A Narrative Of Captivity In Abyssinia With Some Account Of The Late Emperor Theodore, His Country And People By Henry Blanc
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Once
Again On Terra Firma, We Hailed With Delight The End Of Our
Short And Disagreeable Passage.
On the beach we were received by
the clergy, who had turned out in full canonicals to welcome us
with all the pomp usually accorded only to royalty; for such had
been the Imperial command.
Two of the wealthiest merchants of the
place claimed us as their guests, in the name of their royal master,
and, mounted on beautiful mules, we ascended the hill on which
Kourata is built; the privilege of riding through the sacred streets
having been conferred on, the honoured guests of the sovereign of
the land.
Kourata is, after Gondar, the most important and wealthy city of
Abyssinia; it is a town of priests and merchants, built on the sides
of a conical hill and bathed by the waters of the Tana Sea. The
houses, many of them built of stone, are superior to any we saw in
Abyssinia. The church erected by the Queen of Socinius is held in
such sanctity that the whole town is considered sacred, and none
but the bishop or the emperor are allowed to ride through its narrow
and steep lanes. From the sea it is almost impossible to see the
town, so close and compact are the towering dark cedars and
sycamores - the just pride of the inhabitants. The whole hillock is
so completely covered with vegetation of every description, that
the spot from a distance seems more like a luxuriant waste untouched
by man's hand, than the abode of thousands, and the central mart
of Western Abyssinia.
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