NEW EMPIRE OF ABYSSINI4.. 53 



The death of Hailo-Mariam followed close upon that of Konfou. 

 Greedy kinsmen seized upon liis estate ; his widow, plundered and 

 unaided found herself reduced, to sell kousso, a medicinal plant, in 

 the streets of Gondar ; and young Kassa was sent to the monastery 

 of Schanker, near Lake Tana, with the prospect of one day becoming 

 one of the too numerous learned men or debteras of Abyssinia. This 

 asylum, however, was not destined to be thus fatal to him : de/fjas 

 ]Maro, one of the great vassals, who disputed fur the empire, fell upon 

 the monastery of Schanker, after a defeat, deluged it with blood and, 

 thus cowardly, revenged himself upon the children for the humilia- 

 tion to which their father had subjected him. Kassa escaped the 

 massacre, and, favoured by night, took refuge in the family of his 

 uncle. 



The three sons of Konfou, at their father's death, knew no better 

 than to dispute with their lances, the right of inheritance, until the 

 arrival of the powerful dedjas Gocho, prince of Godjam, set them afc 

 one again, by conquering the province on his own account. Kassa, 

 who had taken the side of the eldest of Konfou's sons, took refuge 

 in the mild and secluded district of Sarago, in the house of a peasant, 

 •whose hospitality he shared for more than a month. Upon leaving 

 his retreat, we find him at the head of a handful of highwaymen* 

 stopping the road from Gallabut, in company with another bandit. 

 He already showed himself superior to the vulgar adventurers among 

 whom he lived, and an attempt that he made to establish a certain 

 discipline among them, gave rise to a conspiracy that young Kassa, 

 being apprized of, by the faithful among them, repressed with se- 

 verity. 



Tired of this existence, unworthy of him, and, strengthened by the 

 junction of some of those bands with which civil war had filled Abyssi- 

 nia, Kassa set hismind, thenceforward, upon making a political position 

 for himself; and resolved to dispute with Menene, the mother of the 

 ras Ali before-mentioned the province of Dembea. IVlenene is a re- 

 markable figure in the contemporaay history of Africa. The daugh- 

 ter of a great Mahommedan lord of the Galla country, she had mar- 

 ried the reigning Negus for ambition ; and had not been more faithful 

 to him than are the great Abyssinian ladies in general. She com- 

 manded her troops in person, governed her fief of Dembea with vigour, 

 and was not very unpopular, since, though haughty enough, she was 

 not cruel. What seems to have troubled her most, was the thought 

 that she and her son raa Ali were only upstarts in the midst of a 



