NEW EMPIRE OF ABYSSINIA. 213 



mavsb, salt and leady, and a river in comparison with which the Takazze would 

 be a sea. Theodore then turns to the audience : "If it be so," says he, " with the 

 Holy Land, with the soil which God himself chose for his people, what must be 

 the other countries of the west? Let us thank God, my friends, for being bora 

 in this terrestrial paradise called Abyssinia. 



The personal courage of the negus has never been called in question ; he is 

 only too ready to expose himself in a battle, and in one of those brilliant duels 

 where his superiority as a soldier has always gained him the victory. Without 

 speaking of those I have mentioned, he has had more recent ones, that, for ex- 

 ample, in which he killed with a ball in his forehead, the best general of Tedla- 

 Gualu, 4 y^rs ago. He presents a magnifieeat appearance at the head of a 

 squadron and at full gallop, when intoxicated by the movement and by the smoke, 

 he utters, with a (uU and quick voice, his battle-cry: Jbba Langhla. His 

 talents as a general and a strategist are more disputable. The campaign of God- 

 jam, of which I was a witness, was so desultory and so pitiful that I have felt 

 like inquiring if Theodore did not make the war last by calculation. His tactics, 

 mysterious and sinister, are well calculated to strike the imagination. Then, 

 after some days repose, the army receives orders to be in readiness to march the 

 next day in a given direction, to the south for example. Two hours aferward", 

 at sunset, the negus mounts his horse, impassive and taciturn. Thirty chosen 

 fusileers are grouped around him, five or six sure horsemen follow him five paces 

 behind ; he marches to the north or to the east, no one knows where, and is not 

 anxious to be informed.- Some days pass without any news, then people heaf 

 that Theodore has surprised, after a long forced march, in which he has received 

 reinforcements scattered among the cantonments, a rebellious province, and has 

 massacred many of its inhabitants. At last an imperial proclamation is issued 

 in all the districts. Listen to what Djaw-Hoe says; "I have pnnishod the 

 wicked, I have killed 22,000 men. I'eace be unto honest men, and let uo 

 one be disturbed !" By a contrast which will be understood by those who 

 have known him intimately, this terrible man loves acts of kindness, adopts 

 orphans, takes care of their future life, gives them in marriage, and never loses 

 sight of them. He adores children, attends to them, and affords them as much 

 amusement as a grand-father ; they undoubtedly make him forget the base and 

 treacherous persons who surround liim. "Not one of you loves me," he snys 

 sometimes to the courtiers who enciiele hlin. "Those who fill my prisons are 

 happier than I, for there are persons who Live them and think of them; when I 

 die, not one of you will throw a handful of earth upon my gi-ave." To this the 

 answer might be given, that he has done everything to render himself an object 

 of terror, and has done nothing to gain the affections of his subjects. His syste- 

 matic mistrust has cast into chains almost all the representatives of the feudality 

 of the empire. This feudality has engendered all the evils which have precipi- 

 tated Abyssinia into the abyss where she has rolled for more than a century 

 yet, individually, the most of these great vassals were men naturally proud, 

 worthy and estimable. I will mention only two, who still live, Belgada Arsea and 

 ras Oubie (who must not be confounded with him of Derestie who was con- 

 quered). The latter is a fine old man with a soft and gentle figure, who under- 



