“During the first days in Addis Ababa the strange goes about wondering whether his heart will stand the strain of the altitude, but he soon finds himself adjusted and stimulated by the high, dry air. There could be no better evidence of the general virtues of the climate than the robustness of the twenty European children whom I saw assembled at one of the Legation parties.
My introduction to Ras Tafari, and my first glimpse of Ethiopian court life and customs, came almost immediately after my arrival at the capital. The occasion was a dinner given in honour of the members of an expedition sent out by the Field Museul in Chicago: five scientists under the leadership of Captain White. The guests included all the American colony, which consisted of the United States Minister, Mr. Southard, and his wife, and about a dozen missionaries, religious and medical.
A line of armed soldiers outside the Gibbi saluted the guests as they entered. (…)
When all the guests had assembled we were conducted into the throne-room, where the Negus awaited us. The light was dim but adeguate to reveal the beauty of the rugs and the splendour of the gold throne standing on a dais and canopied with red velvet. The latest heir to the throne of Solomon’s son stood on the first of the four steps leading to the platform, and since he is below medium height this position brought his eyes level with those of most of the men he welcomed. His dark face is both beautiful and aristocratic, with finely cut features and great melancholy eyes. Beautiful and aristocratic too, and not easely forgotten, are his small, sensitive, and exquisitely shaped hands.
The dining-room of the palace is furnished in European fashion. The gold table-service was the work of the court jeweller, who is not Abyssinian but Armenian, and had made also the crown lately assumed by Ras Tafari. From across the table little Prince Makonnen favoured me with a boyish grin, in recognition of our meeting on the train. (…)
I was fortunately placed for conversation with the Negus. We spoke in French, and I chose my sentences with great care, lest I provoked the gesture dreaded by Legation folk, that of lifting the collar of the black silk cape to cover one side of the face; a gesture common among Abyssinian aristocrats, and which signifies weariness, displeasure, or disgust. The meaning of the action is, ‘You and your breath are offensive to me’.
This custom has come down through the centuries from a time when there was no need to resort to subtleties to express or conceal repugnance. Happily, Ras Tafari did not hide his face from me, though perhaps I was near to incurring his displeasure at the moment when I told him I should like to see a military display in Addis Ababa. (…)
That evening at dinner no mention was made of politics, either national or international. We spoke of food, of domestic matters, and of education. The Negus said he had brought a chef from Paris; that he enjoyed French food as much as he did Abyssinian. He regretted that his wife’s enforced stay at the clinic at Diredawa prevented her presence at this dinner. He spoke of the education of his son, now studying English with Mr. Russell of the American Presbyterian Mission, and who will go later to a university in England. Some talk about the prevalence of divorce in America floated across the table. I asked Ras Tafari whether it were a common practice in his country. ‘Only the rich can afford divorce’ he said. (…)
Coffee and liquors were served in the throne-room. Afterwards the lights were turned out and the great hall became a moving-picture theatre. Through the cinema a part of Ras Tafari’s empire was brought to us: mountains and valleys, rivers and villages; men on caravan and animals caught unawares by the camera, for the film had been made during a former expedition sent by the Field Museum.
Customs followed geography. The second film showed us the celebration mescal, the religious festival which occurs late in September. (…) I left the Gibbi feeling that Ras Tafari could not have offered more interesting intertainment. He had give his alien guests a glimpse of himself and his ministers; the aspect of the country over which he reigns, and its most characteristic fantasia, full of religious and social significance to his people.”
Taken from “Africa’s Last Empire: Through Abyssinia to Lake Tana and the Country of the Falasha”, H. Norden, 1930