The Falashas: The Forgotten Jews of Ethiopia, by David Kessler
Today's date is: 5/12/2025
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| 121 It had been Halevy's intention to penetrate into the interior of the country by following the British forces, 'but', he wrote in a letter to the Alliance from Massawa, dated 7 October 1867, 'I must wait a long time in view of the slowness of the English. However, there is no other way because the country is in full insurrection and all communication has become impossible.' He went on to recount his difficulties - food, heat and expenses - 'but I am content and happy because I hope to resolve the problem of my journey during the winter. I am well in spite of everything.' Nor did he omit to inquire whether the London committee had come to a decision about his mission to China. He also reported that he had been informed at the Catholic mission in Massawa that when they wanted to build their church, they were obliged to bring Falasha masons from the interior because the local Christians and Muslims were incapable of undertaking the work. The priests could not speak too highly of the honesty and deep religious feelings of the Falasha craftsmen. It is not surprising that Halevy found it difficult to understand why the British military expedition took so long to get going. General Napier was a careful commander and he was amassing a considerable force, comprising 12,000 British and Indian troops, 15,000 followers and thousands of transport animals, including forty-four elephants. Halevy lived in the army camp and, assiduous linguist that he was, and with the possibility of going to China in his mind, he seized the opportunity to learn both Hindustani and Chinese from coolies employed by the navy. Among the soldiers of the Indian Army he was delighted to find three Jewish sappers from Cochin with whom he observed the Day of Atonement.(1) But his impatience could not wait on the army's timetable and he decided to make his own way into the interior. Besides, he discovered that Napier's route to engage Emperor Theodore would not take him to those parts of the country where the Falashas lived, and so he set off northwards for Keren, in the country of the Bogos, where he arrived on 24 November, and thence travelled west to Kassala in the Sudan. Here he turned south and, crossing the Takkaze river near Kir Labanos, he made for the Falasha villages in the mountainous Wolkait region. He traversed wild and lawless country, mounted on a camel and pretending to be a rhinoceros trader, and one can but admire the courage of the Alliance's 'intrepid envoy'. When he arrived at the first Falasha village he was hard put to it to convince the inhabitants that he was a co-religionist until a 'more intimate (1) Travels in Abyssinia, p. 16. |