They all laughed at the easiness of the request; all declared that this was nothing, and wished to do ten times as much. The king said, “Tell Fasil I do give the village of Geesh, and those fountains he is so fond of, to Yagoube and his posterity for ever, never to appear under another’s name in the deftar, and never to be taken from him, or exchanged, either in peace or war. Do you swear this to him in the name of your master.” Upon which they took the two fore fingers of my right hand, and, one after the other, laid the two fore fingers of their right hand across them, then kissed them; a form of swearing used there, at least among those that call themselves Christians. And as Azage Kyrillos, the king’s secretary and historian, was then present, the king ordered him to enter the gift in the deftar, or revenue-book, where the taxes and revenue of the king’s lands are registered. “I will write it, says the old man, in letters of gold, and, poor as I am, will give him a village four times better than either Geesh or Tangouri, if he will take a wife and stay amongst us, at least till my eyes are closed.” It will be easily guessed this rendered the conversation a chearful one. Fasil’s servants retired to set out the next day, gratified to their utmost wish, and, as soon as the king was in bed, I went to my apartment likewise.
But very different thoughts were then occupying Michael and his officers. They could not trust Fasil, and, besides, he could do them no service; the rain was set in, and he was gone home; the western part of the kingdom was ready to rise upon them; Woggora, to the north, immediately in his way, was all in arms, and impatient to revenge the severities they had suffered when Michael first marched to Gondar. The Tacazzé, which separates Tigrè from Woggora, and runs at the foot of the high mountains of Samen, was one of the largest and most rapid rivers in Abyssinia, and, though not the first to overflow, was, when swelled to its height, impassable by horse or foot, rolling down prodigious stones and trees with its current. Dangerous as the passage was, however, there was no safety but in attempting it: Michael, therefore, and every soldier with him, were of opinion that, if they must perish, they should rather meet death in the river, on the confines of their own country, than fall alive into the hands of their enemies in Amhara. For this, preparation had been making night and day, since Ras Michael entered Gondar, and probably before it.
There was in Belessen, on the nearest and easiest way to a ford of the Tacazzè, a man of quality called Adero, and his son Zor Woldo. To these two Ras Michael used to trust the care of the police of Gondar when he was absent upon any expedition; they were very active and capable, but had fallen from their allegiance, and joined Powussen and Gusho, at least in councils. The Ras, immediately upon arriving at Gondar, dissembling what he knew of their treason, had sent to them to prepare a quantity of flour for the troops that were to pass their way; to get together what horses they could as quietly as possible; to send him word what state the ford was in; and also, if Powussen had made any movement forward; or if Ayto Tesfos, governor of Samen, had shewn any disposition to dispute the passage through Woggora into Tigré. Word was immediately returned by the traitor Adero, that the ford was as yet very passable; that it was said Powussen was marching towards Maitsha; that Ayto Tesfos was at home upon his high rock, the seat of his government, and that no time was to be lost, as he believed he had already flour enough to suffice; he added also, that it would be dangerous to collect more, for it would give the alarm. This was all received as truth, and a messenger sent back with orders, that Zor Woldo should leave the flour in small bags at Ebenaat, and that he should himself and his father wait the Ras at the ford, with what horse they had, the fourth day from that, in the evening.
The next morning the whole army was in motion. I had the evening before taken leave of the king in an interview which cost me more than almost any one in my life. The substance was, That I was ill in my health, and quite unprepared to attend him into Tigré; that my heart was set upon completing the only purpose of my coming into Abyssinia, without which I should return into my own country with disgrace; that I hoped, through his majesty’s influence, Fasil might find some way for me to accomplish it; if not, I trusted soon to see him return, when I hoped it would be easy; but, if I then went to Tigré, I was fully persuaded I should never have the resolution to come again to Gondar.
He seemed to take heart at the confidence with which I spoke of his return. “You, Yagoube, says he, in a humble, complaining tone, could tell me, if you pleased, whether I shall or not, and what is to befal me; those instruments and those wheels, with which you are constantly looking at the stars, cannot be for any use unless for prying into futurity.”—“Indeed, said I, prince, these are things by which we guide ships at sea, and by these we mark down the ways that we travel by land; teach them to people that never passed them before, and, being once traced, keep them thus to be known by all men for ever. But of the decrees of Providence, whether they regard you or myself, I know no more than the mule upon which you ride.”—“Tell me then, I pray, tell me, what is the reason you speak of my return as certain?”—“I speak, said I, from observation, from reflections that I have made, much more certain than prophecies and divinations by stars. The first campaign of your reign at Fagitta, when you was relying upon the dispositions that the Ras had most ably and skillfully made, a drunkard, with a single shot, defeated a numerous army of your enemies. Powussen and Gusho were your friends, as you thought, when you marched out last, yet they had, at that very instant, made a league to destroy you at Derdera; and nothing but a miracle could have saved you, shut up between two lakes and three armies. It was neither you nor Michael that disordered their councils, and made them fail in what they had concerted. You was for burning Samseen, whilst Woodage Asahel was there in ambush with a large force, with a knowledge of all the fords, and master of all the inhabitants of the country. Remember how you passed those rivers, holding hand in hand, and drawing one another over. Could you have done this with an enemy behind you, and such an enemy as Woodage Asahel? He would have followed and harrassed you till you took the ford at Goutto, and there was Welleta Yasous waiting to oppose you with 6000 men on the opposite bank. When Ras Michael marched by Mariam Net, he found the priests at their homes. Was that the case in any of the other churches we passed? No; all were fled for fear of Michael; yet these were more guilty than any by their connections with Fasil; notwithstanding which, they alone, of all others, staid, though they knew not why; an invisible hand held them that they might operate your preservation. Nothing could have saved the army but the desperate passage, so tremendous that it will exceed the belief of man, crossing the Nile that night. Yet if the priests had crossed before this, not a man would have proceeded to the ford. The priests would have been Ras Michael’s prisoners, and, on the other side, they never would have spoken a word whilst in the presence of Michael. Providence, therefore, kept them with Kefla Yasous; all was discovered, and the army saved by the retreat, and his speedy passing at the ford of Delakus.”
What would have happened to Kefla Yasous, had Fasil marched down to Delakus either before or after the passage? Kefla Yasous would have been cut off before Ras Michael had passed the Kelti; instead of which, an unknown cause detained him, most infatuated-like, beating his kettle-drums behind Boskon Abbo, while our army under the Ras was swimming that dangerous river, and most of us passing the night, naked, without tents, provision, or powder. Nor did he ever think of presenting himself till we had warmed ourselves by an easy march in a fine day, when we were every way his superiors, and Kefla Yasous in his rear. From all these special marks of the favour of an over-ruling Providence, I do believe stedfastly that God will not leave his work half finished. “He it is who, governing the whole universe, has yet reserved specially to himself the department of war; he it is who has stiled himself the God of Battles.” The king was very much moved, and, as I conceived, persuaded. He said, “O Yagoube, go but with me to Tigrè, and I will do for you whatever you desire me.”—“You do, Sir, said I, whatever I desire you, and more. I have told you my reasons why that cannot be; let me stay here a few months, and wait your return.” The king then advised me to live entirely at Koscam with the Iteghé, without going out unless Fasil came to Gondar, and to send him punctually word how I was treated. Upon this we parted with inexpressible reluctance. He was a king worthy to reign over a better people; my heart was deeply penetrated with those marks of favour and condescension which I had uniformly received from him ever since I entered his palace.
On the 5th of June, while Powussen, Adero, and the conspirators were waiting his passage through Belessen, (that is to the S. W.) the king’s army marched towards Koscam, over the mountain Debra Tzai towards Walkayt, and the low, hot provinces of Abyssinia which lie to the N. E. so that the distance between them increased every day in the greatest proportion possible.
The queen ordered her gates at Koscam to be shut. A little before the Ras mounted his mule, Ozoro Esther and her servants took refuge with her mother the Iteghè; Gondar was like a town which had been taken by an enemy; every one that had arms in his hands did just what he pleased.
Two very remarkable things were said to have happened the night before Michael left the city. He had always pretended, that, before he undertook an expedition, a person, or spirit, appeared to him, who told him the issue and consequence of the measures he was then taking; this he imagined to be St Michael the archangel, and he presumed very much upon this intercourse. In a council that night, where none but friends were present, he had told them that his spirit had appeared some nights before, and ordered him, in his retreat, to surprise the mountain of Wechné, and either slay or carry with him to Tigré the princes sequestered there. Nebrit Tecla, governor of Axum, with his two sons, (all concerned in the late king’s murder) were, it is said, strong advisers of this measure; but Ras Michael, (probably satiated with royal blood already) Kefla Yasous, and all the more worthy men of any consequence, acting on principle, absolutely refused to consent to it. It was upon this the passage by Belessen was substituted instead of the attempt on Wechné, and it was determined to conceal it.
The next advice which, the Ras said, this devil, or angel, gave him, was, that they should set fire to the town of Gondar, and burn it to the ground, otherwise his good fortune was to leave him there for ever; and for this there was a great number of advocates, Michael seeming to lean that way himself. But, when it was reported to the king, that young prince put a direct negative upon it, by declaring that he would rather stay in Gondar, and fall by the hands of his enemies, than either conquer them, or escape from them, by the commission of so enormous a crime. When this was publicly known, it procured the king universal good-will, as was experienced afterwards, when he and Michael were finally defeated, and taken prisoners, upon their march in return to Gondar.