On the 6th of August messengers came from Fasil, and the day after from Powussen, Begemder, Gojam, Damot, and Maitsha, which provinces, by their deputies, desired that Gusho might be set at liberty. This the king agreed to, but upon condition that the Ras should instantly pay him 1000 ounces of gold, and 500 musquets, which, on the other side, was as positively refused. Upon this Gusho was put into close confinement, and heavier irons than before: and, what was the most unjust, his two sons, who had left their own country to assist their father in distress, were confined in chains with him. All these violent measures were attributed to Ayabdar, Billetana Gueta Tecla, Guebra Mascal, and Basha Hezekias, officers connected with Ras Michael, whom the king had permitted to return from Tigrè, and very much confided in their councils.
On the other hand, Adera Tacca Georgis, (the king's Fit-Auraris) and Guebra Welleta Yasous, principal people in Maitsha, and whom Fasil had put about the king, desired leave to retire to their own country, from which it is probable they will never again return to Gondar, unless as enemies.
Although the king still obstinately insisted that the Ras should pay him his thousand ounces of gold, and five hundred musquets, as a price for his being set at liberty, this was refused by Gusho, in terms that shewed he was not now, as formerly, afraid of the king's power. On the other hand, the king proclaimed Kefla Yasous governor of the province of Tigrè, with the same extent of command as Ras Michael had enjoyed it; and he was already there, and had taken upon him the government of that province. At the same time the king superseded Gusho, and deprived him of his province of Amhara, which was given to his nephew Ayto Adigo, son of Palambaras Durrie, a man of very great interest and property in the province; after which he immediately left Gondar, and took his way thro' Begemder; but at the very entrance into Amhara, he was defeated by a son of Gusho who was expecting him; his troops were dispersed, and his brother, Ayto Aderesson, (the man who lost Gusho's horse at the battle of Tedda) wounded and taken prisoner.
There remained no longer any doubt that, as soon as the rains were over, the former scenes of bloodshed and confusion were to be acted over again; for, by appointing Kefla Yasous to the government of Tigrè, and Ayto Adigo to that of Amhara, and the peaceable passage given to this young nobleman through Begemder, in order to supplant his uncle Gusho, by the great confidence shewn by the king in the old officers and relations of Ras Michael, now at Gondar, and the dismission of Fasil's friends, (Adera Tacca Georgis and Confu Adam) the most ample confession possible was made, that the king had again thrown himself into the arms of the province of Tigrè and Begemder united, to which Amhara was to be added, by keeping Gusho prisoner, till such time as his nephew Adigo could gain entire possession.
To counterpoise this, a messenger arrived from Fasil, demanding privately of the king, that Gusho should be set at liberty, and return to his province of Amhara; that Lika Netcho, one of the murderers of Joas, (who had been spared, as being married to a relation of the king) should be immediately put to death, and that all the officers belonging to Ras Michael, then at court, should be banished for ever to Tigrè, their native country. The king returned a positive refusal, not qualified in any shape whatever.
A disagreement now happened, which, more than all the rest, was interesting, and disturbed me in particular. Positive information was brought to the Iteghé, and, I believe, very authentic, that the king, weary of the many councils held at Koscam by the servants and deputies of the several parties, in the queen's presence, (to which he was not called) had determined to give up the palace of Koscam, in which it was thought there were great riches, to be plundered by his soldiers. As the death of the queen by her confinement in some distant desert and unwholesome convent, must have probably been the consequence of success on one part, so an immediate revolution, and the death of the king, was certainly to follow the miscarriage on the other, that is, should he be defeated in, or after making the attempt.
Troops, headed by Engedan, Ayto Confu, and by Mammo, and all the Iteghé's relations, now crowded into Koscam, into which great plenty of provisions was also carried. The wall was high and strong, the gates lately put into good repair, the tower, or castle, within in perfect good order; the Iteghé had not surrendered her fire-arms, and all the inhabitants around, especially the poorer sort, were firmly attached to her, as in times of distress and famine her charity afforded them a constant refuge.
Since the Iteghé had returned, I always lived at Koscam by her own desire, as her health was very precarious since her residence in Gojam. This suited my intention of withdrawing privately, and therefore, not to multiply the number of leave-takings, I had seen Gusho but once, and that for a moment, and Ayabdar not at all, so that my whole attendance was now between the king and queen. The king had denied publicly his intention of plundering Koscam, but in a manner not at all satisfactory to the Iteghé; I ventured therefore to mention it to him one day when he was alone, on which he said, "I would not do it for your sake, Yagoube, were there no other reason; but my mother (meaning the Iteghé) is ill-advised, and worse informed."
On the 13th of October, Powussen, with a very considerable army, and without any previous intimation, arrived at Koscam, his head-quarters all the last campaign. He continued there till the 22d of the same month, and then decamped, passing by Gondar, without entering it; he came to Ras Gusho's house, under the hill of Koscam, where he had several interviews with the king and Iteghé, to what purport was never known; but it probably was to endeavour some reconcilement between the king and queen, and this was effected a few days afterwards (at least in appearance) by Ayabdar, and some of the great men at Gondar, after which Powussen returned to Begemder. For my part, I neither desired nor obtained an interview; I saw that the storm was ready to break, and I was taking the most speedy and effectual way to be out of the sphere of its action.