The tremour of the earth consequent upon portions of its surface being detached, was only felt upon the situation on which it occurred; and were it not for the heavy fall of rocks from the overhanging table-land, no evidences of a violent convulsion could be ever observed; so that I am justified, in attributing to external influences, rather than to internal operations, the occasional agitations of the earth which are experienced in Abyssinia during the wet season.
The combined effects, however, of all these disintegrating agents of the table land of Abyssinia, is to increase farther westward the course of the Hawash, and we find that in the situation most favourable for the operation of denudation there is contained, its most distant sources. Already, by the testimony of M. Rochet d’Hericourt and Dr. Krapf, the head of the Hawash reaches within thirty miles of the Abi, the Nile of Bruce, and that in that direction it will still progress, may be safely assumed, whilst the present order of things established by nature is continued; and in the course of time a communication will most certainly be opened between this river and that of Northern Abyssinia, when probably, by this addition to its volume of water, and a continual denudation going on also towards the east, diminishing daily the barrier between it and the sea; the Hawash will then enter the sea, and open a fresh highway into the interior of Africa. Geologists may observe in this mighty operation, something analogous to that to which they attribute other natural phenomena with which they may be familiar, and the facts that I have stated, singular as they may appear, are as easily demonstrated to be true as is the westward progress of the falls of Niagara towards the lakes of Northern America.
Within the indentation in the table land to the south of Shoa, Ibrahim placed three principal streams, all of which appear to flow south from the scarp in that situation. These were, one stream which separated the Maitcha Gallas from the Soddo Gallas; the second, called Hashei, which separated the latter from the Abitshoo; and the third was the Kassam, which flowed through the province of Bulga. On inquiring the situation of the Zui lake, which, from previous information, I knew was not far from the Hawash in this situation, Ibrahim explained to me that it received the waters that flowed from the opposite scarp to that of Shoa, and which constituted, with the high land to the north of the Gibbee in this situation, the country of Gurague. On the other side of the stream of the Gibbee was Zingero. Zui, called also Lakee, has several small islands situated in its waters, each of which is inhabited by monks, but on the largest a very celebrated monastery exists, in which, according to vulgar ideas, all the wealth and books relative to the ancient empire of Abyssinia have been concealed since the celebrated Mahomedan invasion of that country in the sixteenth century, by Mahomed Grahnè. There may be some truth respecting the manuscripts that are contained in the monastery of Lake Zui, but I question much if any treasure is to be found there, for in that case Sahale Selassee would, before this, have attempted to subdue the Galla tribes intervening, which could be accomplished in one campaign, for already, in that direction, the country as far as the Hawash has submitted to him, and Zui is not more than two days’ journey to the south. That its conquest is intended by the Negoos of Shoa, I have no doubt, and I think he only postpones it until he can effect the reduction of the whole of Gurague, at the same time the inhabitants of which are very much affected towards him, and in fact consider him to be their monarch. I have witnessed two or three interesting interviews between parties coming with unsolicited tribute from Gurague; and when the monarch endeavoured to induce me to remain with him, he held out the opportunity I should have of visiting that country in the course of the next two years, by accompanying him, and which he supposed would be a temptation for me to stay.
The Negoos himself corroborated the statement of Ibrahim, who had visited the shores of this lake several times, that there was no outlet for its waters, but that it was entirely distinct from the river Hawash. Karissa, a Galla, from Cambat, who when enslaved was first taken to Gurague, and lived near Zui several years, also told me that a number of small streams fell into the lake from all sides and that there was a tradition that a long time ago, the length of which he had no idea of, all the country now occupied by the lake which is about fifteen miles in diameter, was possessed by seven chiefs, whose lands, for their sins, of course, or it would not be an Abyssinian legend, were swallowed up in one night, with loud subterranean noises, and stars shooting out of the earth, and that the next day nothing could be seen but the present lakes, and the islands it contains. Considering the character of the country, and the phenomena still witnessed in Adal, whilst the country around Zui appears to be situated upon the same elevation above the sea; I have no doubt that this tradition is partly founded upon fact, and contains the national remembrance of an extensive and appalling incident connected with some volcanic convulsion, that at a former period occurred in this situation.
My morning’s lesson in geography terminated with a promise that Ibrahim should get me the title of a Geez book upon the subject, which he asserted he had seen in Hurrah, for I must observe he ridiculed the idea of anything having been preserved during the invasion of Grahnè into Abyssinia, by being taken to the monastery of Zui. He stated that in the city of Hurrah, which was then the capital of the kingdom of Adal, there was at the present day an entire library which had formed part of the spoil of the conqueror on that occasion, and that in the same building with the books is preserved the original silver kettle drums that were formerly carried before the Emperor. He had also seen a map which had been made by the orders of Mahomed Grahnè, of the countries he had subdued from Massoah and Gondah in the north, to Magadish in the south, and upon which was particularly marked the site of every Christian temple he had destroyed. A copy of this map could, I think, be easily obtained by means of our Berberah acquaintance, Shurmalkee, whose connexion with the city of Hurrah is much more considerable than it is supposed to be by our Government.
Upon both banks of that part of the Hawash which partially encircles Shoa, numerous tribes of Galla find sustenance for immense herds of cattle. Among these, the most important are the Maitcha and Soddo tribes, situated upon the earliest of its most western tributaries; next to these, proceeding from the west, is the Tchukalla; then Lakee, or those living between lake Zui and the Hawash; to these succeed the Gilla, the Roga, and then the Gallahn, the chief of which, Shumbo, is a son-in-law of the Negoos, baptized and married the same day, whilst I was in Shoa. Through his district lies the safest road to Gurague, and accordingly it is the one principally taken by slave merchants, who, however, seldom return that way, preferring a more circuitous one, around the sources of the Hawash, among the tribes situated upon the table land of Abyssinia. Adjoining to the Gallahn Galla are the Aroosee, a powerful and warlike nation of the same people, but who appear to be considerably in advance of their barbarous brethren. The Aroosee are large agriculturists, and great quantities of coffee, and of a red dye, called wurrsee, which is exported from Berberah to India and Arabia, is produced in their country. They occupy all the district between Hawash and the north-western streams of the Whabbee. Where they terminate on the east, the possessions of the Hittoo Galla commence, who also “drink of the waters of the Hawash,” and are, it will be recollected the tribe, some of whom attacked the Kafilah of the Hy Soumaulee, at Dophan, on the occasion of my coming up to Shoa. On a map of a limited size, it would be impossible to introduce the names of the numerous tribes of these people that border upon Shoa to the south, nor would any benefit arise from the list beyond that which may be obtained by the general designation, “Galla tribes,” and which I have, therefore, employed to mark the localities of these people.
CHAPTER XXV.
No prospect of recovery.—Slaughter of the goat.—Manufacture of skin-bags.—The process.—Farming.—The bark employed.—Morocco leather.—Carcase butchers.—Process of cutting up meat.
August 21st.—The termination of the fast of Felsat was hailed with considerable pleasure by the very best of Christians in Shoa, and this happened on the last day of the interval which dates this chapter, for increasing want of space compels me to relinquish the usual diurnal account. As it happened, nothing of importance occurred, except only that I began to find myself gradually getting weaker and weaker, and the symptoms of my illness increasing in violence upon every fresh attack. I attributed this, in a great measure, to the wet season, which was now most decidedly set in, and for the last three or four days especially it had rained without intermission. It was a cheerless time, the moist foggy state of the atmosphere, and the muddy condition of the road, quite prevented me from taking my usual walks, and looking at the dripping state of my thatched roof, or listening to the pattering of the large rain drops against my parchment window, was all the amusement I had after I had determined to confine myself more to bed, either to recruit myself after the severe fever paroxysms, or with the hope of averting in some measure the force of their attack by a little careful nursing. I ceased, too, to take any pleasure in the interesting conversations of Ibrahim, or Sheik Tigh, or, in fact, any one from whom previously I had ever been most inquiring respecting every subject of importance or novelty I could think of to ask about. My cup of coffee in the morning, or a drinking hornful of the warmed ale, was the only thing I dare indulge in, for solids of any kind had a great tendency to occasion congestion in the brain, and after eating anything a severe headache was the certain consequence. I took the hint, and gave up the honeyed repast at breakfast and the fricassee at night, and made a point of conciliating as much as possible that irritable viscus the stomach, that seemed after all to be at the bottom of the evil.
It was a horrible retribution, therefore, for Walderheros to contemplate, and which, no doubt, will have a beneficial effect upon his future conduct as regards the respect due to the institutions of the Church, when, on the morning after the end of the fast, which was to be a day of great rejoicing, I intimated my determination to eat no more flesh meat for at least a week. After all my jests about the folly of fasting, telling my people that during the continuance of such terms of abstinence, I was a good Mahomedan, and having by my example on more than one occasion, tempted him and the others of my household to indulge in food when they ought to have been observing a stricter discipline—after all this, on the day appointed for rejoicing, to see all appetite taken from me was so evidently a judgment from heaven, that I was strongly recommended to propitiate the Virgin Mary immediately by bestowing the goat, which the Negoos had sent to me at Myolones, upon a church dedicated to the Mother of Christ. So disinterested in fact, was Walderheros, that he went off to procure one of the priests upon the establishment, and who, when he arrived, had I carried out my servant’s intentions, would have walked away with the goat immediately, such was his anxiety for my restoration to the favour of heaven.