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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To the annoyances and difficulties caused by the presence of large
bodies of armed peasants, day and night hanging about the outskirts
of the camp, were soon added the evils of famine:
A small Abyssinian
loaf cost a dollar; a salt and a half, a dollar; butter could not
by any means be obtained; and hundreds died daily of want and
starvation. When the grain plundered at Metraha was consumed, no
more could be found; plundering was now quite impossible, and as
long as Theodore did not move his camp there was no hope of supplies
of any kind being obtained. Almost all the mules, horses, and the
few remaining sheep had died from want of food; they could not graze
any more in close vicinity to the camp, that pasture being completely
eaten up; and as to driving them to some green fields at a distance,
that was impossible. The poor animals dropped one after the other,
and infected the place by the stench that arose from their dead
bodies. The cows had all been killed long before by order of
Theodore. One day, when, after one of his first razzias, he had
brought back with him to Debra Tabor more than 80,000 cows; at night
the peasants came, and from a distance implored him to have pity
upon them, and restore them their cattle, without which they were
unable to cultivate the soil. Theodore was on the point of acceding
to their request, when some of the rascals around him said, "Does
not your Majesty know that there is a prophecy in the country, that
a king will seize a large amount of cattle, and that the peasants
will come and beg him to return them; the king will comply, but
soon afterwards die." Theodore replied, "Well, the prophecy will
not apply to me." He immediately gave orders for all the cows in
camp, those he had lately brought, and all others, to be killed at
once; the order was obeyed, and nearly, it is said, 100,000 were
killed and left to rot in the plain at a short distance from the
camp.
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