A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages, Volume 2 · Observations 2 · Section 19
Of Ethiopia: By Michael of Tripoly, Ambaſſador from the Habeſſine Emperor to the Grand Signior.
EThiopia, or the Country of the Abyſſins, called in Arabick Abeſch, from whence comes the word Abyſſin, is a great Empire, being above ſeven months travel in circuit: On the Eaſt ſide it is bordered by the Red Sea, and Zanguebar, on the South with Zeila, Avouſa, Naria, &c. On the Weſt by the Country of the Negros and Nubia, and on the North with the Country of Nubia and Bugia, becauſe to come from Ethiopia into Egypt, one muſt croſs Nubia down the Nile. About an hundred years ago, Greyu Mahomet, King of Zeila, of which the Inhabitants are all Moors, invaded Ethiopia, and forced the King to ſave himſelf on a Mountain, from whence he ſent to demand aſſiſtance of the King of Portugal, who immediately ſent it him, but hardly was he who commanded theſe Auxiliaries enter'd the Country, when he reſolved to return back again, finding that they ate raw Fleſh there: However, his Brother Don Chriſtopher had more Courage, and would not return without doing ſome Exploit: He marched up into the Country with about Three hundred Muſqueteers, fought, vanquiſhed, and killed the Mooriſh King, and then re-eſtabliſhed the lawful King of Ethiopia: For reward of which Service, the King of Ethiopia gave Lands and Eſtates to all the Portugueſe that ſtayed within his Dominions, and their Offspring are ſtill in that Country. The Father of this preſent King was a Catholick, but he dying ſome thirty odd years ago, the Queen his Wife, who was a great Enemy to the Jeſuits, and no Catholick, and who ſuffer'd impatiently, that they ſhould govern (as they pleaſed) the late King her Husband, wrought upon her Son that ſucceeded him, to perſecute all the Roman Catholicks, in ſuch a manner, that the Jeſuits were obliged to make their eſcape, and he put to death all the Capucins whom he found. Since that time, three Capucins more were put to death at Schouaken; for the King of Ethiopia knowing that they had a mind to come into his Kingdom, ſent to the Governor of Schouaken, praying him to put to death thoſe three religious Franks. The Governor of Schouaken cauſed their Heads to be immediately ſtruck off, and ſent them to the King of Ethiopia, who as a Reward, made him a Preſent of three Bags of Gold Duſt, promiſing him as many Bags of Gold Duſt as he ſhould ſend him Heads of Franks. And fifteen or ſixteen years ſince, two others have been put to death, in the Province of Oinadaga, whoſe Names were Father Fioravanti, and Father Franceſco. In ſhort, this King is a declared Enemy to all Franks, whom he accuſes of being Hereticks, and of having conſpired to put the Crown upon the Head of one of his Enemies: So that a Frank who would go into that Country, muſt paſs for an Armenian or Cophte, for the King and his People are of the Cophtiſh Religion. They believe but one Nature in Jeſus Chriſt. At the end of eight day they circumciſe, as the Jews do, and baptiſe Fortnight after. Before the Jeſuits went thither, they baptiſed none before they were thirty or forty years of age. They ſay Maſs as the Cophtes do, but their Church-books are in the Ethiopick Language. Their Patriarch depends on the Patriarch of Alexandria, and when the Patriarch of the Abyſſins dies, they ſend Deputies to Alexandria, to entreat the Patriarch to ſend them another, and he convocating his Clergy, chuſes out the fitteſt among them, whom he ſends, but is never any more heard of in Egypt, till he be dead.
There are four Kings that pay Tribute to the King of Ethiopia, to wit, the King of Sennar, who pays his Tribute in Horſes. Sennar is a very hot Country. The King of Naria, who pay his Tribute in Gold. The King of Bugia, and King of Dangala. Naria is a good Country, and in that Country are the Mines out of which they have the Gold that paſſes on the Coaſts of Soffala and Guiney. Theſe Mines are not deep, as in many other Countries. From that Country alſo comes the Civet. I think it will not be amiſs here to ſay ſomewhat of Civets, which are ſo rare in our Country, as that they deſerve to be taken notice of where one can find them. They are called Civet-Cats, come from Naria, (as I juſt now ſaid) and are taken in Snares. The Jews in Caire keep many of them in their Houſes, where for buying a few drachms of Civet one may ſee them. It is a Beaſt almoſt as big as a good Dog: It hath a ſharp Snout, ſmall Eyes, little Ears, and Muſtachios like a Cat: The Skin of it is all ſpotted black and white, with ſome yellowiſh ſpecks, and hath a long buſhy Tail, almoſt like a Fox. It is a very wild Creature, and I believe the bite of it would put a body to no ſmall pain. The Jews keep them in great ſquare Wooden Cages, where they feed them with raw Mutton and Beef, cut into ſmall pieces. When they would get from them that which is called Civet, (and is the Sweat of this Beaſt, that ſmells ſo ſweet) they make him go back with a ſtick which they thruſt in betwixt the Bars of the Cage and catch hold of his Tail: When they have that faſt, they take hold alſo of his two hind Legs, pulling him half out of the Cage by the Door, which falls down upon his Back, and keeps him faſt there, then another opens a certain Cod of Fleſh that theſe Beaſts have, which is ſhaped like a ſplit Gyſerne, and with an Iron Spatula ſcrapes all the Sweat off it within. The Males have that piece of Fleſh betwixt their Stones and Yard, which is like a Cats. The Females have it betwixt their Fundament and Privities, and it is emptied of the Sweat but twice a week, each Beaſt yielding about a drachm at a time, by what I could diſcern. When that Sweat or Excrement is taken out, it is of a whitiſh grey, but by little and little, in ſome ſhort ſpace, it turns to a very brown colour. It ſmells very ſweet at a diſtance, but near hand it ſtinks and cauſes a Headach. There are as many kinds of Civet-Sweat, as there are of Civet-Cats, for it is more whitiſh, greyiſh, or yellowiſh, and dryer in ſome than in others, and yet they mingle all together. After all, it is in vain to think to have pure Civet, for the Jews falſifie it; and if a man imagine it to be pure, becauſe he has ſeen it taken from the Beaſt, he is miſtaken, for before People come to their Houſes, they rub the inſide of that piece of Fleſh, with a little Oyl, or ſome ſuch Stuff, that ſo the Sweat and it together may make more weight, but when no body is preſent, they take it out pure, and mingle it afterwards. To find out the truth of this, I went one day to the Houſe of a Jew, that kept Civet-Cats, without giving him notice before, (for becauſe I had bought a little of him, and promiſed to come again another time, he asked me as often as he ſaw me, what day I would come) and having deſired him to get me ſome freſh Civet, he told me, that it was not the day he uſed to take it out; and having returned without acquainting him before, upon one of the days when he ſaid he was accuſtomed to gather it, he refuſed then alſo to do it, pretending Buſineſs, which confirmed all that had been told me of that matter. In the mean time they hold theſe Beaſts very dear; for having asked that Jew, and others alſo, how much they would have of me, for a Civet Cat, they all told me, an hundred Chequins. Dangala is the capital City of Nubia, the King of Dangala is King of the Barberins, who are a kind of Blacks, of the Muſulman Religion, that came in Crowds to Caire, to get Services; they are ſomewhat ſilly, but very faithful, and ſerve for a ſmall matter, for two Maidins a day, or a Maidin and their Dyet: You may make them do whatſoever you pleaſe. They wear a blew Shirt, plat all their Hair in Treſſes, and then rub it over with a certain Oyl, to keep their Head from being louſie. At Caire, when they have any falling out, they go before the Scheiks of their own Nation, who make them Friends, and if they think it convenient, adjudg them to pay a Fine, with which they feaſt and make merry together. They are great lovers of Crocodiles Fleſh; and when any Frank has got one for the Skin, they come and beg the Fleſh, which they dreſs with a pretty good Sawce. When theſe Blades have ſcraped together ten or twelve Piaſtres, they return home again wealthy to their own Country, provided they eſcape being robbed by the Arabs upon the way, who many times ſerve them ſo, therefore they commonly return in companies, as they came. The King of Dangala pays his Tribute to the King of Ethiopia, in Cloth. The Provinces of Ethiopia are Gouyan, (where the King keeps a Viceroy) Beghandir, Dambia, Amara, (which is a great Province, full of Mountains and good Caſtles) Damoud Tegre, and Barnegas. Beſides, there are ſeveral Provinces governed by Princes, who are Vaſſals to the King of Ethiopia. In ſhort, the Kingdom of Ethiopia comprehends twenty four Tambours or Vice Roys. The capital City is called Gonthar, and is in the Province of Dambia. Ethiopia (as the Ambaſſador told me) is as cold as Aleppo or Damaſcus, only the Countries near the Red-Sea, and the Country of Sennar are hot. The King of Ethiopia has above an hundred Wives, and keeps no Eunuchs to look after them, becauſe they look upon it as a Sin to geld a man; ſo that the Women have the ſame liberty there as in Chriſtendom. He is a King of very eaſie acceſs, and the pooreſt have the freedom …o come and ſpeak to him when they pleaſe. He keeps all his Children on a Mountain, called Ouhhni, in the Province of Oinadaga, which is a Mountain two days Journey diſtant from Gonthar; there is a place like a Ciſtern on the top of the Mountain, into which they are let down every night, and taken up again in the day-time, and ſuffered to play and walk about. When the King dyes, they chuſe out one of the wittieſt of them, and make him King, without any regard to Birth-right; and when he comes to have Children, he ſends his Brothers Priſoners to ſome other place, and places his Children at Ouhhni. The place where the Kings are buried, is called Ayeſus, and is a kind of Grott, where the Aged are laid in one ſide, and the young in the other. Heretofore there was a Church there of the ſame name, in time of the Jeſuites; and in the ſame place there is a Library. The Ambaſſador aſſured me, that he had been in that Library, and I fancy it is the old Library of the Ancient Ethiopians. Ethiopia is a good and fertile Country, producing Wheat, Barley, &c. The greateſt Deſarts of it are not above three or four days Journey over; and nevertheleſs, when the King makes any progreſs, he lodges in Tents. The Houſes of the great Lords are like thoſe of Caire, that is to ſay, very mean, in reſpect of the Houſes of Europe, and the reſt are only of Mud. The Country affords men of all Trades, except Watch-makers. They have no Camels there, but Mules, Aſſes, Oxen, and Horſes. All the People of this Country eat raw Fleſh, except the King, who has it dreſs'd, and drinks Wine of Grapes; the reſt drink only Wine made of Millet or Saraſin Wheat, but as ſtrong as ours, and Brandy made of the ſame Grain. They are cloathed after the faſhion of the Franks, and wear Cloath, Velvet, and other Stuffs imported to them by the Red-Sea. They have Harquebuſſes from the Turks, and of thoſe People there are not above three or four hundred who ſerve in the Wars with Harquebuſſes. In Trading they make no uſe of coyned Money, as the Europeans do, but their Money are pieces of fifteen or twenty Pies of Cloth, Gold, which they give by weight, and a kind of Salt, which they reduce into little ſquare pieces like pieces of Soap, and theſe paſs for Money. They cut out that Salt upon the ſide of the Red-Sea, five or ſix days Journey from Dangala, as you go from Caire, and the places where they make it are called Arho. Among them is the Nation of the Gauls, whom in Ethiopick they call Chava, and are a Vagabond people in Ethiopia, as the Arabs are in Egygt. Theſe Gauls are rich in Cattel, and are alwaies at wars with the Ethiopians. They have no Harquebuſſes, nor other Fire-Arms, but make uſe of Lances and Targets. After all, they ſpeak ſo m…ny different Languages in Ethiopia, that the Ambaſſador ſaid to me, If God hath made ſeventy two Languages, they are all ſpoken in Ethiopia. I asked his Excellency if he knew any thing of the Source of the Nile, and this he told me concerning it: The Head of Nile is a Well that ſprings out of the Ground in a large Plain, where many Trees grow: this Fountain is called Ouembromma, and is in a Province called Ago. It makes that a very delightful place, caſting up Water very high in ſeveral places: And this Ambaſſadour of Ethiopia aſſured me, that he had been above twelve times with the King of Ethiopia, to ſpend ſeveral days about that Fountain, which is twelve days Journey from Gonthar.