But what served as comfort to the king, was the still heavier loss sustained by the enemy, who, by their own accounts that day, lost above 9000 men, seven thousand of whom were from the troops of Begemder and Lasta, with which the king was engaged. For my own part, I cannot believe, but that both these accounts are much exaggerated; the great proportion that died of those that were wounded must have greatly swelled the loss of the rebels, because most gun-shot wounds, especially if bones are broken, mortify, and prove mortal. Among the slain, on the part of Begemder, were two chiefs of Lasta, and two relations of Powussen, (a brother-in-law and his son) they were both shot, bearing the banner of king Theodorus. The unworthy Confu, brother to Guebra Mehedin, and nephew to the Iteghé, whom I have often mentioned, had escaped, indeed, from Kasmati Ayabdar, who had given orders to confine him, to die a rebel this day among the troops of Begemder.
The king being washed and dressed, and having dined, received a compliment from Ras Michael, who sent him a present of fruit, and a thousand ounces of gold. There began then the filthiest of all ceremonies that ever disgraced any nation stiling themselves Christians; a ceremony that cannot be put in terms sufficiently decent for modest ears, without adapting the chaste language of scripture, which, when necessity obliges to treat of gross subjects, always makes choice of the least offensive language.
All those, whether women or men, who have fiefs of the crown, are obliged to furnish certain numbers of horse and foot. The women were seldom obliged to personal attendance, till Ras Michael made it a rule, in order to compose a court or company for Ozoro Esther. At the end of a day of battle each chief is obliged to sit at the door of his tent, and each of his followers, who has slain a man, presents himself in his turn, armed as in fight, with the bloody foreskin of the man whom he has slain hanging upon the wrist of his right hand. In this, too, he holds his lance, brandishing it over his master, or mistress, as if he intended to strike; and repeating in a seeming rage, a rant of nonsense, which admits of no variation, "I am John the son of George, the son of William, the son of Thomas; I am the rider upon the brown horse; I saved your father's life at such a battle; where would you have been if I had not fought for you to-day? you give me no encouragement, no cloaths, nor money; you do not deserve such a servant as I;" and with that he throws his bloody spoils upon the ground before his superior. Another comes afterwards, in his turn, and does the same; and, if he has killed more than one man, so many more times he returns, always repeating the same nonsense, with the same gestures. I believe there was a heap of above 400 that day, before Ozoro Esther; and it was monstrous to see the young and beautiful Tecla Mariam sitting upon a stool presiding at so filthy a ceremony; nor was she without surprise, such is the force of custom, that no compliment of that kind was paid on my part; and still more so, that I could not be even present at so horrid and bloody an exhibition.
The superiors appear at this time with their heads covered as before their vassals; their mouth, too, is hid, and nothing is seen but their eyes: this does not proceed from modesty, but is a token of superiority, of which, covering or uncovering the head is a very special demonstration. After this ceremony is over each man takes his bloody conquest, and retires to prepare it in the same manner the Indians do their scalps. To conclude this beastly account, the whole army, on their return to Gondar, on a particular day of review, throws them before the king, and leaves them at the gate of the palace. It is in search of these, and the unburied bodies of criminals, that the hyænas come in such numbers to the streets, where it is dangerous, even when armed, to walk after dark.
This inhuman ceremony being over, also the care of the wounded, which indeed precedes every thing, the king received all those of the nobility who had distinguished themselves that day; the tent was crowded, and he was in great spirits at the slaughter that had been made, which unbecoming pleasure he never could disguise. He mentioned the death of his uncle Guebra Christos with a degree of chearfulness, presuming, that when such a man died on his side, many of that rank and merit must have fallen on the other. Villages, appointments, and promotions, gold, promises, and presents of every kind, had been liberally bestowed upon those who had presented themselves, and who had merited reward that day by their behaviour. The king had been furnished with means from the Ras, and according to his natural inclination (especially towards soldiers) he had bestowed them liberally, and I believe impartially. Guebra Mascal had not appeared; he was waiting upon his uncle Ras Michael, looking after his own interest, to which no Abyssinian is blind, and exposing those bloody spoils, which I have just mentioned, to the Ras, his uncle and general.
I had been absent from another motive, the attendance on my friend Engedan, to whose tent I had removed my bed, as he complained of great pain in his wound, and I had likewise obtained leave of the Ras to shift my tent near that of his, and leave the care of the king's horse to Laeca Mariam, an old slave and confidential servant of the king.
As these men were the king's menial servants in his palace, a number of them (about a fourth) staid at Gondar with the horses, and few more than 100 to 120 could now be mustered, from about 200 or 204 which they at first were: the arranging of this, attendance upon Ayto Engedan, and several delays in getting access to the Ras, who had all his troops of Tigrè round him, made it past eight o'clock in the evening before I could see the king after he entered the camp; he had many times sent in search of Sertza Denghel, but no such person could be found; he had been seen bravely fighting by Engedan's side in the entrance of the valley, when that young nobleman was wounded, and he had retired with him from the field, but nobody could give any account of him, and the king, by his repeated inquiries after him, shewed more anxiety, from the supposition he was lost, than he had done for Guebra Christos his uncle, or all the men that had fallen that day; I had seen him in Ayto Engedan's tent, sitting behind his bed, in the darkest place of it; both his lips, nose, and chin were violently cut, his whole fore teeth beat out, and both his cheeks greatly swelled. I had given him what relief I could, nor was there any thing dangerous in his wounds; but the affront of receiving the blow from the king, when he was doing a most meritorious act of duty, (the saving him from death, or the hands of the rebels), had made such an impression upon a noble mind, that as soon as he arrived in Engedan's tent, he had ordered his hair to be cut off, put a white cap, or monk's cowl upon his head, and by a vow dedicated himself to a monastic life. In vain the king flattered, rewarded, and threatened him afterwards, and went so far as to make the Abuna menace him with excommunication if he persisted in his resolution any longer. After this I carried him, as we shall see, by the king's desire, to Gusho, in his camp, and interested him also to persuade Sertza Denghel to renounce his rash vow: no consideration could however prevail, for, like a private monk, he lived at home in the village which belonged to him in patrimony, and, tho' he often came to court, never slept or ate in the palace, the excuse being, when desired to stay dinner, that he had no teeth. He constantly slept at my house, sometimes chearful, but very seldom so. He was a young man of excellent understanding, and particularly turned to the study of religion; he was well read in all the books of his own country, and very desirous of being instructed in ours; he had the very worst opinion of his own priests, and his principal desire (if it had been possible) was to go with me to die, and to be buried in Jerusalem.
