As the boha was the principal tree here, and in great beauty, being then in flower, I let the caravan pass, and alighted to make a proper choice for a drawing, when I heard a cry from my servants, “Robbers! Robbers!” I immediately got upon my mule to learn what alarm this might be, and saw, to my great surprise, part of my baggage strewed on the ground, the servants running, some leading, others on foot driving such of their mules as were unloaded before them; in a word, every thing in the greatest confusion possible. Having got to the edge of the wood, they faced about, and began to prepare their fire-arms; but as I saw the king’s two servants, and the man that Janni sent with us, endeavouring all they could to pitch the tent, and my horse standing peaceably by them, I forbade our fugitives to fire, till they should receive orders from me. I now rode immediately up to the tent, and in my way was saluted from among the bushes with many stones, one of which gave me a violent blow upon the foot. At the same instant I received another blow with a small unripe pumpkin, just upon the belly, where I was strongly defended by the coarse cotton cloth wrapped several times about me by way of sash or girdle. As robbers fight with other arms than pumpkins, when I saw this fall at my feet I was no longer under apprehension.
Notwithstanding this disagreeable reception, I advanced towards them, crying out, We were friends, and Ras Michael’s friends; and desired only to speak to them, and would give them what they wanted. A few stones were the only answer, but they did no hurt. I then gave Yasine my gun, thinking that might have given offence. The top of the tent being now up, two men came forward making great complaints, but of what I did not understand, only that they seemed to accuse us of having wronged them. In short, we found the matter was this; one of the Moors had taken a heap of straw which he was carrying to his ass but the proprietor, at seeing this, had alarmed the village. Every body had taken lances and shields, but, not daring to approach for fear of the fire-arms, they had contented themselves with showering stones at us from their hiding-places, at a distance from among the bushes. We immediately told them, however, that though, as the king’s guest, I had a title to be furnished with what was necessary, yet, if they were averse to it, I was very well content to pay for every thing they furnished, both for my men and beasts; but that they must throw no stones, otherwise we would defend ourselves.
Our tent being now pitched, and every thing in order, a treaty soon followed. They consented to sell us what we wanted, but at extravagant prices, which, however, I was content to comply with. But a man of the village, acquainted with one of the king’s servants, had communicated to him, that the pretence of the Moor’s taking the straw was not really the reason of the uproar, for they made no use of it except to burn; but that a report had been spread abroad, that an action had happened between Fasil and Ras Michael, in which the latter had been defeated, and the country no longer in fear of the Ras, had indulged themselves in their usual excesses, and; taking us for a caravan of Mahometans with merchandise, had resolved to rob us.
Welleta Michael, grandson to Ras Michael, commanded this part of the province; and being but thirteen years of age, was not with his grandfather in the army, nor was he then at home, but at Gondar. However, his mother, Ozoro Welleta Michael, was at home, and her house just on the hill above. One of the king’s servants had stolen away privately, and told her what had happened. The same evening, a party was sent down to the village, who took the ringleaders and carried them away, and left us for the night. They brought us a present also of provisions, and excuses for what had happened, warning us to be upon our guard the rest of the way, but they gave us positive assurance, at the same time, that no action had happened between Fasil and Ras Michael; on the contrary, it was confidently reported, that Fasil had left Buré, and retired to Metchakel, where, probably, he would repass the Nile into his own country, and stay there till the rains should oblige Michael to return to Gondar.
On the 22d, we left Selech-lecha at seven o’clock in the morning, and, at eight, passed a village two hundred yards on our left, without seeing any one; but, advancing half a mile further, we saw a number of armed men from sixty to eighty, and we were told they were resolved to oppose our passage, unless their comrades, taken the night before, were released. The people that attended us on the part of Welleta Michael, as our escort, considered this as an insult, and advised me by all means to turn to the left to another village immediately under the hill, on which the house of Welleta Michael, mother to Welleta Gabriel their governor, was situated; as there we should find sufficient assistance to force these opponents to reason. We accordingly turned to the left, and marching through thick bushes, came to the top of the hill above the village, in sight of the governor’s house, just as about twenty men of the enemy’s party reached the bottom of it.
The governor’s servants told us, that now was the time if they advanced to fire upon them, in which case they would instantly disperse, or else they would cut us off from the village. But I could not enter into the force of this reasoning, because, if this village was strong enough to protect us, which was the cause of our turning to the left to seek it, these twenty men, putting themselves between us and the village, took the most dangerous step for themselves possible, as they must unavoidably be destroyed; and, if the village was not strong enough to protect us, to begin with bloodshed was the way to lose our lives before a superior enemy. I therefore called to the twenty men to stop where they were, and send only one of their company to me; and, upon their not paying any attention, I ordered Yasine to fire a large blunderbuss over their heads, so as not to touch them. Upon the report, they all fled, and a number of people flocked to us from other villages; for my part, I believe some who had appeared against us came afterwards and joined us. We soon seemed to have a little army, and, in about half an hour, a party came from the governor’s house with twenty lances and shields, and six firelocks, and, presently after, the whole multitude dispersed. It was about ten o’clock when, under their escort, we arrived at the town of Sirè, and pitched our tent in a strong situation, in a very deep gully on the west extremity of the town.
CHAP. VI.
Journey from Siré to Addergey, and Transactions there.
The province of Siré, properly so called, reaches from Axum to the Tacazzé. The town of Sirè is situated on the brink of a very steep, narrow valley, and through this the road lies which is almost impassable. In the midst of this valley runs a brook bordered with palm-trees, some of which are grown to a considerable size, but bear no fruit; they were the first we had seen in Abyssinia.
The town of Sirè is larger than that of Axum; it is in form of a half-moon fronting the plain, but its greatest breadth is at the west end; all the houses are of clay, and thatched; the roofs are in form of cones, as, indeed, are all in Abyssinia. Sirè is famous for a manufacture of coarse cotton cloths, which pass for current money through all the province of Tigré, and are valued at a drachm, the tenth-part of a wakea of gold, or near the value of an imperial dollar each; their breadth is a yard and quarter. Besides these, beads, needles, cohol, and incense at times only, are considered as money. The articles depend greatly on chance, which or whether any are current for the time or not; but the latter is often not demanded; and, for the first, there are modes and fashions among these barbarians, and all, except those of a certain colour and form, are useless. We have already spoken of the fashions, such as we have found them, at Kella, and we heard they were the same here at Siré. But these people were not of a humour to buy and sell with us. They were not perfectly satisfied that Michael was alive, and waited only a confirmation of the news of his defeat, to make their own terms with all strangers unfortunate enough to fall into their hands. On the other hand, we were in possession of superior force, and, knowing their inclinations, we treated them pretty much in the manner they would have done us.