A Narrative Of Captivity In Abyssinia With Some Account Of The Late Emperor Theodore, His Country And People By Henry Blanc
- Page 113 of 373 - First - Home
On The 6th January About Twelve Hundred Peasants Were Assembled,
But The Confusion Was So Great That No Start Could Be Made Before
The Following Day, And Even Then We Only Made The Short Stage Of
Four Miles.
The greater part of the heavy baggage was left behind,
and it required a reinforcement from Tschelga to allow us to proceed
on our journey.
On the 9th we made a better stage, and halted for
the night on a small plateau opposite the high hill fort of Zer
Amba.
We were now fairly in the mountains, and had often to dismount to
descend some precipitous declivity, wondering how our mules could
climb the opposite steep, wall-like ascent. On the 10th the same
awful road, only worse and worse as we advanced; and when at last
we had ascended the almost perpendicular precipice that leads to
the Abyssinian plateau itself, and admired the grand vista that lay
at our feet, we congratulated ourselves upon having at last reached
the land of promise. We halted a few miles from the market town
of Tschelga, at a place called Wali Dabba. Here we had to exchange
bearers and consequently to wait several days till the new ones
arrived, or anything like order could be introduced. From that day
my troubles began.
I was at all hours of the day surrounded by an importuning crowd,
of all ages and sexes, afflicted by the many ills that flesh is
heir to. I had no more privacy, and no more rest.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 113 of 373
Words from 30686 to 30940
of 102802
