¹ Details in BSO AS, XXXIV, 1, 1971, 5 ffGoogle Scholar. I should like to take this opportunity of once more thanking Mittwoch's daughters for handing this material to me for publication.

² Cerulli, E., La lelteratura etiopica, third ed., 1968, 183Google Scholar.

³ Additional biographical information on some of the Ethiopian notables mentioned in these letters may be found in Blatta Həruy Waldä Səllase's Yähəywät tarik: Biographie, Addis Ababa, 1922–1923Google Scholar.

⁴ See Littmann, , Deutsche Aksum Expedition, I, 8 ffGoogle Scholar.; Faitlovitch, , Quer durch Abessinien, 36 ffGoogle Scholar.; Səllase, Həruy Waldä, Biographie, 92Google Scholar.

⁵ cf. Mérab, , Impressions de l'Éthiopie, II, 98Google Scholar.

⁶ cf. Faitlovitch, loc. cit. Dej. Gäbrä Səllase had recently been appointed nəburä əd; a secular holder of this office was certainly a comparatively rare phenomenon.

⁷ Mittwoch, E., ‘Abess. Erzählungen und Fabeln’ in MSOS, XIV, 2, 1911, 101–58Google Scholar.

⁸ Read .

⁹ i.e. the Ethiopian New Year which had just begun.

¹⁰ He became the Emperor Haile Sellase's Foreign Minister and trusted adviser. He died in England in 1938. This autobiographical piece was no doubt written at Mittwoch's request.

¹¹ Region north of Addis Ababa, between Shoa and Gojjam.

¹² See Powne, Michael, Ethiopian music, 107Google Scholar, and especially Mondon-Vidailhet, C., ‘La musique éthiopienne’, in Encyclopédie de la musique, Paris, 1922, 3189 ffGoogle Scholar.

₁₃ cf. Guida dell'Africa Orientate, 494.

¹⁴ Sacred poetry of a predominantly hermetic type. See Cerulli, , La letteratura etiopica, third ed., 114 ffGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵ The reference is, in fact, to the coronation of King George V in 1911.

¹⁶ See Həruy, , Biographie, 63Google Scholar.

¹⁷ This was in the summer of 1923 (Mittwoch, , Trad. Aussprache, 4)Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Notably Blatta Sirak, the writer (and translator of Rasselas).

¹⁹ This, it will be recalled, was written about 1923, before other writings by Blatta Həruy had appeared. For fuller information on Həruy's Amharic writings see Wright, Stephen, Ethiopian incunabula, Addis Ababa, 1967, 11Google Scholar and 12, supplemented by Ullendorff, E. in Africa, XXXVIII, 2, 1968, 218–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Also Cerulli, E., La letteratura etiopica, third ed., 186 ffGoogle Scholar., and Ricci, L., ‘Letterature dell'Etiopia’, in Botto, O. (ed.), Storia delle letterature d'Oriente, Milan, [1969], I, 859 ffGoogle Scholar.—an excellent treatise. Cf. also Ullendorff, , Amharic chrestomathy, 12Google Scholar.

²⁰ This undoubtedly means that the book had been sent to the Emperor.

²¹ Mittwoch's title refers to , while Həruy writes .

²² i.e. ‘Die amharisohe Version der Soirées de Carthage’, edited by Mittwoch, E. in MSOS, XXXII, 2, 1929, 99–192Google Scholar.

²³ i.e. it was to have a dedication to the Emperor Haile Sellase. The request obviously does not relate to the 1929 preliminary publication, but to the planned definitive version which was published by de Gruyter in 1934. Although there is a letter from the Emperor among Mittwoch's papers, granting permission for the book to be dedicated to him, the printed version in my possession bears, in fact, a dedication to Enno Littmann.

²⁴ i.e. only a few weeks after the coronation of the Emperor.

²⁶ This refers, of course, to the Italo-Abyssinian war.

²⁶ On this occasion Həruy is using the European date, for neither he nor Mittwoch were alive in 1936 of the Ethiopian era.

²⁷ The spelling for , i.e. first instead of fifth order for the possessive pronoun of the 1st pers. sing., is not uncommon in older documents. It can also occasionally be encountered to-day.

²⁸ Friedrich Rosen (1856–1935), brother of the botanist Rosen, Felix (author of Eine deutsche Gesandschaft in Abessinien, Leipzig, 1907)Google Scholar; German diplomat and orientalist, leader of the German mission to Menelik, 1905; Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic, 1921. See Littmann, , Ein Jahrhundert Orientalistik, Wiesbaden, 1955, 74–82Google Scholar; also Selected letters of Gertrude Bell, Penguin, 1953, 45 ffGoogle Scholar.

²⁹ Ras Waldä Giyorgis: cf. Rosen, , op. cit., 200–1, 275Google Scholar; de Coppet, , Chronique du règne de Ménélik II, II, 404Google Scholar(photo); de Coppet, I, p. 306, n. 13; together with Ras Makonnen and Ras Täsämma he was one of Menelik's principal lieutenants; also Menelik's cousin and brother-in-law; conqueror of Kaffa; died 1918, a year after being given the title nəgus. Cf. also Mérab, , Impressions d'Étthiopie, Paris, 1922, II, 40–1, 70–1Google Scholar; Waldä, Həruy, Səllase, , Biographie, 71–2Google Scholar.

³⁰ Yäšimäbet ‘Dame of a thousand’. The final in the original is an obvious lapsus calami. She was Ras Waldä Giyorgis's wife (see Mérab, , op. cit., 70)Google Scholar and a cousin of the Empress Ṭaytu.

³¹ i.e. 14 March 1905. The Rosen mission had reached Addis Ababa on 12 February 1905 (op. cit., 175, where 1906 should be corrected to read 1905).

³² See p. 245, n. 28.

³³ These two gentlemen were ordered by Emperor Menelik to escort the German mission on their return journey from Addis Ababa to the frontier of Ethiopia (Rosen, , op. cit., 296–7)Google Scholar. Käntiba Gäbru was a man of many parts; he attended the coronation both of Edward VII and George V and lived till 1950 (photograph in Rosen, , op. cit., 432Google Scholar; see also Həray, , op. cit., 94Google Scholar, and Tafla, Baira in JES, VII, 2, 1969, 22 ff.)Google Scholar.

³⁴ cf. Cerulli, E., ‘II Gesù percosso nell'arte etiopica’, RSE, vi, 2, 1947, 109 ffGoogle Scholar.

³⁵ The Itege Ṭaytu's (Menelik's consort) mother had recently died (Rosen, , op. cit., 257)Google Scholar.

³⁶ = 6 April 1905. No reference to the contents of this letter appears in Rosen's book—as far as I can see.

³⁷ No place by this name is known to me.

³⁸ Mérab, , Impressions, II, 90Google Scholar. See also DejTäsämma, Käbbädä, Yätarik mastawäša, Addis Ababa, 1969–1970, 49Google Scholar. Dejazmatch Dr. Zewde Gäbrä Sellase (the distinguished son of the writer of letter (I)) suggests that this is Bərru Waldä Gäbrel. I am much obliged to the Dejazmatch for this and several other helpful observations.

³⁹ This letter does not belong to the Mittwoch collection. It was published, facing p. 66, in Portal's, G. H.My mission to Abyssinia, London, 1892Google Scholar, and is included here only because I have not seen it pointed out that Portal, the addressee of the letter, entirely misunderstood its contents. This failure to appreciate the nature of the correspondence (possibly the fault of Portal's interpreter) could have led to serious consequences—and, as Portal's account shows, to some extent did so. Portal's understanding of the letter was as follows (p. 66): ‘The Ras said that he would receive me at Asmara, and begged me to come on to him at once. So far the letter was civil, but the latter part of it consisted entirely of violent abuse of the Italians, which was less encouraging’. Comparison of the translation given here with Portal's version shows that the two have nothing in common.

Ras Alula was the Emperor Yohannes's governor of the Hamasien province and a staunch opponent of Italian encroachment on Eritrea. Cf. the entry ‘Alula’in Chi é dell'Eritrea, Asmara, 1952Google Scholar; Sabelli, Luca dei, Storia di Abissinia, III, 339 ffGoogle Scholar.; Portal, op. cit., passim; Həruy, , Biographie, 47Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Ras Alula received this title from the Emperor Yohannes. It constitutes a curious survival of the Turkish rule at Massawa. Cf. de Coppet, , op. cit., I, p. 277, n. 12Google Scholar.

⁴¹ Later Sir Gerald Portal, Secretary to Lord Cromer.

⁴² This no doubt refers to the treaty concluded by Admiral Sir William Hewett, at Adua in 1884. See the entry Hewett in Chi é dell'Eritrea and Sabelli, Luca dei, op. cit., 334–6Google Scholar.

⁴³ Däbbäb Araya, cousin of the Emperor Yohannes, who repeatedly rebelled against his royal relative. Cf. the entry ‘Debeb’ in Chi è dell'Eritrea; Sabelli, Luca dei, op. cit., 343Google Scholar; de Coppet, , op. cit., i, 264, 366Google Scholar.

⁴⁴ The final -n has been erroneously omitted here—a mere lapsus calami.

⁴⁵ 4 November 1887.

⁴⁶ The well-known German orientalist (1875–1958); cf. Ein Jahrhundert Orientalistik, Wiesbaden, 1955Google Scholar; The library of Enno Littmann, Leiden, 1959Google Scholar.

Incidentally, the word is wrongly spelt throughout with (first order).

₄₇ The letter is written in Gə'əz and Amharic; it is undated but from internal evidence the year must be 1906–7.

⁴⁸ In 1906; see Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, i.

⁴⁹ As this letter was found among Mittwoch's papers, he must clearly have been the person referred to in this missive. This fits in well with the fact that in 1907–8 Mittwoch travelled in the Near East when he accompanied th e philanthropist Paul, Nathan (cf. Universal Jewish encyclopedia, VII, 591)Google Scholar. He does not, however, appear to have delivered this letter to its addressee; maybe he did not need this introduction any longer. See also Mittwoch, , ‘Abess. Kinderspiele’, MSOS, XIII, 2, 1910, p. 109, n. 5Google Scholar; idem, Trad. Aussprache, 3.

⁵⁰ is clearly a lapsus calami for Littmann uses the common Amharic word rather than a Gə'az equivalent.

⁵¹ This should surely read .

⁵² Aläqa Tayyä Gäbrä Maryam was recruited by the German Rosen mission to Ethiopia in 1905 (Rosen, , op. cit., 265)Google Scholar as lector, under Dr. E. Mittwoch, at the Berlin University Seminar für Orientalische Sprachen, with a view to encouraging ‘einen lebhafteren Handelsverkehr mit Äthiopien’. He came from Ifag (Yəfag), east of Tana, Lake (Guida, 380, and map between pp. 368–9)Google Scholar, spent the years 1905–7 with Mittwoch at Berlin, and subsequently wrote several books (including an Amharic–Gə'əz säwasəw and a short history of the Ethiopian people). He died in 1924 (according to Mittwoch, , Trad. Aussprache, 1Google Scholar; MSOS, XXXII, 2, 1929, 99)Google Scholar. See also Həruy, , Biographie 37–8Google Scholar; and the entry ‘Haleca Taje’ in Chi è dell'Eritrea (where the dates are not always correct).

⁵³ A very peculiar spelling.

⁵⁴ = 30 December 1907—not 1914. It is clear that Aläqa Tayyä here uses the European style.

⁵⁵ cf. Cohen, , Traité, 163Google Scholar.

⁵⁶ Should almost certainly read

⁵⁷ I do not know what kind of gazette or directory Aläqa Tayyä had in mind. It can scarcely mean ‘newspaper’ here. While there was no Ethiopian legation at Constantinople in 1907, there was at that time an Ethiopian diplomatic mission in Turkey (see n. 59 below). This also accounts for the use of the plural ‘our’ in this sentence.

⁵⁸ This should no doubt read Mittwoch was, incidentally, aged 31 at that time and still not married.

⁵⁹ The Dejazmatch referred to here was undoubtedly Dejazmatch Mäshäsha Worqe (see Həruy, , Biographic 7Google Scholar; Chi è dell'Eritrea, 203) who had just led a diplomatic mission to Berlin (where Mittwoch met him), Kome, and Vienna, and who stayed at Constantinople from October 1907 to April 1908 (i.e. at the operative time, December 1907). The Dejazmatch and his mission of ten (whom Aläqa Tayyä appears to have joined) stayed at the Péra-Palace Hotel at Constantinople; and it is on the notepaper of this hotel that Aläqa Tayyä's present letter is written. Cf. Mérab, , Impressions, II, 73–6Google Scholar.

⁶⁰ ‘Proben aus amharischem Volksmunde’, MSOS, x, 2, 1907, 185–241Google Scholar.

⁶² Ignazio Guidi (1844–1935), the great Italian orientalist. See ZDMG, LXXXIX, 1, 1935, 119–30Google Scholar.

⁶³ Mäshäsha (p. 257, n. 59).

⁶⁴ See p. 257, n. 60.

⁶⁵ Pastor Anders Svensson (1849–1928) of the Swedish Evangelical Mission. See Chi è dell'Eritrea, 278, and Kolmodin, J., Traditions de Tsazzega et Hazzega, Rome, 1912, p. xviGoogle Scholar.

⁶⁶ See p. 255, n. 52.

⁶⁷ As Menelik was already severely ill in 1908–9, it is interesting to observe from Aläqa Tayyä's report that the Emperor was apparently able to receive visitors and to conduct a lucid conversation. A later letter (No. (13)), dated June 1911, makes reference to the Emperor's illness.

⁶⁸ Mittwoch, E., ‘Exzerpte aus dem Koran in amharischer Sprache’, MSOS, IX, 2, 1906, 111–47Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ Lorenz Jensen, closely associated with E. Mittwoch and his first pupil in Amharic, was a member of the German legation at Addis Ababa for many years; he maintained contact with Mittwoch both by correspondence and during his vacations in Berlin. He had a good knowledge of Amharic. He is described by Mérab, (Impressions, II, 98)Google Scholar as ‘versé dans l'amharique, fait office de chancelier-drogman’. Among the Mittwoch papers there are a number of letters from Jensen, written from Addis Ababa.

⁷⁰ Note the careful distinction in the use of polite forms as the Emperor and Aläqa Tayyä refer to Professor Mittwoch.

⁷¹ It is interesting that the constant repetition of (four times in the last few lines) does not seem to offend Amharic stylistic susceptibilities.

⁷² See p. 259, n. 61.

⁷³ cf. p. 265, n. 69.

⁷⁴ See p. 257, n. 59.

⁷⁵ See postscript at end of article.

⁷⁶ cf. p. 245, n. 29.

⁷⁷ Jensen's letter has been preserved among Mittwoch's papers. It is dated Addis Ababa, 15 February 1911, an d th e relevant passage reads as follows:

‘Aleka Taje ist also wieder hier, und zwar unfreiwillig, in Ketten. Seine Geschichte ist kurz folgende: Er hatte mit seinem Onkel, dem Dedjasmatsch Meschascha, eine Grundstücksstreitigkeit, in der er gewann. Als Meschascha ihm hier nichts anhaben konnte, fasste er ihn bei seiner Religion, behauptete er habe Kinder im protestantischen Glauben unterrichtet und dadurch einen früheren Eid gebrochen und verlangte von ihm, er solle das Marienbild küssen, was der gute Aleka natürlich entrüstet zurückwies. Er wurde dann zunächst vor dem Ras Wolde Giorgis verklagt, der aber erklärte, die Sache nicht entscheiden zu können, und Aleka Taje in Ketten nach Adis Abeba sandte…’.

Certainly Aläqa Tayyä's style and writing in this letter reveal signs of stress and strain. He recovered later on from the disfavour into which he had fallen at this time.

⁷⁸ Should read

⁷⁹ Should obviously read