The Royal Camp at Ambachara

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From The Cradle of the Blue Nile: A Visit to the Court of King John of Ethiopia by Emilius A. DeCosson, 1877.

When day dawned I returned to my tent, where I found Bo-Galla had been spending his leisure moments in trying to empty the gumbos of tedge, and having in consequence got frightfully drunk, had amused himself by smashing my pith helmet, English saddle, and one or two other things that could not possibly be replaced.

I was so angry with him that I paid him and dismissed him on the spot, retaining only my gun-bearer Sinke, to whom I was forced to convey most of my orders by signs, as he could speak nothing but Tigre. It was embarrassing to have nobody by whom I could make myself understood, but having once forbidden Bo-Galla the tent, I was resolved not to recall him, as the surest way for a European to gain an ascendance over the Abyssinians, is to convince them that he is entirely independent of their assistance.

I had not been long alone before one of the king's principal officers, Likamanguas Warki, called to enquire after my health in his majesty's name. He was splendidly dressed in a robe of flowered silk, with an embroidered kuarie of Indian muslin draped round him, and a silver-mounted pistol in his sash.

As all my knowledge of Abyssinian was confined to a few nouns, a few simple words of command, and one or two vigorous adjectives more useful among the wild tribes of the mountains than the denizens of a court, we unfortunately could not communicate our ideas very freely; however, the courtly manner of the Likamanguas quite made up for all deficiencies of speech, and we were soon good friends. He was one of four officers who bear the title of "Likamanguas," and are as inseparable from the king as his shadow.

Each Likamanguas has the privilege of wearing the same dress as his sovereign, and when the King of Abyssinia goes into battle they wear the same arms, so that the king's person may not be distinguished from them. Formerly, I believe, the kings of Ethiopia were seldom killed in battle, the royal insignia being always respected by their foes, but alas! radical ideas have crept even into Ethiopia, and her kings are no longer treated with such reverence.

The Likamanguases rank among the principal officers of the state; they serve the king with food, transmit his orders, and, in short, are his private chamberlains. I have read that time was when all those who served the kings of Ethiopia had to share their sufferings, even to the breaking of their own legs and arms should the royal legs or arms happen to get broken. Thus, says the chronicler, the kings were served with great zeal, and their servants attended to their interests as to their own. But this appears to have been another good old custom that has fallen into disuse in Ethiopia. O tempora! O mores!

After many expressions of amity the Likamanguas left me, as he said, to tell his Majesty of my welfare; while I set to work to mend my saddle and repair as much as possible the damage done by Bo-Galla the Franzoui. At 3 p.m. the king's interpreter Maderakal came to summon me to the royal banquet, an invitation I was much pleased to receive, for the king does not as a rule like strangers to be present at his banquets, lest they should draw invidious comparisons between his court and the courts of other kings, less powerful, but more civilized.

Seeing me plainly dressed in grey cloth, Maderakal asked if I was not going to wear a uniform, I told him that being on a simple sporting expedition I had not brought one with me, and that with us a gorgeous dress was not the necessary symbol of social position that it is in the East, and that indeed we often showed our pride by dressing our servants far more splendidly than ourselves. At this moment the king's gasha-zagry, or esquire, bearing his sword and shield, came for us, and Maderakal, daring to delay no longer, led me to the front of the royal enclosure.

As I entered, a salute was fired from a battery of brass howitzers, and the air reverberated with the sound of drums and trumpets. In the centre of the enclosure stood a large oblong building made of boughs, interlaced with the stems of young trees let into the ground, and covered with a flat roof of rushes, A sort of double colonnade of tree-trunks ran up the centre of this hall to where stood the king's throne, or divan, raised high above the earth, and draped with rich purple velvet. A short way in front of the throne a bright wood fire was blazing merrily, and immediately at the foot of it, and on either side, were spread several rich carpets, presents from her Majesty to the king when he was Prince Kassa of Tigre. The king himself,

“In rough magnificence arrayed,"

sat cross-legged on his divan, with a pair of English rifles, loaded and cocked, resting on the cushions to the right and left of him, and his slippers, of solid silver filigree, lying on the carpet before him. By his side was a beautiful sword, with a sheath of velvet and enamel; while on his head the great triple crown of Ethiopia flashed with gold and jewels. The royal robe was of cloth of silver, and over the king's brows hung a long cloth of crimson silk, worn under the crown, and falling in heavy folds round the face, so as to conceal the features.

Bruce says that formerly the kings of Abyssinia, like the kings of the Medes and Persians, never permitted the profane gaze of their subjects to rest on the royal countenance, but the necessity of constantly leading their armies in person has forced the Abyssinian sovereigns to abandon this custom, and it is now only on very solemn occasions that the king thus veils " the terrors of his brow," and places the great triple crown on his head.

On either side of the throne stood two gigantic eunuchs, over six feet high, clad in shirts of purple and green silk, and holding drawn sabres in their hands. A swarthy guard of honour, dressed with almost equal magnificence, stood, also with drawn sabres, behind; while all around crowded the great officers of state, and noted warriors, sumptuously arrayed in long robes of silk and velvet of every colour, the scarlet scabbards of their swords gleaming with gold and silver filigree, and their necks adorned with the skins of the lion and black panther.

The Likamanguases, nearly as richly dressed as their lord, stood grouped round the throne, two on each side of it, and the air shook with the wild notes of the trumpets and drums of the royal band. Thrice—as we pushed our way through the crowd of courtiers and attendants that thronged the lower end of the hall, towards the foot of the throne where the veiled king sat, like the veiled prophet of Korassan, surrounded by the barbaric splendour of his warlike court— Maderakal prostrated himself till his forehead rested on the ground, and his lips kissed the dust. I, as an Englishman, of course confined myself to the plain bow of our European receptions, and the king, when I reached him, stretched his hand from the folds of his robe and shook mine, saying at the same time a few courteous words of welcome in Tigre.

He then motioned me to sit down on a carpet at his right hand, and immediately all the rest of the assembly sat down on the ground, taking their places nearer or farther from the king according to their rank. Soon afterwards, a tall, stout man, with a very handsome, though somewhat sensual, face, walked up the centre of the hall, carrying a rifle in one hand, and a round shield, beautifully ornamented with plates of silver and filigree work, in the other. This was the redoubtable Ras Warenia, the newly subdued chief, who, before, had ruled over all Amhara as an absolute prince, but now was forced to prostrate himself in the dust before his master, and take his place on my right as a guest, in the same spot where others had so often bowed to him as lord—Sic transit gloria mundi!

Round his neck he wore a splendid tippet of black panther skin, enriched with clasps and bosses of gold filigree, which had belonged to the king, and been presented to him that morning as a mark of honour. For King Yohannes was politic, and sought to gild the chains of this proud chief, and reconcile him to his fall. At the side of the Ras hung a long straight sword, also handsomely ornamented with gold filigree, and his carefully platted hair was covered with a thin piece of white muslin, fixed with a golden pin; but his feet—like those of all the rest of the courtiers—were bare. His robe, however, was of the richest silk, and round his right wrist was clasped a silver-gilt gauntlet, studded with gems, an ornament which was also worn by several of the officers of the king's household, and is conferred by the Abyssinian sovereigns as a mark of especial favour.

To the left of the throne sat the principal minister of state, a man advanced in years, with a remarkably intelligent countenance, but it would tax the ingenuity of a court newsman to describe the appearance of the many striking figures that were grouped around. One, however, I cannot pass without a mention. He was a veteran warrior, the oldest of all the king's personal attendants. The grey hairs of his beard mingled with the tawny mane of the lion's skin thrown over his shoulders, and his thin locks were bound with a sort of silver crown; his tall, gaunt figure was almost as straight as the long silver-mounted matchlock he held in his hand, and the fire in his dark eyes was unquenched, though nearly ninety years had passed over his head, and marked their course by many a deep furrow on his broad and handsome brow. Indeed, the Ethiopic monarch's court, thronged as it was on this day with all his greatest chiefs, was a grand and striking sight, well worth my hard ride through the mountains.

And now a long line of slaves made their way up the hall, bearing on their heads round baskets covered with crimson cloth. One of these baskets was' placed on the ground before each of the principal guests, and contained the usual flat cakes of tef, or bread, which serve the triple purpose of food, napkin, and table-cloth, to the Abyssinian epicure. Meanwhile, several cows had been slaughtered on the threshold of the hall, according to the proper traditions of native hospitality, and large hunks of the raw and smoking meat were placed on the baskets before us,

I, as the stranger guest, being first served. Two attendants then went round, one, distributing knives from a case he carried at his side, and the other offering an antelope's horn full of mixed salt and red pepper, for us to season the meat with. All the company then set to, and began to devour the raw cow's flesh with the greatest avidity, cutting off huge pieces, which they swallowed with much smacking of lips and gesticulation.

I fear my pen is not powerful enough to describe in sufficiently picturesque colours this barbaric banquet. The gorgeous robes of every dye, the glittering shields and swords, the dark faces of more than two hundred guests, with gleaming eyes and teeth, clutching the red pieces of raw beef of which their feast was composed, formed a picture I must leave to the imagination of the reader.

I need hardly say I did not touch the raw meat before me, and when the king noticed this he whispered to his master of the ceremonies, an active personage, robed in purple velvet, and armed with a white wand, which he did not scruple to apply to the shoulders of those who disobeyed him. The Agafâree as this official is called, thereupon took a piece of meat, which he placed on the fire, and, after leaving it there for about a minute, brought to me. Though the meat was of course still quite raw, I felt constrained to eat a few mouthfuls of it, in acknowledgment of the courteous attention, and then, at Maderakal's suggestion, passed the remainder to the attendants and courtiers of humble degree standing behind, who divided it amongst them with great gusto. Most of the chiefs did the same with what remained of their portions, and thus the whole company was fed.

After the raw meat had been all consumed, pieces of meat slightly braised in the fire were handed round, and I was given a dish of curry prepared by the king's own reverend cook. This ended the dinner. Each guest was then allowed a small portion of arrakee; and after that, tedge, ad libitum, was served to the whole company. I was presented with the king's glass to drink my tedge out of; it was one of the presents that had been sent him in her Majesty's name after the Magdala campaign, and had a beautifully painted head of Cupid on the front. This glass was afterwards sent to my tent for me to use during the rest of my stay at the camp, and I was often asked whether the head painted on it was not a portrait of her Majesty's eldest son!

Great quantities of tedge were consumed, but the revelry of the guests was much hushed and awed by the presence of royalty, and nobody drank excessively, though it was just perceptible that one or two of them had been looking at somebody drinking, as they say in Connemara.

We presently heard a great deal of shouting and singing at the lower end of the hall, and a party of natives came dancing up to the foot of the throne, led by a man wearing a lion-skin over his shoulders, who every now and then fired his gun in the air, and danced to the wild chanting of his companions. Maderakal explained to me that this man had slain a lion, and had now come to boast of it before the king, for, in Abyssinia, to kill a lion single-handed is considered a greater feat than to slay a dozen men in battle.

After the lionslayer had been dismissed, two slaves entered leading an enormous lioness, who walked majestically up the hall, uttering every now and then a low growl. At a sign from the king, the slaves occasionally loosened the cord attached to her neck, and allowed her to make in the direction of some of the groups of guests, who rushed away in the greatest consternation, upsetting one another, and causing great laughter to those who were at a safe distance.

Seeing that the beast was really entirely under the control of her keepers, I allowed her to come quite close, and I do not think I ever saw a finer specimen. Of a rich tawny yellow, with firm lean flanks, enormously powerful forearms and claws, a broad forehead, and square cut jaws armed with a splendid array of glittering white teeth, she looked truly a worthy consort for the king of beasts, and a noble plaything for an African sovereign. After the guests had been sufficiently frightened by the lioness, a monkey was brought in and made to confront her; much fresh laughter being excited by the grimaces of the poor beast, who did not feel at all comfortable in such noble company.

These rude sports brought the entertainment to a close, and I rose to go, repeating to the king a few words of thanks in his own language, which appeared to please him much. I then returned to my tent, and slept till late the next day.

April 22nd.—Murcher, the head interpreter, and a Swiss, called Louis, who was in the service of the king, came to breakfast with me. I also had a visit from Maderakal, with whom I had a long conversation about the slave trade in this part of Africa, which I shall have occasion to speak of in another chapter. Likamanguas Warki, too, paid me an official visit, and informed me that his Majesty had ordered a hundred naphteñas to escort me to his banquet on the previous day, but that, owing to a mistake of the king's page, they had not appeared at the right time, and that I should be happy to hear that the boy had been soundly flogged for his error. I was not at all happy to hear it, but, as in duty bound, thanked the courtly Likamanguas for this polite attention.

April 23rd.—A very wet day, and, as my tent was just like a shower-bath, I was again forced to take refuge in Murcher's hut for shelter. I had a long talk with him about Bruce's story, that the Abyssinians feasted off live cow. He assured me that the oldest men in the country had no recollection of such a custom ever having prevailed, though it was quite true that the Abyssinians were very fond of raw meat, as I had been able to see for myself at the king's banquet, and that they liked the flesh fresh and smoking from the carcase.

April 24th.—A messenger brought me a letter from my brother to say that he and K. would not be able to reach Ambachara for two days. A couple of regiments of naphteñas were therefore dispatched to meet them and help them on with the baggage. In the afternoon the king again invited me to dine with him. This time the royal dinner was quite sans cérémonie, and the king and all his court were simply clad in the white blanket with a crimson stripe down it, called a kuarie, which forms the ordinary costume of all the people of Tigre and Amhara, from the king to the humblest peasant.

King Yohannes sat on an alga at the upper end of the hall, with his two English rifles beside him. He wore no covering on his head or feet, but each of his ankles was adorned with a small string of silver beads, and these, with a diamond pin stuck in his carefully platted hair, were the only ornaments about him. I had now a good opportunity of studying his face, and rarely have I seen a more intelligent countenance, or one that a physiognomist like Lavater would have examined with greater interest.

The brow was beautifully moulded, though small and slightly retreating; the nose aquiline, with very delicately-formed nostrils; the eyes deep-set, and not very large, but singularly courageous and penetrating; the cheek bones high for an Ethiopian; the mouth and chin sharply chiselled; and the ears almost as tiny and shell-like as a woman's.

His Majesty's age was about thirty-five, and his stature somewhat under the middle height, but his figure was perfectly proportioned, and he seemed possessed of great strength and endurance, though his hands and feet were exceedingly small and delicately shaped. That King Yohannes is an astute diplomatist has been proved by the masterly manner in which he has placed himself at the head of the large and turbulent empire, which, at the death of Theodorus, was left to be disputed for by several great and warlike chiefs, some of whom were not less powerful than Kassa himself, and yet Prince Kassa obtained his present supremacy with comparatively little bloodshed.

He had the sagacity to cultivate the friendship of the English, and obtain a supply of muskets for his followers, who, though few in numbers, were soon twice as well armed and disciplined as those of any other chief. Having once obtained this moral lever, he worked it so firmly and judiciously that it was not long before he was able to have himself crowned the .successor of Theodorus. But, though the king has always preferred policy to warfare, I was assured by K. that he is a hardy and fearless soldier, prompt in action, and ever to the forefront in battle. Indeed, his personal attendants said that they often had hard work to keep up with their royal master when once he was on his war-horse, so recklessly and furiously would he ride through the ranks of the foe, nor is it a pleasant thing for his enemies to he within range of his English rifle, as he is a splendid shot. But he possesses other qualities besides those of a soldier and statesman, for he is of a studious disposition and well read in the laws and history of Ethiopia. Nor is his outward sobriety and piety of life less remarkable.

At little after 3 A.M. he is wont to rise every morning, and read the Psalms of David by candle-light for a couple of hours; then he goes to church, after which he frequently sits fasting in open court to judge all cases that may be brought before him. The rest of the day is divided between the necessary hospitalities of the camp, riding out to indulge in the martial game of goaks, and attending to state affairs. Two or three hours being always reserved by his Majesty for study, while by nine o'clock he is generally in bed, as becomes one who rises so early.

I think Markham's opinion that Kassa is a "poor weak creature," is an erroneous conclusion, probably arising from the peculiarly quiet and unobtrusive demeanour of the king, and the great secretiveness of his character, which renders him loath to talk, or to appear to notice what is passing around him, though—in after conversation—I often found that there are few things that escape his observation, and that he does not carefully revolve in his mind. Crabbe's words would not inaptly describe him:—

“Yet might observers in his sparkling eye Some observation, some acuteness spy; The friendly thought it keen, the treacherous deemed it sly. Yet not a crime could foe or friend detect, His actions all, were, like his speech, correct. Chaste, sober, solemn, and devout, they named Him who was this, and not of this ashamed."

But it must not be supposed for a moment that I am judging the king by a European standard. I merely wish to point him out as a remarkable man in a country like Ethiopia, and among a people like the Abyssinians.

The dinner consisted of raw beef followed by braised beef as before; but this day tedge was the only drink. I made the acquaintance of the king's confessor, who was sitting near me. He was an amiable old man with a grey beard, and, when he saw me looking at him, he touched my boots with his hand and then kissed it in token of homage, saying at the same time that he was saluting St. Michael, for the Abyssinians think that white men are like St. Michael, and, in Wooma, the province governed by King Aba-Jubar, the people really believe that a white man is an angel come to visit them. Foreigners generally have a knack of paying ingenious compliments, but in the whole of my experience I had never before been taken for a saint, and I really felt quite at a loss how to look the part and not bring discredit on my new character. Alas! the good old times are passed, when, as Thomas Ingoldsby says:—

"Saints were many, and sins were few,"

and I could not call to mind a single male saint of my acquaintance who would serve as a model, and had therefore to be content with looking as pre-Raphaelite and Fra-Angelic as I could, which, though I dare say it was very effective, was decidedly not comfortable.

I also saw three ambassadors from the Galla country who had arrived at the camp. The Galla women are said to be wonderfully beautiful, but, if these three men might be taken as specimens, the sterner sex most assuredly do not share their good looks. They were short powerfully-built fellows, with a profusion of coarse black hair, which was unplatted and fell in heavy masses over their naturally low and retreating brows, making them look as if they had no foreheads at all, and the expression of their dark sensual faces was ferocious in the extreme; while at their girdles hung the horrible curved knives with which they emasculate their prisoners. Altogether, I do not think I ever saw a more truculent-looking trio, or one I should be less desirous to meet on a dark night if my rifle were empty; but though, even in Abyssinia, the savage ferocity of the Gallas is proverbial, I was told that if, which is rare, a Galla once becomes your friend, he will remain staunch to you and sacrifice his own life in your defence.

Several times during dinner I felt some of the courtiers near me, furtively feeling the texture of my coat, or examining my boots, cap, &c.; but what most struck their attention was my hunting-knife which was the only ornament I wore. It had once belonged to General Ortith de Eodas, the brother of the bloody president of Buenos Ayres, and the handle and sheath were of silver enriched with gold. When it was given to me, I was told that it had been the amiable general's custom to descend at night to the oubliettes where his brother's prisoners were confined, and cut their throats with this identical knife, so that there was a sort of gloomy interest attached to it, and the rude gorgeousness of its South American workmanship was greatly admired by the Abyssinians. I may here remark that it is very useful in Africa to have a knife with a blade of soft steel like a butcher's knife, as it is more easily sharpened, cuts meat better, and is less liable to chip or break than a knife of hard steel.

After the king's banquet I rode out to see a glorious blood-red sunset. At night the innumerable lights in the huts and tents made the camp look like some great city built round the base of Mount Ambachara. The weather being cold the king sent me a kuarie from his treasury as a cover for my bed.

April 25th.—I had now been five days at Ambachara, yet K. and C. had not arrived, and it was nine days in all since I had parted from them. Some of the king's soldiers were building me a house near the royal enclosure by his majesty's order, for now that the wet season had commenced my tent was uninhabitable. The Abyssinian mode of constructing a house is very simple. A long stake is driven into the ground, and six rather shorter stakes placed round it, forming a circle the diameter of which is about eight feet; the tops of these shorter stakes are then connected together by branches laid from one to the other, after which several long sticks are attached to the centre pole and placed sloping over the outer circle of uprights like the ribs of an umbrella. The ends of these sticks reach to within about three feet of the ground, and are attached to short uprights between which boughs are interlaced to form the wall of the house, the roof is then covered with branches and thatched with grass, and when all is firm, the centre stake is removed, the inner circle of uprights being now sufficient to support it.

A hole is next scooped in the ground for the fire, and a bed of stones is built between two of the uprights and the wall for the owner of the mansion to repose on; this stony bed is generally placed opposite the door, which, like the wall of the hut, is only three feet high. Windows and chimney there are none, the smoke of the fire being considered rather good for the eyes, and generally strengthening.

I have omitted to mention that the king had kindly ordered a cow to be slaughtered daily for my private consumption, besides which he had sent me dishes of curry from his own table and an unlimited supply of tedge. Though my appetite in Abyssinia was remarkably robust, a cow a day was rather an embarras de richesses, and the pile of raw meat in my tent waxed higher and higher till I was nearly overwhelmed by it, and quite sickened by the sight and smell. At last I was forced to tell Maderakal to have it all cleared away and given to the soldiers, who accordingly held a grand feast.

About 10 A.M. a native came into the camp with the news that K. and C. were in sight. I therefore mounted my horse and rode to meet them, accompanied by 200 of the king's naphteñas in charge of a Basha, Maderakal, and a little prince, a nephew of the king, who, though quite a child, rode his horse with much pluck and dexterity.

Halting the escort on the top of a hill, I went forward alone to meet my brother and K., whom I found reposing by the side of a stream. They told me they had been suffering from all sorts of miseries, and had been forced to come forward without much of the baggage. The cold in the mountains had been extreme, and out of the two regiments of naphteñas sent to meet them the day before, only five men remained, the rest having all gone off plundering on their own account. Most of the villages they had passed through were swarming with vermin, and they had ghastly stories to tell of how they had been forced to sit up all night dismally feeding the lamp with fleas, while, to put a climax to their misfortunes, one of their porters had been accidentally shot by Tedla, the general's servant.

We had always been careful to make our servants carry the breech-loaders empty and the muzzle-loaders uncapped, but it seems that Tedla thought this beneath his dignity, and had purloined a couple of caps which he placed on the gun he was carrying. As might be expected, one day when the men were all clubbed in a narrow pass the gun went off in the midst of them, and one of the porters at once went down with two charges of buckshot in his knees. Tedla tried to look as innocent as the rest, but an inspection of the muskets' soon pointed him out as the culprit. K. grimly asked my brother to lend him his stick, and Tedla, seeing there was no escape, began calmly to strip off his kuarie for the coming castigation, while my brother busied himself cutting the shot out of the wounded man's legs with a razor. The poor fellow behaved very well, never murmuring or complaining, and even interceded in Tedla's behalf. He was, however, too badly hit to be taken forward, and was therefore carried to a village and placed under the care of a shoum, who promised to give him every attention.

After a brief halt we mounted our horses and proceeded to join the escort. K. narrowly escaped being crushed in jumping a stream, as the bank gave way, and his horse rolled back on him. When the escort saw us they fired an irregular volley, and two fresh horses, with silver-mounted head-stalls and scarlet saddle-cloths, were led up for K. and C. We all then set off at a sharp trot, surrounded by a crowd of naphteñas and attendants running beside us. As we neared the camp two slaves came up to K., leading the king's own mule for him to ride, reminding one of the old days when he whom the king most esteemed was mounted on the royal mule, and led through the streets of the city, with loud shouts of "this is the man the king delighteth to honour." The mule was a magnificent beast, as fat as a prize ox, and beautifully caparisoned, with a bridle of solid silver. According to the old Abyssinian law it is high treason for a subject to sit on the king's seat, and the king never mounts again on a horse that he has once given to another to ride, therefore, when he sent K. his mule to ride into the carap, it was equivalent to making him a present of it.

All the troops crowded out to see us as we approached, and when we reached the royal enclosure a salute was fired, and Murcher came forward and led us before the king, " who sat upon his royal throne, and was clothed with all his robes of majesty, all glittering with gold and precious stones; and he was very dreadful."

Around the throne stood many of the potent, grave, and reverend signiors whom I had seen on the day of the feast. K. knelt and presented the great Abyssinian book of laws which Her Majesty's government had entrusted him with to give to the king, and which had been brought to England after the fall of Theodoras. King Yohannes bowed low as he received this valuable present, and also the letters from Her Majesty and Lord Granville. My brother was then presented, and we repaired to my tent, Avhere we were visited by Murcher, Maderakal, and Likamanguas Warki.

In the course of the afternoon two more tents were erected for my brother and K., while the construction of a couple of new houses was commenced for their future accommodation. The king's treasurer also supplied us with some carpets, and five cows, ten sheep, and several gallons of tedge and tella were sent us to appease our appetites. Of course we had to hold a sort of levee and receive an endless string of dark visitors, who one and all desired to examine our guns and other appointments, but at length we cleared the tent and retired to court what slumber we could.

DeCosson, Emilius A. The Cradle of the Blue Nile: A Visit to the Court of King John of Ethiopia. John Murray, 1877.

Emilius A. DeCosson

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