Imatges de pàgina
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him, and gave him my table for curiosity only, and so I saved mine."

As I may now say I was settled in this country, and had an opportunity of being informed of the manners, government, and present state of it, I shall here inform the reader of what I think most worthy his attention, whether ancient or modern, while we are yet in peace, before we are called out to a campaign or war, attended with every disadvantage, danger, and source of confusion.

CHAP. X.

Geographical Division of Abyssinia into Provinces.

AT Masuah, that is, on the coast of the Red Sea, Ат begins an imaginary division of Abyssinia into two, which is rather a division of language, than strictly to be understood as territorial. The first division is called Tigre, between the Red Sea and the river Tacazze. Between that river and the Nile, westward, where it bounds the Galla, it is called Amhara.

Whatever convenience there may be from this division, there is neither geographical nor historical precision in it; for there are many little provinces included in the first, that do not belong to Tigre; and, in the second division, which is Amhara, that which gives the name is but a very small part of it.

Again, in point of language, there is a variety of tongues spoken in the second division besides that of Amhara. In Tigre, however, the separation as to languages holds true, as there is no tongue known there but Geez, or that of the Shepherds.

Masuah, in ancient times, was one of the principal places of residence of the Baharnagash, who, when he was not there himself, constantly left his deputy, or lieutenant. In summer he resided for several months in the island of Dahalac, then accounted part of his territory. He was, after the King and Betwudet, VOL. IV.

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the person of the greatest consideration in the kingdom, and was invested wish sendick and nagareet, the kettle-drum and colours, marks of supreme command.

Masuah was taken, and a basha established there soon after, as we have seen in the history, in the reign of Menas, when the Baharnagash, named Isaac, confederated with the Turkish basha, and ceded to him a great territory, part of his own government, and with it Dobarwa, the capital of his province, divided only by the river Mareb from Tigre. From this time this office fell into disrepute in the kingdom. The sendick and nagareet, the marks of supreme power, were taken from him, and he never was allowed a place in council, unless specially called on by the king. He preserves his privilege of being crowned with gold; but, when appointed, has a cloak thrown over him, the one side white, the other a dark blue, and the officer, who crowns him, admonishes him of what will befal him, if he preserves his allegiance, which is signified by the white side of the cloak; and the disgrace and punishment that is to attend his treason, and which has fallen upon his predecessors, which he figures to him by turning up the colour of mourning.

Besides the dignity attending this office, it was also one of the most lucrative. Frankincense, myrrh, and a species of cinnamon, called, by the Italians, Cannella, with several kinds of gums and dyes, all very precious, from Cape Gardefan to Bilur, were the valuable produce of this country: but this territory, though considerable in length, is not of any great breadth; for, from south of Hadea to Masuah, it consists in a belt seldom above forty miles from the sea, which is bounded by a ridge of very high mountains, running parallel to the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, as far as Masuah.

After Azab begin the mines of fossile salt, which, cut into square solid bricks of about a foot long, serve in place of the silver currency in Abyssinia; and from this, as from a kind of mint, great benefit accrues also.

From Masuah the same narrow belt continues to Suakem; nay, indeed, though the rains do not reach so far, the mountains continue to the Isthmus of Suez. This northern province of the Baharnagash is called the Habab, or the land of the Agaazi, or Shepherds; they speak one language, which they call Geez, or the language of the Agaazi. From the earliest times, they have had letters and writing among them; and no other has ever been introduced into Abyssinia, to this day, as we have already observed.

Since the expulsion of the Turks from Dobarwa and the continent of Abyssinia, Masuah has been governed by a Naybe, himself one of the Shepherds, but Mahometan. A treaty formerly subsisted, that the king should receive half of the revenue of the customhouse in Masuah; ́in return for which the Naybe was suffered to enjoy that small stripe of barren, dry country, called Samhar, inhabited by black shepherds, called Shiho, reaching from Hamazen on the north to the foot of the mountain Taranta on the south; but, by the favour of Michael, that is, by bribery and corruption, he has possessed himself of two large frontier towns, Dixan and Dobarwa, by lease, for a trifling sum, which he pays the king yearly; this must necessarily very much weaken this state, if it should ever again have war with the Turks, of which, indeed, there is no great probability.

The next province in Abyssinia, as well for greatness as riches, power, and dignity, and nearest Masuah, is Tigre. It is bounded by the territory of the Baharnagash, that is, by the river Mareb on the east,

and the Tacazze upon the west. the west. It is about one hundred and twenty miles broad from E. to W., and two hundred from N. to S. This is its present situation. The hand of usurping power has abolished all distinction on the west-side of the Tacazze; besides, many large governments, such as Enderta and Antalow, and great part of the Baharnagash, were swallowed up in this province to the east.

What, in a special manner, makes the riches of Tigre, is, that it lies nearest the market, which is Arabia; and all the merchandise destined to cross the Red Sea must pass through this province, so that the governor has the choice of all commodities wherewith to make his market. The strongest male, the most beautiful female slaves, the purest gold, the largest teeth of ivory, all must pass through his hand. Firearms, moreover, which for many years have decided who is the most powerful in Abyssinia, all these come from Arabia, and not one can be purchased without his knowing to whom it goes, and after his having had the first refusal of it.

Siré, a province about twenty-five miles broad, and not much more in length, is reckoned as part of Tigre also; but this is not a new usurpation. It lost the rank of a province, and was united to Tigre for the misbehaviour of its governor Kasmati Claudius, in an expedition against the Shangalla in the reign of Yasous the Great. In my time, it began again to get into reputation, and was, by Ras Michael's own consent, disjoined from his province, and given first to his son, Welled Hawaryat, together with Samen, and, after his death, to Ayto Tesfos, a very amiable man, gallant soldier, and good officer; who, fighting bravely in the king's service, at the battle of Serbraxos, was there wounded and taken prisoner, and died of his wounds afterwards.

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