The town of Aliu Amba being occupied by Christians and Mahomedans, its market presents a much more varied appearance than either that of Farree or Ankobar; the former being almost exclusively frequented by Mahomedans, whilst the latter (which is held in the meadow adjoining to the mill of Demetrius, on the road to Tchakkah) is as exclusively Christian in its dealings. To judge from the character of the produce sent to Aliu Amba market, it would not be difficult to assign the greater amount of wealth in Shoa to the possession of the Christian subjects of Sahale Selassee; but, on the other hand, it appears to be a principle of religion almost, among the Mahomedans, to conceal the riches they possess, so that appearances are not to be trusted. Had I not known that the more wealthy of their religion invariably invest their money in slaves, to supply the Dankalli and Hurrah dealers, I should certainly have inferred from the scanty and very limited stores placed before the saleswomen of that faith in Aliu Amba market, that the Islam inhabitants of Shoa were exceedingly poor. Many of these women sit for a whole day, offering, in exchange for anything in the shape of corn that may be offered, a thimbleful of “col,” (antimony used for blackening the edges of the eyelids,) a few lumps of gum myrrh, a handful of frankincense, or a little shumlah, the blue and red threads of unwoven cloth, brought from the sea-coast, and which is used in forming the ornamental borders of their large body cloths. Sometimes their scanty stock is increased by three or four lemons, or as many needles. On the contrary, the Amhara (the name now given only to Christians of this country) bring an abundance of cotton cloths, of cattle, of corn, and are the only money-changers I saw, some of them sitting behind high walls of new and good-conditioned salt-pieces.
Trade, in a great measure, is carried on by barter, an exchange of commodities being much more general than purchasing with ahmulahs; except in the case of cattle buying, when the price is generally fixed at a certain number of these salt-pieces. For two ahmulahs a very fine young sheep or goat may be bought, and the very best of the kind will not sell for more than five. A good-sized goat, however, commands a much higher price, ten or twelve ahmulahs being sometimes asked. An ox for ploughing brings about seventy ahmulahs, or, if small and intended for killing, may be bought as low as thirty. Horses and mules vary in price from seven to twelve dollars. The latter are preferred by the Abyssinians. I have been offered a very excellent horse for two dollars, and have seen one blind, but in good condition, sold for twelve ahmulahs, or about two shillings and sixpence.
The next principal thing in the market is the cotton cloths, which are woven of one general width, about three quarters of a yard, and from ten to fifteen yards long. Of the common kind are made the “sennafil,” or wide short trowsers of the men, and the “shumah,” or waist-cloth, of the women. The body-cloth, or tobe, is common to both sexes, but those of the men being much larger than those of the women, are generally double folds of the cloth, or four cubits in breadth, and at least seven cubits long. Sometimes they are of an extravagant size. A narrow border of the blue and red woollen stuff, called shumlah, woven into the cloth, is the only ornament, and these coloured stripes will be sometimes repeated at the distance of a foot from each other through the whole length of the cloth These tobes vary in price according to the number of these ornamental additions to the simple cotton thread, of which the greater number are entirely composed. Four or five dollars is a great price to give for one, but the one forwarded to our Queen by Sahale Selassee was worth thirty dollars. I gave for a cloth for Walderheros, which was ten yards long and three quarters broad, ten ahmulahs; but when I wanted one a little finer, with a stripe across each end of the blue and white worsted, for my own use, I had to give a dollar for it.
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. I bought myself a pair, having worn out my English shoes, and gave the sum of three ahmulahs (7½d.) for them, but Walderheros bargained for a sword-belt besides from the man who sold them to me.
Among the articles of food exposed for sale, are great quantities of grain in small skin-bags holding perhaps, four or five pecks, and which may be purchased for as many ahmulahs. Barley is somewhat cheaper than wheat, but the price is not so much less as I should have expected. Marshilla, or dourah, is half as cheap again as wheat. It is used principally as “nuffrau,” being boiled in water, and with a little salt sprinkled upon it, eaten in that state. This dish forms the principal food of the slaves belonging to the slave-merchants on their journey to the coast, but in Shoa the slaves in Christian households, as I have before observed, usually live in the same manner as their owners, and are invariably considered as part of his family.
Peas, kidney-beans, and the common horse-beans are also used in the same manner, and are generally sold so low as two Islam cuna, or nearly two pecks, for an ahmulah. Onions and the green leaves of a species of kail are hawked about the town, broken salt being exchanged, according to the quantity that can be decided upon as the fair value, after a deal of higgling between the two parties.
Tut, or cotton, and tobacco are sold for salt only, according to weight, a rude kind of balance called mezan being employed for this purpose. This is a kind of steelyard, made of hide and wood; a piece of thick cowskin is dried in the sun upon a round stone, till it assumes the form and size of a small washhand-basin, which is suspended by four thongs of skin to the thin end of a stick, about fourteen inches long, heavy and thick at the further extremity. Notches are cut with a knife, not in any regular manner, for about two inches from the scale end, on the under side. These notches receive the bite of a cotton thread loop, and when suspended by this, its position in any of the knots mark no established standard weight, but merely that of the article to be exchanged; of course such a weighing-machine can only be employed in barter.
Honey and butter are not regularly brought to the market as the supply is dependant in a great measure upon the season, scarcely any during the latter part of the dry, and the earlier part of the wet season, being to be obtained but through the favour of the Negoos, who forwards to his governors or favoured guests large jars of these articles as presents during the period of its scarcity. The manner in which butter is preserved by the Abyssinians is rather peculiar; and I must observe, that strictly, all the honey produced in the country is claimed by the Negoos, who, however, generally gives some equivalent for it, so that I never heard this apparently arbitrary circumstance complained of; although I have frequently noticed the clandestine manner in which small quantities of this delicacy were obtained by the nominal owners, who wished to have the opportunity of obtaining some few ahmulahs by selling it to me. The kind that was exposed in the market for sale, was the refuse of the first droppings of the comb, or merely the last drainings mixed with more than one-half of fragmentary wax, and the dead bodies of bees. The Abyssinians, to their credit, do not kill these interesting and industrious insects, but place in juxtaposition to the hive, supposed to be nearly full of honey, an empty one, and in a very short time, the whole of the inhabitants of the older hive, have commenced constructing fresh combs in the new one placed for their convenience.
For one ahmulah a winechar, or drinking-hornful, holding about a pint of honey, is obtained; and double that quantity of butter brings the same price, so that I consider both articles very dear. Immediately after the rains, however, three or four times this quantity of butter may be obtained for an ahmulah. Besides cotton and tobacco, “gaisho,” or the dried leaves of a shrub belonging to the same species of plant as the tea-tree, is also sold by weight against salt; these leaves are used as a bitter in brewing the native beer instead of hops. Six times in weight of this article is given in exchange for one of salt, but if weighed against cotton, four times the quantity of gaisho is given.
Tobacco in small round cakes, two inches in diameter, and half an inch thick is also weighed in exchange for salt, two of tobacco being considered equal to one of salt; it is grown in the wana-daggan country, or where the climate is temperate, in contradistinction to daggan, or highlands, and kolla, or lowlands. Tobacco is the article in which the people of the wana-daggan chiefly speculate, taking it down to the kolla country in exchange for cotton, seven times its weight being then demanded. They also carry berberah, or the red cayenne-pepper pods to the daggan, or cold country, where they obtain wheat or other grain in exchange, five times the weight of berberah being given. The quantity of grain given for tobacco depends greatly upon circumstances; the eye of the seller, and the appetite of the purchaser of the tobacco, determining the rate of exchange.