But, about twelve o’clock, I was told a message from Ras Michael had arrived with great news from Tigré. I went immediately to Koscam as fast as I could gallop, and found there Guebra Christos, a man used to bring the jars of bouza to Ras Michael at his dinner and supper: low men are always employed on such errands, that they may not, from their consequence excite a desire of vengeance. The message that he brought was to order bread and beer to be ready for 30,000 men who were coming with the king, as he had just decamped from before the mountain Haramat, which he had taken, and put Za Menfus to the sword, with every man that was in it: this message struck the queen with such a terror that she was not visible the whole day.
After asking the messenger if he had any word from the king to me, he said, “Very little;” that the king had called him to tell me he should soon begin his march by Belessen; and that he would send for me to meet him when he should arrive at Mariam-Ohha; he told me besides, that the king had got a stone for me with writing upon it of old times, which he was bringing to me; that it had been dug up at Axum, and was standing at the foot of his bed, but that he did not order him to tell me this, and had only learned it from the servants. My curiosity was very much raised to know what this stone could be, but I soon saw it was in vain to endeavour to learn any thing from Guebra Christos; he answered in the affirmative to every inquiry: when I asked if it was blue, it was blue; and if black, it was black; it was round, and square, and oblong, just as I put my question to him: all he knew about it at last, he said, was, that it cured all sort of sickness; and, if a man used it properly, it made him invulnerable and immortal: he did not, however, pretend to warrant this himself, but swore he had the account from a priest of Axum who knew it. I was perfectly satisfied all further inquiry was unnecessary; he had got a very plentiful portion of bouza from his friends, and was, I saw, fast engaged in the pursuit of more, so I gave him a small present for his good news, and took my leave, my mind being full of reflections upon the king’s goodness, who, after such an absence, and in so critical a situation as he then was, still remembered the trifling pursuits in which he had seen me often engaged.
In the afternoon I received a message from Ozoro Esther, as brought to her by a servant of Ras Michael. It seems the giving up the king’s revenue due from Tigré, and all sort of taxes upon the inhabitants, had interested the whole province so strongly, that all of them, as one man, endeavoured to remove the obstacle which stood in the way of the king’s return: Michael, moreover, offered peace and pardon to the rebels, certain compensations, and an amnesty of all that was past. All the friends, both of Netcho and Za Menfus, and the other leaders upon the mountain, endeavoured to persuade them to accept the terms offered, whilst all the priests and hermits, eminent for sanctity, became as mediators between them and Ras Michael: this intercourse, though it had no effect upon Za Menfus, had seduced Netcho, and opened a large field for treachery.
In the midst of this treaty, Kefla Yasous, with a detachment of chosen men, in a very stormy night, was appointed to ascend up a private path to that part of the mountain where Netcho kept the principal guard, and being admitted, found the garrison mostly asleep; he surprised and obliged them to surrender, with very little bloodshed; Za Menfus was taken prisoner, and, while Kefla Yasous conducted him to the camp, was met by Guebra Mascal, who thrust him through with a lance, as a retaliation for his father’s death. Netcho and the rest of the garrison being pardoned, all joined Ras Michael’s army. I looked upon these news as a good omen, and experienced a degree of confidence and composure of mind to which I for a long time had been a stranger. I slept sound that night, and it was not till half after nine in the morning that I was ready for my journey.
In the evening before, I had endeavoured to engage my old companion Strates to accompany me on this attempt as he had done, on the former; but the recollection of past dangers and sufferings was not yet banished from his mind; and upon my asking him to go and see the head of this famous river, he coarsely, according to his stile, answered, Might the devil fetch him if ever he sought either his head or his tail again.
It was on the 28th of October, at half past nine in the morning, that we left Gondar, and passed the river Kahha at the foot of the town; our route was W. S. W. the road a little rugged upon the side of a hill, but the day was fair, with sunshine; and a small breeze from the north had risen with the sun, and made the temperature of the air perfectly agreeable. We left the church of Ledeta about a mile on the right, and passed by several poor villages called Abba Samuel; thence we came to the small river Shimfa, then to the Dumaza, something larger. Upon the banks of this river, very pleasantly situated, is Azazo, a country-house built by the late king Yasous, who often retired here to relax himself with his friends. It is surrounded, I may say covered, with orange-trees, so as to be scarcely seen; the trees are grown very large and high; they are planted without order, the only benefit expected from them being the shade. At some small distance is the village Azazo, originally built for the accommodation of the king’s servants while he resided there, but now chiefly occupied by monks belonging to the large church of Tecla Haimanout, which is on a little hill adjoining. Azazo, though little, is one of the most chearful and pleasant villages in the neighbourhood of Gondar. The lemon-tree seems to thrive better and grow higher than the orange; but the house itself is going fast to ruin, as the kings of this country have a fixed aversion to houses built by their predecessors.
The Dumaza is a very clear and pleasant stream, running briskly over a small bed of pebbles: both this river and the Shimfa come from Woggora on the N. W. they pass the hill of Koscam, called Debra Tzai, join below Azazo, and, traversing the flat country of Dembea, they meet the Angrab, which passes by Gondar, and with it fall into the Tacazzè, or Atbara.
At noon we passed a small rivulet called Azzargiha, and, soon after, the Chergué, where there began a most violent storm of rain, which forced us, much against our will, into the village, one of the most miserable I ever entered; it consisted of small hovels built with branches of trees, and covered with thatch of straw. These rains that fall in the latter season are what the natives very much depend upon, and without which they could not sow the latter crops; for, though it rains violently every day from May to the beginning of September, by the end of October the ground is so burnt that the country would be unfit for culture.
Our quarters here were so bad that we were impatient to depart, but came to a water just below Chergué, which quickly made us wish ourselves back in the village; this is a torrent that has no springs in the hills, but only great basons, or reservoirs, of stone; and, though it is dry all the year else, yet, upon a sudden, violent shower, as this was, it swells in an instant, so that it is impassable for man or horse by any device whatever. This violence is of short duration; we waited above half an hour, and then the peasants shewed us a place, some hundred yards above, where it was shallower; but even here we passed with the utmost difficulty, from the impetuosity of the stream, after getting all possible assistance from four people of the village; but we stood very much in need of some check to our impatience, so eager were we to get forward and finish our journey before some revolution happened.
We had not many minutes been delivered from this torrent, before we passed two other rivers, the one larger, the other smaller. All these rivers come from the north-west, and have their sources in the mountains a few miles above, towards Woggora, from which, after a short course on the side of the hills, they enter the low, flat country of Dembea, and are swallowed up in the Tzana.