A heavy fall announced the effect of the shot, and confusion instantly followed. One of the females whose front had been towards our ambush, rushed forward, and received a volley of hard bullets in her broad forehead, which turned the attack, and brought her also to the ground, after a flight with her companions of fifty yards. She, however, rose after some minutes, and rushing past the cavalcade collected on the outskirts, escaped into the thick forest to die, attention being meanwhile entirely engrossed by the tusker, the nobler quarry, who, although prostrate on his side like a fallen tower, manifested in his dying moments, by sundry portentous noises and uncouth struggles, an inclination to resume an erect position. His destruction was speedily completed; but it was still impossible to leave the spot, from a conviction that the braggart Amhára rabble would not fail to claim the honour and the credit of having slain the prize with their powerless spears, should any perchance find the carcass during the absence of the lawful proprietors—a surmise which was fully confirmed by the appropriation of the tail as a trophy, by the very first man who made his appearance.
The death of this lordly monster, to which so little importance would have been attached in those parts of the African continent where the event is one of diurnal occurrence, here created in the mind of every beholder a sensation of astonishment and admiration hardly to be described. The fame of the exploit, carried by express couriers, spread from corner to corner of the empire; and although far from universally credited, it produced even more than the good effect anticipated. Those who, when the storming party first entered the covert, had sought safety in trees, could with difficulty be prevailed upon to descend, in order to approach the mountain of flesh from which life was said to have departed; and finally mustering courage to do so, in the frenzy of excitement, launched their spears and discharged their matchlocks, to the imminent peril of the bystanders and of each other. On the first intimation of the animals having, after two days’ diligent search, been actually discovered, three-fourths of the whole party had incontinently disappeared. The Galla horsemen, who had previously boasted the destruction of elephants with their spears, did not venture to approach for a full hour after their ears had been saluted by the reports of our rifles; and even the warrior who vaunted himself the “hereditary chieftain of all the Braves of the Amhára nation,” long clung pertinaciously to his secure seat among the topmost branches.
As the fact of the downfall of the noble beast became more widely credited, and the scattered forces gradually rallied round it, chief after chief offered his hand in congratulation of the, in his eyes, daring exploit, expressing his wonder and amazement that a small rifle-ball had been able to accomplish the annihilation of the bulk and life of seventy seasons, and extolling the prowess of the king’s European visitors in the encounter with so formidable a monster, whose colossal strength could have carried him trampling through a whole array of their own host, dealing death and destruction wheresoever his will impelled him. Whilst dancing and howling around the carcass, they affirmed the deed to be the work of genii, and complimented us as the “bravest of the brave,” under the titles of “Figa” and “Gobez;” declaring that “the mould whereof the Gyptzis were fashioned must be of a rare quality; and that if all the subjects of Shoa were but composed of the same material, the dominions of Sáhela Selássie would know no limit.”
Boroo, the brave chief of the Soopa, who, before our shots were heard, had with extreme difficulty been restrained from galloping into the jungle at the head of his gathered retainers, and thus alarming the quarry by the noise and confusion of many hundred horsemen, was more particularly earnest and vehement in his congratulations on our victory. He had himself anticipated none but the most fatal results from what he termed so rash an attack upon the hitherto unsubdued monarch of the wilderness, and had trembled for the royal vengeance which any accident to the party would infallibly have drawn upon his devoted head. “The world was made for you alone,” concluded the old warrior in a perfect ecstasy of delight, “and no one else has any business in it.”
The trunk and ear of the beast so much dreaded throughout the district having been hewn from the carcass, upon the iron folds of which neither the swords nor the lances of the assembled Galla and Amhára could make the smallest impression, were finally borne off in triumph; and as we returned to the encampment on the hill-top, the same honours were paid us which are exacted by the despot on his triumphal entry after a successful expedition against the heathen. Horsemen galloped in every direction, shouting the prowess of the Gyptzis, and announcing that “those who had gone forth to slay the mighty elephant had successfully performed the quest.” Groups of women and girls lined the hill-side, and as the hunting-party crowned the steep, raised their shrill voices in praise and welcome. The tents were entered amid the deafening chorus of a war song. Bullocks were instantly slaughtered for all the followers. Double the daily liberal supplies of every description were poured in. Sprigs of green asparagus were presented by the sons of the delighted governor, to ornament our hair in earnest of victory. Dame Twotit composed a new extemporaneous sonnet upon the occasion, which she rehearsed during half the night; and until the cock crew, every quarter of the village of Manya resounded with wild dancing, martial music, and war songs, in celebration of an achievement, now for the first time witnessed by the Christian population of Shoa.
Volume Two—Chapter Forty One.
The Northern Galla.
Giddem was conquered by Asfa Woosen, grandsire to Sáhela Selássie, from Latta, the ruler of the first Mohammadan settlers. A succession of deep valleys, stretching eastward to the very confines of the Adaïel, are occupied by the tributary Galla tribes of Gillé and Soopa, who have become converts to Islamism—the Allála river intersecting the country of the former, of which the principal village is Esgieyé, and the Negéso that of the latter, whose chief resides at Allaiyo. Further to the north, where a continuation of the wild tract of forest land is visible, the Adaïe threads the district inhabited by that portion of the Wollo who own allegiance to Shoa under the government of Efrata, and by the Doogoogra Galla, who were also dependent, but have long been in a state of open rebellion. Large quantities of excellent coffee are cultivated in Manchéttee and Efrata, and with the salt pieces or “amoles,” which it has been seen are imported from Tigré by the Wollo and Worra Káloo, are brought to Shoa by the Moslem merchants. In Giddem itself, however, coffee is not cultivated, owing to the prejudice entertained respecting its use by the Christian population generally. Westward of Giddem, and interposed betwixt it and Morabietie, is the province of Mans, largest of all the districts of Shoa, but subdivided into Lálo, Máma, and Ghéra, each of which forms a distinct government. Abiyé, third king of Efát, defeated and subjugated Golé, the then independent ruler, whose daughter Wolensa, was the mother of Zenama Work, the Queen-dowager. This lady, therefore, looks upon Mans as her hereditary possession, and she is much beloved by the people, although, as regards their allegiance to the crown, they still retain a large share of their ancient independence. Haughty, brave, obstinate, and quarrelsome, they openly avow to have little knowledge of Sáhela Selássie—never swear by his name, as is the usage of His Majesty’s more dutiful and loyal subjects—often depose the governors whom he appoints to rule over them—and refuse to take part in the annual forays over the southern border, upon the grounds that they have quite sufficient occupation in the adjustment of intestine feuds and boundary disputes. These latter are points not always satisfactorily adjusted in Europe—nor is it extraordinary that they should be attended with some difficulty in Africa.