Conversation on medical matters with the Negoos.—Of Guancho.—The State prison.—The construction of its defences.—Good medicine for captives.—Its probable effect.—Of the Gallas.—Their invasion.—Of the Gongas.—Abyssinian slaves.—Conclusion.
A very singular circumstance connected with our conversation respecting the health of the brother of the Negoos was, that neither Bethlehem or myself recollected at first, that all the near relations of Sahale Selassee were incarcerated in prison, according to ancient Abyssinian custom, and which, I believe, was also practised in the kingdom of Judea, to secure, by this cruel policy, the monarch from personal danger, and the country from the evils inflicted by civil war, that might otherwise arise by the ambition or simplicity of the other branches of the Royal family, either acting itself or admitting of being acted upon by the arts of others.
The Shoan prison for these unfortunates is a high conical hill, called Guancho, situated midway between Aliu Amba and Farree, and is the residence of the Wallasmah Mahomed, who fills the office of State gaoler, as well as collector of duties upon that frontier of the kingdom. Here, at the period of this interview with the King, were confined five princes of the blood Royal, some of whom had been prisoners for as many as thirty, or thirty-four years.
From personal inspection of their apartments, an opportunity afforded to no other European besides, I can state that the close and rigorous confinement, said to have been imposed upon these captives, is much exaggerated; and, although the separate sleeping apartments at night were not more than seven feet in all their dimensions, still they were only composed of sticks, such as the common garden rods for raising peas in England, and a strong man leaning hard against them must have fallen out through the wall of his cell. Only two of the royal prisoners wore chains; these were on one hand and leg of the same side, and were long enough to admit of the freest motion. A long-thatched wort bait, or meat-house, contained their families; for not only did the King remember his captive brethren on days of festival, by sending them oxen, and honey-wine, but they were allowed to marry, and their wives lived with them in their confinement. I took a ground plan of the whole establishment, and the Wallasmah, who was too old to accompany me on my survey, when I was in the only place that looked like a dungeon at all, a vault about twenty feet square, cut out of the summit of the hill, stamped several times upon the roof to intimate that his sitting-room was over this secure place. In this dismal dungeon, however, no person had been confined for the last six or seven years, although it was being then prepared, by a second door being put up, for the occupation of the unfortunate Samma-negoos, an ex-frontier governor, who had assisted his brother, a denounced rebel, to escape to Argobba, where he is now entertained by the Mahomedan Prince of that country, Beroo Lobo. When I visited Guancho, this prisoner occupied a small den of sticks, not four feet wide in any direction, and his hands and feet were chained close together, so that his removal to the larger subterranean cell will, at all events, afford him some opportunities of exercise, though he will then be deprived of light and fresh air.
Although, therefore, the Royal prisoners did not enjoy life in a valley of delight, they certainly did not drag out a miserable existence upon the hill of despair. This would have been adding unnecessary cruelty to an exigency of State policy; an evil that would, I am convinced, have long before corrected itself, by the frequent escapes that would have been attempted, especially in a place that afforded such opportunities for obtaining personal freedom. An Abyssinian Baron Trenck would only have to wrench open the thin bar of soft iron which constitutes fetters in that country, and by three successive jumps through, not over, as many fences of rotten sticks, he would be as free as the wildest Galla, into whose country a walk of a few hours would take him. I did not show any lucifer matches, for I recollected that the Portuguese traveller Bermudez, had been confined in this very prison, and I did not know whether an act of incendiarism might not at a future time be available as a means of escape; for, it must be understood, at the time of this visit I had been threatened if I attempted to leave Shoa with the Embassy on their return to Aden, to be confined in Guancho, so desirous was the Negoos of detaining me with him.
Guancho, the State prisoners, nor the anxiety of his Majesty that I should remain in his service, can be entered into now; this is anticipating the occurrence of events, the relation of which must be excused from the increasing contraction of my limits, that prevents me from holding but a little more pleasant converse with my reader, who, I hope, so far has been conducted with an amused interest through the scenes of Dankalli and Abyssinia life, in which I was a participator during my sojourn in those countries.
Recalled to a recollection of the circumstances of the condition of the Royal relations, by a remark of the Negoos, Bethlehem turned to me, and commented upon the sanitary observances I had been recommending for the benefit of my supposed patient, as he was a prisoner, and I then learnt, that the Negoos was consulting me upon the subject of a disease, to which he was himself subject. The symptoms that he had detailed plainly indicated a great determination of blood to the head, and among other things which I had suggested as preventives of the occasional giddiness, dimness of sight, &c., which was complained of, was frequent exercise by walking, and recommended that this should be for some distance regularly every morning and evening. It was this which had led the Negoos to make some playful remark in his character, as his brother’s representative, that this indeed would be a pleasant medicine for him, and which reminded the interpreter that if I went on prescribing in that way I might say something unpleasant to the Royal ear. Perhaps the unconscious shrug, with which I acknowledged our error operated upon the mind of the monarch more than any direct appeal that I could have made in favour of his unhappy relatives, and expressed more real sorrow than the cold interpretation of Bethlehem could have conveyed.[13]
The monarch soon after changed the subject by alluding to the bad state of my own health, and of the necessity of my remaining quiet in Aliu Amba until the termination of the wet season, which was expected about the middle of the present month. He did not forget to recommend to me the study of the Amharic language during that time, so that in the next expedition against the Galla, to which he had already invited me, I might be able to converse with him. The Negoos did not detain me much longer, but after telling me not to miss seeing the Muscal (at Debra Berhan on the 24th), if it were possible for me to come, he dismissed me, glad enough to escape from the fatiguing interview.
I returned to Musculo’s house a great deal too tired to think of going on to Aliu Amba directly, but made up my mind to stay until an hour or two before sunset, to arrive in that town just in time for bed, and so escape the houseful of inquiring friends, who would have thronged around me with compliments and congratulations on my return.
To amuse me some portion of the time, Musculo introduced three of four slaves who had been brought from the more interesting countries around Shoa, and none of whom, as regards their political relations with that country, demand a more particular notice than the Gallas. These appear to surround Shoa on every side, except towards the north, where the Amhara inhabitants of the Argobba appear to have their country in that direction, continuous with the Shoan province of Efat; but even here a narrow belt of debateable land, by the mutual jealousies of the rulers of the two kingdoms, is left to the undisputed possession of some unsettled Adal Galla tribes.