Book: A Voyage to Abyssinia

F >> Father Jerome Lobo >> A Voyage to Abyssinia




Several of these Galles came to see me, and as it seemed they had
never beheld a white man before, they gazed on me with amazement; so
strong was their curiosity that they even pulled off my shoes and
stockings, that they might be satisfied whether all my body was of
the same colour with my face. I could remark, that after they had
observed me some time, they discovered some aversion from a white;
however, seeing me pull out my handkerchief, they asked me for it
with a great deal of eagerness; I cut it into several pieces that I
might satisfy them all, and distributed it amongst them; they bound
them about their heads, but gave me to understand that they should
have liked them better if they had been red: after this we were
seldom without their company, which gave occasion to an accident,
which though it seemed to threaten some danger at first, turned
afterwards to our advantage.

As these people were continually teasing us, our Portuguese one day
threatened in jest to kill one of them. The black ran in the utmost
dread to seek his comrades, and we were in one moment almost covered
with Galles; we thought it the most proper course to decline the
first impulse of their fury, and retired into our house. Our
retreat inspired them with courage; they redoubled their cries, and
posted themselves on an eminence near at hand that overlooked us;
there they insulted us by brandishing their lances and daggers. We
were fortunately not above a stone's cast from the sea, and could
therefore have retreated to our bark had we found ourselves reduced
to extremities. This made us not very solicitous about their
menaces; but finding that they continued to hover about our
habitation, and being wearied with their clamours, we thought it
might be a good expedient to fright them away by firing four muskets
towards them, in such a manner that they might hear the bullets hiss
about two feet over their heads. This had the effect we wished; the
noise and fire of our arms struck them with so much terror that they
fell upon the ground, and durst not for some time so much as lift up
their heads. They forgot immediately their natural temper, their
ferocity and haughtiness were softened into mildness and submission;
they asked pardon for their insolence, and we were ever after good
friends.

After our reconciliation we visited each other frequently, and had
some conversation about the journey I had undertaken, and the desire
I had of finding a new passage into Aethiopia. It was necessary on
this account to consult their lubo or king: I found him in a straw
hut something larger than those of his subjects, surrounded by his
courtiers, who had each a stick in his hand, which is longer or
shorter according to the quality of the person admitted into the
king's presence. The ceremony made use of at the reception of a
stranger is somewhat unusual; as soon as he enters, all the
courtiers strike him with their cudgels till he goes back to the
door; the amity then subsisting between us did not secure me from
this uncouth reception, which they told me, upon my demanding the
reason of it, was to show those whom they treated with that they
were the bravest people in the world, and that all other nations
ought to bow down before them. I could not help reflecting on this
occasion how imprudently I had trusted my life in the hands of men
unacquainted with compassion of civility, but recollecting at the
same time that the intent of my journey was such as might give me
hopes of the divine protection, I banished all thoughts but those of
finding a way into Aethiopia. In this strait it occurred to me that
these people, however barbarous, have some oath which they keep with
an inviolable strictness; the best precaution, therefore, that I
could use would be to bind them by this oath to be true to their
engagements. The manner of their swearing is this: they set a
sheep in the midst of them, and rub it over with butter, the heads
of families who are the chief in the nation lay their hands upon the
head of the sheep, and swear to observe their promise. This oath
(which they never violate) they explain thus: the sheep is the
mother of them who swear; the butter betokens the love between the
mother and the children, and an oath taken on a mother's head is
sacred. Upon the security of this oath, I made them acquainted with
my intention, an intention, they told me, it was impossible to put
in execution. From the moment I left them they said they could give
me no assurance of either life or liberty, that they were perfectly
informed both of the roads and inhabitants, that there were no fewer
than nine nations between us and Abyssinia, who were always
embroiled amongst themselves, or at war with the Abyssins, and
enjoyed no security even in their own territories. We were now
convinced that our enterprise was impracticable, and that to hazard
ourselves amidst so many insurmountable difficulties would be to
tempt Providence; despairing, therefore, that I should ever come
this way to Abyssinia, I resolved to return back with my
intelligence to my companion, whom I had left at Pate.

I cannot, however, leave this country without giving an account of
their manner of blood-letting, which I was led to the knowledge of
by a violent fever, which threatened to put an end to my life and
travels together. The distress I was in may easily be imagined,
being entirely destitute of everything necessary. I had resolved to
let myself blood, though I was altogether a stranger to the manner
of doing it, and had no lancet, but my companions hearing of a
surgeon of reputation in the place, went and brought him. I saw,
with the utmost surprise, an old Moor enter my chamber, with a kind
of small dagger, all over rusty, and a mallet in his hand, and three
cups of horn about half a foot long. I started, and asked what he
wanted. He told me to bleed me; and when I had given him leave,
uncovering my side, applied one of his horn cups, which he stopped
with chewed paper, and by that means made it stick fast; in the same
manner he fixed on the other two, and fell to sharpening his
instrument, assuring me that he would give me no pain. He then took
off his cups, and gave in each place a stroke with his poignard,
which was followed by a stream of blood. He applied his cups
several times, and every time struck his lancet into the same place;
having drawn away a large quantity of blood, he healed the orifices
with three lumps of tallow. I know not whether to attribute my cure
to bleeding or my fear, but I had from that time no return of my
fever.

When I came to Pate, in hopes of meeting with my associate, I found
that he was gone to Mombaza, in hopes of receiving information. He
was sooner undeceived than I, and we met at the place where we
parted in a few days; and soon afterwards left Pate to return to the
Indies, and in nine-and-twenty days arrived at the famous fortress
of Diou. We were told at this place that Alfonso Mendes, patriarch
of Aethiopia, was arrived at Goa from Lisbon. He wrote to us to
desire that we would wait for him at Diou, in order to embark there
for the Red Sea; but being informed by us that no opportunities of
going thither were to be expected at Diou, it was at length
determined that we should meet at Bazaim; it was no easy matter for
me to find means of going to Bazaim. However, after a very uneasy
voyage, in which we were often in danger of being dashed against the
rocks, or thrown upon the sands by the rapidity of the current, and
suffered the utmost distress for want of water, I landed at Daman, a
place about twenty leagues distant from Bazaim. Here I hire a catre
and four boys to carry me to Bazaim: these catres are a kind of
travelling couches, in which you may either lie or sit, which the
boys, whose business is the same with that of chairmen in our
country, support upon their shoulders by two poles, and carry a
passenger at the rate of eighteen or twenty miles a day. Here we at
length found the patriarch, with three more priests, like us,
designed for the mission of Aethiopia. We went back to Daman, and
from thence to Diou, where we arrived in a short time.



Chapter III



The author embarks with the patriarch, narrowly escapes shipwreck
near the isle of Socotora; enters the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea.
Some account of the coast of the Red Sea.


The patriarch having met with many obstacles and disappointments in
his return to Abyssinia, grew impatient of being so long absent from
his church. Lopo Gomez d'Abreu had made him an offer at Bazaim of
fitting out three ships at his own expense, provided a commission
could be procured him to cruise in the Red Sea. This proposal was
accepted by the patriarch, and a commission granted by the viceroy.
While we were at Diou, waiting for these vessels, we received advice
from Aethiopia that the emperor, unwilling to expose the patriarch
to any hazard, thought Dagher, a port in the mouth of the Red Sea,
belonging to a prince dependent on the Abyssins, a place of the
greatest security to land at, having already written to that prince
to give him safe passage through his dominions. We met here with
new delays; the fleet that was to transport us did not appear, the
patriarch lost all patience, and his zeal so much affected the
commander at Diou, that he undertook to equip a vessel for us, and
pushed the work forward with the utmost diligence. At length, the
long-expected ships entered the port; we were overjoyed, we were
transported, and prepared to go on board. Many persons at Diou,
seeing the vessels so well fitted out, desired leave to go this
voyage along with us, imagining they had an excellent opportunity of
acquiring both wealth and honour. We committed, however, one great
error in setting out, for having equipped our ships for
privateering, and taken no merchandise on board, we could not touch
at any of the ports of the Red Sea. The patriarch, impatient to be
gone, took leave in the most tender manner of the governor and his
other friends, recommended our voyage to the Blessed Virgin, and in
the field, before we went on shipboard, made a short exhortation, so
moving and pathetic, that it touched the hearts of all who heard it.
In the evening we went on board, and early the next morning being
the 3rd of April, 1625, we set sail.

After some days we discovered about noon the island Socotora, where
we proposed to touch. The sky was bright and the wind fair, nor had
we the least apprehension of the danger into which we were falling,
but with the utmost carelessness and jollity held on our course. At
night, when our sailors, especially the Moors, were in a profound
sleep (for the Mohammedans, believing everything forewritten in the
decrees of God, and not alterable by any human means, resign
themselves entirely to Providence), our vessel ran aground upon a
sand bank at the entrance of the harbour. We got her off with the
utmost difficulty, and nothing but a miracle could have preserved
us. We ran along afterwards by the side of the island, but were
entertained with no other prospect than of a mountainous country,
and of rocks that jutted out over the sea, and seemed ready to fall
into it. In the afternoon, putting into the most convenient ports
of the island, we came to anchor; very much to the amazement and
terror of the inhabitants, who were not used to see any Portuguese
ships upon their coasts, and were therefore under a great
consternation at finding them even in their ports. Some ran for
security to the mountains, others took up arms to oppose our
landing, but were soon reconciled to us, and brought us fowls, fish,
and sheep, in exchange for India calicoes, on which they set a great
value. We left this island early the next morning, and soon came in
sight of Cape Gardafui, so celebrated heretofore under the name of
the Cape of Spices, either because great quantities were then found
there, or from its neighbourhood to Arabia the Happy, even at this
day famous for its fragrant products. It is properly at this cape
(the most eastern part of Africa) that the Gulf of Arabia begins,
which at Babelmandel loses its name, and is called the Red Sea.
Here, though the weather was calm, we found the sea so rough, that
we were tossed as in a high wind for two nights; whether this
violent agitation of the water proceeded from the narrowness of the
strait, or from the fury of the late storm, I know not; whatever was
the cause, we suffered all the hardships of a tempest. We continued
our course towards the Red Sea, meeting with nothing in our passage
but a gelve, or kind of boat, made of thin boards, sewed together,
with no other sail than a mat. We gave her chase, in hopes of being
informed by the crew whether there were any Arabian vessels at the
mouth of the strait; but the Moors, who all entertain dismal
apprehensions of the Franks, plied their oars and sail with the
utmost diligence, and as soon as they reached land, quitted their
boat, and scoured to the mountains. We saw them make signals from
thence, and imagining they would come to a parley, sent out our boat
with two sailors and an Abyssin, putting the ships off from the
shore, to set them free from any suspicion of danger in coming down.
All this was to no purpose, they could not be drawn from the
mountain, and our men had orders not to go on shore, so they were
obliged to return without information. Soon after we discovered the
isle of Babelmandel, which gives name to the strait so called, and
parts the sea that surrounds it into two channels; that on the side
of Arabia is not above a quarter of a league in breadth, and through
this pass almost all the vessels that trade to or from the Red Sea.
The other, on the side of Aethiopia, though much larger, is more
dangerous, by reason of the shallows, which make it necessary for a
ship, though of no great burthen, to pass very near the island,
where the channel is deeper and less embarrassed. This passage is
never made use of but by those who would avoid meeting with the
Turks who are stationed on the coast of Arabia; it was for this
reason that we chose it. We passed it in the night, and entered
that sea, so renowned on many accounts in history, both sacred and
profane.

In our description of this famous sea, an account of which may
justly be expected in this place, it is most convenient to begin
with the coast of Arabia, on which part at twelve leagues from the
mouth stands the city of Moca, a place of considerable trade. Forty
leagues farther is the Isle of Camaram, whose inhabitants are
annoyed with little serpents, which they call basilisks, which,
though very poisonous and deadly, do not, as the ancients have told
us, kill with their eyes, or if they have so fatal a power, it is
not at least in this place. Sailing ninety leagues farther, you see
the noted port of Jodda, where the pilgrims that go to Mecca and
Medina unlade those rich presents which the zeal of different
princes is every day accumulating at the tomb of Mahomet. The
commerce of this place, and the number of merchants that resort
thither from all parts of the world, are above description, and so
richly laden are the ships that come hither, that when the Indians
would express a thing of inestimable price, they say, "It is of
greater value than a ship of Jodda." An hundred and eighteen
leagues from thence lies Toro, and near it the ruins of an ancient
monastery. This is the place, if the report of the inhabitants
deserves any credit, where the Israelites miraculously passed
through the Red Sea on dry land; and there is some reason for
imagining the tradition not ill grounded, for the sea is here only
three leagues in breadth. All the ground about Toro is barren for
want of water, which is only to be found at a considerable distance,
in one fountain, which flows out of the neighbouring mountains, at
the foot of which there are still twelve palm-trees. Near Toro are
several wells, which, as the Arabs tell us, were dug by the order of
Moses to quiet the clamours of the thirsty Israelites. Suez lies in
the bottom of the Gulf, three leagues from Toro, once a place of
note, now reduced, under the Turks, to an inconsiderable village,
where the miserable inhabitants are forced to fetch water at three
leagues' distance. The ancient Kings of Egypt conveyed the waters
of the Nile to this place by an artificial canal, now so choked with
sand, that there are scarce any marks remaining of so noble and
beneficial a work.

The first place to be met with in travelling along the coast of
Africa is Rondelo, situate over against Toro, and celebrated for the
same miraculous passage. Forty-five leagues from thence is Cocir.
Here ends that long chain of mountains that reaches from this place
even to the entrance of the Red Sea. In this prodigious ridge,
which extends three hundred leagues, sometimes approaching near the
sea, and sometimes running far up into the land, there is only one
opening, through which all that merchandise is conveyed, which is
embarked at Rifa, and from thence distributed through all the east.
These mountains, as they are uncultivated, are in some parts shaded
with large forests, and in others dry and bare. As they are
exceedingly high, all the seasons may be here found together; when
the storms of winter beat on one side, on the other is often a
serene sky and a bright sunshine. The Nile runs here so near the
shore that it might without much difficulty be turned through this
opening of the mountains into the Red Sea, a design which many of
the Emperors have thought of putting in execution, and thereby
making a communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean,
but have been discouraged either by the greatness of the expense or
the fear of laying great part of Egypt under water, for some of that
country lies lower than sea.

Distant from Rondelo a hundred and thirty leagues is the Isle of
Suaquem, where the Bassa of that country chooses his residence, for
the convenience of receiving the tribute with greater exactness,
there being a large trade carried on here with the Abyssins. The
Turks of Suaquem have gardens on the firm land, not above a musket
shot from the island, which supply them with many excellent herbs
and fruits, of which I doubt whether there be not a greater quantity
on this little spot than on the whole coast of Africa besides, from
Melinda to Suez. For if we except the dates which grow between Suez
and Suaquem, the ground does not yield the least product; all the
necessaries of life, even water, is wanting. Nothing can support
itself in this region of barrenness but ostriches, which devour
stones, or anything they meet with; they lay a great number of eggs,
part of which they break to feed their young with. These fowls, of
which I have seen many, are very tame, and when they are pursued,
stretch out their wings, and run with amazing swiftness. As they
have cloven feet, they sometimes strike up the stones when they run,
which gave occasion to the notion that they threw stones at the
hunters, a relation equally to be credited with those of their
eating fire and digesting iron. Those feathers which are so much
valued grow under their wings: the shell of their eggs powdered is
an excellent remedy for sore eyes.

The burning wind spoken of in the sacred writings, I take to be that
which the natives term arur, and the Arabs uri, which blowing in the
spring, brings with it so excessive a heat, that the whole country
seems a burning oven; so that there is no travelling here in this
dreadful season, nor is this the only danger to which the unhappy
passenger is exposed in these uncomfortable regions. There blows in
the months of June, July, and August, another wind, which raises
mountains of sand and carries them through the air; all that can be
done in this case is when a cloud of sand rises, to mark where it is
likely to fall, and to retire as far off as possible; but it is very
usual for men to be taken unexpectedly, and smothered in the dust.
One day I found the body of a Christian, whom I knew, upon the sand;
he had doubtless been choked by these winds. I recommended his soul
to the divine mercy and buried him. He seemed to have been some
time dead, yet the body had no ill smell. These winds are most
destructive in Arabia the Desert.



Chapter IV



The author's conjecture on the name of the Red Sea. An account of
the cocoa-tree. He lands at Baylur.


To return to the description of the coast: sixty leagues from
Suaquem is an island called Mazna, only considerable for its ports,
which make the Turks reside upon it, though they are forced to keep
three barks continually employed in fetching water, which is not to
be found nearer than at a distance of twelve miles. Forty leagues
from hence is Dalacha, an island where many pearls are found, but of
small value. The next place is Baylur, forty leagues from Dalacha,
and twelve from Babelmandel.

There are few things upon which a greater variety of conjectures has
been offered than upon the reasons that induced the ancients to
distinguish this gulf, which separates Asia from Africa, by the name
of the Red Sea, an appellation that has almost universally obtained
in all languages. Some affirm that the torrents, which fall after
great rains from the mountains, wash down such a quantity of red
sand as gives a tincture to the water: others tell us that the
sunbeams being reverberated from the red rocks, give the sea on
which they strike the appearance of that colour. Neither of these
accounts are satisfactory; the coasts are so scorched by the heat
that they are rather black than red; nor is the colour of this sea
much altered by the winds or rains. The notion generally received
is, that the coral found in such quantities at the bottom of the sea
might communicate this colour to the water: an account merely
chimerical. Coral is not to be found in all parts of this gulf, and
red coral in very few. Nor does this water in fact differ from that
of other seas. The patriarch and I have frequently amused ourselves
with making observations, and could never discover any redness, but
in the shallows, where a kind of weed grew which they call gouesmon,
which redness disappeared as soon as we plucked up the plant. It is
observable that St. Jerome, confining himself to the Hebrew, calls
this sea Jamsuf. Jam in that language signifies sea, and suf is the
name of a plant in Aethiopia, from which the Abyssins extract a
beautiful crimson; whether this be the same with the gouesmon, I
know not, but am of opinion that the herb gives to this sea both the
colour and the name.

The vessels most used in the Red Sea, though ships of all sizes may
be met with there, are gelves, of which some mention hath been made
already; these are the more convenient, because they will not split
if thrown upon banks or against rocks. These gelves have given
occasion to the report that out of the cocoa-tree alone a ship may
be built, fitted out with masts, sails, and cordage, and victualled
with bread, water, wine, sugar, vinegar, and oil. All this indeed
cannot be done out of one tree, but may out of several of the same
kind. They saw the trunk into planks, and sew them together with
thread which they spin out of the bark, and which they twist for the
cables; the leaves stitched together make the sails. This boat thus
equipped may be furnished with all necessaries from the same tree.
There is not a month in which the cocoa does not produce a bunch of
nuts, from twenty to fifty. At first sprouts out a kind of seed or
capsula, of a shape not unlike the scabbard of a scimitar, which
they cut, and place a vessel under, to receive the liquor that drops
from it; this drink is called soro, and is clear, pleasant, and
nourishing. If it be boiled, it grows hard, and makes a kind of
sugar much valued in the Indies: distil this liquor and you have a
strong water, of which is made excellent vinegar. All these
different products are afforded before the nut is formed, and while
it is green it contains a delicious cooling water; with these nuts
they store their gelves, and it is the only provision of water which
is made in this country. The second bark which contains the water
is so tender that they eat it. When this fruit arrives to perfect
maturity, they either pound the kernel into meal, and make cakes of
or draw an oil from it of a fine scent and taste, and of great use
in medicine; so that what is reported of the different products of
this wonderful tree is neither false nor incredible.

It is time we should come now to the relation of our voyage. Having
happily passed the straits at the entrance of the Red Sea, we
pursued our course, keeping as near the shore as we could, without
any farther apprehensions of the Turks. We were, however, under
some concern that we were entirely ignorant in what part of the
coast to find Baylur, a port where we proposed landing, and so
little known, that our pilots, who had made many voyages in this
sea, could give us no account of it. We were in hopes of
information from the fishermen, but found that as soon as we came
near they fled from us in the greatest consternation; no signals of
peace or friendship could prevail on them to stay; they either durst
not trust or did not understand us. We plied along the coast in
this uncertainty two days, till on the first of March having doubled
a point of land, which came out a great way into the sea, we found
ourselves in the middle of a fair large bay, which many reasons
induced us to think was Baylur; that we might be farther assured we
sent our Abyssin on shore, who returning next morning confirmed our
opinion. It would not be easy to determine whether our arrival gave
us greater joy, or the inhabitants greater apprehensions, for we
could discern a continual tumult in the land, and took notice that
the crews of some barks that lay in the harbour were unlading with
all possible diligence, to prevent the cargo from falling into our
hands, very much indeed to the dissatisfaction of many of our
soldiers, who having engaged in this expedition, with no other view
than of filling their pockets, were, before the return of our
Abyssin, for treating them like enemies, and taking them as a lawful
prize. We were willing to be assured of a good reception in this
port; the patriarch therefore sent me to treat with them. I dressed
myself like a merchant, and in that habit received the four captains
of gelves which the chec sent to compliment me, and ordered to stay
as hostages, whom I sent back, that I might gain upon their
affections by the confidence I placed in their sincerity; this had
so good an effect, that the chec, who was transported with the
account the officers gave of the civilities they had been treated
with, came in an hour to visit me, bringing with him a Portuguese,
whom I had sent ashore as a security for his return. He informed me
that the King his master was encamped not far off, and that a chec
who was then in the company was just arrived from thence, and had
seen the Emperor of Aethiopia's letters in our favour; I was then
convinced that we might land without scruple, and to give the
patriarch notice of it ordered a volley of our muskets to be fired,
which was answered by the cannon of the two ships that lay at a
distance, for fear of giving the Moors any cause of suspicion by
their approach. The chec and his attendants, though I had given
them notice that we were going to let off our guns in honour of the
King their master, could not forbear trembling at the fire and
noise. They left us soon after, and next morning we landed our
baggage, consisting chiefly of the patriarch's library, some
ornaments for the church, some images, and some pieces of calico,
which were of the same use as money. Most of the soldiers and
sailors were desirous of going with us, some from real principles of
piety, and a desire of sharing the labours and merits of the
mission, others upon motives very different, the hopes of raising a
fortune. To have taken all who offered themselves would have been
an injury to the owners of the ships, by rendering them unable to
continue their voyage; we therefore accepted only of a few.

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