I found the weather so exceedingly cold, and the time at Angolahlah pass so uselessly and heavily along, that I was very glad, after a week's stay, to be again on the road back to Ankobar. The day previous to my leaving Angolahlah, I engaged a servant, named Walderheros, tall, athletic, but of most ill-favoured countenance, so much so, that "Gool," to which eastern vampire he was compared by the members of the Mission, became his coggers should present him with a sword, with the hilt and handle gilt, and also the whole sheath adorned with gold and silver and set with precious jewels. The Ambassadors presented the swordhilt to the King, saying, Here is a sword, which King Athelstan sends thee, with the request that thou wilt accept it.' took the sword by the handle, whereupon the Ambassadors said, Now thou hast taken the sword, according to our King's desire, and therefore art thou his subject, as thou hast taken his sword.' King Harold saw now that this was a jest, for he would be subject to no man. But he remembered it was his rule whenever anything raised his anger to collect himself and let his passion run off, and then take the matter into consideration coolly. Now he did so, and consulted his friends, who all gave him the advice to let the Ambassadors, in the first place, go home in safety."-Mr. Laing's Translation.

The King

This is in every particular so curiously analogous to our late political doings in Shoa, that I could not induce myself to abstain from inserting it here as a note. Even the hint of personal violence in the last sentence exactly corresponded with the treatment of the Embassy whilst in Shoa, after the ill-judged letter of remonstrance had been sent; for had it not been for the moderation of the offended monarch, it would indeed have been Shanta fo, Shanta fo," for the whole party. It was too late to find out that Sahale Selassee was "a novice in European diplomacy," only when the total failure of the Mission attested the want of tact and of all knowledge of human nature by the parties employed by a liberal and too indulgent Government.

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72

RETURN FROM ANGOLAHLAH.

nomen afterwards amongst them. My mule being saddled, we started early in the morning, as I was desirous of getting as far on the road as possible before the sun had ascended so high as to render the ride unpleasantly warm. Walderheros trudged along on foot by the side of my mule, carrying my carabine behind his neck, with his two hands resting upon the projecting portions on either side. He talked incessantly, and it did not seem to matter the least, that I could not understand a word he said. To check him, I repeated, with a very grave face, the whole of "My name is Norval." He listened patiently to the end, and it then seemed to strike him that we should amuse ourselves much better, if he were to teach me in his own language the names of surrounding objects, rather than listen to such another long rigmarole I was also about to treat him with. Thereupon commenced my first Amharic lesson, and as I was a willing pupil, and Walderheros an untiring teacher, I made great progress during the ride.

In this manner we travelled at a slow pace along the undulating broad highroad that, nearly in a direct line, conducts us from Angolahlah to the edge of Tchakkah. We met some few travellers, who, as we passed, exchanged loud and long-continued salutations with Walderheros, kept up until they were out of all convenient speaking distance of each other. A moor, or extensive downs, would convey the best idea of the country around; but

though no trees or bushes intercept the sight, the whole surface was well cultivated with wheat and barley, or preserved as grazing meadows for the feeding of cattle. Excepting one considerably excavated valley, two or three miles from Tchakkah, the original level of the table land is only altered in the places where it is traversed by shallow waterdenuded channels, along which very frequently the road runs, and the traveller proceeds in a broad hollow way, the flat ridges on each side of him rising some ten or twenty feet above his head.

On

I was not sorry at seeing again the already familiar land-mark, Koom Dingi, although it reminded me of the steep descent beyond. arriving at the edge of the table land, I followed the advice of Walderheros, and dismounted; for however sure-footed in such perilous descents mules may be, they sometimes slip, as was evidenced by the dead body of one that lay burst among the rocks below, from a slip over one of the precipices. I sat down a few minutes whilst my servant ran to a house in sight, and procured for me the loan of a long slender staff, of some tough wood, like a spearshaft, which the Shoans generally carry with them when travelling on foot. By the aid of this, I was enabled to get along pretty well, dropping carefully from one huge stone to another, and in this manner, by rough unequal steps, succeeded at length in reaching the stream of the Airahra. I now mounted again, and forded the stony bed of the

stream, surmounting with some difficulty the miry bank on the farther side, where the deeply-sunken hoofs of my mule were pulled with successive snatches out of the soughing tenacious mud.

Half an hour's ride brought me to the foot of the royal hill of Ankobar. As we ascend, the road passes midway along its steep side, which above and below the traveller slopes several hundred feet. Here we encountered a noisy crowd of chatting romping girls, with large jars slung between their shoulders by a leathern belt, or rope, which passes across the breast. They were proceeding to a meadow below, to fill their jars with water at a little clear stream that fell over a little ledge of stones as it proceeded to join the Airahra. As I passed them, I overheard some of them whispering to the other, "Missela Zingero," a most complimentary speech certainly, meaning nothing less than that I was "like a baboon." These girls were slaves of the Negoos, and their chief employment consisted of this daily duty of carrying water from the stream to the palace on the summit of the hill. No less than two hundred are so employed, and these supply all the water required for the use of the courtiers and guests, besides a body-guard of three hundred gunmen, all of whom are daily fed at the royal table.

On my arrival at the Residency, I was again entertained by Dr. Roth and Mr. Bernatz, who, during the four days I spent with them were as

SLAVES OF THE NEGOOS.

75

kind and as attentive as possible. At the end of that time I became much alarmed at feeling the approach of symptoms threatening a return of the intermittent fever, from which I had suffered so much during the previous eight months. I was not long in determining what course to pursue, but resolved upon leaving Ankobar immediately, and exchange its damp cold atmosphere for the more genial climate of Aliu Amba.

In Ankobar my time was principally occupied in receiving information respecting the character and customs of the inhabitants of Shoa, but these I had more opportunity subsequently of observing for myself.

Respecting the slaves of the Negoos, in addition to the water-bearers just spoken of, I learned that he possessed several hundreds of others. All the gunmen who constitute the body-guard are bondsmen, and of these there are at least one thousand. These are divided into three bodies, relieving each other in rotation after one week's attendance at the palace; so that these men have entirely to themselves two weeks out of three, a period always spent with their families. As individuals distinguish themselves for bravery and loyalty, they obtain grants of houses and gardens, generally in the immediate neighbourhood of the royal residences. When they advance in years, or have sons old enough to attend in their places, larger quantities of land, apportioned according to merit, are given