubt, although he has hitherto evinced strong attachment to the crown, that, imitating the example of all pagan chieftains who have gone before him, he will one day profit by his opportunities to take up arms against Shoa, and may thus not improbably enact a most conspicuous part in the history of the Galla nation.