but workmen: will you work for me?" They bowed, and with good grace
placed themselves at his Majesty's disposal. Gaffat, a small hillock
about four miles from Debra Tabor, was assigned to them as a place
of residence. There they built semi-European houses, established
workshops, &c. Knowing that he would have a greater hold upon them,
and that they would have more difficulty in leaving the country,
Theodore ordered them to marry: they all consented. The little
colony flourished, and Theodore for a long time behaved very liberally
to them; gave them large sums of money, grain, honey, butter, and
all necessary supplies in great abundance. They were also presented
with silver shields, gold-worked saddles, mules, horses, &c.; their
wives with richly embroidered burnouses, ornaments of gold and
silver; and to enhance their position in the country they were
allowed all the privileges of a Ras.

"His children," as Theodore called them, so far had nothing to
complain of; but the Emperor soon got tired of carriages, pickaxes,
doors, and such like; he was bent on having cannons and mortars
cast in his country. He gently insinuated his desire; but they
firmly refused, on the ground that they had no knowledge of such
work. Theodore knew how to make them consent; he had only to appear
displeased, to frown a little, and they awaited in trembling to
have his good pleasure made known to them. Theodore asked for
cannons; they would try. His Majesty smiled; he knew the men he had
to deal with. After the guns, they made mortars; then gunpowder;
then brandy; again more cannons, shells, shots, &c. Some were sent
to make roads, others erected foundries; a large number of intelligent
natives were apprenticed to them, and with their assistance executed
some really remarkable works. I, who happened to witness one day
the harsh, imperative tone he took with them because he felt annoyed