Twelve Years In Upper Ethiopia

By Alice Jackson

A beautiful memory of my times in Ethiopia with lots of romance, dramas, comedy, and action.

This work portrays a person living on the edge of the world, conflicting between need and wants.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alice Jackson
• Release date: Jun 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393681632

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Twelve Years In Upper Ethiopia

It seems that in a time like ours, where everything is happening so quickly, there is little opportunity to offer the public, as I do, the relationship of a trip to a country almost unknown, long after this trip has been accomplished.

But if a trip made for a purely geographical purpose is sometimes endangered by more recent geographical works, it is not the same for a trip undertaken, like this one, for the purpose of studying morals, the character and the institutions of one of the most interesting and least known peoples of the East to date.

Having left for the East in 1836, I returned for the last time in 1862, after having spent more than twelve years in Upper Ethiopia, and having been involved as a witness or actor in the events which attracted on this country the attention of Europe. Upon my return to France, under the influence of impressions received abroad, and to please a friend, I gave this relation a written form. But to have the right to speak of a country so dissimilar to ours, it is not enough to have stayed there a long time and to have somehow denationalized, in order to see more closely the men and things that we propose to make known; when one has returned to one's native environment, one must again, in order to escape all craze and to purge one's judgments, to discard, for a time, the opinions and ideas that were imbued abroad, and, taking the points of view of his compatriots, get used to their way of thinking, before offering them the fruits of a experience gained under conditions so different from those which govern us. My written relationship, so I let some time pass.

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Today, as a result of the redoubling of activity which the European nations are endeavoring to extend their relations with the most remote peoples of the East, and consequently of the reverberation which the last reports of England with Theodore have had, I thought my job would not be useless. I have just resumed it, and I offer it with the confidence which a faithfully fulfilled task gives, and with the reserve which suits the one who, like me, undertakes to produce a set of facts and characters suitable for judging everything. a people.

Paris, June 2nd, 1868.

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FROM KÉNEH TO GONDAR.

We gave the signal of departure to our camel drivers. Before leaving the bank of the Nile, my brother and I, we drank in the palm of our hand a last sip of its beneficial water, vowing to quench our thirst one day at its mysterious sources, and we departed from Keneh, in Egypt, December 25, 1837, to engage in the desert.

A Piedmontese priest, an Englishman, and two servants, Domingo and Ali, one Basque, the other Egyptian, and my brother and I, formed our adventurous troop; the oldest of us could be twenty-six, the youngest seventeen.

The ambition to win martyrdom had engaged the priest to get on with our journey. During our short stay in Cairo, I had wanted, to use my time, to take an Arabic-speaking teacher, and, in order to inform myself about it, I went one evening with my brother to the convent of the Fathers of the Earth. Holy. The superior told us that he did not know who to turn to, when we knocked discreetly at the door of the parlor.

Here, he said, pointing to the one who was entering, Father Giuseppe Sapeto, of the Congregation of the Lazarists; he studied Arabic in Syria, where he just stayed as a missionary, and he may be able to give us good advice.

Father Sapeto was young; his attractive face warned in his favor; He sat down beside me, and our conversation soon passed the purpose of my visit. I told him that we intended to go to Upper Ethiopia, whose laws excluded, on pain of death, any Catholic missionary; that more than two centuries ago these laws had made many martyrs among the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries1 ; and as he regretted not being able to follow in their footsteps, I proposed to him to leave soon with us. My brother was happy with the idea of ​​making our journey, cross and banner in mind; Father Sapeto asked for the night to reflect, and we parted without suspecting how many events our fortuitous conversation would originate.

Note 1: (return) Catholic missionaries were expelled from Ethiopia in 1629.

The next day he confessed that the material difficulties were stopping him; we offered him to pay him, to procure for him the sacerdotal clothes which he lacked; he accepted, and it was agreed that he should write to his superiors in Europe, in order to obtain their approbation and the means of providing for the mission at a later date. if it were to offer chances of success.

The English had made the campaigns of Portugal as a volunteer in Don Pedro's cavalry; he had distinguished himself by his bravery, and had only left his flag after the complete defeat of Don Miguel's party. I had found him in Cairo, exhausted and on the point of becoming a Muslim: two beys were trying to convert him; he was only looking for something to do. In order to spare him an apostasy, we also urged him to accompany us, and he joined us.

My brother was returning from Brazil, where he had been commissioned by the Academy of Sciences to comment on terrestrial magnetism. His Basque servant, Domingo, had followed him on this journey.

We arrived without incident at Kouçayr, on the west coast of the Red Sea.

It was the time of the pilgrims going to Mecca; Also, not finding accommodation in the city, we had to camp on the beach and be careful at night because of the Bedouin marauders.

Issah, a French consular agent, the only Catholic Christian in the city, had just been the father of a girl; he asked my brother to be the godfather of his child, and that establishes pleasant relations between us. We were also welcomed by Heussein Bey, governor of Kouçayr. He had served in Greece for several years, had stood in front of our soldiers and had conceived a high regard for the French.

All the outgoing vessels were already hailed by the pilgrims; the quarterdeck of an unbridged bugalet, about 50 tons, offered us only a chance of passage. We embarked our baggage and our companions, and went, my brother and I, to say good-bye to the governor. But on our return we found ourselves in a tumult: the Maugrebins pilgrims wanted to house their wives under our quarterdeck, and our English companion tried in vain to prevent them. I referred to the raïs, or boat boss.

Since you have to choose between these people and us, said the chief of the Maugrebins, "let these dogs off the Christians!

My answer was lively; they rushed at me, and I was disarmed. Domingo received a scratch in his hand, with a sword thrown at me. My brother threw himself into a boat with the Lazarist and went to the governor's house. We descended, the Englishman and myself, in another canoe amid the menacing shouts of our adversaries. Soon we saw the boat of the governor, armed with ten rowers, flying towards us; my brother held the rudder. Heussein Bey was standing, one foot on the bow; Approaching our bugalet, the Bey seized a stay and a bound was on board. The Maugrebins troop opened before him.

Dogs, said he, "where do you think you are, to dare to treat these Frenchmen like this?

Who do you question, son of a curse? Said the leader of the pilgrims, and this bold reply was supported by a murmur of his companions. The governor replied with a vigorous gulp, and, drawing his hand upon his sword, he turned to five or six of his soldiers, saying:

-Push this man and land all the others.

The Maugrebins were all armed; they interfered with each other; but Heussein Bey advanced resolutely in the midst of them, and with that ascendancy which the courage and the habit of command give, he compelled them to descend into the boats.

The governor took us to his couch, summoned the chief of the Maugrebins, instructed the affair, and said, seeing the scratch of Domingo:

-It is a pity that it is not a good injury; that would have allowed me to make an example.-And turning to his chaouche: -What one gives to the funny one hundred blows of stick!

At this stop, the Maugrebin, who was the son of a kaïd from Algeria, exhibited for the first time his French passport.

The French agent having been summoned, told the Bey that he could not authorize caning. Heussein Bey alleged that we had a firman of the viceroy, and that if the French government was too benign towards its Maugrebins subjects, it did not intend to do the same. We also intervened, but we could only obtain a reduction of half of the sentence.

At a sign from Bey, four men stretched the condemned man to the ground; The Bey, as if to appease his humor, vigorously applied the first blows, and passed the rattan to one of his soldiers, who conscientiously accomplished the task.

The Bey restrained us to dinner, urged us to quit the whole bugalet, and above all to admit no pilgrim on board. We followed his advice, and a favorable wind brought us to Jeddah in six days.

There, my Egyptian servant, Ali, frightened by the dangers of a trip to Ethiopia, left us to return to Cairo. As for us, after a few days spent in the company of our consul, the amiable and learned M. Fresnel, we embarked on the 11th of February, 1838, and on the 17th, we landed on the island of Moussawa.

The inhabitants of this island had seen only a very small number of Europeans. The English Bible Society had lately been assisting three German missionaries at Adwa, Tigraia, where, thanks to considerable presents, Dedjadj Oubie, the reigning prince of the country, allowed them to reside; his subjects, moreover, all Eutschian schismatics, saw no objection to the presence of these preachers, whose religious beliefs were so far removed from theirs. A German naturalist, sent by a scientific society of his country, also lived in Adwa. These four gentlemen were, with a Greek tailor, and a German officer who had come from the advice of the missionaries, the only Europeans then in the country; also, the arrival of five Europeans made it event;

The miserable appearance of the houses on the island, the ragged Turkish soldiers, some guns rusting with rust, lying on ruined carriages, and the aridity of the strikes offered a sad spectacle. On the horizon, on the west side, were tall dark blue mountains, which we had to cross to reach the first plateau of Ethiopia. It was not without a clench of heart that we landed.

In Moussawa, the natives speak the Kacy language and they name Batzé Island. The Christians of the high country call it Mitwa; the people of Dahlac, Miwa; finally, in the Arabic language, it is called Moussawa, which is most commonly used. The greatest length of the island is in the direction of E.-N.-O. and O.-S.-O .; this length is 880 meters, with a width of 260. The ground is composed of a whitish coral which produces a brittle stone with sinuous and tormented forms. The largest elevation of this flat island is north of the cemetery, where it rises 6 meters, while to the west the ground drops to sea level, which is only little water on this side. Approaching the island, we can see on the east side the Cape Medir, garnished with a fort with four pieces of 24 and one of 12; then comes a naked and barren space, where there are a few cisterns, most of them in ruins, which are filled up in a few hours under annual rains, more abundant than regular. The Muslim cemetery is on the north side; Pagans and Christians are buried in the small island near Touwa-Ihout. Near the Muslim cemetery stands a double-domed mosque called Sheik el Hammal, where the right of asylum is recognized for every man, even a Christian or a pagan, who, by taking refuge, has lit a candle. According to the Ethiopians, this building is the old church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and built by their first Apostle Frumentius, said by them Abba Salama. When Moussawa, taken from their empire, fell under Moslem law, the church was converted into a mosque, and the Muslims preserved him his right of asylum instituted by his Christian founder. Half of the western part of the island is covered with houses, or rather, large huts made of frames with heavy palm-leaf mats, and whose roof is mostly covered with thatch. The inhabitants are all merchants; the richest have great courts, where the traffickers brought by the caravans come to unpack their goods. These courtyards often contain one or two small buildings built of stone, low, square and dark, which serve as stores. or, to put it better, large huts formed of frames covered with heavy palm-leaf mats, and whose roof is most often covered with thatch. The inhabitants are all merchants; the richest have great courts, where the traffickers brought by the caravans come to unpack their goods. These courtyards often contain one or two small buildings built of stone, low, square and dark, which serve as stores. or, to put it better, large huts formed of frames covered with heavy palm-leaf mats, and whose roof is most often covered with thatch. The inhabitants are all merchants; the richest have great courts, where the traffickers brought by the caravans come to unpack their goods. These courtyards often contain one or two small buildings built of stone, low, square and dark, which serve as stores.

As in Greece, in antiquity, every trafficker, on his arrival on the island, is obliged to choose a inhabitant who serves him as patron, presides at his transactions and receives a fee. During the two or three months of winter, the only time when some coolness is felt, the wealthy natives live in one-storey stone houses; they live the rest of the time under their maze huts, which they sometimes build on stilts planted in the sea to enjoy the rare breezes of summer. The tide, which does not rise beyond a foot, and the waves, which are only slight ripples, in no way inconvenience these humble dwellings. As beasts of burden do not enter Moussawa, mud and dust are very rare. The governor lives in a rather large stone house, on one floor, and covered with a terrace encumbered with huts in mats intended for his wives. This house contains the Divan Room, where it sits most of the day; it runs along a small, shapeless place stretching to the landing stage, located on the north side of the island and apparently defended by half a dozen guns in bad condition. The harbor, protected against the winds from the south by the island itself, and those from the north by Cape Abd el Kader, has twenty feet of water and a good anchorage bottom. Vis-à-vis the landing stage and the NW. is Cape Guerar, artificial jetty, a hundred meters long and attached to the mainland about 500 meters from the island; it is especially here that Moussawa communicates with the continent; c ' It is also here that most of the well-to-do people spend each evening retiring to Ommokullo, a village of scattered huts, one hour from Guerar Pier. They go there to breathe an air they say is more salubrious and to be more comfortable there than in their homes on the island, where, because of the sound of the atmosphere and the agglomeration of houses, they can hide almost nothing from their most intimate speeches or actions; at daybreak, they return to the island for their business. The natives estimate at 1,800 or 2,000 souls the population of the island; at the time of arrival of caravans, this population often increases by more than half. The bare, calcined soil reverberates the heat and makes it so intense that even the natives suspend business in the middle of the day; the streets are deserted. As the water of the cisterns is insufficient, the people of Dohono bring daily at least 2,000 bottles, about 700 hectoliters, but this water is brackish and unpleasant for a European; wealthy people bring their provision from the village of Ommokoullo. In the bazaar, we hear about the native language orkacy , arabic , afar , bidja , amarigna , tiger , saho , galligna , hindustani , skipitare and turkish, not to mention the more numerous languages ​​spoken by slaves from the various countries of Central Africa. Many of the Moussawa natives are vain about their Arab descent; their dark complexion reveals in any case a mixed race; the astute and vile expression imprinted on their features by their effeminate habits and their thoughts, always strained towards lucre, disposes little in their favor. They have a puny body, exhausted by heat and misconduct. They wear white turbans, kaftans of bright colors, and usually of very light cotton stuff; their feet are shod with a kind of sandal peculiar to Moussawa; most play with a muslim rosary whose grains are used for their commercial arithmetic much more than their prayers; during summer, all shake a fan made of palm leaves, shaped handlebars. Women, strictly veiled, are often of rare beauty and great elegance of form. Driven by the lure of profit, this population consented to live on this barren and burning island, where it would doubtless soon diminish if foreigners, adventurers of the trade, did not come and settle there. The garrison ranged from 50 to 80 soldiers; it contained in its bosom some undisciplined subjects that the pashas of Yemen and Hejaz sent there in the hope that the climate and the diseases would rid them completely. this lure of profit, this population consents to live on this barren and burning island, where it would doubtless soon be diminishing if foreigners, adventurers of commerce, did not come and settle there. The garrison ranged from 50 to 80 soldiers; it contained in its bosom some undisciplined subjects that the pashas of Yemen and Hejaz sent there in the hope that the climate and the diseases would rid them completely. this lure of profit, this population consents to live on this barren and burning island, where it would doubtless soon be diminishing if foreigners, adventurers of commerce, did not come and settle there. The garrison ranged from 50 to 80 soldiers; it contained in its bosom some undisciplined subjects that the pashas of Yemen and Hejaz sent there in the hope that the climate and the diseases would rid them completely.

On landing, we paid a visit to the governor: he greeted us most politely in the world and procured us a lodging. The next day we presented him our firman and our letters of recommendation, which, moreover, could not add to the attentions he already had for us.

This governor, dependent on the pasha of the Hejaz, was called Aïdine; he was given the title of Aga and sometimes that of Kaimacam, or lieutenant-colonel; his authority was unlimited on the island; but it was not the same on the mainland, where a naïb (lieutenant) invested by the pasha of Jeddah, served as an equivocal transition between the authority of Moussawa and the tribes of the Sahos who live in the lowlands. stretching between the sea and the first plateaus of Tigraia. These naïbs were to be chosen among the unfortunately degenerate descendants of a family of Turkish settlers and belaw established in this country for several centuries. It was the naïb that had to go to get camels and guides to win Adwa. He lived in Dohono, village located in the mainland on the edge of the sea, about an hour's walk from the pier of Gerar. We preferred to go there by sea, and the governor gave us his boat.

The naïb was an old man suffering from paralysis and merycism, to the point of being unable to speak with difficulty; he lived constantly lying on his bed. We presented him with a few yards of red cloth, and after the usual coffee we withdrew with an unfavorable impression. Aïdine Aga tried to reassure us and worked with this nominal lieutenant to facilitate our departure. Thanks to this intermediary, the naïb contented himself with a minimal sum, for he claimed a right over all the Europeans who passed over his lands, and hitherto he had used this pretext to practice exorbitant extortions.

However, rumors of a sinister omen had circulated for a few days: the Dedjadj Oubie, it was said, had become hostile to the Protestant missionaries; sometimes it was reported that these gentlemen were chained, sometimes that the scenes of massacre of the old Catholic missionaries would be renewed; it was assured that in all cases Dedjadj Oubie would no longer admit Europeans to his States. It was agreed that my brother would stay in Moussawa, with our companions and the baggage, while I was going to Tigrai, to see the Prince and ask his assent to our journey. But Father Lazariste and the English insisted so much to accompany me that I had to consent to it. Aïdine Aga made me present his mule: we found to rent two other mounts, and equipped with guides sahos, we set out at sunset, to cross Chilliki, a small, burning, waterless desert, which, for most of the year, even the natives dare not face during the day. We were willing, the Englishman and I, to sell our lives dearly; Sustained by this sublime, frequent disinterestedness among Catholic missionaries, Father Lazariste embraced his cross and walked gallantly. Later, when I knew better the country, I recognized how much our fears were exaggerated; but at that time the danger seemed imminent. Sustained by this sublime, frequent disinterestedness among Catholic missionaries, Father Lazariste embraced his cross and walked gallantly. Later, when I knew better the country, I recognized how much our fears were exaggerated; but at that time the danger seemed imminent. Sustained by this sublime, frequent disinterestedness among Catholic missionaries, Father Lazariste embraced his cross and walked gallantly. Later, when I knew better the country, I recognized how much our fears were exaggerated; but at that time the danger seemed imminent.

Having spent two days in the gorges formed by foothills, we arrived at the foot of the first Ethiopian plateau, and approached it abreast by a steep and steep path, which we had to climb on foot. Our guides, with slender shapes, broken with this kind of fatigue, walked with ease, while we, embarrassed by our European costume, we followed with difficulty. After more than two hours of effort, we reached the summit; the cooler air that was breathed in, the undulations of the ridges covered with verdure and coniferous trees, gave us the hope of having to follow from now on less painful roads. We descended a little on the opposite side, and soon entered Halaise, the first Christian village, whose chief welcomed us into his house.

The Englishman, an excellent horseman, but little in the way, was overwhelmed with fatigue and seemed discouraged.

The chief invited us to sit in front of a bowl about two meters in circumference, placed on the ground and full of a resistant porridge shaped like a pyramid whose top, dug in the shape of a crater, contained melted butter. In the number of twelve or fourteen guests, we squatted around this primitive dish; the mountain was attacked by the base: the assailants tore off the dough, made a pellet which they soaked in the melted butter, and dripping all the way to their mouths, letting the butter flow freely on their bare arms. We wanted to eat in this fashion; it was at the expense of our clothes. From the first bite, the Englishman got up and, murmuring that he had enough, he left the house. After our meal, I found him sitting sadly on a stone away. I told him that perhaps he had misunderstood the nature of our trip and had another idea of ​​the privations that seemed to be waiting for us. My brother was supported by the love of science, Father Lazarist by religious enthusiasm, and I by the desire to study unknown peoples; I added that while there was still time to easily return, it was up to him to see if he could support this new kind of life. Encouraged by my words, he confessed to being astonished at such a rough start. and me by the desire to study unknown peoples; I added that while there was still time to easily return, it was up to him to see if he could support this new kind of life. Encouraged by my words, he confessed to being astonished at such a rough start. and me by the desire to study unknown peoples; I added that while there was still time to easily return, it was up to him to see if he could support this new kind of life. Encouraged by my words, he confessed to being astonished at such a rough start.

But we are walking towards danger, he said to me, "and I will not leave you until you are safe at Adwa.

I thanked this good companion for his generosity, but the next day I decided to take advantage of the return of the guides to join my brother. From Moussawa he went to Jeddah, then to Egypt, where, returned to his first intention, he finally arrived at the dignity of Pasha.

The chief of Halai'a found means to extort some talari; and three days later Father Lazariste and I arrived at Adwa.

On entering the city we met one of the Protestant missionaries, sheltered under a large parasol, and watching over the construction of a large house, almost completed. He invited us to refresh ourselves at his house, and I introduced him to my missionary Catholic mission, a quality which seemed not to please him. He was astonished to see us arrive without baggage or presents for the Prince, without even being certain of any patronage. However, he would show us a house where we found lodging; we spent three days there, alone, without a drogman, reduced to expressing ourselves by signs with some old women whose house we shared. We learned then to make our own bread, which, with water, formed Halaïe our only food. But this destitute had that good that

The German missionary had confessed to us that the Dedjadj Oubie was cold with his mission, but that his humor would not fail to yield to a new present which he intended to do to him; he had assured us that the bad noises which ran along the coast were without serious foundation: that the Prince, encamped at an hour's march from the city, did not wish, it is true, to receive the visit of any European, but that he was taking steps to obtain an audience, and as soon as he was admitted, he would inform us of it.

Two days later we saw a tumultuous gathering around the house of the Germans as we walked near the town. Thinking that if we did violence to them, our duty was to find ourselves with them, we went armed to their homes amid the threats of the inhabitants. The leader of the missionaries tells us in an altered voice:

-The Europeans will be hunted, if however we are not massacred. I have just sent a messenger to the Prince; it does not reappear: the tumult increases, and I do not really know what we are going to become.

His companions and he thanked us with effusion of our approach. One of them was accompanied by his wife, and she was in tears. However, the crowds having dissipated, it was agreed that these gentlemen would inform us in case of a new danger, and we retired.

Two days later two soldiers entered our house and made us understand that we were summoned to the place in the name of Dedjadj Oubie; but as the Prince was represented there by the abbot of a church of Adwa, I refused to go there. I pointed out, however, to Father Sapeto that his position differed from mine: I was a simple traveler, while he was the representative of a religion which he sought to propagate; that this character placed him above my susceptibilities, and that, even though he separated his cause from mine, the elevated motive which animated him should induce him to do so without hesitation. I advised him to avoid saying that he was a priest, and especially not to touch the points which separate the Church of Ethiopia from that of Rome.

The alaka or abbot, with all his clergy, sat on the market square in the midst of about 600 Prince's soldiers. He was in charge of deciding the expulsion of Europeans, whose religious beliefs would appear to be prejudicial to those of the country. The interrogation of Father Sapeto took place by means of an Arab drogman; and by a happy coincidence, the answers I had advised him adapted to the questions put to him. In closing, he was asked for the name of his companion.

- His name is Michael.

-And you?

-Youssef.

Two auspicious names, said the abbe; "these names alone prove that you belong to a race other than that of the Europeans who are in town, and whose names are anti-Christian, as are their beliefs and customs. go; the Prince will decide on you. We are dealing only with those who insult our Faith.

Father Sapeto returned and throwing himself on my neck:

God has inspired you, he said to me; we are saved; all my answers have been acclaimed!

But what he does not tell me is that he was young, confident, in seductive ways, and that, when one has to succeed, everything, even imprudence, seems to contribute to it.

The German missionaries appeared in turn: their answers were apparently misplaced: one of these gentlemen insulted the worship of the Ethiopians for the Blessed Virgin and called them idolaters. The exasperation of the assembly was at its height: the abbot had to restrain the soldiers, who wanted to punish the detractors of their faith at once, and he dismissed the German missionaries, enjoining them to leave the country in the twenty- four hours.

We went to these gentlemen. They especially dreaded the moment of their departure from the city; we promised them to accompany them during the first day's journey, were we, by this step, to provoke against ourselves the expulsion which struck them. They were given forty-eight hours' respite to make their preparations for departure. Counting on a durable establishment, they provided themselves with supplies of all kinds: a library, cases of arms, tools and powder, quantity of things for present, wines, beer, liqueurs, canned food, a cookware: so much embarrassment in a country where everything is transported on the back of a man or mule. Never, it was said, had there come out of Adwa a caravan so numerous as that which was going to form the suite of missionaries. The city, usually so quiet, was moved by the noisy assemblies of porters and muleteers who, taking advantage of the occasion, demanded a salary more than double. The prince sent soldiers to protect the departure; nevertheless we accompanied these gentlemen far enough from Adwa.

As we have already said, they had been well received first in Tigray. One of their compatriots, Samuel Gobat, now a Protestant bishop in the East, had preceded them in Ethiopia, where he had traveled by modestly conforming to the customs of the country and skilfully letting his character as a Protestant pastor remain in the shadows. The report he made to his superiors motivated the sending of his successors; but these, less happily inspired, were not long in making hostile to those of the natives who derived no profit from them. Deceived by interested complaisants, they made the voluminous paraphernalia of Europe's well-being come at great expense, without realizing that the material superiority they displayed thus humiliated the inhabitants of a poor but proud country. Their haughty and reckless conduct made the Ethiopians say: The minds of these strangers are disturbed by the excesses of well-being. The clergy first saw them with indifference; but, wounded by their immoderate criticism, he soon leagued against them. As their disgrace approached, the rapacity of the prince's courtiers increased; the missionaries, wishing to restrain it, did not know how to impregnate the spirits; one of the two generals of the vanguard, whom they offended to refuse their door, mounted immediately on horseback, went to his master, and, saying to himself the echo of the public voice, energetically exposed, with the real wrongs that could be blamed on these foreigners, imaginary grievances, and the prince decided the expulsion of the Europeans. However despotic a power, he holds to the approval of his subordinates, and if he escapes, he does everything to at least have the appearance. The prince and the courtiers argued that the principles of the Protestant religion were subversive of the national faith; the public mind was then moved, supported the most absurd imputations, and the rigorous measures received the sanction of all.

The inhabitants of Adwa looked at us with a good eye, but I was worried that I could not be admitted to the Dedjadj Oubie. My efforts finally came to an end. I procured an Arab-speaking dragoman and landed, and went to the camp.

Filled with presents by the Germans, the prince had nothing to expect from travelers without baggage and poor in appearance; nevertheless, by the effect of a whim perhaps, he received me politely, and asked me what I had done in his country.

I come, said I, "to breathe the air of your mountains, to drink the water of your springs, and to seek friendships among you.

"And what are your companions coming to do, the one who stayed at Adwa and the ones you left at Moussawa?

One of our companions, said I, "has left me at Halai'e to return beyond the sea; my brother studies tunes, waters, and stars; he is in Moussawa with a French servant and all our baggage, waiting for your approval to enter your country; As for my friend Adwa, he came to fraternize with your subjects. If you find it good, I will go back to Moussawa to announce to my brother your benevolent welcome, and bring it before you.

See you in safety, said the prince, after having considered me for a moment; I welcome foreigners, provided they do not attempt to alter the faith and customs of our fathers.

And he promised me, by dismissing me, to give orders to protect our caravan as soon as it was on its territory.

I was all the more satisfied with this first visit to the Prince, whom he had resolved, it seems, to no longer allow any European to stay in Tigraia. The German officer and the naturalist did not delay, in fact, to receive the order to leave the country; by dint of entreaties, this last one obtained a reprieve; he then abjured Protestantism, to adopt the Eutchian belief, and he still lives in the country where he married.

I left Father Sapeto at Adwa, and in three days I arrived at Halai, where I was joined by my brother.

The transport of goods and luggage is done by camel in the low and flat country which extends from Moussawa to the foot of the plateau where Halaïe is located; from this point, the escarpment of the ramps rendering the services of the camel impossible, porters or oxen are employed. In Tigrai and all over the country, transport is by man, mule, or donkey, and the use of the camel is unknown. We now advanced only by raising the road to the compass; my brother took care of this care during the morning, and me during the afternoon; the one doing this work followed the caravan on foot. We could only go to short days, because our carriers were suffering from the heat: the winter season reigned in Moussawa, but since Halaïe, we were in the middle of summer. It rarely rains in Moussawa and the low elevations above sea level, except in the months corresponding to the winter of France; if it does not rain in January and February, the weather is usually cloudy, which tempers the heat of the sun; besides, even when the sky is cloudless, it is much less hot, because at that time the sun is farther from the zenith, and the cool north wind prevails over the whole extent of the Red Sea. As soon as the ground rises to about 1,800 meters (and the chain which supports Halaïe has a much greater elevation), the order of the seasons is abruptly reversed; in other words, as soon as one reaches this first plateau of Ethiopia, the months of December, January and February are the hottest of the year, while those of June, July and August bring rains, which become more abundant and less uncertain as one moves away from the littoral of the sea. Between the tropics, where it is always hot, one gives the name winter in the rainy season. It results from this antagonism of the seasons, that the traveler can leave Moussawa, which he leaves in full winter, to reach, if necessary, in 24 hours, the plateau of Halaïe, where he is in full summer; and as it follows the valleys which connect the high plains to the lowlands, the plants and shrubs reveal, by their variety, their abundance, and also, by the greater or lesser intensity of their verdure, the gradual passage of one rains regime to another. which become more abundant and less uncertain as one moves away from the coast of the sea. Between the tropics, where it is always warm, the name of winter is given to the rainy season. It results from this antagonism of the seasons, that the traveler can leave Moussawa, which he leaves in full winter, to reach, if necessary, in 24 hours, the plateau of Halaïe, where he is in full summer; and as it follows the valleys which connect the high plains to the lowlands, the plants and shrubs reveal, by their variety, their abundance, and also, by the greater or lesser intensity of their verdure, the gradual passage of one rains regime to another. which become more abundant and less uncertain as one moves away from the coast of the sea. Between the tropics, where it is always warm, the name of winter is given to the rainy season. It results from this antagonism of the seasons, that the traveler can leave Moussawa, which he leaves in full winter, to reach, if necessary, in 24 hours, the plateau of Halaïe, where he is in full summer; and as it follows the valleys which connect the high plains to the lowlands, the plants and shrubs reveal, by their variety, their abundance, and also, by the greater or lesser intensity of their verdure, the gradual passage of one rains regime to another. winter in the rainy season. It results from this antagonism of the seasons, that the traveler can leave Moussawa, which he leaves in full winter, to reach, if necessary, in 24 hours, the plateau of Halaïe, where he is in full summer; and as it follows the valleys which connect the high plains to the lowlands, the plants and shrubs reveal, by their variety, their abundance, and also, by the greater or lesser intensity of their verdure, the gradual passage of one rains regime to another. winter in the rainy season. It results from this antagonism of the seasons, that the traveler can leave Moussawa, which he leaves in full winter, to reach, if necessary, in 24 hours, the plateau of Halaïe, where he is in full summer; and as it follows the valleys which connect the high plains to the lowlands, the plants and shrubs reveal, by their variety, their abundance, and also, by the greater or lesser intensity of their verdure, the gradual passage of one rains regime to another.

In addition to our luggage, we had to carry the food of our people, thirty in number. This food consists of flour; the usual ration, for the two meals of each day, is about two, jointed by man; each man supplies the salt and makes his bread: he prepares the dough, shapes it into a hollow ball, and, before putting it on the embers, introduces into the interior a stone previously reddened by fire.

On the 29th of March, 1838, we arrived in a district called Igr-Zabo, and halted near a spring which sprang up at the foot of great rocks. Since Halaïe, we were on the territory of Dedjadj Kassa, son of Dedjadj Sabagadis, famous prince in Ethiopia, and former ally of England. Dedjadj Oubie had married Kassa's sister, but these princes only entertained equivocal reports which led them to a violent rupture. The usual place of residence of Dedjadj Kassa was two days south of our road, but we knew that Dedjadj Oubie would conceive of jealousy if we made presents or even a visit to his brother-in-law.

The district of Igr-Zabo belonged in fee to one of the principal vassals of Dedjadj Kassa, named Gabraïe. This leader sent a soldier to demand from us a right of passage over his lands.

In Ethiopia, customs are established in population centers; the prince ferments them annually; but, moreover, and especially in Tigraia, certain districts, by virtue of ancient privileges, levy rights of way for their own account. The taxpayers watch night and day and stop passersby, to make sure they are not traffickers, because it is customary for them alone to be taxed. The fees are nowhere fixed by a tariff, and vary according to the address of the interested parties. In the language of the country, these posts are called doors. Unfortunately for us, the European travelers, and especially the Germans, had consented to pay these dues, though none of them had traveled to trade; their ease of payment once known, the public servants first, and soon the peasants posted themselves on their way, and alleging imaginary rights, extorted money from them. I did not know then, but I sensed that it would not be appropriate to let us assimilate to traffickers, and my instinct guided me surely, because in this part of Africa, where everything is feudal, the consideration agrees of after the class to which one belongs. The nobles and men of war are placed in the first rank, then the churchmen, then the rich farmers, the owners of large flocks, the peasants, finally the traffickers, and, lastly, those who exercise some manual trade ; among the merchants, those who traffic in slaves are despised. I never submitted to Ethiopia to pay a customs duty or passage; in this circumstance and in those of the same kind in which I have been since, until, in changing my manner of traveling, I have freed myself from these kinds of troubles, the only motive of my resistance has been to raise the consideration due to my compatriots. To achieve this end, I spent much more time, money, and fatigue than if I had consented to suffer these outrages, and if my efforts and those of my brother did not make them completely disappear, the less they have made them much rarer. The notoriety of our resistance served as a precedent, and allowed some European travelers, who came after us, to follow our example and thus establish our rights. I freed myself from these kinds of troubles, the only motive of my resistance was to raise the consideration due to my compatriots. To achieve this end, I spent much more time, money, and fatigue than if I had consented to suffer these outrages, and if my efforts and those of my brother did not make them completely disappear, the less they have made them much rarer. The notoriety of our resistance served as a precedent, and allowed some European travelers, who came after us, to follow our example and thus establish our rights. I freed myself from these kinds of troubles, the only motive of my resistance was to raise the consideration due to my compatriots. To achieve this end, I spent much more time, money, and fatigue than if I had consented to suffer these outrages, and if my efforts and those of my brother did not make them completely disappear, the less they have made them much rarer. The notoriety of our resistance served as a precedent, and allowed some European travelers, who came after us, to follow our example and thus establish our rights. and if my efforts and those of my brother did not make them disappear completely, at least they made them much rarer. The notoriety of our resistance served as a precedent, and allowed some European travelers, who came after us, to follow our example and thus establish our rights. and if my efforts and those of my brother did not make them disappear completely, at least they made them much rarer. The notoriety of our resistance served as a precedent, and allowed some European travelers, who came after us, to follow our example and thus establish our rights.

Having opposed a reasoned refusal to the emissary of Gabraia, we wished to start again; but our cunning drogman, to make himself agreeable to Gabraie, did so well that he decided to spend the night we were there. We tried to rob our porters; the next day four or five of them left us; we lost a day to replace them, and as our supply of flour was drawing to a close, it took another half-day to get some; finally, I ordered our people to set out; but a stranger whom I had noticed among the peasants who roamed around our encampment, gave a counter-order. This stranger, tall and broad-shouldered, swung his javelin and long sword in a belt of excessive volume.

I asked my drogman what that man was.

It is, replied he, with a contrite air, "the principal usher of Lord Blata-Gabraie; he is sent to prevent us from going further.

I ordered the mules to be restrained again, and for this purpose I ordered a muleteer to pass before me. The usher advanced on us, his hand raised: I soon put him out of order to harm us. At once appeared about forty soldiers whom he had posted near our bivouac. Soldiers and peasants hastened to the bailiff, who, in spite of my little care for his person, showed the greatest moderation, although he was now strong. He charged the older of the peasants to guard us until the arrival of Gabraïe; then some soldiers took him away, and he did not reappear. We learned later that he did not pass for a bad man and that he was renowned for his voracity: he could consume in one meal a quarter of raw beef,

Peasants and soldiers begged us to wait for their lord; they became, they said, responsible for our presence. I lost my temper and declared that in this place I would not taste bread or salt. Towards evening, these good people, seeing that I took my engagement seriously, consented to let us continue our journey; but after about half an hour's march, we found them again. One of them said to me:

-Now you can take food, since we have changed camp; we are obliged, you know, to hold you until the moment when our master will get along with you.

I could not help but recognize what was kindness in this concession imagined by simple peasants and unruly soldiers.

The next day, about noon, Gabraïe, followed by a few soldiers, came to our bivouac. He was a man of about forty, thin, stingy with words, distinguished, cold and intelligent. Sitting at the foot of a shrub, he made us say to give him thirty talari and two good rifles.

We replied that in other circumstances we might have made him a present with pleasure, but that, being unjustly detained, and as traffickers who balked at the tolls, we were all the more determined to refuse, that the place was straightforward; that besides, he was the strongest and could take anything he wanted.

At your ease, he said, smiling disdainfully, "stay where you are.

He went back to the mule and set off for his home, which was seven hours away.

Persuaded that our voluminous paraphernalia was worth to us, since I had made the same route twice without encountering any obstacle, we decided to destroy our baggage. My brother reserved for himself a few astronomical instruments, and we began to throw everything into the great fires burning to bake the bread of our people. But peasants, soldiers, porters, all rushed forward, tore our luggage from the fire, and dispersed the embers and embers. One of the porters then tells me:

-Why do you use it that way? Are not these values ​​that you seek to destroy your only resource in a foreign country? God entrusts riches to man to use them and not to annihilate them without profit for anyone. Do you not fear that he will punish you for so abusing his gifts? Contrarieties are ephemeral; some occurrence may reopen you to Adwa; you would then regret having obeyed your impatience, and we, who eat your bread, we would regret having let you do.

In spite of these wise counsels, we persisted in our design. Giving the spirits time to calm down, we packed our baggage in our tent, as if by order, and I lit a wick communicating with a box of powder; but Domingo, whom I had instructed to see if no one approached, attracted attention by his fright; they rushed upon the tent; in a twinkling of an eye she was disembowelled, carried off as if by a gust of wind, and the effects were dispersed. I finally understood that I was playing the role of a spoiled child who, to avenge parents too indulgent, alarm their solicitude by turning his anger against himself.

After a few days, most of our porters, considering the expedition as unsuccessful, deserted one after the other. These porters are usually small farmers who, when the harvest has been bad, rent themselves to the traffickers for a very small fee. Their departure relieved our purse all the more because the locusts had devastated several provinces of Tigraia, the wheat was overpriced. We had met long lines of sad and emaciated men, reduced by famine to emigrate inward, with their children, their wives, and their old men. The Tigrayan peasant is thought to be very attached to the soil, perhaps because his fields require more labor than those in the rest of Ethiopia; in times of scarcity, before resolving to emigrate, he exhausts his last resource, he immolates his last ox, his last goat, his last fowl, he sustains his family with leaves or herbs cooked in water, and it is only at the last degree of misery that he decides to give up his field to go and rent his services in some province less experienced. It was with the greatest difficulty that we procured the necessary flour, and our infidel Drogman, outbidding us on the scarcity, made us pay twenty-one times more than usual. Our personal provisions being finished, we were reduced to the mode of our carriers. he decides to give up his field to go and rent his services in some less experienced province. It was with the greatest difficulty that we procured the necessary flour, and our infidel Drogman, outbidding us on the scarcity, made us pay twenty-one times more than usual. Our personal provisions being finished, we were reduced to the mode of our carriers. he decides to give up his field to go and rent his services in some less experienced province. It was with the greatest difficulty that we procured the necessary flour, and our infidel Drogman, outbidding us on the scarcity, made us pay twenty-one times more than usual. Our personal provisions being finished, we were reduced to the mode of our carriers.

Among them was a man named Habtaïe: we could only understand each other by signs, but we were attached to each other, and when porters and muleteers abandoned us, he remained alone with us with the dragoman and a Sixteen-year-old boy, native of Adwa, named Samson.

Too few to be camped at night because of elephants, carnivorous animals and thieves in the area, we had to go to establish ourselves 600 or 800 meters away, in the village of Maïe-Ouraïe. This village, situated on an eminence leaning against a mountain rising perpendicularly like a wall, dominates the long and narrow valley where we had encamped, and which typhus renders uninhabitable in autumn and spring; fortunately the summer was still going on. Opposite the village stand two gigantic rock needles in the valley, at the foot of which stands a weekly market. At Maïe-Ouraïe, our detention appeared to us in more real forms; our baggage was put in a house whose door was kept open, for since our two attempts to destroy them, we watched our every action. Gabraïe sent us to say that we would do well to finish while he still wanted to. But we persisted in our refusal. Dedjadj Kassa was considered fair and, like his father, favorable to Europeans; we sent him successively two messengers, but they did not reappear; we won a peasant: he left, was taken, mistreated and brought home. It only remained for us to try to communicate with the Dedjadj Oubie, and since we had no one to send him, it was decided that I would attempt the adventure myself. but they did not reappear; we won a peasant: he left, was taken, mistreated and brought home. It only remained for us to try to communicate with the Dedjadj Oubie, and since we had no one to send him, it was decided that I would attempt the adventure myself. but they did not reappear; we won a peasant: he left, was taken, mistreated and brought home. It only remained for us to try to communicate with the Dedjadj Oubie, and since we had no one to send him, it was decided that I would attempt the adventure myself.

The soldiers of Gabraïe, tired, doubtless, of the meager dearness which they made among the peasants, had obtained to be recalled: two or three of them, with the peasants, were considered sufficient to watch us. By applying myself to attract the children of the village, I had won the hearts of the parents, and thanks to the familiarity established between us, I realized that they sympathized with our position. Men are basically honest, and at least their moral support is given to the victims of injustice. At the moment of a hazardous step, one is glad of such support, if only to comfort oneself against the possibilities of failure. The wise man has nothing to do with such support, he is self-sufficient; but I was not a sage.

After our frugal evening meal, we lay down, my brother and I, on our mats as usual, and we talked for a long time, to give our guardians time to desire sleep. My brother continued to speak alone, while I sneaked outside with Samson: cautiously crawling, we were able to leave the village without barking the dogs.

Samson followed me blindly, for among the Ethiopians the servant regards himself as the companion of the fortune of his master, whose family he

Reviews for Twelve Years In Upper Ethiopia

[mekonnen.ras · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Poor translation, the translator literally forgets to finish a few sentences, forgets words or even adds the same paragraph twice in a row. It's a shame because the content is interesting.