Report on the Agricultural an Land produce of Shoa.

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Douglas C. Graham, alors capitaine, est second de l’ambassade britannique au Choa dirigée par le capitaine William Cornwallis Harris, de mai 1841 à février 1843. Dans Report on the Agricultural an Land produce of Shoa, il se cantonne rigoureusement à la description de l’agriculture et aux ressources éthiopiennes. À peine peut on deviner que les observations météorologiques concernent l’année 1841, de janvier (sic) à décembre. Un vocabulaire de quelques mots amhariques renseigne le lecteur curieux.

Sa conclusion est par contre sans équivoque et a dû probablement refléter l’opinion générale de l’ambassade :

But it cannot be expected that Abyssinia should, for a length of time, take rank among those countries which are peculiarly happy, wealthy or abundant, as all the prevailing customs and practices are at utter variance with the laws for the production, consumption and distribution of wealth. A heavy taxation is enforced on the produce of the field; monastic and clerical establishments are fostered to the ruin of the people; the venal judges are paid by fees on the causes which they decide; and popular superstition and imposture have the royal sanction for abuse; whilst, on the other, not a vestige of aught that might be useful is ever taken into consideration. Here are no roads constructed for the conveyance of produce and traffic; no schools founded for the benefit of the rising generation; and fear and prejudice alike prevent the inhabitants from travelling to foreign countries to enlighten their ignorant minds by modern invention, or to improve their benighted country by a transfer of modern art and science[1].

En 1867, dix ans après sa mort, sa sœur Anna, Lady Erskine, publie à compte d’auteur des extraits des lettres reçues de son frère et restées en sa possession sous le titre Glimpses of Abyssinia; or, Extracts from Letters written while on a Mission from the Government of India to the King of Abyssinia.

Biblethiophile, 29.08.2025, 15.10.2025, 22.11.2025.

[1] GRAHAM (Douglas C[uninghame].), « Report on the Agricultural an Land produce of Shoa », p. 292.