We sent servants to Debra
Tabor; and as the road was still safe, and we had, by suitable
presents, made friends of the chiefs of the districts that lay in
the way, the servants were not molested or plundered. They carried
the dollars either in bags, on mules, laden at the same time with
grain or flour which the Gaffat people now and then sent us, or
tied in the long cotton sash that Abyssinians wear as a belt.
Directions were also given to Mr. Munzinger to forward money to
Metemma, from whence we could draw it by sending servants. It was
only during the second year of our captivity that we experienced
any serious difficulty on that score. The Emperor's power became
more and more limited; rebels and thieves infested the roads; the
route between Metemma and Magdala was closed; the Gaffat people had
none to spare; and at one time it seemed as if it was perfectly
impossible for messengers to reach us. Though for months we were
rather hard up, what by employing servants of political prisoners,
friends or relatives of the rebels, by using the influence of the
Bishop, or through the protection of Wagshum Gobaze, money again
found its way to Magdala, and relieved us from our apprehensions.
Theodore knew indirectly that we sent servants to the coast, but
as it is the custom to allow prisoners' servants to go to their
masters' families to beg for them, he could not well forbid us; the
more so as he never gave us anything.
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