The source of the Blue Nile

by Arthur J. Hayes

In the “Jewish Year-Book”[198] for 1904 the number of Jews in Abyssinia is computed at 50,000; the “American Jewish Year Book” estimates it to be 120,000. Both these figures must be conjectural, and the former differs very widely from that given by Stern, who had had opportunities of obtaining information in the country. Considering the fecundity of the Jews in most parts of the world it is unlikely that their numbers have diminished in Ethiopia during the last forty years.

In Plowden’s time there was a large and prosperous Mohammedan population in Abyssinia. He wrote: “In all large towns they have a separate quarter, with mosques and public prayers. From the advantage that their commerce in slaves gives them over their Christian competitors, the Mussulman traders are the most wealthy, and are, therefore, generally appointed to the high post of Negadeh Ras, or collector of all customs, literally ‘head of merchants.’ To enforce their authority these keep large bodies of armed men, and confidently predict the final triumph of the faith of the Prophet in Abyssinia. The Abyssinian Mussulmans, as distinguished from the Galla, are all traders; they will not eat meat killed by Christians, and are frequently their superiors in morality and intelligence. They live on terms of equality, good humour and friendship with the Christians, openly defend their creed, and receive any proselyte that offers, and do not appear to think that the restrictions in the Koran respecting strong drinks apply to them at all.” Plowden added that they, like the Christians, did not generally seclude their women.

King Theodore, early in his reign, issued an edict which “required peremptorily the expulsion from the country, or the instant return to the bosom of the Church of his apostate countrymen,” i.e. Mohammedans.[199] Circumstances prevented him from enforcing this decree. It was revived by King Johannes, and no doubt, had in other parts of Abyssinia the effect which Stecker observed in Korata.[200] But Mohammedans are still to be found—e.g. in the district of Axum[201] and in Shoa.[202]

Allusion has already been made to the Waitos.[203] Plowden wrote of them: “They call themselves Mohammedans, but are not recognized by the other followers of that creed. They principally reside near the Lake Tsana, and are a very handsome race. They are regarded with as much aversion as the Jews.”[204] It must be owned that the appreciation of their personal appearance is a matter of taste.

Another singular sect is that known as Koomants, or Kamants. These people, “found only in the neighbourhood of Gondar, are acknowledged by neither Christian, Mussulman, or Jew, and have a bastard creed, a compound of all three. They are skilful carpenters, and supply all Gondar with wood. They are despised, but being very courageous, and having lately shown an inclining towards Christianity, it is not improbable that their distinctions will soon disappear; many even now have ceased a practice which was the chief separating cause. They hung heavy weights in the lobe of the ear of the girls, who are thereby excluded from any chance of marriage with Christians.”[205] Hormuzd Rassam on one occasion halted at a village of Kamants called Saraba, north of Lake Tsana, in the direction of Gondar. He saw there “a place of worship, which they hold in great veneration. The entire space between the spring and this temple, or, more strictly, grove—they have no building for their religious services—is regarded as sacred, and no Christian or Mohammedan is allowed to enter within the hallowed precincts. When engaged in prayer, they take up a position under a tree, on the banks of the stream, or in the wood about half a mile from the spring. It is owing to this practice that the Christian Abyssinians style them ‘Worshippers of wood,’ or simply ‘Wood.’ Their religion is as great a mystery in Abyssinia as that of the Ansairies is in Syria, and although the late king (Theodore) obliged them to wear the ‘mateb’ cord, yet they still continue to practise certain rites and ceremonies unknown either to Christians or Mussulmans. They only eat meat which has been slaughtered by themselves, and eschew fish and coffee; yet they adopt Christian names, and have a kind of baptism, which their Christian countrymen designate a ‘mockery.’”[206]

Stern’s first experience of these people was agreeable. In a deep valley called Walee Dubba, on the way to Tschelga, he met some young women who had jars of dallah, a beer made from sprouting barley, to sell. “It was quite an unexpected surprise,” he wrote, “to see the solitude of an African wilderness enlivened with the gay song and sprightly converse of a number of young lasses, who, clad in rustling leather petticoats, moved about amongst the various groups resting under the leafy foliage, with a grace and innate modesty which elicited admiration, whilst at the same time it forbad all unbecoming liberty.” At Tschelga he questioned some of the Kamants “about their knowledge of God and their hopes of eternity; but they had so little to communicate, beyond a belief in a Supreme Being and the existence of a future state, that the most simple query caused them the utmost wonder and surprise. . . . Their language is Amharic, but amongst themselves they speak in the Falasha tongue; and the striking Jewish features of many a man and woman amongst them inclined us to credit the report which assigns to them a Jewish origin.” The same writer has mentioned the legendary derivation of their name,[207] and he described them as industrious, energetic, and active. He saw many of their women in Gondar, and remarked that “it was a strange sight to see these young females—clad in simple leather petticoats and equally simple earrings of wood, which, according to the orthodox fashion, must be weighty enough to distend in a few years the flap of the ear down to the shoulders—walking about in the market, or groaning under a heavy burden of wood, utterly unconcerned about everything except the graceful ornament that dangled round their necks.”[208]

At the present time European creeds are represented in Abyssinia by converts, whose change of faith is due to the activity of missionaries. Mr. Wylde wrote upon this subject—“I believe the majority of the Abyssinians care a great deal for their religion, and it is only the more worthless ones that are found round the different mission stations; people who are willing to change their faith the same as they would their clothes, and when they have worn out all that are to be got, revert to their original one again, without perhaps being any the better or any the worse for the experience, but only to be marked by others as being utterly worthless and unreliable characters. I will never have a male servant in my employ that has been near a mission, if I can help it. Female servants are different; they usually are taught to sew, wash, and cook, and are generally cleanly in their habits, but when they get to a certain age the majority of them run away from these establishments, as they cannot stand the discipline and restraint; and I don’t blame them, as a more unlovely and monotonous life does not exist.”[209]

There is a code of law in Abyssinia, which is called Fatha Negest, or Feth Negust. According to Major Harris this volume of “The Judgments of the Kings” is said to have fallen from heaven in the time of Constantine the Great, and he includes it among the books of which MSS. are still extant in the country.[210] Plowden stated that it was supposed “to have been compiled by the Council of Three Hundred, in the earlier ages of the Church, and regarded originally as of almost equal authority with the sacred writings.”[211] He further remarked that this code “is a bad translation from that of Justinian; three parts of it being occupied with Church affairs and regulations, and a small portion only with the civil and criminal law, this latter being also much mixed up with the institutions of the Pentateuch. Bad as it is, there are probably not twenty persons in the country that are conversant with it; and some singular judgments are given on its authority, much after the fashion of the sortes Virgilianæ. Though it is consulted with much ceremony, and considered a sacred volume, law is, in fact, simplified to the will of the chief. Still, the fact of there being a written law has assisted in retarding the degradation of the people.”[212]

The following extract from Parkyns’s work shows the spirit of Ethiopian jurisprudence in dealing with serious crime: “As for the laws of the country, they are for the most part formed on the basis of the old Mosaic dispensation. ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’ is followed nearly to the letter—so much so that, if a man kill another, the murderer must be put to death by the nearest relatives of the deceased with precisely the same kind of weapon as that with which he killed his victim.”[213] The murderer may redeem his life by paying a ransom, which, in Stern’s time, varied from fifty to two hundred and fifty Maria Theresa dollars. If he did not possess the requisite amount he was chained to a relative of the deceased and obliged to beg till he had collected the stipulated sum. The severity of the punishments in vogue varies with the temperament of different rulers, the Emperor being the final authority in such matters, and a right of appeal to him is admitted in favour of all accused persons.[214] Mutilation is a common penalty.[215] “This,” said Mr. Wylde, “has not the terrors that it would have in England, as some of the thieves in Abyssinia have been operated on a second and a third time, and I saw one man with his left foot being the only extremity left, and he was being fed by the priests at the church at Adowa.”[216]

All Abyssinian litigants are required to find security. “These securities must be persons whom the judge is certain of being able to seize if necessary. If the charge be serious they must be persons of property, and are liable both for the appearance of their principals, and for the sentence whatever that may be. This custom obtains both in civil and criminal law. In default of such security, each party is chained by the wrist; an additional expense, as the chains must be hired, and the jailor—that is, the person to whom he is chained, paid a sum fixed by law. This bail is the prop of Abyssinian society; no commercial or market transfer takes place without it. The Abyssinian judge or creditor cares nothing for the principal in a cause; the bail is seized, and in self-defence produces his man; and it is an honourable trait that the principal rarely absconds. A friend will thus become security in a case of murder, though rendering himself thereby liable to suffer death, or to pay the price of blood, to them a fortune.