The Life and Adventures of Bruce, the African Traveller

by Sir Francis Bond Head

To escape from these interrogatories, Bruce had several times offered to take his present from the man who held it, that he might offer it to his majesty and go away; but the king as often made a sign that he should not be in haste. At last, after having kept Bruce standing so long that he was almost fainting from fatigue, the king proposed that, instead of returning with the Greeks, he should remain and perform one of the duties of his employment, which was to take charge of the door of his bedchamber that night. However, Ayto Heikel, taking courage, came forward to the king, pretending to have a message from the queen; and, whispering something in his ear, he laughed and dismissed them all.

They accordingly all hurried to supper, in no very good humour at having been so long detained. They brought with them from the palace three of Bruce's brother Baalomaals, and one who had stood to make up the number, though he was not in office: his name was Guebra Mascal; he was a sister's son of the ras, and commanded one third of the troops of Tigré which carried firearms, that is, about two thousand men. He was reputed one of the best officers the ras had; and was about thirty years of age, short, square, and well made, but with a very unpromising countenance. He was also very conceited, and had the most exalted opinion of his skill in the use of firearms, to which he did not scruple to say Ras Michael owed all his victories.[29]

During supper, Guebra Mascal, as was his custom, vaunted incessantly about his skill in firearms. Petros said to him, laughing, "Now Yagoube (meaning Bruce) is come, he will teach you something worth talking about." They had all drunk rather freely: Guebra Mascal, full of wine and pride, uttered words in contempt of Bruce, who quickly replied by saying that the end of a tallow candle in his gun would do more execution than an iron ball in Guebra Mascal's! Guebra immediately rose up and gave Bruce a kick with his foot, calling him a Frank and a liar; on which Bruce, blind with passion, seized him by the throat and threw him to the ground. Guebra Mascal drew his knife as he was falling, and gave Bruce a trifling wound on the crown of his head. Bruce wrested the knife from him, and struck him violently on his face; the combatants were then separated. The lifting of a hand in the precincts of the palace is punished in Abyssinia by death; Guebra Mascal therefore fled to the dwelling of Kefla Yasous, his relation, but in a few hours he was in irons at the ras's house. The next morning Bruce proceeded there by the advice of his friends, and, having told his story, he at last succeeded in prevailing on the ras to overlook the occurrence, and to forgive Guebra Mascal: in short, although the king had been made acquainted with it, the whole affair was made up. Bruce attended in his place, and received very great marks of royal favour; but he was so much annoyed at his situation, and the many difficulties which seemed to render hopeless his ultimate, and, indeed, his only object in visiting Abyssinia, that he almost resolved to abandon his place, and ask permission to return by Tigré; "and to this resolution," says Bruce, "I was more inclined by the death of Balugani, a young man who accompanied me through Barbary, and who assisted me in drawings of architecture: a dysentery, which had attacked him in Arabia Felix, put an end to his life at Gondar." From the effects of his despondency, Bruce's health became much impaired: his melancholy, however, was in some degree diverted by a scene of general festivity in Gondar. Ozoro Esther's sister, the iteghe's youngest daughter, and, consequently, the grand-daughter of Michael, was married to Powussen, the governor of Begemder.[30] The king gave her extensive districts of land in that province, and Ras Michael a large portion, consisting of gold, muskets, cattle, and horses. Every one that wished to be well looked upon by either party brought something considerable as a present. The ras, Ozoro Esther, and Ozoro Altash, entertained all Gondar. A vast number of cattle were slaughtered every day, and the whole town was one great market; the common people in every street appearing laden with pieces of raw beef, while drink circulated in the same profusion. The ras insisted upon Bruce's dining with him every day. After dinner they slipped away to parties of ladies, where anarchy prevailed as completely as at the house of the ras. All the married women ate, drank, and smoked like the men; in short, it is impossible to convey, in terms of proper decency, any idea of this bacchanalian scene.

Although the king's favour, the protection of the ras, and Bruce's obliging, unassuming behaviour to everybody, had made him as popular as he could wish at Gondar and among the Tigrans, yet it was easy to perceive that that "untoward" occurrence, his quarrel with Guebra Mascal, was not forgotten.

"One day," says Bruce, "when I was standing by the king in the palace, he asked, in discourse, 'Whether I too was not drunk in the quarrel with Guebra Mascal before we came to blows?' and upon my saying that I was perfectly sober, he asked, with a degree of keenness, 'Did you, then, soberly say to Guebra Mascal, that an end of a tallow candle in a gun in your hand would do more execution than an iron bullet in his?' 'Certainly, sir,' replied Bruce, 'I did so.' 'And why did you say this?' said the king; 'you will not persuade me that with a tallow candle you can kill a man or a horse?' 'Pardon me, sir,' said Bruce, bowing very respectfully, 'I will attempt to persuade you of nothing but what you please to be convinced of. When will you see this tried?' 'Why now,' says the king; 'there is nobody here.' 'The sooner the better,' said Bruce; 'I would not wish to remain for a moment longer under so disagreeable an imputation as that of lying; an infamous one in my country, whatever it may be in this. Let me send for my gun; the king will look out at the window.'

"The king appeared to be very anxious, and, I saw plainly, incredulous. The gun was brought; Engedan's shield was produced, which was of a strong buffalo's hide. I said to him, 'This is a weak one; give me one stronger.' He shook his head and said, 'Ah, Yagoube, you will find it strong enough; Engedan's shield is known to be no toy.' Tecla Mariam had also brought such a shield, and the Billetana Gueta Tecla another, both of which were most excellent of their kind. I loaded the gun before them, first with powder, then upon it slid down one half of what we call a farthing candle; and, having beat off the handles of three shields, I put them close in contact with each other, and set them all three against a post.

"'Now, Engedan,' said I, 'when you please, say—Fire! but mind, you have taken leave of your good shield for ever.' The word was given, and the gun fired. It struck the three shields, neither in the most difficult nor the easiest part for perforation, something less than half way between the rim and the boss. The candle went through the three shields with such violence that it dashed itself to a thousand pieces against a stone wall behind it. I turned to Engedan, saying very lowly, gravely, and without exultation or triumph, on the contrary, with absolute indifference, 'Did I not tell you your shield was naught?' A great shout of applause followed from about a thousand people that were gathered together. The three shields were carried to the king, who exclaimed in great transport, 'I did not believe it before I saw it, and can scarce believe it now I have seen it.'"

Bruce then repeated this common schoolboy's experiment by firing the other half of the candle through a table of sycamore. Some priests who were present, unable to comprehend the matter, declared it was done by "mucktoub" (magic), and so the wonder with them ceased. But it was not so with the king: "it made," says Bruce, "the most favourable and lasting impression upon his mind; nor did I ever after see in his countenance any marks either of doubt or diffidence, but always, on the contrary, the most decisive proofs of friendship, confidence, and attention, and the most implicit belief of everything I advanced upon any subject from my own knowledge."

One half of a farthing candle in Bruce's hands thus became a step in that ladder by which he managed, with such admirable ability, to raise himself to notice; and this anecdote, trifling as it may appear, affords a lesson worthy to be remembered by every one who attempts to penetrate a new country.