The following is an interesting story of a little known Russian soldier
who traveled to Ethiopia during the Italo Ethiopian war(Adwa)and after.
He
was a colorful character who afterwards traveled to the Far East then to
Greece and finally became a monk. This is one of his adventures and I am
posting it in Dehai for the benefit of those who has access only to
email as opposed to the Internet and I hope you enjoy it.
Blessings to all
Biniam
Arlington,Virginia, USA
HUNTING MAN AND BEAST IN ETHIOPIA
by Alexander Bulatovich
translated and introduced by Richard Seltzer
Copyright 1993 Richard Seltzer
The soldier-of-fortune/author of this account is Alexander Bulatovich,
young Russian cavalry officer. In 1897-98, he accompanied a 15,000-man
Ethiopian army, which was racing into unknown territories to expand the
Ethiopian Empire in competition with the British and the French. It was
a difficult trek through jungle, mountains, and desert, with no guides,
no previous knowledge of the terrain or of the people and their
languages. Bulatovich, with his surveying gear and map-making skills,
helped them find their way.
This was his second trip to Ethiopia. He had come before in 1896, with
the Russian Red Cross Mission, sent to help wounded Ethiopian troops
after their enormous victory over a modern Italian army in the Battle of
Adowa. In Russia, news of that battle had sparked public sympathy and
charity for the brave defenders the ancient Christian Ethiopian realm.
On that trip he had taken every opportunity to go hunting, including a
massive elephant hunt in 1896. That time 1000 Galla clansmen -- 400
armed with three small spears each and riding horses, and 6000 walking,
half of them with small spears and the other half with three-yard-long
spears -- encountered a herd of over a hundred elephants. Five men and
41 elephants died. (See "Ethiopia: Hunting through Russian Eyes" in the
September/October issue of SAFARI).
After the military expedition had reached its objective -- Lake Rudolph
-- they began the long trek back to Kaffa and to Addis Ababa. And
Bulatovich repeatedly separated himself from the main body of troops to
hunt and to make a few last scientific observations. These passages are
excerpted from his personal account of this experience, recently
translated by Richard Seltzer in the volume Ethiopia through Russian
Eyes.
ALONE & LOST IN THE WILDERNESS
March 30, 1898
The detachment set out on the trip back. I separated myself from it,
intending to climb Mount Kuras, which rose on the southern end of the
mountain range, and which stretched out at several dozen versts from the
right bank of the river. I wanted to conduct observations there and to
make connections with the summits of the mountain range in the north
which should be visible from there. Because the detachment was
over-tired, only two of my gun bearers accompanied me -- Ababa and
Aulale. I didn't forewarn the Ras [Prince Wolde Giyorgis] of my
intentions, knowing that he would not agree to let me go alone without a
convoy. We set out at four o'clock in the morning and went quickly along
the plain. At first the terrain was very even, and I, in an amble, rode
on my marvelous little mule. Ababa and Aulale, the first with the
three-eighths inch caliber rifle and the universal instrument, and the
second with the tripod, rushed after me at a run. The sun soon rose, and
it became hot, and the road became more difficult. The loose soil, which
had become soaked during flooding, had deep cracks. The mule stumbled
every minute. We went more gently. At about nine o'clock in the morning
we heard, not far from us, conversation in the bushes. My boys rushed
there and stumbled upon about ten natives with their families. They had
just slaughtered a large ram and were skinning it. Taken completely
unawares, the natives fled in all directions, and my ashkers rushed
after them. My mule, which could not run quickly because of the cracks
in the soil, fell behind the ashkers. However, this was for the best
since soon the natives, having noticed that the there were only two
Abyssinians, stopped and began to go up to my ashkers from behind; and
only when I appeared did they definitely run away. Ababa finally caught
a native who was armed with spear, shield, bow and arrows, and Aulale
caught his wife with an infant. In this case, my ashkers showed
themselves to be fine fellows, since only a brave man could capture an
armed man, even if he was fleeing. It was much easier and more tempting
to shoot him with a gun... As for Aulale, he was completely unarmed,
with only the tripod for the instrument on his shoulders, when he
pursued the natives. The prisoners were in complete despair. The man
plaintively bellowed and stretched his arms out forward, having turned
them palms upward; and the woman pressed several drops of milk from her
breast on her palms and stretched them out to me, begging for mercy. The
baby howled. A little dog, who had stayed faithful to his masters,
twirled around us and inundated us with barking... I had the idea of
using our captives as guides, and I began to calm them down as best I
could, pointing at the mountain which was seen up ahead and expressing
with signs that I wanted to go there and then would let them go free.
They understood, it seemed, and stopped trembling. My boys lifted their
burdens onto them -- the instrument and the tripod -- and we went toward
the mountain.
The prisoners were from the Turgana tribe. The man was of tall build,
with rather regular facial features, a straight nose, not at all similar
to the Negro. His lips were not especially thick. His eyes seemed
intelligent. The expression on his face was open. He was circumcised,
and his hips were tattooed with small spots. Over his shoulders was
thrown the black hide of a little goat, which hung from the shoulders
backward and constituted his entire dress. His hair was plaited and
long, hanging down to the shoulder in a chignon, somewhat resembling the
hairstyle of one of our seventeen-year-old women, who wear their hear in
silk nets. The end of the chignon is twisted in a tail with sticks out
behind. On the crown of his head was an ostrich feather.
His traveling companion was a young, very well-built and comparatively
beautiful woman. By type, she was similar to a Somali. Around her hips
was wound an oxhide. She had iron bracelets on her arms. Her hair was
cut short, and only on the crown of her head was there left a tuft of
hair. Her lips were not pierced, as is the case with Idenich women; and
her front incisors were not knocked out. At about ten o'clock, we
reached the foot of the mountain and began to climb up by a way strewn
with hardened lava and rocks. Soon I had to get down from the mule and,
leaving one of my ashkers with it, I went ahead on foot.
The sun was particularly scorching that day. The ascent seemed difficult
and very steep, strewn with small stones. Its inclines were overgrown
with dense thorny bushes. We clambered up with difficulty; all the same,
stumbling and falling... Half-way, the prisoners refused to go farther
and lay down, hugging one another. No kind of threat helped. They,
probably, decided that it was better to die than to go farther. The
captive man was very necessary to me because only he could tell me the
names of the surrounding mountains. Therefore, I decided to force him to
go at any cost. I shot my revolver right above his ear and, making use
of his fear, I picked him up by the hair. I lifted his burden onto my
shoulders and went forward. He followed me mechanically. The woman
continued to lie, and we left her. The father took the baby in his arms.
At 11:15, completely worn out, we reached the summit of the mountain.
Its height above sea level is 1047 meters. The height of the climb was
500 meters. The temperature of the air at the foot of the mountain was
34o Reaumur [108o F] in the shade, and at the top was 28 Reaumur [95o
F]. Noon was approaching. In addition to the least zenith distances of
the sun, I also had to observe the moment of its greatest height and the
place of the meridian. There was no time left for rest. I, despite
complete exhaustion, hurried to set up the instrument and got to work.
Having finished the solar observations, I began to draw on the
plane-table the territory which opened up from the height of the
mountain, and to take azimuths on salient points and to try to find out
from the captive the names of the surrounding mountains. Because I
didn't know his language, of course I had to express myself with signs.