Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia with Some Account of the Late Emperor the Late Emperor Theodore, His Country and PeopleBlanc, Henry
History
Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia with Some Account of the Late Emperor the Late Emperor Theodore, His Country and People
Blanc, Henry
Abyssinian Expedition (1867-1868); Ethiopia -- History -- 1490-1889; Theodore II, Negus of Ethiopia, -1868
Lij Barié failed in his attempt. What with the chain fastened on
one leg, the woman's dress, and the gombo, he could not advance
quickly. He was, however, already half way between the prison and
the gate, somewhere not far from our inclosure, when a young man,
perceiving a good-looking girl coming in his direction, advanced
to speak to her; but as he came closer, his eyes fell upon the
bandage, and to his astonishment he saw a piece of chain peeping
through the interstices of the cloth. He guessed at once that this
was a prisoner endeavouring to escape, and followed the individual
until he met some soldiers; he told them his suspicions, and
they fell upon Lij Barié and made him a prisoner. A crowd soon
collected around the unfortunate young man, and the alarm being
given that a prisoner had been seized as he was endeavouring to
escape, several of the guards rushed to the spot, and at once
recognizing their old inmate, claimed him as their property. In
an instant all his clothes were torn off his back, and the cowardly
ruffians struck him with the butt-ends of their lances, and with
the back of their swords, until his whole body was a mass of wounds
and sores, and he lay senseless, nearly dead, on the ground. But
even this was not enough to satisfy their savage revenge; they
carried him off to the prison, hammered on hand and foot chains,
placed a long heavy log of wood round his neck, put his feet in the
stocks, and left him there for days, more dead than alive, until
the good pleasure of the Emperor should be known.
An immediate search was made for his companion and for the servant-girl,
his accomplice. The first was already beyond their reach, but they
succeeded in capturing the unfortunate young woman. The Ras and
council immediately assembled, and condemned her to receive, in
front of the Emperor's house, one hundred blows from the heavy girãf.
The next morning the Ras, accompanied by a large number of chiefs
and soldiers, came to the spot to witness the execution of the
sentence. The girl was thrown down on the ground, stripped of her
skirt, and leather ropes tied to her feet and hands to keep her at
full stretch. A strong, powerful ruffian was entrusted with the
execution of the punishment. Each fall of the whip could be heard
from our inclosure, resounding like a pistol-shot; every blow tore
off a strip of flesh; and after every ten strokes the girãf became
so heavy with blood that, it had to be wiped before the operation
could be continued. She never said a word, nor even groaned. When
she was removed, after the hundredth stroke, the naked ribs and the
back-bone were visible through the flowing blood: the whole of the
flesh of the back having been torn to pieces.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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