NEW JEMPIRE OJ" ABYSSINIA, 20'/ 



had she'wn it to me at Adona -with satisfcetion, and expected wonders from Jt'- 

 He arrived just at the time Mr. Cameron was arrested, but was not any less well 

 received. The hunter presented hts carpet. " How impertinent these English 

 are ! '' said Theodore to his offieei's. " Here is one who foretells by a picture 

 that the Turks will slay me ! Do you not see this man with a tarbouch, (1) this 

 Turk who fires at a lion ? Who is the lion of Ethiopia, if it be not I ? While the 

 Turks kill me, put this Englishman in irons!" The poor youth asked with 

 surprise : " What have 1 done ?" " Tou have done nothing.'' said the Negus who 

 was softened ; " but as 1 have put your consul in chains, you cannot love me, 

 and he who does not love me must not he fiM." Two months afterwards, Mr, 

 Cameron received another companion ; it was the favorite, he, having been absent 

 at the time of the arrest, had yielded to a good feeling by going the next morning 

 to the audience of the Negus and asking him, in the name of his honour as a 

 civilized sovereign, to set Mr. Cameron and his friends at liberty. Unfortunately 

 he spoke the Amharic language very badly, and it appears that in bis confusion 

 he substituted a word of command for a term of advice or prayer. " Do you hear 

 this asSf^^ said Theodore, " who pretends to dictate to me his orders ? since he 

 has so much interest in the consul, chain him with him ! " 



While the relations of the Negus with the Europeans were becoming more and 

 more delicate, the condition of the empire continually grew worse. The senseless 

 and numberless acts of severity on the part of Theodore produced of necessity 

 anarchy and rebellion. Motionless at Gondar, the Abyssinian emperor saw 

 increasing around him insurrections the extent of which threatened to crush him_ 

 In Tigr^ was Kassa Goldja, the son of that Goldja whom the people of ^dona had 

 killed in 1860, as we have already mentioned. 



He had no political standard, but a vendetta to execute upon the people of 

 Adona, to avenge the death of his father, which is a sacred obligation in the 

 East ; he held the country from Takagge to Mareb, and had attempted a bold 

 attack on Adona. He had been beaten, but the inhabitants had lost in the action 

 two of their chief generals, a son of the English Coffin, an ancient prince of 

 Antitcho and Koleb, the goldsmith of the crown, and the richest citizen of Adona. 

 Goldja remained strong enough to disturb all Lower Tigre until the end of 1863, 

 Of more importance was the rebel chief of Kolla-Voggara, Tevso Gobhesie, whose 

 bands infested the country within two halting places of Gondar. Terso received 

 as soldiers only those who proved, by showing their hands torn with stones and 

 thorns, that they were men to suffer want and continue to the last extremity the 

 life of insurgents, under the ban of the law, and tracked to the depths of ravines 

 and caves. The merchants, however, praised loudly the generoeity of Terso, and 

 bis conduct towards the caravans which contrasted with the arbitrary seizures of 

 the emperor Theodore. " The Negus is very strong this chief used to say, and 

 perhaps God reserves victory for him; if that happens and if we must perish let 

 us leave, at least, the name of honest men, free from every theft." Thus be rose 

 rapidly in public opinion whilst the popularity of the Negus hourly waned. This 

 unpopularity, which he felt very much, rendered him still more harsh and violent. 



(1) Gerard the hunter was in the uniform of a Spalii and had his head covered with & 

 turban. 



