Life in Abyssinia: being notes collected during three years' residence and travels in that country

Front matter

A Dinner Party at Adoua LIFE IN ABYSSINIA: BEING NOTES COLLECTED DURING THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE AND TRAVELS IN THAT COUNTRY. By MANSFIELD FARKYNS. IN TWO VOLUMES.— Vol. I. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1853. _7i_ Aulltor reserves to himself the riyht of authorising a Translation of this Work. " Like an old tale still ; which will have matter to rehearse, though credit be asleep, and not an ear open." Winter's Tale, Act. V. Scene 2. " Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land ! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, As home his footsteps he hath turn'd From wandering on a foreign strand? " Lat of the Last Minstkel. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.

My dear Loed, The personal kindness which you have shown me would perhaps hardly authorize me to affix so illustrious a name to this simple relation of my travels and residence in a part of the world so remote as Abyssinia. But I cannot forget that the same wise and vigorous policy which has welcomed the efforts of freedom throughout Europe, has spread the great protection of the British Crown and power over the solitary and helpless traveller among nations whose deficient civilization permits them to respect only where they fear. With grateful recognition of this service, rendered not only to our own countrymen, but to humanity in general, I remain Your obliged and faithful servant, Mansfield Parkyns. Woodborough Hall, Notts, November, 1853. a

Preface

. As this work has been a long time on hand, it is probable that many may expect to find in it indica tions of extraordinary care and painstaking. Lest they should be disappointed, I would forewarn them that, although three years have elapsed since my final return to England (in June, 1850), the pages which I now offer are the offspring of a few days' labour, scattered, with intervals of months, over that period — the hastily-written, scarcely-corrected production of a time when my mind was fuUy occupied with other matters. In regard to proper names, I have had much diffi culty in their orthography, and am still by no means satisfied with the way in which I have given them. I have, however, endeavoured to follow the course recommended by the Royal Geographical Society, of using the vowels according to the Continental rather than the English mode of pronunciation.

Thus, She'tou should be pronounced Shay-too ; Tigre', Tee grey ; Gaddy, Gahddy, or even nearly Guddy ; Cafty, in like manner, almost Cufty; Balgadda, Balgudda, &c. &c. kh and gh are the gutturals like the Arabic + and i, and cannot of course be explained in English. Introduction Page 1

Chapter I

Constantinople — Modern Turks, civilized and uncivilized — Plains of Troy — Alexandria — Want of an English Church — State of the lower orders — Egyptian donkey-boys — Hotels — Canal voyage — Delta of the Nile — Barrage — Scenery — Kyef — Boulac . 19 CHAPTER n. Sporting equipment — Articles for presents — Leaving Cairo — An evil omen — Desert of Suez — Camel-riding — Stations of the Transit Company — An Englishwoman in the Desert — Warning to her countrywomen — Consequences of a good dinner — Arrival at Suez 38 chaptek in. Suez — Population — Wells of Moses — Passage of the Israelites — An Arab boat — Fellow passengers — My berth — Self-invited guests — Mode of learning Arabic — The Sherif Mohammed Hashim — " Hum punk " — Arab seamanship — Volcanic remains of the Red Sea — Fire on board our vessel — My powder in danger — Fortunate deliverance — Mohammedan legends — Origin of jealousy — Adam with the body of Abel — Joseph the first clockmaker — El Oudche — The Beni Hassan — The Turk and the Arab — Catcbing turtles — Communism in feeding — Port of Yambo — Rabba — The holy country — My dragoman Said — Arrive off Jedda — Arabs as companions

CHAPTER IV.

Jedda — The British Consul — Eastern towns — Native dress — The Fettah el Kheyr — Cockroaches — Souakin — M. Vignon — Native duels — Mode of treating doctors — Fish — Massawa — Angelo the Jew — The Kaimagam — The climate of Massawa — Its inhabitants and houses — My host — My costume in the East. . Page 65

CHAPTER V.

The Naib's guide-tax — Moncullou — A way-side bath — Snakes — Elephants — Lions ........ 85

CHAPTER VI.

Appearance of the country — Sensations in a tropical climate — Adventure with a viper — Ailat — Game — Boar-stalking — Hot springs — Natural warm bath 94 CHAPTER VH. Inhabitants of Ailat — Bread-making — The guests' chamber, and its occupants — Bedouin merchants — A persevering marauder — Gregarious habits of the people — Moslem peculiarities of feeding — A Moslem " wake " — Mode of burial — African resurrectionists 103 CHAPTER Vm. A summons to Kiaquor — Providing supper — Practice of true sportsmen — Shooting in England and in Abyssinia — The " Kantafftafa" — A sportsman's difficulties — Boar-stalking — Parity of unprovoked attacks on man by wild beasts — Man-eating tigers — Solitary elephants — Rencontres with wild boars

CHAPTER IX.

Ailat to Kiaquor — Guinea-fowl — Difficulties of 'the road — Travelling barefoot — Desert punch — Recipe for picnic bread — A traveller's dinner — Advice as to eating and drinking — The pipe an essential in the East — An ignorant guide — " Shoho " villages — Language of various tribes — Habits of the Shohos — Their hospitality — Their costume contrasted with that of the Abyssinians — Arrival at Kiaquor Page 117

CHAPTER X.

Start for Adoua — Hamasayn — Richness of the soil — Curse of civil war — The priest Coumfou usurps the government of Hamasayn — Aito Habtai, his successor, is defeated by Garra Amlac, the legitimate heir, and the country given up to pillage — Garra Amlac rebels against the Viceroy Oubi, but is subdued by Sh6tou, Oubi's son ' 129

CHAPTER XI.

Addy Killawita — The quolquol — An escape — A useful moral — Wretched accommodation — Maiya — Shaha — Kouddofelassy — Great inhospitality — Beyt Mariam — A missionary — Addy Hai Hai — Curiosity of the people — A fracas — Abyssinian courage — The Mareb — A storm — Arrival at Adoua . . . 137 CHAPTER Xn. Missionaries to the heathen — Amount of their success — Moravians in Abyssinia — Their want of tact — Anecdotes of their proceedings — They excite the fears and prejudices of the people — Public disputation — Indiscriminate distribution of Bibles — One of the recipients — A modest priest — Inutility of sending Bibles to Abyssinia — Need of education — Means of improving the moral condition of the people — Their extreme ignorance — Importance of their being civilized X

CHAPTER XIII.

Adoua — Appearance of the town — Fashionable amusement — Arrival of baggage — Custom-house annoyance — Start on a visit to Oubi — Detentions on the road — Addy Nefas — Devra Berbery — A very unprotected female — Difficult travelling — A priest's dwelling — " Church property " — Our host's honesty and good nature — Addy Argoud — An uncomfortable night — Mount Haramat — Inaccessible rocks — Arrival at the camp Page 161

CHAPTER XIV.

Howzayn — The " balderabba " — Miserable dwellings — Their construction — Our introduction delayed — Difficulty of procuring food — Visitors — My negro servant claimed as a slave and entrapped — A present — An Abyssinian camp — The Viceroy and his officers — Supplies from Oubi — Drinking-horns . . . . 171

CHAPTER XV.

Visit to Oubi — Native pleasantries on our appearance — Oubi's palace — Ceremonies on introduction — Oubi's state and appearance — Presents — Sketch of the history of Oubi and his family — His father, Dejatch Hailo Mariam — His mother, Mintaiy^ — Hailo succeeds Ras Gavry — His feud with Dejatch Maro — Oubi marries Maro's daughter — Hailo rebels against Ras Imam — He is defeated by Maro, who plunders Oubi's provinces — Oubi recovers his territory — Succeeds his father — His brethren — His uncles — His brother Marso's vicissitudes — His children — Domestic condition of the Abyssinians — A present from Oubi 178

CHAPTER XVI.

Visit to Weld Inchael — His hospitality — A fight for a lodging — Return to Addy Nefas — My adopted sons — Oubi's generosity — Dispute with the Negadiras resumed — Our reception of his soldiers — He appeals to Oubi — His disappointment — Departure of Plowden — A jealous lover — Practice of the women on appearance of a fight — Affray with the soldiers — A brave warrior — Tranquillity restored — Preparations for visiting Adioba — Promised perils — Messrs. Plowden and Bell CHAPTER XVH. Start for Addy Abo — Buildings on the road — Features of the country — The Abyssinian hornbill — Axum — Remnants of former civilization — The obelisk and sycamore — The town tank — The High Priest's invitation — A distant relation — Native wine and spirits — Facilities for grape-culture — Meagre vintage — Primitive stills — Dwellings — Their construction Page 205 CHAPTER XVin.

Departure from Axum — Sanctuaries — Abyssinian roads — A native traveller's maxim — The gifts of Nature not appreciated till needed — Advice to the satiated — Appearance of the country — The Village of Wind — Injudicious practice of many travellers — Civility the better policy — Illustration of this theory — A bounteous host — Oubi's "Teskar " — Government mode of obtaining payment — Torture of its debtors and other prisoners — Instance of Oubi's cunning — Impolicy of extortion — Our journey resumed — Change of scenery 212

CHAPTER XIX.

Botany and ornithology — Unhealthy valleys — Beauties of the plain — Monkeys — Their employments — The Cynocephali — Tactics on their forays — Leaders and scouts — Sagacity — Dwellings — The leopard their greatest enemy — Formidable antagonists — Sometimes attack women — Their cleverness not entirely dependent on instinct — Anecdote — Instance of attachment — Powers of mimicry — Mode of capturing them — The showman's story — Ingenious kite-catching — A curious remedy — A caution to mothers — Mai Quollow — Politeness of the chief — His household 226

CHAPTER XX.

A rough road — Necessity of travelling barefoot — The human form disfigured by confinement — Fertility of the district — A war of wit — Annoyances of the soldiery — Addaro — The secretary-bird— Curiosity of the people — Fate of a party of French travellers . .

CHAPTER XXI.

Aito Merratch, Chief of Addy Abo — Notes of my stay at Addaro — Blessing of a swarm of bees — Visitors — Reputation of Europeans for coining — Welda Georgis — His knowledge of fire-arms — Inducements to remain at Addaro — Start for Rohabaita — A bargain — A long staircase Page 251 CHAPTER XXJI. Nine months' stay at Rohabaita — Love of Nature — Crimes of savage and civilized man — Sincerity a virtue of the savage — Description of the province — Productions — The inhabitants — The government .of this and a neighbouring district offered me — My plans for governing — Mode of raising a revenue — Account of Aito Gabro Wahed — The Happy Valley — My standing with the natives — I join in their pursuits — Their hatred of the Amhara — Disappearance of a party of the latter — Waddy Hil, the sub-chief — His former prosperity — Imprisoned for non-payment of Oubi's demands — Released and restored to power — His poverty and generosity — Extreme scarcity of provisions — A supply and visit from Obsabius — Annual conflagrations — The Barea — A perfect deception — Shifts for food — Benefits of semi-starvation — Ugly wounds and speedy cures . . . 260 CHAPTER XXm.

Course of the Mareb — The Gobo plain — Fount of St. John — Abyssinian hydropathy — Devout patients — Protection of the guardian saint — The Evil Eye — The Mareb at different seasons — Fish abundant — The garmout — Emigrant crocodiles — Abyssinian mode of fishing — A dubious fishing party — Great variety of game — Ornithology CHAPTER XXTV. Belief in omens — Its effects on a war-party — Scouting — A scout's dress and implements — His enjoyments — Food of St. John the Baptist — Nightly precautions — Lions — Difficulty of getting at them — The rifle's place at night — A party of cowards — Fruitless pursuit — Abyssinians courageous in proportion as they are well fed and clothed — Demoralizing tendency of national slavery — The Barea — Their cunning and agility — Their mode of attack — Easily repulsed by firmness — Their practice when pursued — Anecdotes concerning them — Their mode of passing the night previous to an attack — Rencontres with them — Reflections thereon .... Page 292

CHAPTER XXV.

Abouna Tederos — Magnificent view — Strength of position — St. Theodore's abode — His miracles — Rock water-tank — Abyssinian priests — St. Michael's Eve at Addy Harisho — Religious dance and song — Pugilism — Waddy Hil, his high sense of feeling — Respect shown him — Tropical nights — Curious matrimonial arrangement — The jungle on fire — A predicament — Prompt measures — Serious consequences of the fire — Grandeur of the spectacle — Attempt to blow up a town — The idiot Maghovai — A hunting party — A nocturnal alarm — Buffalo-skin shields — Aito Merratch's mistake and narrow escape — Merit of killing a buffalo — Lame conclusion of the hunt — Departure for Adoua ........ 312

CHAPTER XXVI.

Motives for visiting Addy Abo — The Bideles — The Barea — Oubi's last campaign against the Barea — Failure of the Apha Negous and other chiefs — Superiority of the Barea as warriors — Adam Chourry — Ali Welda Mariam — Oubi's return 336

CHAPTER XXVII.

Manners and Customs 352 Appendix ) ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I. Knife worn by the people of Souakin ------ Page 74 6 Boar Shooting ----------to face p. 112 Shoho Camp ---------- f . 124 Shohos ----------- ,,127 Abyssinian Travelling -------- f _ 161 Male Abba Goumba (Buzaros Abassinicus) - , , 206 Section of an Abyssinian Dwelling ----- page 211 Axum — View of the Church from near our lodging - - to face p. 212 Skull of the Dog-faced Baboon (Ramadryadus Cynocephalus) page 231 " Visitors, eternal Visitors." Interior of a Country House to face p. 253 Waddy Hil's House ,,273 Fruit of the Dima (Adansonii Digitata) - - - - page 295 Dance of the Holy Men --------to face p. 317 Buffalo Drive ---------- ,, 331 Plan of my Town-house at Adoua ----- page 354 The " Adderash," or Reception-hall ----- , , 355 Kitchen-yard ---------- ,, 362 The " Magogo," or Oven ------- , , 364 Grinding-stone --------- _ , 366 A Dinner-party at Adoua -------to face p. 385 An Abyssinian feeding ____-_- page 388 Map of Abyssinia --------- at the end. > LIFE IN ABYSSINIA.

Introduction

. I offer the following pages to the public with some diffidence, though not with any feeling of regret for the style or composition ; for I do not pretend to be learned in book-making. To my mind, style and beauty of composition belong rather to the poet or novelist than to one whose only pretension is to detail in a rough way certain incidents and experiences of a rough life. What I regret is the paucity of the information I may be able to offer to my scientific friends. A book of travels should be either a scientific work or an entertaining one. Mine has, I fear, but little to re commend it in either of these particulars. If it has a merit, it is that / believe most of it to be true. What I have described has been almost entirely what I have myself witnessed, or heard related on the spot.

Although I do not bind myself to the exactness of a journal, in matters of times, places, and persons, I have, in only one or two instances, deviated from it, by combining into scenes various anecdotes, the value of which, as illustrations of my subject, would have been lost had vol. I. B Intkod. 2 LIFE IN ABYSSINIA. they been scattered through the work. In some few cases, I may have fallen into a common error, that of putting down as customs, incidents which I may have seen, but which, in reality, may happen scarcely once in a hundred years. I make this remark on account of the reputation poor Bruce got. Even to the present day one or two of his stories are discredited. I have been often asked about " the steak cut from the live cow," and have only to say, once for all, I firmly believe that Bruce saw what he has stated.

While I was in Abyssinia, a soldier, in conversation with me and several others, volunteered a story quite similar to Bruce's, both as regards the manner of the operation and the reasons why it was performed. On inquiry, he said that such a practice was not uncommon among the Gallas, and even occasionally occurred among themselves when, as in the case Bruce relates, a cow had been stolen or taken in foray. The men who drive her, being hungry, have no alternative but to go on fasting, kill the cow, or act as described. The first they will not do; the second would imply the necessity of carrying home the resi due of the meat, or leaving it to the jackals, — neither of which would suit their inclinations ; so the third is adopted. I have heard it remarked, that it was scarcely possible to believe human beings capable of such cruelty.

In answer to this, I would merely observe that no one should venture on such a remark in a country where salmon are crimped, and eels skinned, alive ; nor should they talk of cruelty of any sort till the state trials, and Inteod. BRUCE'S VERACITY. 3 other books, showing the horrible death which many of our ancestors suffered for their adherence to the Stuart family, be out of print, and the old sentence for high treason forgotten. The 'Abyssinians cut off the hand, foot, or tongue, or perhaps put out the eyes, for such an offence; but this punishment is a mere shadow of the refinement of savage cruelty practised by our forefathers not many generations ago, and sanctioned by the laws of an enlightened and civilized nation. In defending Bruce, I am not attempting to prepare the reader's credulity for some extraordinary story of my own.

I haven't got anything marvellous to tell — I wish I had. All that I profess to do is to enter more particularly into the customs of the people I have visited than has hitherto been done. A tolerably long residence among them, and the fact of my having identified myself with the natives, perhaps more than any of my predecessors, not only in habits, but also in feelings, would lead me to hope that I may be enabled to do this with some correctness. In regard to adventures, as a matter of course, no one who has passed a considerable number of years in tra velling can have lived altogether without them. I have said little on this score, principally because what would be considered as adventures in Europe, appear, after a few years in Africa, as matters of every-day occurrence, and are consequently noted neither in the journal nor in the memory.

It was my original intention to write solely on the habits of the people, without bringing myself into notice in any part of the story ; but from b2 Intkod. LIFE IN ABYSSINIA. this I was dissuaded, by being told that without a little personal narrative the book would be unreadable. I have therefore divided the subject into two parts — Travel, and Manners and Customs. The first volume contains my journey from the coast to the capital, by way of Kiaquor, and my visit to the northern provinces. The former route is well known in the country, but has never, that I am aware of, been described in any book of travels, the few Europeans who have written on Abyssinia having generally chosen the Dixa road. Two French gentlemen went over part of the second tour, but, unfortunately, neither survived to describe it.

The second volume contains the manners and customs, and my route from Adoua to Abou Kharraz on the Blue Nile; this is, I believe, entirely new, no one having been that way before me. I do not anticipate that any story of mine will be thought worth attacking. It must not, however, be understood that I do not fear criticism: on the contrary, I put myself in the most humble attitude before the mighty wielders of the pen, and plead, — that to attack my style would be. unmanly, and betray a great want of good manners on their part; for it would be as bad as to quiz a foreigner because he could not speak good English ; as I don't profess to be a writer any more than he would pretend to be a Briton : — to attack my descriptions would be impolitic, because, as I have always observed, stay at-home critics generally hit upon true stories to pick to pieces, and make a point of believing the credible lies, — much after the manner of the old woman and Ixtrod.

THE CRITICS. 5 her sailor grandson. Jack was relating how he had gone by the overland passage to join his ship, then in China. "Well, and what did you see by the way?" asks Granny. — " Why, we saw flying-fish in the Medi terranean."- — " What ! fish with wings ?" — " Yes ; and some of them flying away from the dolphins fell on our decks." — " Ah, Jack ! I see you've learnt no good with all your travels, to come back and make game of your poor old grandmother. Who in their senses would ever believe that fish could fly ?" Poor Jack was at a loss what next to relate; but since truth was considered a lie, he reversed the order of things, just to see whether a lie might not be accounted truth. So when in the course of his story he said that he had been at Suez, and to the spot where the children of Israel crossed the Bed Sea in their flight from Egypt, she asked him, " Well, and what did you see there ?" — " Oh ! we saw a lot of Pharaoh's chariotwheels, some of which came in very handy for repairing the paddles of the steamer.

Perhaps you don't believe that, granny!" — " Of course, I do !" said she. " How can I help be lieving it, when it's written in the Bible ?" For geography I have done but little. The loss of parts of my journal, on two different occasions, — on one of which I was deprived of the whole of the observa tions, maps, &c, that I had made during my stay in Tigre — was a severe blow to this part of my undertaking. A great number of the descriptions were made up from the rough notes I was enabled to retain, and from me mory ; but these were insufficient to recall the figure part Iktkod. LIFE IN ABYSSINIA. of the business. As this is perhaps the most essential of any, I shall for the future, should I travel, adopt a plan (which I should recommend to other travellers), namely, to make out two or three different copies of observations, and retain one always about the person.

In zoology I was more successful ; though here again I have to regret many and serious losses. My first great collection, consisting of upwards of twelve hundred birds, was sent home by a German brig to Hamburgh, whence it was shipped to England. By a mistake on the part of the person to whose care I had consigned them in England, they were left in a warehouse near the Custom-house, for nearly four years, till my return; and on opening the packages, I found that nearly all the bright-coloured birds and many of the best sorts also had been picked out. It must be acknowledged that they were not packed in the securest manner, for, I being up in the country, they were sent down to the coast in their native cases, composed of bamboos, covered with hides, in charge of some of my own native servants, with orders to have them changed at Massawa into securer boxes.

This it appears my servants were unable to do, as the ship sailed on the day of their arrival, and they had barely time to get them on board. Whether, therefore, the missing specimens found their way out of the pack ages on board the brig, at Hamburgh, or in England, I cannot of course pretend to say ; but should be inclined to suspect the latter, from the fact of many other col lectors having before complained of the same misfortune in passing our ports. I really think some attention Iktkod. LOSS OF ZOOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 7 should be paid to such conduct. Whole collections are sometimes ruined by these depredations. In some cases which I have heard quoted, they must have been perpe trated by knowing hands, as only the very rare speci mens were purloined. In my case, however, I am not aware of the loss of any but gay-coloured ones ; but these amounted to more than two hundred birds.

Nine of the Abyssinian roller, several parrots, and six male specimens of the emerald cuckoo, the only perfect ones I possessed, might be named as samples ; and it is a curious fact, that one female and one young male of the latter species, neither of which is at all brilliant in its plumage, were left me, but not a single old male bird. Another fact would also prove that " my own, my native land," was the guilty spot. While looking over the birds with my brother, as I handed them out ot their cases one by one, making a slight remark on each — (be it remembered, even after five years I know my birds as well as an old woman knows her chickens), — I came at last to a pause with a snuff-coloured pigeon in my hand. " Heave that on one side," said he, " and let's look at another." But still I stared, and turned it over and over again, and could make nothing of it at all.

The bird was not of my skinning, nor of that of any of my servants ; and I was perplexed, till at last I discovered a small scroll attached to his leg. on which was written, in a clear, business-like, round hand, and in good English (barring the spelling), " Pheasant-tailed Pidgeon." Now I never could write so neat a hand as that which was on the label. Secondly, I never wrote Introd. the names of my birds, but only numbered them. Thirdly, I seldom make a mistake in orthography, and certainly from my youth up have always believed that there was no d in the word " pigeon." And, fourthly, the bird afterwards proved to be a native of the Mo luccas, some thousands of miles distant from any point which I or mine ever reached. This mysterious bird will be set up with the rest as a paradox; for how he got into such good company I cannot guess, nor should I think can any one else, excepting perhaps his late owner.

I suppose he considered that " a fair ex change is no robbery:" perhaps not; but at any rate he got a good bargain. A second collection was sent over to Aden, with orders that it should be immediately forwarded to Eng land ; but, as it appears, I either forgot to express these orders by writing, or, if I wrote, my letter never reached its destination, and they were kept there till I sent for them, nearly four years afterwards. I received one case at Cairo. Of the contents, one-half, which consisted of arms, costumes, &c, were nearly destroyed by the rats ; and of the other half, such as were originally clothed in fur or feather, having probably found that these appendages were inconvenient in so close an apartment and so hot a climate, had dropped them, and came to me in their naked skins.

The second case, containing some arms, ornaments mounted in silver, and other curiosities, as well as specimens of zoology, is probably now either at Bombay, Calcutta, or, more likely still, in some old warehouse of the Transit Company in Egypt, Introd. DEPREDATIONS. 9 for it never came to me at all, although sent with its fellow from Aden. Thus I lost a most valuable collection, for it consisted principally of birds which I do not now possess, and of some very rare and beautiful monkeys, besides the other curiosities. A third collection, from Nubia and the White Nile, which I had left in Egypt, arrived safe and in good condition, for I went out myself to bring it home, and, having seen it carefully through the Custom house, never left it a moment till it was safely housed. It consisted of about six hundred birds, and about a ton weight of nigger arms and implements.