HABASH.* FEW events of modern history have been so soon

forgotten as the Abyssinian Expedition, which gave us some trouble, rival M.P.'s a topic for debate, General Napier a peerage, and the Prince of Tigre a throne. The unknown laud, called in the East "Habash," which opened, as it were, a cleft in its mighty mountain-rampart, so that we had a glimpse of the riches and beauty of its verdant plains ten thousand feet above the sea, its majestic mountains, its fertile valleys, and its countless torrents, held our attention but for a moment, and lapsed into the mystery of ages from which war had withdrawn it. The striking figure of that terrible man of genius, King Theodore, his career, and our share in the cata- strophe of it, faded out of memory before the nearer and the vaster events of contemporary history in Europe, and our own more

recent South-African Expedition. Mr. de Cosson's highly interesting work, and the war between the Khedive and King John of Ethiopia, about which we are gradually learning the truth, have acted simultaeeously in once more direct- ing our attention to " the mother of Egypt," who has, it appears, recently inflicted upon her offending child chastisement severe, well deserved, and it may be hoped, effectual. Of the admirable purpose to which Mr. de Casson turned his visit to the Court of Xing John of Ethiopia, and the knowledge of the slave-trade of Upper Nubia which he acquired during a journey undertaken -solely for amusement, we shall speak elsewhere ; but in this place we wish to acknowledge the literary merits of the book, whose author calls himself " a tyro in the art of writing," and explains that the ideas which he has noted down " are not advanced as the result of mature reflection, but rather as illustrating the * The Cradle of the Blue Nile. By E. A. do Cowin, F.R.G.S. Loudon: John Murray.

impressions produced at the time by the scenes I witnessed." This is precisely what constitutes the charm of a book of travel, —that it should be a record of impressions, and not a treatise.

With the etart from Massowab, "the harbour of the Shepherds," one of the hottest places on the Bed Sea, the interest of the un- known began. Every effort was made, but, of course, ineffectually, by the Effendi to dissuade the travellers from proceeding to Abys- sinia, for Egypt did not like just then (1873) to have European observers of her encroachments upon the frontiers ; and they de- parted, with mules, camels, an escort of soldiers, and the unex- pected addition of a Franciscan friar, who was going to join the Catholic Mission at Shea. The beauty of the frontier country is only exceeded by that of the interior, and on emerging from a glen, which reminded them of the Valley of the Lynn, in Devon- shire, they came upon a green plateau, with a group of giant cactus-trees, whose dark-green branches reached a height of sixty feet, and were spread out like a fan :—

" Most of them were in blossom, and at the and of each great prickly branch was a little yellow flower, which glistened in the sun like gold. We sat down to rest beneath one of those majestic trees, A lark was carolling high up in the air, singing the same sweet notes we hoar among our English cornfields, though the other African birds have wild songs of their own, unknown to our climes."

After a brief rest, they began the ascent of a steep mountain- pass:— "At last we gained the top, and though we were faint and weary with what Boomed a perfectly interminable climb, the magnificent view that burst upon us was a sufficient reward for our labour. As far as the eye could roach, we saw the uplands of Abyssinia stretching before us in endless ranges of wooded montains, while the clouds floated far below our feet, over emerald valleys watered by glittering streams. To the far south wore the great tablelands of Akele-gumai, towering high above the loftiest mountains, like it purple wall; while in the foreground the dark-green forests of tree-cactuses, with the sunlight playing on their yellow flowers, made the nearer mountains look as if they had been powdered with gold."

The contrast between the majestic beauty of the country and the degraded condition of its inhabitants, which strikes one in all descriptions of African travel, comes out strongly here. Between Asmara, where the travellers, halt, in a scene of exquisite beauty, and its nearest neighbour-village, there is a blood-feud, and neither food nor means of transport can be had ; besides, the people there firmly believe all foreigners to be Turks, and frighten the villagers from helping them ; so that they have to go far to procure oxen and drivers, and only succeed when the friar's sacred capacity comes to be understood, and he swears that men and beasts shall return uninjured. At last they are off, across grassy plains, and through wooden hills sweet with the scent of the mimosa. They come to the great daroo-tree, under which Bruce rested more than a hundred years ago, a camp above the village of Dibaroa, and are slily inspected by a group of Abyssinian girls,— "Lithesome graceful creatures, of a clear dark-brown colour, picturesquely attired in short kirtles and spotted leopard-skins, adorned with blue beads and cowrie-shells, looped over their loft shoulder, and their black hair gathered up into a classical knot at the back of the head. Everywhere in Abyssinia we were struck by the great similarity the country girls bear in dross and form to the figures of nymphs on Greek and Roman bas-reliefs. Some of the men also aro singularly handsome, and have nothing of the coarseness of feature we are accus- tomed to associate with the Ethiopic type, nor yet of the hard-curved profile which distinguishes many of the Arab tribes. I have known some of them whom Phidias • might have copied faithfully, with- out departing in the least from the most rigid rules of Greek beauty ; and their hands and foot are very small and delicately proportioned, though they always go barefoot, and are accustomed to walk great distances over a rugged and difficult country. The small hands and feet of the Abyssinians are probably a mark of an Asiatic origin, for the black races indigenous to Nubia and the White Nilo have the usual thick lips and large feet characteristic of the true negro."

The country swarms with animal life. Troops of dog-faced baboons, attended by crowds of impudent little dark-grey monkeys, travel through the woods, and commit systematic depredations on the cornfields. When the grain begins to ripen, they send out scouts and sentries, while the others skilfully collect the grain, which they stow away in their cheeks, if suddenly alarmed. Mr. de Cosson tells a very curious monkey- story, on the authority of Baron de Schroeter. On the sea-coast of the West of Africa many of the trees dip into the water, and at low tide great numbers of oysters are to be seen hanging to their branches. The monkeys who live in the woods conic down in troops to collect these oysters, but though the Baron often saw them carrying off great piles of oysters in their arms, he never could get a sight of a monkey eating one :-

" At last, however, he discovered an open space in a secluded part of the forest, where the whole ground was thickly strewn with shells, and foetid that the monkeys were in the habit of congregating there to eat their oysters in company. They generally began by nibbling a

little hole at the edge of the oyster, into which they insortod their two thumbs, and then dexterously forced it open, each usually concluding the operation by flinging the empty shells at the head of another monkey."

Birds of various species abound, and the gullies swarm with fearless guinea-fowl. After some dangerous adventures among the tremendous precipices, and having been obliged to abandon half their baggage, including a box full of Maria-Theresa dollars, the only coin current in Abyssinia, where salt constitutes small change, and the value of a couple of dollars is a load for a man, the travellers reached Adowa, where they were welcomed by a large party of mounted warriors, attended by their shield-bearers, and escorted to the house of Ras Bariau, the Viceroy of Tigre, a famous soldier, who had been in the service of Theodore. Ras llariau refused to run away on an occasion when all his men took to flight, and was taken prisoner by Prince Kassa, who so admired his courage that ho appointed him Ras of Tigre. The travellers found it difficult to get away from the Ras, so exuberant was his hospitality ; and here they had their first experience of a horrible Abyssinian custom, which, though not quite so revolting as the eating of live animals, which Bruce imputes to them, is enough to render a visit to the country a pleasure too dearly purchased.

When they had been conducted to their tent, their attendant announced " dinner," and " in it walked alive, in the shape of a sheep, a present from the Ras. it was at once killed, and the legs and shoulders thrown on the hot embers to grill, a couple of slaves throwing a dim light over the scene from little bee's- wax tapers they held in their hands." Raw meat., seasoned with red pepper, slabs of coarse broad, and vast quantities of tedye—a kind of beer, to which the writer considers dirty ditch-water preferable—form the food and beverage of the Abyssinians, who are subject in consequence to peculiarly horrid forms of disease. The author's description of their feasts on

flesh smoking from the knives which have just stripped off the hide or the fleece is as painful a contrast with the surrounding grandeur of nature, and with the attributes of the people them- selves, as can be imagined. It is fortunate that there are two hundred and sixty fast-days in the Abyssinian year.

Adowa, the capital of Tigre, is on the highway for merchants travelling from Gondar, the old Portuguese capital, to the Red Sea; and here on Saturdays, at the market, congregate crowds of men and women, " in all the fantastic costumes or want of costume of inner Africa." The author describes the scene with great effect. The Abouna, or Patriarch, lives in a village of his own, and is rich, reverenced, and supreme in authority over the Church. His life must be a very sad one, for all that, for be is in reality a prisoner in a strange land, as he can never leave Abyssinia after he has been sent thither.

Each new Abouna is appointed by the Patriarch of the Copts at Alexandria, and the King of Abyssinia pays $10,000 for him. The fasting prescribed for the priests is very severe. For forty- eight hours, from Friday to Sunday, they are not supposed to touch food or drink of any kind, and on other fast-days they may only eat towards evening. During many of the fasts they must not even touch fish, and their only food is dried peas, dressed in a disagreeable vegetable oil, and a dish made of a species of

spinach. Mr. de Casson is probably jesting when he tells us that the Abouna, being the holiest of the priests, is supposed to live entirely on lecusso (a powerful medicine), but he makes the statement gravely enough. A very interesting chapter is devoted to Axum, the ancient capital of Tigre, formerly the great em- porium of Indian and African trade, and where the cathedral built by the Portuguese still remains. It is a cheerful little town, with fenced-in gardens surrounding the round thatched houses, and rejoices in the luxury of wells, unknown to most

other parts of .Abyssinia, where water is drawn from brooks or ponds. The greatest curiosities at Axuni are a number of gigantic monoliths in grey granite, which seem to have formed part of some great early Ethiopic temple. The Ncbrid, or High Priest, received the travellers graciously, and lodged them to the best of his power ; but here, as indeed everywhere out of their own huts, they suffered much from the vermin with which every dwelling in the country is infested. The chapters which describe their camp- life, their sporting adventures, and the fauna and flora of Abyssinia, which combine those both of Europe and equatorial Africa, are full of interest. The German botanist, Dr. Schi m per, who lives at Adowa, assured the writer that the study alone of the plants that are to be found within the base and the summit of one such mountain as Soloda would take many years of a botanist's life. The human variety is also very great. " Though the people of Tigre, Amhara, andShoa are principally Christians, Jews,.Pagans, Mahommedans,

Fire-Worshippers, and even races that appear to have no form of worship at all are to be found hi the country ; and it is not uncommon to find within a couple of days' march of each other two races or tribes differing as much in type, religion, and language as if several hundred miles lay between them." Of course this makes travelling very difficult, as the traveller must change his guide, porters, and escort, and place himself in the hands of a new chief at each new district he enters. Mr. de Cosson pronounces the people of Amhara and Tigre, the districts in which the authority of King John is firmly established, to be warlike, but not ill-natured or aggressive. This handsome and intelligent and observant people never attempt, however, to im- prove on what their fathers did before them ; they are lazy and proud, and prefer swagger, especially about their powers in the killing of lions, and of men in battle, to any kind of work. Not until King John sent a special message, summoning the travellers to visit him at his camp near Gondar, could they induce Ras Bariau to forward them on their way ; but when that came, he swore 44 Yohannes.y mute," "By the King's death," they should go on the morrow ; and on the morrow they set forth, to attain, after much toilsome but delightful travel, delightfully described, the great end of their journey,—the sight of one of the most picturesque personages of modern times, Kassa of Tigre of " Abyssinian Expedition" days, the King John of Ethiopia of ours.