by the inhabitants of that city. He destroyed Zage, a large and
populous city, because he pretended that a priest had been rude to
him. He cast into chains his adopted father, Cantiba Hailo, because
he had taken into his service a female servant he had dismissed.
Tesemma Engeddah, the hereditary chief of Gahinte, fell under his
displeasure because after a battle against the rebels he had shown
himself "too severe," and our first head-jailor was taken to the
camp and put in chains because he had "formerly been a friend" of
the King of Shoa. I could adduce hundreds of instances to illustrate
his habitual hypocrisy. In our case, he arrested us because we had
not brought the former captives with us; Mr. Stern he nearly killed,
merely for putting his hand to his face, and he imprisoned Consul
Cameron for going to the Turks instead of bringing him back an
answer to his letter.

Theodore had all the dislike of the roving Bedouin for towns and
cities. He loved camp life, the free breeze of the plains, the sight
of his army gracefully encamped around the hillock he had selected
for himself; and he preferred to the palace the Portuguese had
erected at Gondar for a more sedentary king, the delights of roaming
about incognito during the beautiful cool nights of Abyssinia. His
household was well-regulated; the same spirit of order which had
introduced something like discipline into his army, showed itself
also in the arrangements of his domestic affairs. Every department
was under the control of a chief, who was directly responsible to
the Emperor, and answerable for everything connected with the
department entrusted to him. These officers, all men of position,
were the superintendents of the tej makers, of the women who prepared
the large flat Abyssinian bread, of the wood-carriers, of the water
girls, &c.; others, like the "Balderas," had charge of the Royal