By: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
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Continuing the series of articles on the insightful documentation provided by the Russian Military Officer, Explorer, and Orthodox Monk in his books about his deeds and excursions, observations and explorations in Abyssinia (undertaken over three years 1896 — 1899), I herewith republish a first part from his second book titled “With the Armies of Menelik II”; the part covers Bulatovich’s excursion “From Addis Ababa to Jimma”.

Throughout Bulatovich’s text is reflected the Abyssinian tyranny imposed on the Oromos little time before the Russian explorer’s travel. At the same time, Bulatovich makes clear that the treacherous and viciously anti-Oromo tribes of Gurage arrived to the South only following invasions and occupied their territory by right of conquest. The Amhara interlocutors of the tsarist envoy were naive and idiotic enough to confess to Bulatovich their insightful about the Gurage’s original land in Tigray — something critical to bear in mind at the moment of Oromia’s liberation. The Gurage have no place in a free Oromia.

In many forthcoming articles, I will publish other parts of Bulatovich’s second book, and in addition, I will extensively comment on parts of his first book (notably History, Religion, Conclusion). Herewith, I make first available a recapitulation of the earlier nineteen (19) articles of this series, and then republish the excursion narrative.

All the Oromos, Ogadenis, Afars, Sidamas and others, who fight for their independence, and all the neighboring countries, not only Egypt and Sudan but also Somalia and Eritrea, which are threatened because of the evil, eschatological dreams of Greater Ethiopia, must study, understand and diffuse the insightful documentation available in the two books, which were published by the Russian explorer before 110 years; in and by itself, this documentation constitutes good reason for the world to be preoccupied with the source of every regional trouble and instability: the Amhara and Tigray (Tewahedo) Monophysitic Abyssinians who rule tyrannically over the lands they invaded and the nations they subjugated.

Recapitulation

Earlier articles of the present series can be found here:

1st Article: The Oromo Genocide Solemnly Confessed by Official Russian Explorer in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) – Selected and highlighted excerpts from a book — report published by a Russian explorer, military officer and monk, Alexander Bulatovich, who spent three years in Abyssinia, during the last decade of the 19th century. These excerpts undeniably testify to the Oromo genocide perpetrated by the invading Amhara and Tigray Abyssinian armies, and have therefore to be brought to the surface of political debate by the Oromo political and intellectual leaders at the local, regional and international levels.

2nd Article: Russia, the Oromos, Egypt, Sudan, Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia), Somalia, Islam & Orthodox Christianity — Republishing further excerpts from Bulatovich’s book, I focused on the possible reasons for Russia’s failure as colonial power in the region. As reasons I identified an inherent Russian quantitative approach to the colonial process and an overall misperception of the past and the present of Asia and Africa, which is due to the Russian academic, intellectual and ideological acceptance of the Anglo-French Orientalism, a bunch of disciplines elaborated by the French and the English academia in order to mainly promote and diffuse an interpretation of data that would suit the interests of the Anglo-French Freemasonry, namely the driving force of the Paris and London regimes.

3rd Article: Abyssinian Colonization of Oromia, Sidama and Kaffa in Bogus Ethiopia. An Early Witness from Russia — Another, longer, excerpt from Bulatovich’s ‘From Entotto to the River Baro’ which bears witness to the evil Amhara and Tigray plans of illegal occupation of the annexed lands and of tyrannical consolidation of the Abyssinian colonialism by means of settlements peremptorily implemented among the subjugated nations.

4th Article: Ethiopia (Oromo) vs. Abyssinia (Amhara). Unbridgeable Ethnic, Cultural Gap Revealed by Bulatovich — Two more excerpts that focus on the Oromo society, namely ‘Galla Clothing’ and ‘Galla Family Life’.

5th Article: Oromo National Identity Diametrically Opposed to Amhara Manner, Russian Officer Bulatovich Reveals — Three chapters dealing with Oromo national identity, religion and language; all the preconceived concepts of the colonial era are herewith present, thus leading Bulatovich to erroneous interpretations. Certainly, the Russian explorer was not a linguist, historian or historian of religions; more importantly, academic exploration was not the primary interest of his travel which was kind of diplomatic reconnaissance. However, the chapter on the Oromo national character is greatly interesting because it demolishes the Ethiopianist myth of a supposed Ethiopian nation.

6th Article: Revelation of the Amhara Fornication: Light on the Anti-Christian Blasphemy of Fake Ethiopia — Further excerpts from the same volume of Bulatovich, providing with his description of the Abyssinians. Reporting accurately and truthfully, Bulatovich offered the Orthodox tsarist Russia’s top authorities a trustful portrait of the unclean and incestuous character of the pseudo-Christian Abyssinian society.

With no family, there is no Christian society. As a matter of fact, Abyssinian eschatology is a corrupt system at the very antipodes of Christianity.

7th Article: Outrageous Falsehood on Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) Rejected: Solomonic Dynasty, Kingdom Do Not Exist — Further excerpts from the same volume of Bulatovich, providing with his description of the Abyssinians. Reporting accurately and truthfully, Bulatovich offered the Orthodox tsarist Russia’s top authorities a convincing presentation and analysis of how and why Abyssinian nobility does not exist — which consists in a formidable blow against the falsehood of the so-called Solomonic dynasty of Abyssinia, and their connection to the Ancient Hebrews. In fact, there has never been any post-Agaw Abyssinian ‘Kingdom’. The entire history of post-Agaw Abyssinia is a succession of uncivilized gangsters of incestuous origin, who were peremptorily called ‘noble men’, ‘kings’ or ‘emperors’; they were imposed as such to all the peoples and nations that, with Anglo-French permission and support, the Abyssinians invaded and subjugated.

8th Article: Russian Officer Bulatovich Relates on Colonial Raids of Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) in Kaffa Land I — The entire text of Bulatovich’s first excursion from Entotto to the River Baro,

9th Article: Russian Officer Bulatovich Relates on Colonial Raids of Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) in Kaffa Land II — The entire text of Bulatovich’s second excursion from Entotto to the River Baro,

10th Article: The Evil, Colonial State of Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia) Exposed by Bulatovich, the Envoy of Russia — Chapters on the Ethiopian System of Government, the State Government and the Distribution of Land, the Police, the Judicial System and Procedure, the Law and Custom, the Crimes and Punishments, and the Economic Condition of the State — the Treasury.

11th Article: War Criminals of Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia), Their Atrocities Exposed by Bulatovich, Envoy of Russia — Chapter on the Abyssinian army; this part of Bulatovich’s text is also very critical because it highlights (see the section: ‘Conduct of War’) the inhuman practices of environmental disaster spread by the criminal robbers and inhuman soldiers of the Abyssinian state, which supported by England and France, perpetrated the worst atrocities ever attested on African soil and the world’s most appalling and multifaceted genocide.

12th article: The Nile, Egypt, Sudan Menaced by Evil Prophecy, Secret Expansion Plan of Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) — Chapter on Menelik’s family, the ‘family of the emperor’. This chapter is of great importance for the diplomatic and national security services of Egypt and the Sudan, because it reveals what the heinous and rancorous Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinians try to hide; namely that the regime, the elites and the upper classes of these incestuous and barbarous tribes act based on a secret program (that they call “prophecy” because of their sick, abnormal and perverse minds) to destroy Egypt and Sudan, and expand their cannibalistic tyranny throughout East Africa.

13th article: Amhara Pseudo-History of Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia), False Assumptions of Bulatovich, Envoy of Russia — Chapter on the Sidamas and the African peoples. This part is full of inaccuracies, inconsistencies and wrong terms; it is clearly the topic Bulatovich explored less and had a most vague idea about. The reason is simple; he did not have the time for direct contact with any of them, being thus the victim of the customary and idiotic Amhara lies.

14th article: Heretic Christianity in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia): Russian Errors, Benefits for England and France — Chapter on the Abyssinian church and faith that Bulatovich erroneously names ‘Ethiopian’; the attribution of the national name of Ancient Kush (Sudan) to Abyssinia relates to the Axumite King Ezana’s partly invasion of Ethiopia and destruction of its capital, Meroe, ca. 360 — 365 CE. That event had however a partly and momentary character that does not justify any further use from any Abyssinian ruler because that country was always located out of the historical borders of real Ethiopia. This is the reason the modern state is called Fake Ethiopia; its right name is just Abyssinia.

15th article: England, France, Italy, Russia, Bulatovich and the Bogus Historical Dogma of Fake Ethiopia — Chapter on the History of Abyssinia that Bulatovich knowingly calls ‘Ethiopia’ erroneously. The lengthy text (5133 words) is a complete collection of Western academic mistakes and misperceptions based mainly, and very often exclusively, on Abyssinian unsubstantiated claims, racist fallacies, and paranoid lies.

16th article: Bulatovich’s Conclusions Support Egypt and Sudan: the Blue Nile Does Not Belong to Fake Ethiopia — Conclusion of Bulatovich’s first book; this is a text of the utmost importance for today’s diplomatic services of Sudan and Egypt, as well for the liberation fronts of the subjugated nations of Abyssinia, and more importantly the Oromos, the Bertas, and the Agaws who are the only inhabitants of the areas crossed by the Blue Nile in the monstrous tyranny of Abyssinia (fake Ethiopia) that must cease to exist.

The excerpt clearly demonstrates that the criminal, racist Amhara and Tigray Tewahedo (Monophysitic) Abyssinians never had any right to the Blue Nile waters prior to their illegal, criminal, colonial expansion and invasion of the annexed lands of the Oromos, the Bertas and Gumuz (Benishangul), and the Agaws.

17th article: Bulatovich’s Appendices: Economic Profit as Reason of Support of Fake Ethiopia by England, France — Most of the appendices of Bulatovich’s first book

18th article: Jewish Soviet Scholar Katsnelson’s Study on Bulatovich Underscores Russian Failure in Fake Ethiopia — Excerpts from a remarkable and insightful treatise elaborated by the Russian Jewish Communist Historian and Philologist Isidor Saavich Katsnelson (A.X. Bulatovich — Hussar, Explorer, Monk); Katsnelson was a leading Egyptologist and Africanist who also contributed to the then nascent Meroitic Studies, the academic research about the last period of pre-Christian History of Ethiopia, i.e. Sudan, when Meroe (today’s Bagrawiyah, nearby Ad-Damer and Atbarah in Sudan).

Katznelson’s contributions hit the final nail on the coffin of the fallacious use of the great historical name of Ethiopia by the barbarous Abyssinian tribes who proved to be the worst pestilence in Africa’s History of Tyranny, Persecution, Racism, False Eschatology, Anti-human Conspiracy, and Genocide.

Katsnelson was greatly interested in the personal history and explorations, spiritual and metaphysical search, travels and pursuits of Bulatovich; much of what we know now of Bulatovish is due to Katznelson. The selection of Bulatovich’s excerpts translated from Russian to English was made by the translator of Bulatovich’s two books, Richard Seltzer. Herewith, I reproduce it integrally.

Katznelson’s analysis, like Bulatovich’s book, demonstrates how erroneous the Russian and Soviet East African policy has always been and how it worked at the detriment of Russia (or Soviet Union) itself.

19th article: Failed Russian Orthodox Plans for Monasticism in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia), Bulatovich and Menelik — A confidential letter sent by B. Chermerzin, charge d’ affaires of the Russian Embassy in Abyssinia to A. A. Neratov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on December 15, 1911. This text offers an insightful about Bulatovich’s later travel to Abyssinia whereby he had the ambition to establish a monastic order.

Despite the fact that the Russian Orthodox explorer, military officer and monk was accepted by the Abyssinian gangster and ruler Sahle Mariam (pseudo-royal nickname: Menelik) to heal him through use of Russian holy icons, the hidden conclave of the Amhara heretic, pseudo-Christian Satanists who rule the cursed country of tyranny and genocide, prevented Bulatovich from achieving his pious target, thus clearly demonstrating their alliance with the Anglo-French freemasons and their hatred of Christianity.

What was possible for a Russian monk to undertake in Romania, Albania, Greece, Palestine, and Egypt was absolutely out of the question in the pseudo-Christian state of Abyssinia.

The important document serves therefore as perfect refutation of the fallacy that Abyssinia (fallaciously and unlawfully re-baptized as Ethiopia) is a “Christian” country. The Amhara and Tigray Tewahedo (Monophysitic) Abyssinians are not Christian; under the coverage of a simulacrum of Christian heretic faith, an enormous number of anti-Christian traits and a deep-seated hatred of Egyptian Coptic Christianity, Russian Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism are the determinant factors of the incestuous Amhara society whereby fornication is overwhelming and the family concept does not exist.

The falsehood of the so-called “Christian Abyssinia” had been fabricated by Freemasonic and Zionist institutions of England, France and America in order to destroy African Islam, and consolidate the colonial control over all the subjugated and tyrannized African nations whose identity and existence have been targeted for extinction as part of the world’s most abominable genocide.

Ethiopia through Russian Eyes

An eye-witness account of the end of an era, 1896-98 consisting of two books by Alexander Bulatovich:

From Entotto to the River Baro (1897)

With the Armies of Menelik II (1900)

Translated by Richard Seltzer, Hidden Email Address, www.samizdat.com

Copyright 1993 by Richard Seltzer

With the Armies of Menelik II

Journal of an expedition from Ethiopia to Lake Rudolf

by Alexander K. Bulatovich

With four diagrams, three maps, and 78 photographs by the author and Lieutenant Davydov; Saint Petersburg, “Artistic Press” Publishing House, 28 Angliyskiy St., 1900, 271 pages

Published with permission of the Military Science Committee of the Chief of Staff

Reissued in 1971 as part of the volume With the Armies of Menelik II, edited by I. S. Katsnelson of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.”Science” Publishing House Chief Editorial Staff of Oriental LiteratureMoscow 1971.

Translated by Richard Seltzer

I. From Addis Ababa to Jimma
December 27 and 28

After long, but necessary musters, we finally set out. The mules, in high spirits, won’t let themselves be saddled. One of them even breaks loose and dashes away with a pack on its back. With some difficulty, we catch the runaway and put it back in line. Everything is settled. The caravan is ready. With loud and joyful songs, at noon we leave the city. A little later, the city disappears behind us and, in front, boundless spaces spread. There, in the distance, lie unexplored regions full of unsolved riddles. I keep the aim of the trip a secret. I tell my ashkers that we probably have an elephant hunt in store for us.

We walk very quickly. The people sing, not falling silent. The animals are getting excited. The detachment is cheerful, happy, like a young thoroughbred horse which, when led onto first snow, breaks into the open with a neigh. The surplus of energy so overbrims. God grant that this state of mind last! I know by experience how you shouldn’t count on these first invigorating impressions, how fast this energy abates, if squandered. The time is perhaps not far off when both man and beast will be counting every step. On this first day, we make a short five-and-a-half hour march, and set our bivouac at the foot of Mount Wochech, near a Galla farmstead. On December 28, we go down the valley of the Awash River; and after an eleven hour march with an hour and a half break on the bank of the River Berga, we camp for the night in the village of Gura.

The valley of the Awash is very beautiful and relatively densely populated. It is fertile, abounding in water, but completely treeless. Cow dung that is piled around each farmstead in regular heaps serves as fuel here. The inhabitants are Galla who, apparently, have recovered after their recent subjection. They stand up strongly for their property. For instance, one Galla raised a racket and came to me to complain that my cook, Ikasu, had taken three stones for our hearth from a heap that lay near his house.

The village where we stopped is called “Gura.” There are about 20 farmsteads in it. The houses are large, round, with conical straw roofs. Near the houses are low, wattled-brushwood storehouses, slightly elevated above the ground to protect against termites, the dreadful enemies of all who live here.

In their way of life and in their clothing, the inhabitants are noticeably influenced by Abyssinian culture. The men wear trousers of abujedi (English shirt cloth) and shammas,17 and the women wear long Abyssinian shirts. A black silk lace, a matab — sign of christening appears on the necks of all of them.

Twenty years ago, the beautiful wide plain of the Awash, on the horizon of which are visible mountains of enormous mass, was the scene of the bloodiest cavalry battles.

The Galla who inhabit it were famous for their horsemanship and bravery, and the subjugation of them cost the Abyssinians much trouble and sacrifice. Not so long ago, it was a rare and remarkable feat for an Abyssinian to water his horse at the Awash River. But blow after blow struck by Ras Gobana, Menelik’s celebrated commander, broke the resistance of the brave tribe. Ras Gobana is by birth a Shoan: his father was a Galla, and his mother an Abyssinian. All the best fighting elements of Shoa thronged under his banners. Where Ras Gobana was, there too were success and plunder. At the call of Gobana, tens of thousands of warriors assembled. In the field, the celebrated Ras was courageous and indefatigable. His time was the epoch of the flourishing of the cavalry spirit and of mounted battle in Abyssinia. Firearms were almost unknown at that time. The lance, the ardent steed, the impact and the speed of the raid, numerical superiority — that is how Gobana triumphed.

He usually invited the Galla to submit, threatening to destroy them if they did not. Gobana sent such admonitions to all the neighboring tribes, but few of them submitted voluntarily. Then Gobana launched raids on the unsubmissive. He didn’t take caravans of transport carts with him — these were raids of ten-thousand-man detachments. No one knew when the Ras would set out, where he would go, or when he would return. At night, the order was given to set out, and by morning all communications between the detachment that had moved into the field and the base was severed. Finally, after a long wait, those who stayed at home would see a column of dust on the horizon and say that Gobana was returning…

Approaching the domain of an unsubmissive tribe, the Ras surrounded the border by night. At dawn, his huge horde was already flying like the wind in all directions, destroying everything that fell in its path. This was the time of personal heroism, of epic warriors, when guns and smokeless powder had not depersonalized the soldier — when enemies met face to face to measure strength. Here each warrior sought glory and plunder for himself. The Ras was situated with the reserves, somewhere on a high central hill, from which a view of the horizon opened up. At the decisive moment, he set his reserves in motion. The Galla used temporizing tactics. They retreated and escaped from the onslaught of the Abyssinians. But when the Shoans returned to the rallying point, burdened with plunder, tired, on exhausted horses, entire cavalry detachments of Galla, who had hidden in the rough terrain or in empty cattle pens, unexpectedly darted out of ambush. Singing “Joli Aba Rebi” — “I the son of Aba Rebi” (the leader of the tribe) — they attacked the Abyssinians, retaking the plunder from them. Many Abyssinian and Galla bones lie in this valley.

The essence of Gobana’s style of warfare is expressed by his two favorite words: “Hid bellau!” — “Off with you, get going!” This remarkable fighting cavalryman died several years ago, having badly hurt himself in a fall from a horse. With his death, cavalry activity in Abyssinia began to die away. However, there were other reasons for this. Everyone acquired guns; and, owing to the loss of livestock and constant wars, many no longer had horses. Meanwhile, the theater of military operations shifted: rocks and narrow, wooded mountain ridges replaced the plateaux and plains which formerly were the scene of mounted battles.

My guide, a participant in the expeditions of Ras Gobana, showed me the place from which the Ras unleashed his detachment in one of his many raids. This was at the foot of Mount Wochech. Many from the Ras’s detachment reached the Chobo Mountains that day and managed to return to the rallying point by evening. Fighting and seizing plunder, they covered 80-100 versts [53-66 miles] in a single day.

December 29

Crossing the Barbari-Medyr land, which is densely populated by soldiers of Menelik, we climbed Mount Dendi. At the summit of one of the spurs of this mountain huddles a small town, or rather, the fortified residence of the governor-general of this region — Dajazmatch Haile Maryam.

Strongholds of this type are very characteristic. They are usually built on some hard-to-reach hill which commands the surrounding area and on which the Abyssinian ruler builds his eagle nest. The strongholds are surrounded by a high palisade, in front of which is a deep ditch. The interior of the stronghold is divided into several separate courtyards, built up with all sorts of structures related to the household economy, and a large square where court is held. In the center is located the elfin, or inner chambers of the leader. On a neighboring hill, in the shade of huge fig trees is hidden a round church with a conical roof and a star made of reed sticks, with ostrich eggs stuck on the ends of the sticks. The low little houses of numerous clergy and soldiers are huddled around the church and the little town.

Governor-general Haile Maryam was away. He and his soldiers had taken the field with the detachment of Ras Makonnen. A significant part of the male Galla population had also gone with him.

By eleven in the morning, we climbed the crest of the former crater of Mount Dendi (3,000 meters above sea level), inside which is found the lake of the same name. The foot of the mountain is completely built-up with Galla farmsteads, buried in the verdure of banana plantations. Its very steep slopes are overgrown with huge coniferous trees teda — a type of cypress — and leaf-bearing kusso trees.18 From the crest of the mountain there opens up a view that is rare in beauty and in the combination of colors. Far below sparkles the sky-blue, brilliant surface of the lake, surrounded by the dense green of huge trees. Around it, wild, plantless, forbidding gray rocks cluster. This lake seems to consist of two little lakes which touch each other at their circumferences. It may be that there used to be two craters here. From the southern lake flows the River Uluk, a tributary of the Blue Nile. Dendi in Galla means “great water,” and Uluk means “passing through.” Not far off from Dendi towers another mountain — Chobo — with a lake at the summit named “Wonch,” from which flows Walga, a tributary of the River Omo. According to local inhabitants, Walga flows some distance under the ground then, piercing the crater, appears outside.

On the shores of the Dendi, stuck to the foot of a cliff, stands the farmstead of Fitaurari Abto Giyorgis, commander of the entire guard of Menelik II.

My path to Jimma went through his possessions; and, by order of the Emperor, Abto Giyorgis was supposed to give me guides. The General came to meet me and invited me to his home where dinner was already prepared for us. We sat on spread carpets and in front of us servants stretched a wide curtain that hid us from outside eyes. One of the ashkers brought a copper wash-stand of intricate form (with the brand of a Moscow factory), and we, in accordance with Abyssinian custom, washed our hands before the meal. One of the cooks, a beautiful young Galla girl, having washed her hands and having rolled the sleeves of her shirt to the elbow, kneeled in front of our basket and from little pots began to take out on slices of injera (a flat cake) all kinds of foods and to put them on the bread which was spread out on the basket. What an array of foods: hard-boiled eggs cooked in some unusually sharp sauce, and ragout of mutton with red pepper, and chicken gravy with ginger, and tongue, and ground or scraped meat — all abundantly seasoned with butter and powdered with pepper and spices — and cold sour milk and sour cream… In the corners of the fire in front of us, cut into little pieces, tebs meat was roasting. And the chief of the slaughter-house held over our basket a huge piece of beef. We ate with our hands, tearing off little petals of injera and collecting with them large amounts of all sorts of foods. My mouth burned from the quantity of pepper. Tears came to my eyes. My sense of taste was dulled. And we devoured everything indiscriminately, cooling our mouths, from time to time, with sour cream or by drinking a wonderful mead — tej — from little decanters wrapped in little silk handkerchiefs. They also invited Zelepukin to dinner. When we were full, they called the officers of the Fitaurari and my ashkers. They sat in close circles around ten baskets with injera, over which servants held large pieces of raw meat. Wine bearers served mead to the diners in large horn glasses. All ate decorously and silently. At the end of the meal, just as decorously, they all got up and left at the same time, not bowing to anyone. General Abto Giyorgis is one of the most outstanding associates of Menelik today. He is the son of the chief of a small tribe.

When the Abyssinians subdued this tribe, in accordance with custom, they took the children of the best families of the conquered tribe to educate them. Among the pupils was Abto Giyorgis, who found himself at the court of Menelik. He spent all of his childhood and youth in the suite of the Negus. Here he went through the entire course of Abyssinian sciences, studied Holy Scripture and legislation; and, thanks to his intelligence, uprightness and knowledge of laws, Menelik made him one of the chief lecturers on judicial affairs. In the recent war with Italy, he distinguished himself at Adowa, and Menelik assigned him to replace a guards leader who was killed in that battle, Fitaurari Bobayu, and who is now glorified by bards as an Abyssinian hero. Abto Giyorgis now has the post of personal fitaurari attached to the person of Menelik and commander of all his guard. Under his command there are an eleven-thousand-man regiment of snayder-yaji (i.e., bearers of “Remingtons”), and several thousand of his own soldiers. These troops are deployed (due to the convenience of supplies) in a long band, from Chabo along the left bank of the River Gibye-Omo, then along the shores of Lake Abasi, or Walamo, southward to Lake Stephanie and the lands of Boran. The latter were conquered by Abto Giyorgis in 1897.

The origin of the armies of Menelik is interesting. At the beginning of his reign, the Emperor had a severe shortage of both guns and soldiers. The nucleus of his armed forces consisted of the armies of Emperor Tewodros, known as gondari — men of Gondar — that had gone over to his side. They are still called gondari and are stationed along the borders of the empire. They are about twenty thousand men strong. This army is divided into thousand-man regiments distributed among various leaders. Soldiers who mustered under the banner of Menelik at another later time were known by a name that corresponded to their armament. Those armed with muzzle-loaded guns were called neftenya. Those who had flint-lock guns were tabanja-yaji. Those with breech-loaded guns were snayder-yaji”.

At first, Menelik supplied his personal guards with breech-loaded guns. They were subsequently divided into a separate corps and transformed into the Guard of Menelik. The snayder-yaji, as a picked army, is supposed to be in front of all the armies of the Emperor in campaigns and battles. The tabanja-yaji number over five thousand. They are under the leadership of Likamakos (adjutant general) Adenau. The neftenya number ten regiments distributed among various leaders. They are now all armed with breech-loaded guns although they keep their old names. Abto Giyorgis holds the very important post of “personal fitaurari.” In a march, he is always in front. In battle, he is obliged to attack the enemy first and always from the front. The men appointed to this high post are usually outstanding for their bravery.

December 30

At eight o’clock in the morning, we set out again. At parting, I gave the Fitaurari a good gold-hilted blade that he liked very much.

The morning was exceptionally cold. A strong west wind blew, and the temperature was only 5o Reamur [43o F], and clouds quickly swept past over the peaks of Dendi. Unaccustomed to this temperature, our arms became numb. To warm up, my bare-footed and half-naked, shivering ashkers ran in line with my mule.

The General gave me guides to Jimma: some soldiers and the son of the former Galla King Cholye-Byru, which means literally “ardent silver.” This was an elderly, gray Galla of enormous build, with a masculine, but at the same time naive-childish face. In a picturesque white cloak, with a straw hat on his head, a small straw parasol in his hand, and a long spear on his back, he accompanied me on the back of a little mule. For him, a boy servant carried on his head a little bag with provisions.

The road followed the valley of the River Walga — along the region of Amaya, which is rich and densely populated by Galla, and which was recently subdued by the Abyssinians. The large number of streams flowing from Mountains Rogye and Tobo give this locale a rare fertility. The fields are completely under cultivation, and farmsteads stretch along the entire road, uninterrupted by any street.

The Galla of Amaya are very beautiful, of large build, well formed. Their women are especially beautiful — some have a perfectly Gypsy type of beauty. They dress in an ox-hide that girds the hips like a skirt, trimmed from above with little frills. Huge bracelets of copper and ivory are displayed on their arms and legs. Their pierced ears have earrings. Around the neck, they wear beads. Men wear trousers and shammas. In its domestic structure, this tribe differs very little from other Galla tribes. It surpasses them only by its trade and industrial development. Amaya abounds in markets at which one can get excellent cotton fabric.

Along the road, I killed a jackal. The bullet pierced both forelegs above the knee, completely breaking the bones. At this time, a Galla came up to me who turned out to be the son of the former king of Amaya-Moti — Bonti-Maya. The strong action of the small-looking bullet from my 3/8-inch-caliber rifle struck my new acquaintance and seemed supernatural to him. He looked over the gun for a long time with wonder, praising it.

Crossing the River Walga, which flows in rocky, sheer banks, we set up camp after a nine and a half hour crossing. At night there was a powerful storm. Two mules and a horse broke away from the convoy; and by morning, Galla from the neighboring village were already trying to steal them. My ashkers, however, overtook the malefactors and turned them over to the local judge. To my consternation, the judge considered it necessary to arrest not only the guilty parties, but also the animals, thus lessening my already insignificant caravan.

December 31

We set out onto an almost uninhabited plain, which stretches in a wide band along the River Gibye and is overgrown with acacias of a type which is rarely seen in Abyssinia. These are small trees with light bark, almost without leaves. The upper part of their trunk is very branched, and the branches are studded with thorns which, at its base, are swollen into complete little balls, almost all of them with little wormholes. When the wind blows, these little balls give out a strange noise like a whistle. This plain, which is rich in game, bears the name mocha, which means “thicket.”

At noon, we stopped for rest near a small Galla farmstead. A young good-looking Galla girl came out to meet us. She lived at the home of her parents, having recently run away from her husband.

I asked her, “But your husband can take you back. Didn’t he pay your parents a ransom for you? What will you do then?”

“What’s there to do? I am his slave… Against my wishes, I will submit myself,” she answered. “Then I will run away again.”

I cite this conversation because it seems to me characteristic of the position of women among the Galla.

Having thus accomplished a twelve-hour march, we bivouacked at the Galla farmstead. At this bivouac, Zelepukin killed a wild goat with a Winchester rifle. Thanks to that, we greeted the New Year with an excellent supper, consisting of soup, cooked from the dead goat, and good coffee with a glass of liqueur. However, having turned our attention to our future business, we meanwhile noticed on one of the pack animals a sore which my ashkers cauterized that very evening.

January 1, 1898

We for the second time crossed the River Walga, which in this place flows through a deep and narrow ravine. There was a lot of game on the plain leading to the river. Not leaving the path, I killed four wild goats.19

A long the River Walga stretches the settlement of Adale, bounded from the side of the Mocha by a wide thick fortification (abattis), built by the Galla for defense against cavalry raids from the Gurage.

This warlike tribe lived on a plateau, which lies between the Rivers Gibye and Awash, on the banks of several lakes. The Gurage are Semitic in origin and believe that they come from Gura in Tigre. The Galla invasion in the sixteenth century, when the Galla conquered the entire basin of the Gibye and the Awash Rivers, isolated the Gurage from other tribes who were related to them and forced them to wage for three centuries an unequal but desperate battle for independence with the Galla.20

They preserved their uniqueness, language, and Christian faith. Even today, subdued by Menelik, they have not lost their warlike spirit. During the war with Italy, when Menelik was in Tigre with his armies, the Gurage carried out a series of attacks on neighboring Galla, and among others, on the inhabitants of Adale. The people of Adale met them with the above described fortification, which is very awkward for mounted battle. The skirmish which took place here ended with the retreat of the Gurage.

The leader of the region, Basha Metaferya, was away. He is commander of a regiment of snayder-yaji which is posted here. The temporary commanding officer came to meet us, accompanied by a crowd of Abyssinians and Galla. With low bows, he begged us to take honorary gifts (durgo) — bread, honey, butter, rams, hens, eggs, milk and salt (customarily brought together by order of the Emperor as a gift to an honored traveler who is passing through) — and to stay at the home of Basha. It was much too early to stop for the night (there were still three hours of daylight left). So we had to decline this kind invitation.

Passing the village, we went down a very difficult path from a high steep plateau, rising 800 meters above the River Gibye. An inexperienced person could get dizzy from such steepness, which all the more seemed impassable for a loaded mule. But the mules demonstrated their agility and hardiness. For them, such slopes are an ordinary matter. Stepping quietly and carefully, only rarely squinting toward the abyss spread out almost under its feet, the mule confidently steps from rock to rock. But here it stops… An obstacle appears on the road. A moment… The mule makes a bold, strong jump and safely makes its way to an apparently unreachable spot. From the edge of the plateau, a remarkably beautiful view of the river opens up. Somewhere deep below, it twists among the enormous stone masses which press in upon it, framed with a thick green leaf-bearing forest, a narrow ribbon running away along its banks far, far… The valley of the river is uninhabited. Around it reigns a dumb silence, only rarely disturbed by the loud snorting, almost roar of hippotamuses playing in the water.

The Gibye begins in the Guder Mountains, which stretch across the left bank of the Blue Nile. Near the place where we passed, the Gibye takes, to the right, two of its main tributaries — Gibye-Enerea and Gibye-Kake, and to the left — the River Walga. Here, squeezed from both sides by mountains, it flows in a narrow channel. Farther on, as if digging through the mountain range, it runs to the south by a wide low-lying valley. Here already it takes the name not of Gibye, but of Omo.

We had to cross the river. The guides showed us the place, and we forded there. Here the Gibye has a width of 180 paces, and depth of one arshin [28 inches]. It flows at a speed of greater than eight versts an hour. On the other bank of the river we hunted large chamois-bulls (orobo), which from the mountain we mistook for buffalo. For the first time since my illness, I tried to walk and run during this hunt. My ashkers got very excited, shot quickly and therefore missed. Finally, only one orobo was killed, hit by two shots of mine from an express22 rifle at a distance of 50 paces. The first bullet hit it in the thigh, and the wounded beast, making several steps forward, stopped, and turned halfway around toward me. I shot him with a second bullet, which pierced its cheek, and the orobo fell down.

There were many hippopotamuses in the river. Shooting them turned out to be a fine training exercise. This is because hippopotamuses commonly luxuriate themselves in the water, sticking their heads out of its surface. A bullet which doesn’t reach a hippopotamus or that flies beyond it, falls in the water and throws up spray and, only if you hit the target do you not leave a trace on the surface of the water. Thus you get a clear indication of whether the sight of your rifle is true.

That evening, the leader of Adale came to our bivouac at the head of a long file of Galla, carrying durgo; and looking forward to an abundant dinner, my people rejoiced.

The place where we spent the night teems with predatory animals. As a precaution, we set large campfires for the night and placed sentries at the ends of the convoy.

Note
Picture: Trumpet made of elephant bone from the belongings of the Beru tribe
From: http://www.samizdat.com/bulatovichphotos/illustrations/trumpet%20made%20of%20elephant%20bone%20of%20the%20Beru%20tribe.jpg

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