Shalaka Woldo, upon my observing to him that I was happy to see the people again raising their houses which Michael had destroyed, said, with a barbarous kind of smile, “Aye, and so am I too; for if those two villages had not been built, we should have had no fire-wood at Kelti to-night;” by which he meant, that the Galla, who were behind him, and whose next station was the banks of the river Kelti, would pull down all the new-built houses, in order to carry fire-wood along with them; and indeed we saw traces of some houses which had been newly built, and still as newly destroyed, the wood of which, partly kindled, and partly lying on the ground, served us for our fire that night at Kelti. I found myself exceedingly indisposed, and could scarcely force on a couple of hours further, when we came to the banks of the river Kelti, at a quarter after six in the morning.
The Kelti here is a large river; at the ford it was four feet deep, though now the dry season: it is here called the Kelti Branti, because some miles higher up it is joined by a considerable river called the Branti, which rises to the westward in the high lands of the Agow’s Quaquera, and both these streams, when united, fall into the Nile a little below. The banks of this river are exceedingly steep and dangerous, the earth loose, falling in great lumps down into the stream; it is a red bole of a soapy quality; the bottom, too, and the ascent on the other side are soft; the water, though troubled and muddy, is sweet and well-tasted. We saw lights and fires on the opposite bank, and had begun to unloose the tent, when we received a message by two Galla on foot, armed with lances and shields, that we should not encamp there, as our horses and mules would probably be stolen, but desiring us to pass the river forth-with, and pitch our tent among them.
I asked Shalaka Woldo who these were? He said, they were an advanced post of Welleta Yasous, who had taken up that ground for the head-quarters to-morrow; that they were all Galla, under a famous partisan, a robber, called the Jumper; and, by the bye, he added, speaking softly in my ear, that there was not a greater thief or murderer in all the country of the Galla. I paid him my compliments upon the judicious choice he had made of a companion and a protector for us: to which he answered, laughing, The better, the better; you shall see how it is the better. As it was necessary to load the mules again, the tent and baggage having been taken off before we could pass the river, we all set to work with very ill will, being excessively fatigued with a long journey and want of sleep. No sooner had Shalaka Woldo perceived this, than by two whistles upon his fingers, and a yell, he brought above fifty people to our assistance; the baggage was passed in one moment, and in another my two tents were pitched; which is a work these people are very dexterous at, and well acquainted with.
As soon as we had encamped, we found that the reason we were not left alone on the other side of the river was, that those of the Galla who returned pulled down all the villages for fire-wood, and plundered the houses, though they were Galla like themselves, and of Fasil’s party; and these again, driven from their houses, robbed of all they had except their lance and shield, followed the stragglers, and wreaked their vengeance upon those whom they could surprise, or were not too numerous for them.
I was scarcely laid down to sleep, when a servant, and with him Zor Woldo, were sent to me from the Jumper: they brought us a bull of an enormous size, but not very fat; though we were all pretty keen in point of appetite, the stock of provision sent us seemed to defy our utmost endeavours, but we were sure of assistants enough; so the bull was immediately killed and skinned. In the mean time, I took a short, but very refreshing sleep, being resolved to resume my journey with the same diligence till we had got to the point where we might separate from the army, which is at a place called Roo, where a large market is kept by the Agows, in whose country it is, and resorted to by all the neighbouring inhabitants.
About ten o’clock I waited upon our commander in chief the Jumper; he seemed very much embarrassed at the visit, was quite naked, having only a towel about his loins, and had been washing himself in the Kelti, to very little purpose as I thought, for he was then rubbing his arms and body over with melted tallow; his hair had been abundantly anointed before, and a man was then finishing his head-dress by plaiting it with some of the long and small guts of an ox, which I did not perceive had ever been cleaned; and he had already put about his neck two rounds of the same, in the manner of a necklace, or rather a solitaire, one end of them hanging down to the pit of his stomach, Our conversation was neither long nor interesting; I was overcome with the disagreeable smell of blood and carrion: he did not understand one word of Amharic, Geez, or any other language but Galla; he asked no questions, and shewed no sort of curiosity. Woldo, on the other hand, informed himself from him of every thing he wanted to know.
This Jumper was tall and lean, very sharp faced, with a long nose, small eyes and prodigious large ears; he never looked you in the face, but was rolling his eyes constantly round and round, and never fixing them upon any thing: he resembled very much a lean keen greyhound; there was no sternness nor command in his countenance, but a certain look that seemed to express a vacancy of mind, like that of an idiot. With this he was allowed on all hands to be the most cruel, merciless murderer and spoiler of all the Galla. He was very active on horseback, and very indifferent about food or sleep. I made him a small present, which he took with great indifference; only told Woldo, that if I meant it to pay for the bull he had sent me, it was needless, for it was given me by Fasil’s order, and cost him nothing.
There we learned, that on our way we should meet a party of about 200 men, who had been sent by Fasil to take possession of a post before we came to Roo, left, having intelligence of us, some of the Maitsha people, whose houses had been destroyed, might follow us when we were parted from the army. The jumper told us that his brother had the command of that party, that they were all Galla of Fasil’s own nation, under his brother, who was called the Lamb, and who was just such a murderer and robber as himself. I was just rising to go out of his tent when Zor Woldo, who was sitting behind me, informed me, there were news from Gondar. I asked him how he knew that? He said, he heard the people say so from without. A sudden trepidation now seized me, as I was afraid of some new trick, or obstacle, which might impede the journey, the accomplishment of which I so much longed for.
Upon going towards my tent I was met by Strates, and another Greek, with a servant of Ozoro Esther, with whom I was well acquainted: they had left Fasil at Bamba, whose wild Galla were not yet all dismissed, and he himself seemed not determined whether he should go to Gondar or not. They told me that all was in confusion at Gondar; that Gusho of Amhara, and Powussen of Begemder, had been there, and brought some trifle of money, for a mere pretence, to that wretch Socinios, whom the Iteghé unadvisedly had consented to make king; having called Fasil, Gusho, and Powussen together to reconcile them, that, united, they might attack Michael. The queen herself had been reconciled to Socinios, who led the life of a drunkard, a ruffian, and a profligate, but her chief fears were that Michael should return, the probability of which increased daily.
As for Fasil, he had hitherto answered the queen’s invitation to Gondar evasively, sometimes by complaining that Gusho and Powussen had come to Gondar before him, and that Gusho was made Ras; at other times sending peremptorily to them to leave Gondar, and return to their provinces, or he would burn the town about their ears: and the last message, the day before they left the capital was, that he was then on his march towards Gondar, and consented to Gusho and Powussen’s staying; but as these two chiefs had great reason to suspect that he was in correspondence with the king and Ras Michael in Tigré, as it was known to them that he had fomented disturbances both in Begemder and Amhara, they had gone with Socinios to Koscam, without drums beating, or any sort of parade whatever, and, after taking leave, had the next day set out to their respective provinces. Upon another message from Fasil, they had agreed to return to Gondar, and leave their army at Emfras; but their troops, finding themselves so near, had disbanded, and returned to their homes, leaving Gusho and Powussen attended only by their household servants, who, finding themselves in danger, and that Fasil was actually advancing secretly, left Gondar and separated.