Abyssinia and King Theodore, Part I-VI [pp. 265-281]

Abyssinia and Kitng Theodore.
formed the captive that "Mamma
had succeeded in selling a dose of
kosa, and bought a loaf, which Kasa
sends him."
A few days after, I heard these
details at Gondar. The news-mon gers praised the mockery; but they
only half-smiled, for the flower of
society had fallen into misfor tune. Then they regretted the
good king Yohannis, and suspected
the still undeveloped wickedness of
the character of Kasa, the adventurous rebel of Quara. I saw Kasa, or
Theodore, frequently at Gondar in
I848. He was dressed as a simple
soldier, and had nothing, either in
his features or language, which presaged his high destiny. He loved
to speak of fire-arms. He was about
twenty-eight years old; his face
rather black than red; his figutire
slim; and his agility seemed to arise
less from his muscular power than
from that of his will. His forehead
is high and almost convex; his nose
slightly aquiline, a frequent characteristic of the pure-blooded Amaras.
His beard, like theirs, is sparse, and
his thin lips betray rather an Arabian than an Ethiopian origin. Kasa
conquered all his competitors, became King of Ethiopia, and was
consecrated by the abun, taking the
name of Theodore, to verify an old
prophecy current among the Jews
and Christians, that a king of this
name should rule over the ancient
empire of Aksum. But the Ethiopians, like all people of mountainous
regions, tenacious of their independence, and accustomed to liberty,
did not yield at once to an upstart
usurper, who owed his success less
to ability and valor than to good
luck.
In the beginning of hiis reign he
acted with much clemency, owing, it
is said, to the happy influence exercised over him by his first wife. When
she died, he caused her body to be
embalmed, according to the custom
of the Ethiopian princes of the race
of Solomon. Her coffin was carried
after Theodore everywhere he marched. A special tent was erected in the
camp for her remains, and the con queror of Ethiopia was often seen
entering it to meditate on his past
happiness, and ask of God, as it was
said, prudence and wisdom for the
future. It is at this time that he had
real thoughts, though always eccentric, of a good government. Civil
divorce, and the consequent confusion of marriage, are the plaguespot of Abyssinian society. They
uproot the foundations of the family,
and are opposed to all ideas of order
and stability. Without understanding that a radical change in society
cannot be effected by a mere proclamation, Theodore decreed the obligation of regular marriages, and the
abolition of divorce. An able statesman would have sought to destroy
gradually, abuses of such long standing. Another of his decrees did him
equal honor, and might have succeeded better, for he revived the old
law of the Ethiopians against the
slave-trade.
But the heart of man is fickle.
Prince Wibe, falling into the hands
of the conqueror, recommended
his daughter to the Dabtara and
monks of Darasge, his favorite abbey,
where he had his family burial vault.
One day the faithful guardians of the
spot saw a band of soldiers rushing
toward them. They thought it was
Tissu, a recent rebel. They immediately concealed the sacred vessels,
and for safety shut up the daughter
of Wibe in the vault. Their surprise
was great when they found it was
Theodore himself, who was, according to custom, marching over his
kingdom in quest of insurgents. He
wanted to see everything; and when
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