But he was too fond of plundering: the peasants did not,
according to his ideas, send sufficient supplies; and as he knew
that the district was exceedingly rich in grain and cattle, regardless
of his oath, on the 17th of February, he gave orders for his soldiers
to plunder the peasants' houses.
Taken quite by surprise, very little resistance was offered. Theodore
succeeded beyond his expectations; corn and cattle were now in
abundance, and in order to economize his supplies, he allowed; all
the Gondar people who were still with him, and many of the women
and children of runaway soldiers and chiefs, to leave the camp and
go wherever they liked. Since Ohecheo he had formed the strongest
and hardiest of the women of his camp into a plundering band; he
was always much pleased with their bravery, and one of them having
killed a petty chief, and brought to him the sword of her adversary,
he was so delighted that he gave her a title of rank and presented
her with one of his own pistols. We knew enough of the Emperor's
character to fear that, when once he again took to plundering and
killing, he would lose much of the amenity and gentleness he had
of late displayed, and look upon the arrival of an armed force from
England in a very different light; we were not, therefore, much
astonished to hear that he had again quarrelled with the Europeans
around him.
Pages:
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364