Once We Met
Four Young Elephants, And An Old One That Played With Them, Lifting
Them Up With Her Trunk; They Grew Enraged On A Sudden, And Ran Upon
Us:
We had no way of securing ourselves but by flight, which,
however, would have been fruitless, had not our pursuers been
stopped by a deep ditch.
The elephants of Aethiopia are of so
stupendous a size, that when I was mounted on a large mule I could
not reach with my hand within two spans of the top of their backs.
In Abyssinia is likewise found the rhinoceros, a mortal enemy to the
elephant. In the province of Agaus has been seen the unicorn, that
beast so much talked of, and so little known: the prodigious
swiftness with which this creature runs from one wood into another
has given me no opportunity of examining it particularly, yet I have
had so near a sight of it as to be able to give some description of
it. The shape is the same with that of a beautiful horse, exact and
nicely proportioned, of a bay colour, with a black tail, which in
some provinces is long, in others very short: some have long manes
hanging to the ground. They are so timorous that they never feed
but surrounded with other beasts that defend them. Deer and other
defenceless animals often herd about the elephant, which, contenting
himself with roots and leaves, preserves those beasts that place
themselves, as it were, under his protection, from the rage and
fierceness of others that would devour them.
The horses of Abyssinia are excellent; their mules, oxen, and cows
are without number, and in these principally consists the wealth of
this country. They have a very particular custom, which obliges
every man that hath a thousand cows to save every year one day's
milk of all his herd, and make a bath with it for his relations,
entertaining them afterwards with a splendid feast. This they do so
many days each year, as they have thousands of cattle, so that to
express how rich any man is, they tell you he bathes so many times.
The tribute paid out of their herds to the King, which is not the
most inconsiderable of his revenues, is one cow in ten every three
years. The beeves are of several kinds; one sort they have without
horns, which are of no other use than to carry burthens, and serve
instead of mules. Another twice as big as ours which they breed to
kill, fattening them with the milk of three or four cows. Their
horns are so large, the inhabitants use them for pitchers, and each
will hold about five gallons. One of these oxen, fat and ready to
be killed, may be bought at most for two crowns. I have purchased
five sheep, or five goats with nine kids, for a piece of calico
worth about a crown.
The Abyssins have many sort of fowls both wild and tame; some of the
former we are yet unacquainted with: there is one of wonderful
beauty, which I have seen in no other place except Peru: it has
instead of a comb, a short horn upon its head, which is thick and
round, and open at the top. The feitan favez, or devil's horse,
looks at a distance like a man dressed in feathers; it walks with
abundance of majesty, till it finds itself pursued, and then takes
wing, and flies away. But amongst all their birds there is none
more remarkable than the moroc, or honey-bird, which is furnished by
nature with a peculiar instinct or faculty of discovering honey.
They have here multitudes of bees of various kinds; some are tame,
like ours, and form their combs in hives. Of the wild ones, some
place their honey in hollow trees, others hide it in holes in the
ground, which they cover so carefully, that though they are commonly
in the highway, they are seldom found, unless by the moroc's help,
which, when he has discovered any honey, repairs immediately to the
road side, and when he sees a traveller, sings, and claps his wings,
making many motions to invite him to follow him, and when he
perceives him coming, flies before him from tree to tree, till he
comes to the place where the bees have stored their treasure, and
then begins to sing melodiously. The Abyssin takes the honey,
without failing to leave part of it for the bird, to reward him for
his information. This kind of honey I have often tasted, and do not
find that it differs from the other sorts in anything but colour; it
is somewhat blacker. The great quantity of honey that is gathered,
and a prodigious number of cows that is kept here, have often made
me call Abyssinia a land of honey and butter.
Chapter III
The manner of eating in Abyssinia, their dress, their hospitality,
and traffic.
The great lords, and even the Emperor himself, maintain their tables
with no great expense. The vessels they make use of are black
earthenware, which, the older it is, they set a greater value on.
Their way of dressing their meat, an European, till he hath been
long accustomed to it, can hardly be persuaded to like; everything
they eat smells strong and swims with butter. They make no use of
either linen or plates. The persons of rank never touch what they
eat, but have their meat cut by their pages, and put into their
mouths. When they feast a friend they kill an ox, and set
immediately a quarter of him raw upon the table (for their most
elegant treat is raw beef newly killed) with pepper and salt; the
gall of the ox serves them for oil and vinegar; some, to heighten
the delicacy of the entertainment, add a kind of sauce, which they
call manta, made of what they take out of the guts of the ox; this
they set on the fire, with butter, salt, pepper, and onion.
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