The agent at the coast did his best. Hosts
of messengers had been despatched, but the condition of the country
was such that they had to bury the money they were carrying in the
house of a friend at Adowa, and abide there for several months,
until they could, with great prudence and by travelling only at
night, venture to pass through districts infested with thieves, and
a prey to the greatest anarchy.
On the morning of the 5th of September, whilst at breakfast, one
of our interpreters rushed into the hut, and told us that our friend
Afa Negus Meshisha (the lute-player), and Bedjerand Comfou, one of
the officers in charge of the godowns, had run away. Theirs was a
long-preconcerted and ably managed plan. At the beginning of the
rainy season, ground had been allotted to the various, chiefs and
soldiers, at Islamgee and at the foot of the mountain. Some of the
chiefs made arrangements with the peasants living below for them
to till the soil on their account, they supplying the seed grain,
and the harvest to be divided between the two; others, who had many
servants, did the work themselves. Afa Negus Meshisha's and Bedjerand
Comfou's lots happened to be at the foot of the mountain; they
themselves undertook the cultivation, occasionally visited their
fields, and sent once or twice a week all their male and female
servants to pull out the weeds under the superintendence of their
wives.
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