When the salts were abundant we could buy
four old fowls for a salt; now that they were scarce, we could only
buy two; and everything in the same ratio; consequently all our
expenses had risen 200 per cent. Supplies. in the market were also
getting very scarce; and often we could not purchase grain for our
Abyssinian servants. The soldiers on the mountain suffered greatly
from this scarcity and high prices; they were continually begging,
and many, no doubt, were saved from starvation by the generosity
of those they kept prisoners. Very fortunately, I had put aside a
small sum of money in case of accident, otherwise I believe the
Abyssinian difficulty would have been at an end, so far as we were
concerned. I kept a little for myself, and handed the rest over to
Mr. Rassam, as he usually supplied us with money from the sums
forwarded to him by the agent at Massowah. We dismissed as many
servants as we possibly could, reduced our expenses to a minimum,
and sent messengers after messengers to the coast to bring us up
as much money as they could. At that time, if we had fortunately
been provided with a large sum of ready cash, I do really believe
that we might have bought the mountain; so discouraged and mutinous
were the soldiers of the garrison at the long privations and
semi-starvation they were enduring for a master of whom they had
no reliable information.
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