Book: A Voyage to Abyssinia

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






Chapter V



An account of Dancali. The conduct of Chec Furt. The author
wounded. They arrive at the court of the King of Dancali. A
description of his pavilion, and the reception they met with.


Our goods were no sooner landed than we were surrounded with a crowd
of officers, all gaping for presents; we were forced to gratify
their avarice by opening our bales, and distributing among them some
pieces of calico. What we gave to the chec might be worth about a
pistole, and the rest in proportion.

The kingdom of Dancali, to which this belongs, is barren, and thinly
peopled; the king is tributary to the Emperor of Abyssinia, and very
faithful to his sovereign. The emperor had not only written to him,
but had sent a Moor and Portuguese as his ambassadors, to secure us
a kind reception; these in their way to this prince had come through
the countries of Chumo-Salamay and Senaa, the utmost confines of
Abyssinia, and had carried thither the emperor's orders concerning
our passage.

On Ascension Day we left Baylur, having procured some camels and
asses to carry our baggage. The first day's march was not above a
league, and the others not much longer. Our guides performed their
office very ill, being influenced, as we imagined, by the Chec Furt,
an officer, whom, though unwilling, we were forced to take with us.
This man, who might have brought us to the king in three days, led
us out of the way through horrid deserts destitute of water, or
where what we found was so foul, nauseous, and offensive, that it
excited a loathing and aversion which nothing but extreme necessity
could have overcome.

Having travelled some days, we were met by the King's brother, to
whom, by the advice of Chec Furt, whose intent in following us was
to squeeze all he could from us; we presented some pieces of Chinese
workmanship, such as cases of boxes, a standish, and some
earthenware, together with several pieces of painted calico, which
were so much more agreeable, that he desired some other pieces
instead of our Chinese curiosities; we willingly made the exchange.
Yet some time afterwards he asked again for those Chinese goods
which he had returned us, nor was it in our power to refuse them. I
was here in danger of losing my life by a compliment which the
Portuguese paid the prince of a discharge of twelve muskets; one
being unskilfully charged too high, flew out of the soldier's hand,
and falling against my leg, wounded it very much; we had no surgeon
with us, so that all I could do was to bind it hard with some cloth.
I was obliged by this accident to make use of the Chec Furt's horse,
which was the greatest service we received from him in all our
journey.

When we came within two leagues and a half of the King's court, he
sent some messengers with his compliments, and five mules for the
chief of our company. Our road lay through a wood, where we found
the ground covered over with young locusts, a plague intolerably
afflictive in a country so barren of itself. We arrived at length
at the bank of a small river, near which the King usually keeps his
residence, and found his palace at the foot of a little mountain.
It consisted of about six tents and twenty cabins, erected amongst
some thorns and wild trees, which afforded a shelter from the heat
of the weather. He received us the first time in a cabin about a
musket shot distant from the rest, furnished out with a throne in
the middle built of clay and stones, and covered with tapestry and
two velvet cushions. Over against him stood his horse with his
saddle and other furniture hanging by him, for in this country, the
master and his horse make use of the same apartment, nor doth the
King in this respect affect more grandeur than his subjects. When
we entered, we seated ourselves on the ground with our legs crossed,
in imitation of the rest, whom we found in the same posture. After
we had waited some time, the King came in, attended by his domestics
and his officers. He held a small lance in his hand, and was
dressed in a silk robe, with a turban on his head, to which were
fastened some rings of very neat workmanship, which fell down upon
his forehead. All kept silence for some time, and the King told us
by his interpreter that we were welcome to his dominions, that he
had been informed we were to come by the Emperor his father, and
that he condoled the hardships we had undergone at sea. He desired
us not to be under any concern at finding ourselves in a country so
distant from our own, for those dominions were ours, and he and the
Emperor his father would give us all the proofs we could desire of
the sincerest affection. We returned him thanks for this promise of
his favour, and after a short conversation went away. Immediately
we were teazed by those who brought us the mules, and demanded to be
paid the hire of them; and had advice given us at the same time that
we should get a present ready for the King. The Chec Furt, who was
extremely ready to undertake any commission of this kind, would
needs direct us in the affair, and told us that our gifts ought to
be of greater value, because we had neglected making any such offer
at our first audience, contrary to the custom of that country. By
these pretences he obliged us to make a present to the value of
about twenty pounds, with which he seemed to be pleased, and told us
we had nothing to do but prepare to make our entry.



Chapter VI



The King refuses their present. The author's boldness. The present
is afterwards accepted. The people are forbidden to sell them
provisions. The author remonstrates against the usage. The King
redresses it.


But such was either the hatred or avarice of this man, that instead
of doing us the good offices he pretended, he advised the King to
refuse our present, that he might draw from us something more
valuable. When I attended the King in order to deliver the
presents, after I had excused the smallness of them, as being,
though unworthy his acceptance, the largest that our profession of
poverty, and distance from our country, allowed us to make, he
examined them one by one with a dissatisfied look, and told me that
however he might be pleased with our good attentions, he thought our
present such as could not be offered to a king without affronting
him; and made me a sign with his hand to withdraw, and take back
what I had brought. I obeyed, telling him that perhaps he might
send for it again without having so much. The Chec Furt, who had
been the occasion of all this, coming to us afterwards, blamed us
exceedingly for having offered so little, and being told by us that
the present was picked out by himself, that we had nothing better to
give, and that what we had left would scarce defray the expenses of
our journey, he pressed us at least to add something, but could
prevail no farther than to persuade us to repeat our former offer,
which the King was now pleased to accept, though with no kinder
countenance than before.

Here we spent our time and our provisions, without being able to
procure any more. The country indeed affords goats and honey, but
nobody would sell us any, the King, as I was secretly informed,
having strictly prohibited it, with a view of forcing all we had
from us. The patriarch sent me to expostulate the matter with the
King, which I did in very warm terms, telling him that we were
assured by the Emperor of a reception in this country far different
from what we met with, which assurances he had confirmed by his
promise and the civilities we were entertained with at our first
arrival; but that instead of friends who would compassionate our
miseries, and supply our necessities, we found ourselves in the
midst of mortal enemies that wanted to destroy us.

The King, who affected to appear ignorant of the whole affair,
demanded an account of the injuries I complained of, and told me
that if any of his subjects should dare to attempt our lives, it
should cost him his own. We were not, replied I, in danger of being
stabbed or poisoned, but are doomed to a more lingering and painful
death by that prohibition which obliges your subjects to deny us the
necessaries of life; if it be Your Highness's pleasure that we die
here, we entreat that we may at least be despatched quickly, and not
condemned to longer torments. The King, startled at this discourse,
denied that he had given any such orders, and was very importunate
to know the author of our intelligence, but finding me determined
not to discover him, he sent me away with a promise that for the
future we should be furnished with everything we wanted, and indeed
that same day we bought three goats for about a crown, and some
honey, and found ourselves better treated than before.



Chapter VII



They obtain leave, with some difficulty, to depart from Dancali.
The difficulties of their march. A broil with the Moors. They
arrive at the plain of salt.


This usage, with some differences we had with a Moor, made us very
desirous of leaving this country, but we were still put off with one
pretence or other whenever we asked leave to depart. Tired with
these delays, I applied myself to his favourite minister, with a
promise of a large present if he could obtain us an audience of
leave; he came to us at night to agree upon the reward, and soon
accomplished all we desired, both getting us a permission to go out
of the kingdom, and procuring us camels to carry our baggage, and
that of the Abyssinian ambassadors who were ordered to accompany us.

We set out from the kingdom of Dancali on the 15th of June, having
taken our leave of the King, who after many excuses for everything
that had happened, dismissed us with a present of a cow, and some
provisions, desiring us to tell the Emperor of Aethiopia his father
that we had met with kind treatment in his territories, a request
which we did not at that time think it convenient to deny.

Whatever we had suffered hitherto, was nothing to the difficulties
we were now entering upon, and which God had decreed us to undergo
for the sake of Jesus Christ. Our way now lay through a region
scarce passable, and full of serpents, which were continually
creeping between our legs; we might have avoided them in the day,
but being obliged, that we might avoid the excessive heats, to take
long marches in the night, we were every moment treading upon them.
Nothing but a signal interposition of Providence could have
preserved us from being bitten by them, or perishing either by
weariness or thirst, for sometimes we were a long time without
water, and had nothing to support our strength in this fatigue but a
little honey, and a small piece of cows' flesh dried in the sun.
Thus we travelled on for many days, scarce allowing ourselves any
rest, till we came to a channel or hollow worn in the mountains by
the winter torrents; here we found some coolness, and good water, a
blessing we enjoyed for three days; down this channel all the winter
runs a great river which is dried up in the heats, or to speak more
properly, hides itself under ground. We walked along its side,
sometimes seven or eight leagues without seeing any water, and then
we found it rising out of the ground, at which places we never
failed to drink as much as we could, and fill our bottles.

In our march, there fell out an unlucky accident, which, however,
did not prove of the bad consequence it might have done. The master
of our camels was an old Mohammedan, who had conceived an opinion
that it was an act of merit to do us all the mischief he could; and
in pursuance of his notion, made it his chief employment to steal
everything he could lay hold on; his piety even transported him so
far, that one morning he stole and hid the cords of our tents. The
patriarch who saw him at the work charged him with it, and upon his
denial, showed him the end of the cord hanging from under the saddle
of one of his camels. Upon this we went to seize them, but were
opposed by him and the rest of the drivers, who set themselves in a
posture of opposition with their daggers. Our soldiers had recourse
to their muskets, and four of them putting the mouths of their
pieces to the heads of some of the most obstinate and turbulent,
struck them with such a terror, that all the clamour was stilled in
an instant; none received any hurt but the Moor who had been the
occasion of the tumult. He was knocked down by one of our soldiers,
who had cut his throat but that the fathers prevented it: he then
restored the cords, and was more tractable ever after. In all my
dealings with the Moors, I have always discovered in them an ill-
natured cowardice, which makes them insupportably insolent if you
show them the least respect, and easily reduced to reasonable terms
when you treat them with a high hand.

After a march of some days we came to an opening between the
mountains, the only passage out of Dancali into Abyssinia. Heaven
seems to have made this place on purpose for the repose of weary
travellers, who here exchange the tortures of parching thirst,
burning sands, and a sultry climate, for the pleasures of shady
trees, the refreshment of a clear stream, and the luxury of a
cooling breeze. We arrived at this happy place about noon, and the
next day at evening left those fanning winds, and woods flourishing
with unfading verdure, for the dismal barrenness of the vast
uninhabitable plains, from which Abyssinia is supplied with salt.
These plains are surrounded with high mountains, continually covered
with thick clouds which the sun draws from the lakes that are here,
from which the water runs down into the plain, and is there
congealed into salt. Nothing can be more curious than to see the
channels and aqueducts that nature has formed in this hard rock, so
exact and of such admirable contrivance, that they seem to be the
work of men. To this place caravans of Abyssinia are continually
resorting, to carry salt into all parts of the empire, which they
set a great value upon, and which in their country is of the same
use as money. The superstitious Abyssins imagine that the cavities
of the mountains are inhabited by evil spirits which appear in
different shapes, calling those that pass by their names as in a
familiar acquaintance, who, if they go to them, are never seen
afterwards. This relation was confirmed by the Moorish officer who
came with us, who, as he said, had lost a servant in that manner:
the man certainly fell into the hands of the Galles, who lurk in
those dark retreats, cut the throats of the merchants, and carry off
their effects.

The heat making it impossible to travel through this plain in the
day-time, we set out in the evening, and in the night lost our way.
It is very dangerous to go through this place, for there are no
marks of the right road, but some heaps of salt, which we could not
see. Our camel drivers getting together to consult on this
occasion, we suspected they had some ill design in hand, and got
ready our weapons; they perceived our apprehensions, and set us at
ease by letting us know the reason of their consultation.
Travelling hard all night, we found ourselves next morning past the
plain; but the road we were in was not more commodious, the points
of the rocks pierced our feet; to increase our perplexities we were
alarmed with the approach of an armed troop, which our fear
immediately suggested to be the Galles, who chiefly beset these
passes of the mountains; we put ourselves on the defensive, and
expected them, whom, upon a more exact examination, we found to be
only a caravan of merchants come as usual to fetch salt.



Chapter VIII



They lose their way, are in continual apprehensions of the Galles.
They come to Duan, and settle in Abyssinia.


About nine the next morning we came to the end of this toilsome and
rugged path, where the way divided into two, yet both led to a well,
the only one that was found in our journey. A Moor with three
others took the shortest, without directing us to follow him; so we
marched forwards we knew not whither, through woods and over rocks,
without sleep or any other refreshment: at noon the next day we
discovered that we were near the field of salt. Our affliction and
distress is not to be expressed; we were all fainting with heat and
weariness, and two of the patriarch's servants were upon the point
of dying for want of water. None of us had any but a Moor, who
could not be prevailed upon to part with it at less than the weight
in gold; we got some from him at last, and endeavoured to revive the
two servants, while part of us went to look for a guide that might
put us in the right way. The Moors who had arrived at the well,
rightly guessing that we were lost, sent one of their company to
look for us, whom we heard shouting in the woods, but durst make no
answer for fear of the Galles. At length he found us, and conducted
us to the rest; we instantly forgot our past calamities, and had no
other care than to recover the patriarch's attendants. We did not
give them a full draught at first, but poured in the water by drops,
to moisten their mouths and throats, which were extremely swelled:
by this caution they were soon well. We then fell to eating and
drinking, and though we had nothing but our ordinary repast of honey
and dried flesh, thought we never had regaled more pleasantly in our
lives.

We durst not stay long in this place for fear of the Galles, who lay
their ambushes more particularly near this well, by which all
caravans must necessarily pass. Our apprehensions were very much
increased by our suspicion of the camel-drivers, who, as we
imagined, had advertised the Galles of our arrival. The fatigue we
had already suffered did not prevent our continuing our march all
night: at last we entered a plain, where our drivers told us we
might expect to be attacked by the Galles; nor was it long before
our own eyes convinced us that we were in great danger, for we saw
as we went along the dead bodies of a caravan who had been lately
massacred, a sight which froze our blood, and filled us with pity
and with horror. The same fate was not far from overtaking us, for
a troop of Galles, who were detached in search of us, missed us but
an hour or two. We spent the next night in the mountains, but when
we should have set out in the morning, were obliged to a fierce
dispute with the old Moor, who had not yet lost his inclination to
destroy us; he would have had us taken a road which was full of
those people we were so much afraid of: at length finding he could
not prevail with us, that we charged the goods upon him as belonging
to the Emperor, to whom he should be answerable for the loss of
them, he consented, in a sullen way, to go with us.

The desire of getting out of the reach of the Galles made us press
forward with great expedition, and, indeed, fear having entirely
engrossed our minds, we were perhaps less sensible of all our
labours and difficulties; so violent an apprehension of one danger
made us look on many others with unconcern; our pains at last found
some intermission at the foot of the mountains of Duan, the frontier
of Abyssinia, which separates it from the country of the Moors,
through which we had travelled.

Here we imagined we might repose securely, a felicity we had long
been strangers to. Here we began to rejoice at the conclusion of
our labours; the place was cool and pleasant, the water was
excellent, and the birds melodious. Some of our company went into
the wood to divert themselves with hearing the birds and frightening
the monkeys, creatures so cunning that they would not stir if a man
came unarmed, but would run immediately when they saw a gun. At
this place our camel drivers left us, to go to the feast of St.
Michael, which the Aethiopians celebrate the 16th of June. We
persuaded them, however, to leave us their camels and four of their
company to take care of them.

We had not waited many days before some messengers came to us with
an account that Father Baradas, with the Emperor's nephew, and many
other persons of distinction, waited for us at some distance; we
loaded our camels, and following the course of the river, came in
seven hours to the place we were directed to halt at. Father Manuel
Baradas and all the company, who had waited for us a considerable
time on the top of the mountain, came down when they saw our tents,
and congratulated our arrival. It is not easy to express the
benevolence and tenderness with which they embraced us, and the
concern they showed at seeing us worn away with hunger, labour, and
weariness, our clothes tattered, and our feet bloody.

We left this place of interview the next day, and on the 21st of
June arrived at Fremone, the residence of the missionaries, where we
were welcomed by great numbers of Catholics, both Portuguese and
Abyssins, who spared no endeavours to make us forget all we had
suffered in so hazardous a journey, undertaken with no other
intention than to conduct them in the way of salvation.




PART II - A DESCRIPTION OF ABYSSINIA




Chapter I



The history of Abyssinia. An account of the Queen of Sheba, and of
Queen Candace. The conversion of the Abyssins.


The original of the Abyssins, like that of all other nations, is
obscure and uncertain. The tradition generally received derives
them from Cham, the son of Noah, and they pretend, however
improbably, that from his time till now the legal succession of
their kings hath never been interrupted, and that the supreme power
hath always continued in the same family. An authentic genealogy
traced up so high could not but be extremely curious; and with good
reason might the Emperors of Abyssinia boast themselves the most
illustrious and ancient family in the world. But there are no real
grounds for imagining that Providence has vouchsafed them so
distinguishing a protection, and from the wars with which this
empire hath been shaken in these latter ages we may justly believe
that, like all others, it has suffered its revolutions, and that the
history of the Abyssins is corrupted with fables. This empire is
known by the name of the kingdom of Prester-John. For the
Portuguese having heard such wonderful relations of an ancient and
famous Christian state called by that name, in the Indies, imagined
it could be none but this of Aethiopia. Many things concurred to
make them of this opinion: there was no Christian kingdom or state
in the Indies of which all was true which they heard of this land of
Prester-John: and there was none in the other parts of the world
who was a Christian separated from the Catholic Church but what was
known, except this kingdom of Aethiopia. It has therefore passed
for the kingdom of Prester-John since the time that it was
discovered by the Portuguese in the reign of King John the Second.

The country is properly called Abyssinia, and the people term
themselves Abyssins. Their histories count a hundred and sixty-two
reigns, from Cham to Faciladas or Basilides; among which some women
are remarkably celebrated. One of the most renowned is the Queen of
Sheba, mentioned in Scripture, whom the natives call Nicaula or
Macheda, and in their translation of the gospel, Nagista Azeb, which
in their language is Queen of the South. They still show the ruins
of a city which appears to have been once of note, as the place
where she kept her court, and a village which, from its being the
place of her birth, they call the land of Saba. The Kings of
Aethiopia draw their boasted pedigree from Minilech, the son of this
Queen and Solomon. The other Queen for whom they retain a great
veneration is Candace, whom they call Judith, and indeed if what
they relate of her could be proved, there never was, amongst the
most illustrious and beneficent sovereigns, any to whom their
country was more indebted, for it is said that she being converted
by Inda her eunuch, whom St. Philip baptised, prevailed with her
subjects to quit the worship of idols, and profess the faith of
Jesus Christ. This opinion appears to me without any better
foundation than another of the conversion of the Abyssins to the
Jewish rites by the Queen of Sheba, at her return from the court of
Solomon. They, however, who patronise these traditions give us very
specious accounts of the zeal and piety of the Abyssins at their
first conversion. Many, they say, abandoned all the pleasures and
vanities of life for solitude and religious austerities; others
devoted themselves to God in an ecclesiastical life; they who could
not do these set apart their revenues for building churches,
endowing chapels, and founding monasteries, and spent their wealth
in costly ornaments for the churches and vessels for the altars. It
is true that this people has a natural disposition to goodness; they
are very liberal of their alms, they much frequent their churches,
and are very studious to adorn them; they practise fasting and other
mortifications, and notwithstanding their separation from the Roman
Church, and the corruptions which have crept into their faith, yet
retain in a great measure the devout fervour of the primitive
Christians. There never were greater hopes of uniting this people
to the Church of Rome, which their adherence to the Eutichian heresy
has made very difficult, than in the time of Sultan Segued, who
called us into his dominions in the year 1625, from whence we were
expelled in 1634. As I have lived a long time in this country, and
borne a share in all that has passed, I will present the reader with
a short account of what I have observed, and of the revolution which
forced us to abandon Aethiopia, and destroyed all our hopes of
reuniting this kingdom with the Roman Church.

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