We forded the Airahra a little beyond a square stone building with a thatched roof, which was pointed out to me as the water mill, that was erected by the two Armenians whom I met in Tajourah, Demetrius and Joannes. Whatever ability was displayed in the construction, but little judgment had been exercised in its situation, for it stood at the bottom of a deep valley, at the distance of two miles at least, by the circuitous and rugged road, from the town of Ankobar: whilst, on the other side, to look up the ascent of the Tchakkah would have certainly occasioned the fall behind of the cap from off the head.
I do not believe the architects built it for any direct purposes of utility, but to give the Negoos an idea of their mechanical skill. It is now unemployed, if we believe some travellers, by reason of the Jinn or demons, by whose power they say the Shoans believe the mill was put in motion. This assertion is of the same character with that which represents Sahale Selassee putting reverentially a pair of vaccine glasses into an amulet, mistaking the instructions given for their proper use, when it is notorious that for a great number of years the analogous operation of inoculation has been practised in Shoa. I can only say, that when windmills were described as being much better adapted for the purposes of a people who principally inhabit the summits of hills, Sahale Selassee so admired the idea that I was almost afraid I should be obliged to construct one. So far from the monarch supposing mills to be worked by demons, he never troubled himself so much, in a conversation with me, as he did to shew how closely he had observed every part of the mill that had been put up, to learn its economy, and the manner in which its effects were produced.
The most laborious employment of the women of Abyssinia is grinding flour. Windmills to perform this duty would diminish considerably the demand for female slaves in that country, and less encouragement would be, therefore, given to the internal slave-trade of Africa, whilst the prohibition of the export of slaves by Mahomedans from the eastern coast, would extinguish the greater part of the infernal traffic at once.
Immediately after crossing the Airahra we commenced a most villanous ascent. I believe that, to be in daily use, and traversed by hundreds of individuals, the Tchakkah road is unequalled in the world for steepness, roughness, and everything else that can contribute to make a road difficult and unsafe. Now a brawling stream, rushing down into the Airahra, covers with a slippery slime the bald face of the rock; here loose crumbling stones treacherously detach themselves from beneath the struggling hoofs of the mule; and there an actual cataract, of at least eight feet high, has to be scrambled over, splashing through spray and the flying gravel dislodged by the ascent. Zigzag parallels, as they are termed in fortifications, are the exact description of the route we took up the almost perpendicular cliffs; and our faces were alternately turned nearly due north and south, as we succeeded in accomplishing some ten or twelve yards in the traverse, at every turn we made, peeping over into a deep abyss that yawned before us, and prevented our ride from being extended longer in that direction. Often does the merciful man here dismount from his tired mule, and sitting upon some detached portion of rock, congratulate himself, as he gazes downward, on having effected so much of his painful task; and as he looks upward receives some encouragement to proceed, when he sees the reward of perseverance, in the distant image of some preceding traveller gradually rising in relief against the sky, then suddenly disappearing over the lofty ridge where terminates his labour.
It took us one hour to surmount this awful steep, which, had it been some thousand feet higher, might not, perhaps, have been unjustly compared with similar passes among the Alps; but even then the comparison would hold no longer than the ascent, for, arrived upon the summit, the stranger finds no descent but an extensive table land spread before him, and he cannot divest himself of an idea, that he has reached some new continent. A Scotch climate, and Scotch vegetation, wheat, barley, and linseed, and yet still in inter-tropical Africa; he feels as if there must be some mistake, an idea of incongruity, not unlike what I experienced upon seeing in a “united family of animals,” several rats seeking a warm retreat beneath the fur of a cat. Everything, in fact, was different to what I had expected, and the nearly black skins of the natives that we met seemed to be unnatural in a country where a chill breeze was blowing.
Koom Dingi, the resting-stone, is a solitary remaining hexagonal prism of grey columnar porphyry, some few feet in height, and stands amidst the fragments of others, very conspicuously on the extreme edge of the Tchakkah. Here it is usual for the weary wayfarer after his ascent, to stop and refresh himself with the bread no Abyssinian on a long journey fails to provide himself with, and carries wrapt up in the long mekanet, or girdle, that surrounds his loins.
Mr. Scott and myself, however, pushed on our mules, glad at having got over the worst part of the road to Angolahlah, and willing to make the best of our way before sunset, for it began to be a question with my companion, if we should arrive before night at our destination.
The country seemed highly cultivated, wheat and barley on all sides growing close to our path; but no trees or hedge rows enlivened with their verdure or fragrance, the bleak, moor-like scene around. The farm-houses were few and far between, neither were they so high nor so comfortable-looking as those of the clustered villages, that crowned every little hill in the vale of the Dinkee, on the other side of Ankobar. The walls were generally a circle of rough, unhewn stones, about three feet high, supporting the usual conical roof of straw. The smoke escaped in white wreaths from beneath the eaves, or issued in a volume from the entrance, and had it not been for some substantial and really English-looking stacks of grain standing near, which prevented the idea of poverty being connected with the apparent discomforts of these dwellings, the name of hovels would have been far too superior a designation for them.
We met very few people on the road, but these had all of them a great number of questions to put, if we would have stayed to listen. We were also several times called upon to stop for the night at the houses of people who ran after us to say, that they knew Mr. Krapf, and that, consequently, we must be their friends, and partake of their hospitality. Although shivering with cold, and nearly tired out, we resisted all such temptations, proceeding at a gentle amble, for which the mules of Shoa are famous, and after a long ride of seven hours, just as the sun was setting, its last rays falling upon our faces, the straggling but extensive town of Angolahlah suddenly opened upon us, as we rounded the low shoulder of a ridge which had been in sight for nearly the last hour.
Three extensive, but low hills of nearly equal height, and covered with houses, enclose a triangular space, which forms the centre of the town. Across this, Mr. Scott and I quickly galloped our mules, pulling up opposite a white square tent, at the door of which had already appeared Capt. Harris and Capt. Graham, the news of our approach having been conveyed by a forerunner, who had observed us in the distance.