Travels in Southern Abyssinia

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

Arrival at Berberah.—Description of the Town and Fair.—Departure for Zeila.—The Town of Zeila.—Second Visit to Tajourah.—Time, from the 1st to the 6th of March.

Berberah is situated on the same coast of the sea of Babel Mandeb, but about 130 miles to the eastward of Tajourah. It is remarkable for having been a mart for the exchange of African and Asiatic products between the merchants of either continent, from the earliest antiquity.

For the greater part of every year, during the S. W. Monsoon, from September to March, this place is the busy scene of an extensive commerce, and a deserted wilderness for the remaining months; after which interval, again the ships of foreign and the caravans of native products begin to arrive. Another temporary town rises as if by the wand of some magician, and thousands of huts and mat houses are erected upon the beach, where but a few weeks before nothing was to be seen but bare sands; nothing to be heard save the howling of numerous wild beasts, as they prowled in search of food, amongst the heaps of filth and animal remains collected during the preceding fair.

19We came in sight of Berberah on the afternoon of the 4th of March. As the brig rounded a low sandy point, and entered the narrow harbour, several of the natives, who had been long watching our slow advance, the wind being very light, leaped into the sea, and swam on board. I could not avoid noticing immediately the apparent difference in disposition between them and the people of Tajourah; for a most sullen and distrustful bearing seemed to characterize the latter, while the Soumaulee on the contrary, at least those of Berberah, seemed confident that no violence or injury would be offered to them, they seized the ropes thrown over the sides of the vessel to assist them as they climbed up, and in high glee they passed along the deck and on to the poop, laughing, arranging their wet waist-cloths, and shaking hands, as if they were among old friends.

We anchored within a short distance of the town, and several of the leading people came immediately on board. The business connected with my journey to Berberah was transacted at once in the cabin, the principal native authority, Allee Shurmalkee, being requested by Mr. Cruttenden to provide a boat and other necessaries, which he readily consented to do. As it was late, we none of us went on shore; although I do not believe any danger would have been incurred by so doing, a very friendly feeling evidently existing on the part of the natives towards the English, without that 20abundant protestation of friendship pressed upon you, as it is by the people of Tajourah, which you cannot help feeling is altogether feigned.

During the earlier part of the next day, I amused myself upon deck, making observations on the temporary town, and speculating on the different national characters of the mixed multitude which inhabit it.

The mere appearance of Berberah is most uninteresting, except, certainly, the harbour, which, if not a very prominent feature, is still a most singular one for its peculiar construction and admirable convenience. A long low spit or raised bank of sand and coral extends nearly a mile into the sea towards the west, parallel with, and at the distance of about half a mile from, the real line of coast. Within the enclosed space of water good anchorage in four or six fathoms is found nearly up to the town, which is situated around the bite of this little narrow inlet. The rise and fall of the tide is sufficient to admit of very large bogalows, as the native boats are called, to be beached for repair, or other purposes; and, in fact, during the fair, a great number of these vessels do lie upon the shore, or in the shallow water close up to the town, giving to the whole a regular, dock-like, appearance.

So apparently accordant with the rules of art is the direction of the outer sea-wall, and its position so admirably convenient, that even a reflecting observer cannot altogether divest himself of the 21idea, that it is not a pre-concerted work of art rather than the casual production of nature. This was certainly my first impression; and for some time I considered it to have been constructed in a remote period of antiquity, when the whole of this coast was the busy scene of an extensive and lucrative commerce, but that in the revolution of time and the everchanging pursuits of man, the origin of this sea-protecting mole had been forgotten, and the only remembrance of the people who raised it was to be found in its name, which certainly recalls to the mind that of a long-lost nation, the Berbers of Africa. This was theory, of course, and my opinion soon changed, when I found that no other evidence of man’s residence existed in this neighbourhood; no traces whatever of that industry and wealth which must have characterized the people who could have projected and completed such an extensive marine defence for their navy and commerce. Subsequently also, geological examinations, and comparison with other older reefs of sand and coral, now forming part of, and which extend some distance inland, enabled me to establish its identity with them in structure and mineral composition. Finally, therefore, I became convinced that this was another of those beautiful and benevolent works that Nature—“our kindest mother still”—has provided for the security of her favourite, man; for with an anticipating care she has here constructed for him, by a 22curious yet simple economy, a safe retreat whenever in his frail bark he might be exposed to the violence of the winds and waves, on this otherwise inhospitable and dangerous coast.

In the afternoon a party, consisting of A. Nesbitt, Esq., First Lieut. of the Euphrates, the Purser, Mr. Powell, and myself, was formed for the purpose of more closely examining Berberah and its curiosities. One of the brig’s boats was ordered alongside, and we soon found ourselves carefully threading a winding course, amidst the numerous fleet of bogalows moored along-shore, greeted as we passed beneath their huge misshapen sterns, by the joking salutations and laughing faces of numerous almè, or slave-girls, who crowded the cabin windows, and the most striking features of whose dark countenances were rows of pearly teeth. The boat grounded about thirty yards from dry land, and we were obliged to be carried upon the shoulders of the crew over a black muddy beach, being set down amidst heaps of dirt; the rotting debris of the sea and of the land, drift wood, loose spars, the bones of animals, and excrements of man, formed a barrier of filth, over which it was impossible to choose a path, so we at once struck boldly across to the narrow entrance of what we imagined must be a street, and entered the town of Berberah.

I should suppose there were at least from four to five thousand huts placed closely together, uniform in size and elevation, being generally of an oblong 23form, about six feet broad, by nine feet in length, and five feet in height. They consisted of a roof of mats, made of the doom palm leaf, or of a long dried grass, or else merely half-dried skins badly preserved, stretched over the usual stick skeleton of a wigwam. There was not much architectural display, for being all roof, they did not well admit of it. Nor does convenience appear to be consulted in laying out streets, or even regular passages, only in so much, that a small spot on one side of the entrance of each hut is left vacant for purposes that may be imagined, and a succession of these sweet and pleasant places make a narrow lane, into which all doors open, and thus a convenient but dirty street is formed by which alone the visitor is enabled to perambulate this justly celebrated aromatic yielding fair.

The residences of the few foreign merchants, principally Banians and Arabs, are exceptions to this general style in the construction of the houses, and have some pretensions both to appearance and convenience, usually having mat walls to the height of four or five feet, with a long slanting roof of grass securely fastened down by sticks of bamboo laid transversely. The entrance is a kind of hall, opening into the centre of a room at right angles, and which extends to the right and left, perhaps ten or twelve feet on each side; its breadth is about ten feet. Behind this room is another apartment of equal dimensions, 24which serves as a store or warehouse, and one end partitioned off by mats, contains the secluded inmates of the harem.

One of the objects we had in view in visiting the fair was, to procure some few additional articles I required for my journey into the interior, namely, a bed carpet, two Arab frocks of yellow nankeen, and a black camaline or cloak. We accordingly bent our steps towards the quarter where lived our native friend, Shurmalkee, who was to assist us in making our purchases, but whose residence we should never have found but for the crowd of armed idlers who soon surrounded us, and led us with a kind of barbarous state into the presence of their respected chief.

The well-known Shurmalkee, or Allee Allee, his real name, is now upwards of fifty years old, tall, thin, with slightly stooping shoulders; his face long, with small quickly moving eyes, and thin white beard. The only deviation from the usual dress of his countrymen is a white cotton cloth turban, a distinction, with the title of sheik, generally assumed by those who can read the Koran, or have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca. Some fifteen or twenty years since, Shurmalkee was chiefly instrumental in saving part of the crew of the English brig, Mary Anne, then lying at anchor in the harbour of Berberah, which was attacked and burned during the night by the natives. He was himself wounded on the occasion, and the mate 25and three or four of the brig’s people murdered. The Indian Government rewarded him munificently at the time for his generous interference; and since then, finding him honest, intelligent, and grateful, they have always patronised him, allowing him in our eastern parts the privilege of a British subject, with liberty to hoist our flag in his bogalows. He is now our native agent in all transactions with the Soumaulee inhabitants of Berberah and Zeila. By his industry and enterprise he has become the richest man along this coast; nor is there scarcely a prince or petty chief in the adjoining countries who is not indebted to this African Rothschild.

We rested ourselves upon the only piece of furniture in the mat-walled room, a rude couch of wood with a bottom of interlaced palm-leaf rope, covered with a coarse Arab carpet of as many colours as Joseph’s jacket. We refused to take any refreshment, and sent immediately for the articles we wanted. As usual, the Islam spirit of despoiling the Christian exhibited itself in the exorbitant demands of the Arab merchants, but which in this case was defeated by the prompt interference of Shurmalkee, who dismissed them very summarily as much to ours as to their surprise. As soon as they were gone, however, he explained the cause, and promised to obtain the things himself, before we went on board, at half the price that had been demanded, desiring us not to take any farther trouble about them, but to proceed at once to view the town, at the same 26time supplying us, as is the custom of these people, with two natives for guides, and also as sureties for our safety and freedom from molestation during our walk.

The appointment of these sureties, or Abbahn, as each calls himself, to every stranger who enters the town, is a singular but very necessary characteristic of the social condition of the inhabitants of Berberah, and is deserving of particular notice. Convenience on the one hand and enterprise on the other, have here brought together the Hindoo Banyan, the Mahomedan Arab, and the Pagan Soumaulee; for even now scarcely one half of this latter people profess the Islam faith. With no generally acknowledged superior, no established law, each inhabitant depends upon his own keen knife, or that of his Abbahn, for personal safety and the security of his property. All are equally ready to resort to a bloody appeal upon the least cause of dispute, so that every day is marked by some fatal quarrel, and every night by some robbery and violent death. Even the murdering Danakil shakes his head when he speaks of the Fair of Berberah, denouncing it as being “shatan, shatan;” whilst the wisest and the best men of every nation or tribe, who are here assembled, speak openly their desire, that some powerful Islam, or even Feringee Government, should take actual possession, both of this port and of Zeila also. Under such circumstances, the foreign merchant, accustomed in his own country 27to the protection of law, or of some regularly established authority, consents but reluctantly, and then only from the prospect of immense gains, to risk his person among a people so violently barbarous as are the Adal tribes occupying this portion of Africa, who have lost none of their ancient character significantly recorded in the Periplus, as being “uncivilized, and under no restraint.” To protect himself in some measure the trader has recourse to the system of procuring the constant attendance of one or more of the natives, whose duty it is to guard their employer from molestation. Two-thirds of the Soumaulee population of the town are engaged in this manner. No sooner does a stranger arrive than he is surrounded by natives, each soliciting to be employed as his Abbahn, and are almost as importunate and as troublesome as the hotel-barkers who infest the piers of our watering-places. The important privilege of supplying strangers with Abbahns is monopolized by one tribe living in the neighbourhood of Berberah, called Raree-good-Hadé, but not without considerable opposition from another tribe called Raree-Abdullah, with whom serious conflicts sometimes take place within the town, when all business is suspended for three or four days in consequence.

Every ship, or bogalow, arriving at the port is boarded, at least a mile from the shore, by a crowd of Soumaulee Abbahns, and on the occasion of the Euphrates approaching Berberah, a number of these 28naked visitors, as I have before mentioned, swam from shore a very long distance and were taken on board.

Following Shurmalkee’s advice, we started, but certainly not to see the town, though we passed through it; for with eyes bent upon the ground, we carefully picked our way along the narrow street, not four feet wide, the tops of the stinking skin wigwams and mat-huts presenting one uniform dark level, just the height of our noses. The outskirts of the town were equally offensive, but more particularly marked by the vast quantity of bones of all eatable animals strewed about, and the vestiges of numerous cooking fires, everywhere telling of the sites of former houses, and that a few weeks before the fair must have been even more extensive. About half a mile to the left of the town, on a slightly elevated mound of sand and coral, was a ruined mosque, the only appearance of a stone building in the neighbourhood. To this we proceeded, our conversation turning upon the dirtiness of the town, its low flat appearance from every point of view, the singular character of its inhabitants, and the great importance Berberah might assume in the possession of some highly civilized country, (we meant Britain, of course,) as one point from whence to spread through Africa the benefits arising from science, and the happiness attendant upon a knowledge of the Christian faith.

Around the mosque were numerous graves, each 29consisting of a low heap of stones in a line six feet long, enclosed in a large circle of single stones, the diameter of which sometimes exceeded twenty feet. The direction of the graves were due east and west, and a small space or opening in the circle invariably to the south, formed a kind of entrance into its area. They differed from the strictly Islam tomb in not having the two little flat stones at the head and foot, in their less conical form, and in the circular enclosure. Their vicinity to the ruined mosque told, however, of the profession of the Islam faith during the life of the deceased, whilst in the manner of the burial it appeared that surviving friends had still adhered to the customs of their forefathers. I might, too, have been mistaken in the real character of the building, and that which I hastily concluded to be a mosque, may have been some remains of a temple of the ancient faith professed by the Affah nation, and which I believe was Sabianism.

From the burial-place looking towards the south-east, we had a view of the town and shipping of Berberah, situated at one extremity of a spacious triangular plain, which we were told extended one hundred miles one way in the direction of Zeila, and inland towards Hurrah nearly the same distance. On our return to Shurmalkee’s house, we walked along the beach in front of the town, where were numerous women drying sheep-skins, by stretching them in the sun, pinning them down upon the hot 30sands by broken pieces of bones in the absence of sticks. Tobes, or the large cotton cloths worn by the natives over the shoulders and around the body, were also bleaching upon the beach after a careless wash in the sea. As we came nearer to the town we disturbed, as we passed, several large bodies of men squatting upon the ground in deep conversation, each armed with a large heavy knife and a spear. We were also continually being jostled by busy native porters, who were conveying loads of gum and coffee on board the bogalows, or else laden with their return burdens of cotton and cotton goods for the stores of their employers.

We had taken our guns with us, having started with the intention of proceeding some short distance inland, but the sun was so very powerful, and the prospect so apparently hopeless, of either instruction or amusement being derived from the walk, that it was resolved, as I started on the morrow for Tajourah, that we should proceed immediately on board the brig, from the deck of which we had a more extensive view of the town and surrounding country, than any point afforded on shore, and from our numerous visitors, Arab and native, had excellent opportunities of deriving information respecting the manners and customs of the Soumaulee population.

The appearance of the surrounding country seems to indicate that at a period not very remote, the whole of it has either been upheaved 31from beneath the sea, or that the retreat of the latter has left the plain, extending to the westward and southward of Berberah, the dry land we now find it. At one time the coast about here must have been of a somewhat similar character to that which is now presented by the harbour of Zeila, deep narrow channels existing between extensive coral reefs, which, at the distance of three miles from the town, have not one fathom in depth of water over them. At the time of such submersion of the plain of Berberah, the sea must then have come up to the nearly regular line of low volcanic hills, which, commencing a few miles distant from the town, stretch in a south-western direction for many miles inland. This portion of the then sea of Aden included a considerable part of the country between Zeila and Hurrah, for the present coast-line, from the former town to Berberah, assumed as a base, whilst Hurrah may represent the apex, will give some idea of the triangular form of this now habitable tract, which, I conclude, has been raised above the level of the sea by the operation of some vast upheaving force. Whatever testimony is required for this opinion is presented by the geological character of the numerous small hills to the south of Berberah: old coral reefs studding the place with eminences about twenty-five feet high as far as the eye can reach. If these formations are considered as insufficient authority for my founding an opinion upon the submarine origin of this country and its recent elevation, I 32can only excuse myself upon the plea of endeavouring to give a better idea of its appearance by this allusion to its geological character, and which will at least, I hope, assist the reader in forming a more complete picture of Berberah and its environs.

The next day was occupied in placing the boxes and packages of the Mission into the native boat, hired from Shurmalkee. This was effected by noon, and after a parting dinner with our kind friends on board the brig, Mr. Cruttenden and myself proceeded to take possession of our fresh berths in the bogalow.

The little cabin of our new craft was about three feet high, and six or seven feet long, with a roof and floor of bamboo canes, over which were placed a few mats. Two servants of Mr. Cruttenden’s being on board, they were told to prepare the evening meal; and anticipating by the direction and force of the wind that we should be off the town of Zeila by the next morning, we spread our carpets on the cabin-floor, and composed ourselves to reflection or repose, no sufficient inducement offering, to tempt us to expose ourselves in the sun upon the frail unsheltered deck above us. After supper a conversation, in which I could not join, was entered into with the ras, or captain of the boat, by Mr. Cruttenden, whose knowledge of Arabic admitted of this amusement; but as he generally interpreted to me the most useful and interesting portions, and added some most valuable information which he had collected in his long intercourse with these 33people, I had reason to feel happy that circumstances had thus thrown me, upon the eve of the commencement of my own travels, into the society of an experienced and clever voyageur.

March 6th.—We found ourselves this morning, on awakening, anchored at some distance from Zeila, at least six miles. The shallowness of the sea over the outstanding coral reef prevented even our small vessel from approaching nearer to the town, and I could see from the deck several natives wading from our own and other vessels towards the shore. In about one hour, the keeper of the principal gate seaward came on board in a small boat, bringing three sheep as a present from the governor. He was accompanied by two or three of the Arab soldiers, of whom sixty or seventy are employed to defend the town, in case of its being attacked by the Soumaulee of the surrounding countries.

From what I could learn, Zeila was held by Arab and native merchants; the Dowlar, or governor, being appointed by the Sheriff of Mocha, who formerly received some small tribute from the town. Allee Shurmalkee has since my visit either seized or purchased this town, and hoisted independent colours upon its walls; but as I know little or nothing save the mere fact of its possession by that Soumaulee chief, and as this change occurred whilst I was in Abyssinia, I shall not say anything more upon the subject.

The officer who visited us in our boat, carried 34rather ostentatiously at his belt, two large and very rudely made wooden keys, with projecting bits of iron wire, which formed a kind of apology for wards. From their appearance, I should suppose that the locks they fitted were not either of a very intricate or very substantial character, and not such as were calculated, without other aids, to effect the exclusion of unwelcome visitors. I had not an opportunity of examining the defences of Zeila, beyond a sight of its wall, twenty or thirty feet high, over which could be seen certain whitewashed and grey stone houses, with flat roofs. Besides two old guns, which we could see from the boat, lying dismounted upon the sands, I was told there were a very few others placed on that part of the wall looking inland.

Mr. Cruttenden forwarded to the governor some few pounds of gunpowder in return for the sheep, but declined on this occasion his polite invitation to visit him, promising to see him on his return to Berberah, which he hoped would be in a few days, after settling affairs for me in Tajourah. During the night, we took advantage of the land breeze, and made Tajourah by the middle of the next day. The difficulty of fixing upon our anchorage was not so nice an affair as with the brig. The narrow and confined opening on the sunken coral reef forms a kind of submarine haven, directly in front of Tajourah, in which is the only secure anchorage. It was easily found by our vessel, whose light draught of 35water admitted of its going over the reef in search of it; and when found, allowed of our bringing up within a very few yards from the shore. This was no little convenience, for our bogalow only carried for communication with the land a small canoe made out of a single tree, and barely able to carry two persons. Mr. Cruttenden’s sword was trusted to the hands of one of the crew, an excellent swimmer, who took rather a novel mode of conveying his bright burden to the shore, swimming the whole way completely immersed, save the hand and arm bearing the sword, which was thus carried perpendicularly to the body, with an intuitive knowledge of the mechanical relief to the muscles of the arm afforded by a weight being carried in that manner.

Mr. Cruttenden trusted himself into the frail and ticklish canoe, which bobbled upon the surface of the water as if its ill-adjusted centre of gravity would upset itself. He, however, was placed, not without a certain degree of wetting, safely upon the land; and the dexterous paddler of this tiny craft returned for me. I really do not know how I managed to convey myself into it, nor can I account reasonably for its doing so much for me to the shore; but I recollect very well that I considered it a regular escape, for had I been upset in my then weak state from my previous illness, I should certainly have finished my African travels in the Bay of Tajourah.

CHAPTER III.

Reception in Tajourah.—Arrangements for our stay.—Occupation.—Amusements.—Geological character of the country.—Engaging camels for the journey.—Customs of the townspeople.—Public buildings.—Religious ceremonies, law, and justice.

I joined Mr. Cruttenden at the house of the Sultaun, being directed on my way by a party of little slave children, who formed a rather troublesome train, as they kept importuning me for buttons and beads. The younger girls and infants, however, could not by any inducement be prevailed upon to come near me; and what with the shouting plaguing boys, who followed behind, and the screaming flying children before me, I began to think myself more of a curiosity than I had before believed myself to be.

The Sultaun of Tajourah with considerable politeness placed us, immediately on our arrival, in possession of the elevated cabin before mentioned, and the room below, and then left us to hasten forward the preparation of a meal, consisting of boiled rice, which was soon after brought in. It was placed before us in a large saucer-like dish, with a quantity of milk in a curious kind of basket, made of the 37larger nerves of the doom palm leaf, sewed very closely together with a finer description of the same material; the inside was overlaid by some black vegetable matter, but of what character I could never properly understand.

Having arranged our legs as decently as we could around the table, which was merely a large mat of the palm leaf, we had nearly satisfied ourselves before the arrival of some promised lumps of meat, which, strong and tough, challenged the integrity of our teeth, in the vain endeavours we made to do justice to this part of our host’s hospitality, for we might almost as well have attempted to devour the piece of round leather upon which it was brought. The latter piece of furniture, at all events, afforded some degree of pleasure, for I saw immediately an explanation of the obscure passage in Æneid, where the Harpy Celæno is made to say—

which has been by commentators considered improbable and absurd, from the difficulty of supposing how tables, according to our ideas of them, could be eaten. By the sailors in the Red Sea, and among the Arabs, these leathern interpositions between the ground and the food are very general indeed; and I do not see why, in the extremity of a castaway crew, or in a time of famine, these tables, which they certainly are, should not be devoured for want of other food; and parallel cases have frequently occurred in modern times, in the numerous recorded 38incidents where shoes and even the leathern peaks of soldiers’ caps have formed the only sustenance that could be obtained under similar distressing circumstances.

In accordance with the usual custom in Arabia, and which custom has probably been imported from that country with the Mahomedan religion, the first day of our arrival was spent in friendly conversation with the people of the town, who were acquainted with Mr. Cruttenden from previous intercourse. All allusion to the business we had come upon was carefully avoided, the established etiquette of hospitable politeness leaving to the stranger the first day of arrival for rest after his journey, and for making him welcome on the part of his entertainers.

I now assumed the dress which had been recommended as the most appropriate for my journey. Over a pair of loose drill trousers, I donned a long yellow frock of nankeen, with sleeves narrowing to the wrist, of a kind which has been used by the Arabs from the time in which the Periplus was written, for among the articles of the commerce of the Red Sea there enumerated, are these very frocks, and the material of which they are made was then principally imported by Indian vessels, as at the present day. A large straw hat, of the double Manilla kind, with a thick layer of cotton wool between the two walls, formed a very light covering for the head, and being quite impenetrable 39to the direct rays of an almost vertical sun, was a sufficient protection against the evil most to be feared, “a coup de soleil.”

The morning after our arrival, a survey was taken of the stores which, during the past night, had been brought from the bogalow, and placed, part in the lower room of our house, and part in the little court adjoining, so that they might be under the eye of Nassah, one of the Arab servants of Mr. Cruttenden, who was appointed to watch over, and who in fact slept among and upon, the boxes and packages. The apartment occupied by Mr. Cruttenden and myself was the elevated cabin, immediately adjoining the residence of the Sultaun. It was rather a long room, with a sloping roof, the centre of which was a few inches above our heads, but at the sides was only two feet high from the floor. The walls consisted of frames, in which were sliding shutters of most irregular construction, and of every dirty colour that can be conceived. The floor of the upper end was raised about a foot into a kind of dais, or, as Mr. Cruttenden styled it, a spare bed, not being more than five feet in its longest direction, and upon which had been spread his sleeping carpets for the night. The entrance into our novel residence was a square hole in the farther corner of the floor, through which we ascended and descended, like stage ghosts, carefully inserting our toes in any little crevices we could see among sundry dry and 40rotten sticks, which assisted the mats in forming the wall of our lower apartment.

Besides Nassah and a young man named Abdullah, a native of Mocha, who officiated as cook, we had another attendant, a slave who had been lent to us by Shurmalkee, on account of his acquaintance with the Arabic and Dankalli languages, and who was of considerable use to us as our private interpreter.

Whilst we staid in Tajourah, our daily occupations were not of a very varied character, yet still they were such that did not fatigue us with their sameness. Every morning at sunrise, attended by Nassah, we strolled down to the beach, and indulged ourselves in the health-giving bath. Towards evening, accompanied by some of the chief men of the town, we amused ourselves and astonished them by our dexterity with the rifle. The Tajourah people themselves only boasted the possession of a solitary matchlock, and the daring proprietor of this not unfrequently joined us, trying his piece with a new silver mounted one which we had brought with us as a present from Capt. Haines to Izaak, but as no inducement could prevail either upon him or his son to discharge it, Nassah was always called upon to relieve these gentlemen from the danger and honour of firing.

The features of our orderly Nassah were a good specimen of those which characterize a numerous class of Arabs, living on the sea-coast of Arabia, 41who are decidedly of negro origin. The word which designates them, in fact, expresses this; Seedee being derived from the word Assuard, which signifies in the Arabic language, black. His face was nearly triangular, the apex at the chin, the base a long flat forehead, whilst his nose was the exact reverse of this, the apex being between the eyes, and its base below spreading out into two large and flat-like nostrils, which seemed to repose upon, rather than arise from, his dusky cheeks. His mouth was an awful gap; but all the deformity of his countenance was more than compensated by the pleasing expression of his humorous looking little eyes, that told of single purposeness, fidelity, and contentment; and that quiet resignment to circumstances, which was a great characteristic of his manner and mode of expressing himself, “If it please Allah,” “Allah has me in his keeping,” being favourite replies of his. Tall and erect; his posture graceful without effort, in his well arranged Arab costume his appearance was very picturesque. Always on his guard from any surprise, and proud of his occupation, I could see that he was sincerely attached to his master, Mr. Cruttenden. He acquitted himself very well as a marksman, with the clumsy but handsome matchlock, and was certainly the “magnus Apollo” of the black beauties of Tajourah.

Our rendezvous on occasions of these shooting matches, was generally on the summit of a low 42cliff of coral limestone, which stood a few hundred yards in rear of the town, and which extended two miles inland to the base of a gravel bank, perhaps 100 feet high, capped by a thin stratum of coarse black lava. The undermining of this bank is very rapid and considerable during the rainy season, so that large masses of the superincumbent lava are continually breaking off and rolling into the beds of numberless temporary torrents below. The period of the first appearance of this lava cannot have been more than a few hundred years ago, and volcanoes have certainly existed on this coast within the recorded history of the earth. A few miles in the interior, between Raheita and Tajourah, is still a range of hills evidently of igneous origin, called by the natives Jibel Jann, or Demon Mountains. The same name is also given to a more recently active, but very small volcano situated on the road to Shoa; and which was represented by the natives to be the residence of some turbulent genius confined there by Soloman, in accordance with some of the commonly received Arabic traditions.

This coral reef, however, afforded the most interesting proof of the raising of the coast having occurred during the present existing state of things, as regards the direction of winds and currents in the surrounding sea, as also of its being constructed by the same species of Zoophites, who are now producing its counterpart in the present bay. I 43have stood on this old inland reef during the afternoon, when the reflection of the sun’s rays from the surface of the present immersed bed of coral, in front of Tajourah, has plainly showed the parallelism of its outer edge with that of the reef upon which I was standing, and a separation or indenture in the latter also corresponded exactly with the narrow channel in which anchorage is now found near to the present shore, and which must have been produced, in both cases, by the operation of similar natural causes, acting under exactly similar circumstances. More alteration in this part of the world has been produced by volcanic action than can be conceived by endeavouring to form an idea of it by comparison with the changes effected by the occasional outbreaks of Vesuvius or Etna. Convulsions of the earth, and ejection of molten lava upon a most extensive scale, can only account for the great alteration which has evidently, in modern times, taken place in the physical geography of the whole country of Arabia, the eastern shore of Africa, and probably over a considerable portion of the bed of the Indian Ocean in this neighbourhood.

Sir G. M‘Kenzie’s description of the phenomena which have attended volcanic action in Iceland, approaches somewhat to that which may be supposed was here once exhibited, or that a succession of convulsions, similar to the great earthquake of Kutch, in Scinde, of which Sir S. Raffles gives such an interesting account, have here, at some former period, 44exerted the same appalling agents, and produced the extensive alterations in the previous character of this once blessed land, abounding with life and with natural beauty, but which is now, even by the Arab, wandering over his almost equally miserable desert, designated, and most appropriately, as the “deserted quarter of the world.”

The day after our arrival was occupied in preparing and presenting such presents as were intended for the chief people of Tajourah, generally consisting of long robes or body-cloths of white calico, and fotahs, or finely manufactured parti-coloured waistcloth, much prized by both the Arabs and the Dankalli. After this important business was concluded to the satisfaction of all, some conferences were held respecting the number of camels we should require, to apportion fairly among the numerous owners of them, the stores to be conveyed up; for the remuneration that was determined upon being very high, plenty of applicants were found putting in their claim to be employed. The competition would have been very beneficial, could it have been brought to bear upon the price required for each camel; but the unsophisticated Adal savage was as acute upon such matters as the craftiest Chinese, and the system of the Hong merchants of monopolizing the trade was fully acted upon by the chief men of Tajourah. Mr. Cruttenden, as Wakeel of the English Government, was obliged to transact all business through 45the hands of the Sultaun’s agents, who were Izaak, the brother of the Sultaun, and his friend and seconder on all matters of State policy, Mahomed Cassim. These worthies really deserved whatever present they received subsequently to my departure from Mr. Cruttenden, for the trouble, anxiety, and real danger they must have incurred in satisfying, pacifying, and denying the crowd of bullying murderers, who all required a share of the hard, bright dollars, which were always sure to be poured into the town in payment of those services the English Government might require from them. Calahms, or councils, were being continually held, now to settle quarrels arising out of the discussion, and then to discuss again some other subject, until another quarrel had arisen.

Nearly a month was spent in this unsatisfactory manner, when Mr. Cruttenden resolved upon immediately returning to Aden, taking with him the packages, thus putting an end to the deception and procrastination we had submitted to so long. He accordingly sent a letter to Captain Young, who was still at Berberah, requesting him to send again Shurmalkee’s boat to receive us. Immediately this transpired, which it did only so soon as the messenger had departed, we observed a remarkable increase of energy on the part of Izaak and Cassim, for during that day we were disturbed by the continual succession of parties coming to examine, and endeavouring to form some judgment 46as to the weight of, the different boxes, favouritism showing itself in allowing friends to make these surreptitious visits by night also, to determine the choice of loads for their camels. Excuses the next day were also made for our long detention, and assurances that we should certainly start the first propitious day, which was considered to be the next Friday, at the time of the afternoon prayer.

During the four weeks we had been compelled to reside in Tajourah, few incidents occurred worthy of being recorded. Most of our time we were sitting below in the court, on a rude, cord-bottomed couch, covered with a mat. Close to the ends were placed two large pillows, belonging to Mr. Cruttenden, for us to recline upon; whilst, before us, squatting upon the ground, and ranged along the opposite wall, were generally some of our Dankalli acquaintances, who seemed to be anxious to learn something of our institutions and manners. Discussions upon the Christian religion were very frequent; and they soon were made to understand the difference between us and the Roman Catholic nations, whom they include under one name—Feringee.

I also became acquainted with a singular mode of descent, or manner in which the power and title of Sultaun is transmitted to the next possessor. It appears that Tajourah is principally inhabited by two subdivisions of the great Adu Allee tribe, the same from whom it has been asserted the Abyssinian 47name of this people (Adal) is derived. These two families (the Burhanto and the Dinsarrah) have each their own Chief, who alternately assumes the supremacy of the town on the death of the other, whilst the next expectant fills the office of Vizier, or chief adviser. This mode of succession does not appear to be peculiar to Tajourah, but to be a general principle of state economy through all the important tribes; for, in the same manner, I had an opportunity of observing, was determined the possession of the chief dignity among the Debenee; and I was given to understand it was also the custom of the Wahamah, and the Muditee of Owssa. The present Sultaun of Tajourah is named Mahomed, and belongs to the Burhanto family; the Vizier, who was absent on a pilgrimage to Mecca when we first arrived, was the principal man of the Dinsarrah. He returned in time to receive a present, to prevent him interfering in the arrangements, which were then just completed, and a promise of future patronage on the next occasion of a kafila being required by our Government. His arrival accelerated, in some measure, our departure; for had we remained any time afterwards, he would certainly, with his friends, have compelled a change in the distribution of the stores, and thus have led to another detention, or perhaps would have entirely prevented their going up to Shoa. Izaak and Cassim, who had had it so far in their own hands, were therefore interested in 48hastening the departure of the kafila; and from the day of the Vizier’s first appearance in Tajourah, I found the boxes were gradually removed from under our own care to the houses of the carriers. On occasions of counsel, it was usual for the principal men of the town (Hukells, as I heard them called) to assemble in front of the Sultaun’s residence, where they sat upon their heels, or upon the large stones and trunks of the date trees placed for that purpose. With his back leaning against the enclosure of his own house, the Sultaun Mahomed occupied a stone, with Izaak generally sitting on another by his side, together helping the parties present to small cups of strong black coffee. This was poured out of a long-necked, globular, earthenware vessel, of common red clay, into the mouth of which was stuffed a quantity of dried grass, to act as a strainer. The cups were of the same coarse manufacture, being exactly in form and appearance like the very smallest flower-pots in a green-house, except that the latter, without the aperture at the bottom, would, I think, be much more elegant and convenient.

The usual dress of the males of Tajourah was the fotah, or waist-cloth, and the sarree, which is an Indian term for part of a woman’s dress, exactly corresponding to it in use and shape. It is a long robe, worn round the body, generally of white calico, with a red or blue border at the two extremities; it is usually among the townspeople 49seven cubits long—that is, seven times the length of the hand and arm from the elbow. Among the Bedouins—the people inhabiting the country—it is but three and a-half, or about the same size as a Scotch plaid, which I noticed one day, as I saw the two distinct and yet similar formed garments drying together upon the ground after a shower of rain.

The ladies wear a long blue chemise with short sleeves, and a very heavy necklace, made of beads, shells, or of large carved pieces of mother of pearl, reposes upon their delicate bosoms. Ear-rings are a very extraordinary vanity amongst them. They consist of large loops of twisted brass wire, five or six in number, placed each through its own perforation in the outer lobe of the ear; whilst depending from each of these is one, sometimes two oblong plates of tin, or pewter, at least an inch broad, and one and a-half inch in length. Bracelets and anklets of brass and pewter, large and heavy, were very common among them; and as they chanted their monotonous songs of prayer or grief, they clattered them against each other as a kind of accompaniment to their voices. They dressed their hair in a number of small plaits, which were connected round the back of the head by parallel bands of red or white cotton, interwoven with and crossing the hair transversely, and in this manner forming a kind of tippet upon the neck and shoulders. I was once a witness to the difficulty of unravelling 50or combing out this intangled mass, which reminded me of the hair of Samson, interwoven with the web of the loom. The lady whose hair was to be operated upon sat upon a stone in the court, beneath one of our windows, and behind her, on her knees, was a stout hale slave girl, who held in both hands a long-handled wooden fork-like comb, having four very strong prongs, which she dragged through the woolly, greasy, and black hair of her mistress with the force of a groom currying a horse’s tail.

When not attired in their full dress, or are occupied in household duties, the women wear nothing else but the fotah, or waistcloth, which appears to be a garment common both to male and female Dankalli. The better kind of fotah passes twice round the body, and the ends are secured by the women by merely tucking them under a fold of the upper edge; but the men fasten it up with the belt of their never absent short knife. Sandals made of several layers of cow-skin, prepared with the hair on and sewed together by a thong of leather, sometimes in a very neat and ornamental manner, are worn by both sexes, and are secured to the foot by a loop for the second toe, and slight strips of leather crossing the ancle are attached to the heel, and to two small lappels on the sides.

The slave children, who live in the houses of their owners merely for the purpose of recruiting after their long and painful journey from Abyssinia, live 51happily enough whilst in Tajourah; for too young to comprehend the evils of their destiny, and their bodily wants being carefully attended to, they soon regain their lost condition and health, and are then forwarded to the markets of Mocha and other parts of the Red Sea. They are nearly all dressed in a long dirty frock of very coarse calico, which constitutes the whole of their apparel. The male inhabitants of Tajourah have no other occupation than the traffic in slaves, which they exchange for the merchandise of India and Arabia, but principally the former, whose traders they meet at the fair of Berberah.

The women occupy themselves with household duties, and carrying water from a well about half a mile from the town. The water is carried in large entire skins of the goat, which they tan with the pounded bark of a mimosa, very common in the jungle near the town, and which, moistened with a little water, they rub well into the skin. If it be designed to be divested of the hair, the skin, before being tanned, is left for two or three days until slight putrefaction has commenced, and the hair is then easily detached. The most laborious occupation of the women is grinding the jowaree, or millet, which is imported into Tajourah from Aden and the Persian Gulf. They use for this purpose a large flat stone, concave from above downwards, and placed upon the ground, behind this upon her knees, the woman, half-naked, with long depending 52skinny breasts, hangs over the mill, passing and repassing the grain beneath a large heavy rolling-pin of stone. During the progress of the operation, she frequently sprinkles the bruised mass with water, until a fine powdered paste is produced, which, without more preparation, is carried away to be baked upon the kiln-like oven I have before described. It requires some time to make a few pounds of bread in this manner; and when baked into flat cakes of about one pound each in weight, they are, as might be expected, very heavy, and of a disagreeable acid taste. Whilst grinding, two or three slaves, or women, (for the same term is applied to all,) relieve each other, so that labour, except in the house of a poor man, is not great.

I saw in Tajourah two old men weaving, who had learned the art in Abyssinia; also an Arab blacksmith. It is usual for all the young men to be able to make their own sandals. One of their principal occupations in-doors is to make wooden spoons, sometimes carved in a most elegant manner, and fedeenahs, or rests for the head during the night, and which are the constant companion of the Dankalli when journeying. They differ considerably in form from the wooden pillows of the New Zealanders; but still it is singular that a somewhat similar manner of resting the head during the night is in use among these two distant and distinct nations. The ancient Egyptians employed the fedeenah exactly of the shape of those 53of the Dankalli; but these, it seems, were sometimes made of alabaster, and covered with hieroglyphics.

The principal mosque of the place stood at the further end of a large open space, reaching to the sea-shore, in the centre of which was the solitary cannon used as a saluting battery on particular occasions, and the touchhole of which vied in extent with the bore of the piece. Occupying one side of the open space was the square enclosure of mats, with little huts of the same material, which had been erected for the use of the English agent in Tajourah, Mr. Hatchetoor, on the occasion of the last kafila, or second division of the stores, being sent up to Shoa with Messieurs Bernatz and Scott. Here, during one night, three of the native servants were treacherously murdered as they lay asleep, by some of the inhabitants of the town. On the other side were a few native houses, standing in the usual compounds, or courts, and out of the doors of which peeped, with a mixture of curiosity and alarm, several little slave children whenever we passed by.

This mosque stood between the commencement of two narrow lanes, the one leading through the town, the other to the Sultaun’s house, and completed the third side of the irregular square, which was open towards the sea. The mosque was built in a square form, with the untrimmed branches of trees, as they were cut off in the jungle, and thatched 54with leaves of the palm-tree, fastened down by the common string of the country, made of the leaf of the doom palm split and twisted by the hand into a strong rope; a small fence of stones, two or three feet high, enclosed in front a little semicircular court, in which were planted four palm-trees, two on each side of the entrance. In this court, squatting under the shade of the trees, or idly lounging upon the top of the wall, were collected all the idlers of the town; and as these, besides gossiping and dozing, were particularly attentive to the daily prayers and ablutions as prescribed in the Koran, I had not a doubt that they were the worst characters in Tajourah, for I never met among the Mahomedans a strict observer of the stated hours and forms of prayer, but I always found him to be crafty, designing, and treacherous. The only man I ever met with during my subsequent journey, who deliberately, and for days, watched for an opportunity to assassinate me, was one of these pharisaical rascals, who always chose the largest boulder or detached piece of rock he could find, on which to exalt himself above every one else during the performance of his prostrations or prayers.

Two other mosques, the only stone buildings in Tajourah, were much inferior in size to the one I have just described, being but a foot or two higher than the devotees; the roofs were flat, and a white lime-wash, prepared from the roasted shell coral reef behind the town, slacked with water, had been 55freely applied to the walls outside, but having no windows, the interiors looked like open sepulchres. One of these stood at a short distance behind the house of the Sultaun, the other flanked the sea front of the town, at the opposite extremity of which was a ruined stone building, of a square form, standing close to the water’s edge, and which, I suppose, was meant originally for a protecting tower, but nothing except the remains of the walls were left to enable us to form any idea of its original character. The mosque on the sea-shore was much frequented at the time of the morning prayers, immediately before and after sunrise, great numbers of the inhabitants taking advantage of the sea to indulge in a more extensive ablution than they could conveniently perform during the rest of the day.

Although I always professed to be of the same religion as Mahomed, that we both could have worshipped God together, and as regarded the stated number of times, I might also have been an advocate for the first proposal made to him by the angel Gabriel, of at least five hundred prayers per day being necessary, still I objected to the laws and regulations he had established, and preferred, with all deference to the opinions of my Dankalli friends the institutes of Jesus; and as they admitted he was a prophet sent from God, I contended that I could not be much in error in following his instructions, even if judged by the Koran. I did not find it necessary, 56therefore, to become, a convert to Islamism, or I might, as the enterprising Burckhardt has done, dilate upon their belief and form of worship.

I noticed, that they prayed very regularly five times a-day, with their faces turned towards Mecca; once immediately before and again after sunrise; then came the Assair, or afternoon prayer, between three and four o’clock; and again before and after sunset. Each service is preceded by carefully washing all parts of the body that are not covered by the clothes. The ceremony commences by several devotees standing up in one long row in front of the mosque, which is always so built as to have a proper regard to the situation of Mecca. Their open hands are first brought closely up to the ears, whilst they repeat some short ejaculations respecting the greatness of God, the compassionate, the only one; then stooping in the attitude of a low bow, the hands resting on the knees, something of the same sort is again repeated, and down they all sit together, in the Arab fashion, on the bent legs, not crossed in front, like the Turks, but turned under them the contrary way. After sundry satisfactory looks about them, and stroking their beards, if they have any, all bend their heads to the earth, pressing the forehead hard upon the ground two or three times successively; then, after a little more sitting, turning to their right and left hands, they repeat, in each position, protestations of peace with all the world, and rising up, depart to their several 57avocations, meeting again at the next stated hour of prayer, to repeat exactly the same devout ceremonial.

On one occasion, I had a good laugh at the little play of some boys of the Sultaun’s household, who pretended to go through the ceremony of circumcision, and in which they performed their parts with great gravity, and all attention, no doubt, to the details of that, to them, very interesting operation. It must be observed, that circumcision among the Dankalli, as among other Mahomedans, is frequently deferred to a very late period, the boys, or young men rather, being sometimes sixteen or eighteen years old before they are thus made eligible for reception into the paradise of the faithful. To proceed, however, with a description of the ceremony, as it was acted in the little court before our house. The door being thrown open by the attendants, a boy, representing the grave old Kadee, with the operator, entered side by side, followed by the father and the candidate for circumcision, and these by a crowd of friends who, when the operation began, formed a circle before the Kadee and the father, who sat very sedately upon a couch. The operator, with a piece of stick, then commenced acting his part, whilst the boy laid upon his back on the ground, kicking and shrieking, pretended to suffer great pain, which, as in our pantomimes, was, of course, the fun of the whole thing. He, unfortunately, overdid his part, at least did it so naturally and 58with so much noise, that some of the neighbours came rushing in to see what accident had happened. Their appearance put to flight the whole company of juvenile actors, who got off, however, with some tumbles over each other through the narrow doorway, except the circumcised one, who being caught by Shurmalkee’s slave, Abdullah, got a few cuffs upon the head, and a kick or two behind, with a polite request that he should convey them to the mock Kadee, as part payment of his expenses on the occasion. I took a note of this as it afforded me an opportunity of completing the account of the ceremonials of the Mahomedan religion by Burckhardt, all of which, excepting the circumcision, and which, by the by, he must have submitted to, he has so admirably described. Without compromising myself, I had an opportunity in this farce of witnessing the principal features of the first necessary step of Mahomedan proselytism, as performed according to law.

I frequently observed a religious ceremony that seemed to be a spontaneous outbreak of religious fervour on the part of individuals, rather than a generally recognised portion of their devotions. Towards evening, a large circle of some twenty or thirty men would commence a loud and long-continued repetition of the word Allah, for nearly a quarter of an hour; and then being served, each drank a small cup of coffee, whilst one of their number, with an open Koran on the ground before 59him, read a portion of one of the chapters, at the termination of which would commence again the calling upon the name of Allah, rocking themselves backwards and forwards in the most violent manner until nearly exhausted, when another supply of coffee being ready, and a portion of the Koran read as before, they prepared themselves for another bout of the vociferation. This they called a zekar, and would sometimes keep it up the whole night, much to the disturbance of their less devout neighbours.

The Dankalli women are greater apparent devotees of Islamism than those of any other eastern country I visited. Continually, whilst at work, they chant some sacred passages of the Koran, or assemble in each other’s houses to join in domestic zekars; and here I must observe, that though somewhat attempted on the part of the Sultaun’s family, from an affectation of Arab customs, the women are not precluded, except by their own feelings of propriety, from the freest intercourse with the men.

In their judicial proceedings, they affect to be directed entirely by the law of the Koran, and have a very quiet fat old Kadee, who superintends marriages, circumcisions, and other civil and religious ceremonies; but from what I could learn from a conversation held by Mr. Cruttenden with Cassim, very summary proceedings sometimes characterize their administration of justice.

Ohmed, the eldest son of the Sultaun, had with 60real Eastern cunning, obtained a present from us on the plea of his going to Abasha with me. On the near approach of our departure he intimated, in reply to our asking him if he were ready, that when he said he was going to Abasha he meant to Gondah, and not with me to Shoa; and seemed highly pleased at having thus outwitted Mr. Cruttenden. who supposed that by Abasha, Ohmed meant to say that he was to accompany me to Shoa. Of course, under our circumstances, Mr. Cruttenden could only take this deception in good part; but in the evening, Ohmed and a good number of the principal men being in our place, Mr. Cruttenden commenced the conversation by asking Cassim, if there were justice to be procured in Tajourah? “Of course; certainly. Do we not profess Islamism?” was the prompt and almost offended reply. “Then how do you punish theft?” asked Mr. Cruttenden. “Oh,” replied Cassim, “we drag the thief down to the beach, and haul him about in the sea-water till his stomach is quite full, we then drag him along the sand till he throws it up again; after that, we kill an ox, eat him, and make the thief pay for it; and he then is received into society again.” This was too amusing a relation not to be interpreted to me by the kindness of Mr. Cruttenden, who postponed the application of the reason of his inquiry, to the deceit practised upon him by Ohmed, for the purpose of enjoying with me this account of the wild justice of the Dankalli.

CHAPTER IV.

Reception of visitors by the Sultaun of Tajourah.—Arrival in that town, from Shoa, of Demetrius and Joannes.—Ruins and remains of antiquity.—Preparations for our departure.—The day fixed for our start.—Leave Tajourah on the 27th of March.

During my stay in Tajourah, the fair at Berberah broke up, and three or four boats belonging to the town returned, some of them firing guns to announce their approach, the reports of which, as was justly observed by Nassah, being very thin compared to good fat English ones.

As each boat anchored, the rais and passengers, if there were any, dressed in their cleanest and best apparel, proceeded to the Sultaun’s house, escorted by a mob of the townspeople, to an audience with his Majesty, who received them with great formality. Every one touched his hand, and then kissed their own, placing the ends of their fingers immediately afterwards on their foreheads, the usual mode of Arab salutation. After this, the whole assembly repeated the opening chapter of the Koran called the Fahtah, to intimate the peaceable nature of the meeting. The latest news of the fair were now discussed, the ever-circulating coffee sent round, 62the Fahtah again was joined in; and so terminated the business of welcoming the return of the parties home.

Some three or four days previous to our starting, a kafila from Abyssinia came in, and with it arrived two Greeks, who had long been residing at the court of Salie Selassie, the Negus, or King of Shoa. Their names were Demetrius and Joannes; whilst in Abyssinia they had professed Christianity, but now found it convenient to be very devout Mahomedans, and called themselves, the former, Hadjji Mahomed, the latter, Hadjji Yoseph. They were in no very good condition, having been robbed on this side the Hawash, by one of the tribes of the Dankalli people living near that river. They reported also, that three discharged Indian servants of Capt. Harris’s were killed at the same time, and accounted for their own escape by their being Mahomedans. They farther informed us that only one half of the stores last sent up had reached Shoa, the rest having been plundered by the Bedouins. All the English party had, however, arrived in safety. They begged to be given a passage to Aden, and also for any article of clothing we might have to spare.

Our interview with these men took place in the usual court of audience, before the Sultaun, Isaak, and Cassim; and Mr. Cruttenden having in the meantime sent his servant for two shirts, Cassim, to prevent any dispute between the two men, very gravely undertook 63to decide by lot which shirt each should have. Placing his face in his cloth he received from Demetrius a piece of stick, and from Joannes a small stone, without of course knowing the choice of either, then uncovering his face, he placed upon each shirt the representative of the individual that should have it; and who, accordingly, received from the hands of the Sultaun the, to them, very welcome present. After our interview with these men, and we had returned to our own courtyard, Cassim came in and remarked, it was very foolish of Demetrius and his friend affecting Mahomedanism in Tajourah, when their religion and situation in Shoa were so well known to him, he having frequently seen them in that country. He seemed rather vexed at the mistrust evinced by this circumstance; and, appealing to us, asked if we thought they would have been any the worse treated had they come in the character of Christians. We found afterwards, that with all their protestations of poverty, these men had brought down several slave-girls, whom they were desirous of carrying over to Mocha, and by their sale obtain funds to carry them to Constantinople. This coming to the ears of Mr. Cruttenden, he peremptorily refused them a passage in his boat, and told them that if they brought their slaves to Aden, their relative positions would certainly be reversed, that they would be imprisoned, and their bondswomen be made free.

64Having heard in Aden from conversations with a missionary who had visited Tajourah that some ruins existed near that town, which could only be referred to the labours of some highly civilized people in a condition far superior to the present state of the inhabitants, I was particular in my inquiries concerning the traditional history of the place. The Sultaun, who appeared to be one of the oldest men, informed me that in his younger days stone walls of some extent, but completely in ruins, were to be seen on the road to the well, and offered to accompany Mr. Cruttenden and myself to point out their situation. Their site was about half way between the town and the well. All traces of them above ground had long since disappeared; but by raking over the spot with the butt-end of a spear very evident marks of the foundations of some extensive buildings were to be seen, but still were too indistinct to enable us to form any idea as to their character. A few yards distant from them we found, nearly perfect, a regular formed millstone of extraordinary dimensions, made of a black coarse volcanic rock, and weighing at least 600 pounds; the Sultaun could give us no other account of its origin than that it had been brought down from the hills by the rain. Respecting the stone houses, foundations of which we had been examining, he told us that he had been informed by his father, that the Turks had erected them when they had possession of the country.

65It is necessary, however, to observe, that there are no remains of ancient buildings, either in this country or that of the Soumaulee, concerning which the natives will not tell the same tale, that they were towns once occupied by the Turks. I was often told during my journey through the Adal country of ruined houses built of stone and lime, being in the neighbourhood, and my informants invariably added that they had formerly belonged to the Turks; sometimes, as if correcting themselves, explaining that they meant the Feringees, for that the old possessors had not been Mahomedans but Christians.

Proceeding to the well, we found the mouth of it surrounded with a low fence of stones, about two feet high. The shaft was about fifteen or sixteen feet deep to the surface of the water, which is always plentiful and sweet. At some little distance, their extremities placed in the earth, were six upright halves of the same kind of mill-stone we had just before seen; all of which, according to the statements of the numerous slave-girls who were filling their water-skins, had been brought from some place among the hills by the torrents in the wet season, so far according with the Sultaun’s story, and perhaps originating from the same sources of information.

The questions that naturally arise are, to what people must we attribute these works of art, so superior to the capabilities of the present inhabitants 66of Tajourah, are even these rude mill-stones, and for what purpose of manufacture could they have been originally designed. The climate of the country in which we find them precludes the idea of their being used for the grinding of wheat; nor would the jowaree, I think, be used as food by people so advanced in civilization as these stones indicate. I am quite at a loss to account for their presence, for no production of this country, as it now exists, could require their employment, and the difficulty can only be surmounted by supposing them to have been the product of a period anterior to the volcanic era which has made the whole of this country a desert. Some examination of the country to the north and east of Tajourah may, perhaps, at a future day prove the existence of extensive ruins in the neighbourhood; and this I feel more inclined to believe from the name of Tajourah itself, which appears to me to signify the dependent village of the black population, of some once great and flourishing city.

The time was now approaching for my departure. The Arab blacksmith had been two or three days at work making me a crooked dagger to be carried with three small pistols in my belt, and which enabled me to present a very warlike front. The rumours of assassinations and Bedouin attacks, made me wish to be ready in cases of extremity. I am fully convinced that the greatest danger in travelling among savage and lawless tribes 67is fancied security, and to be really safe, the traveller must be always prepared to meet their attacks. He will find his best protection to be a constant suspicion of every man’s intentions until fully convinced of his peaceable character, or that he is quite aware of the ability to reward him for his protection and friendship, or to punish him for any attempts upon life or property.

Two saddle-bags of cowskin dressed with the hair on, were made also by the blacksmith; they had no pretensions to elegance, certainly, but as they were capacious enough for me to stow in them all the wardrobe I had selected for the journey, and also several pounds of biscuit, and a small cheese, I did not mind their not being of a make that would have commanded the entire approbation of a bagsman accustomed to travel only on English roads. A mule was also purchased for my use, a good old Shabah, as my Dankalli servant Allee used to delight in calling her. She was a remarkably staid steady-going animal of a sober grey colour, and had been so accustomed to travel up and down the road we were going, that I really believe she could have taken me to Shoa without a guide, and had become so used to the regular slow two miles an hour pace of the camels, that she never could be induced to go on any faster, and always seemed most happy when she was at the very end of the line walking close under the tail of the last camel.

68Mr. Cruttenden and myself were hard at work with our needles for two days previous to the start, he kindly undertaking to manufacture a skin-case for my watch, pocket-compass, and ammunition; whilst I attempted to vie with him in his workmanship by stitching together two strips of ox-hide into a belt, which, for want of the necessary buckles, was made to button in front. To this the sheath of my Adal knife, or dagger, was secured, as also a little bag for caps and bullets. When finished, the Sultaun very graciously pronounced the belt to be a very creditable effort of genius, with which encomium I felt highly flattered.

March 27th, the last day in Tajourah.—The night before, all the boxes were taken to the open place beyond the little stone mosque in the rear of the Sultaun’s house, preparatory for the grand start to our first halt this day, which I was positively informed would be at the distance of at least seven miles. It was not until late in the afternoon, that I was called to witness the camels loaded for the first time, and to count them, as they one by one proceeded on their march. Mr. Cruttenden was present to take farewell; and a whole circle of the principal hukells of the town, who here held their last calahm, to place me particularly under the care of Ohmed Mahomed, the brother of Cassim and Mahomed, or as he was commonly called Ebin Izaak, the son of Izaak, upon whom jointly now devolved the charge of the Kafilah and 69myself. Cassim, one of the chief men of the town, and Ibrahim Shaitan, “the devil,” (a very appropriate name,) had agreed to accompany us for three days, and see us fairly started on our journey.

The camels having already got out of sight, the Fahtah was recited by all present, and a general leave-taking followed. I shook hands with Mr. Cruttenden, and after sincerely thanking him for his kindness and the trouble he had taken in providing everything necessary for my journey, mounted my mule, and went on my way rejoicing at having at last turned my back upon Tajourah, a town I was most heartily tired of.

CHAPTER V.

Journey to Ambabboo, distance three miles, general direction south-west, along the sea-shore.—Halt for the night.—Journey to Dulhull, distance seven miles, general direction nearly south-west.—Staying at Dulhull.

We first passed a small stream which a shower among the hills during the preceding night had produced, and which was now running directly into the sea: then the well, with the usual crowd of laughing water-bearers, who in groups were commenting upon the Feringee Kafilah, and as I passed saluted me with an abundance of salaams (peace). Cassim was the only one of the group of five natives that accompanied me who was mounted, and he was unarmed, except with the common dagger of his countrymen. The remainder, excepting Ibrahim Shaitan, who had made himself particularly disagreeable in Tajourah, were strangers to me. I was given to understand they formed a part of the escort of ten men who were engaged to accompany me on the journey. They were certainly the most cut-throat looking individuals I had ever seen; their suspicious glances, low whispers, and rumoured characters, for they were some Bedouins 71of the interior, made me feel rather uncomfortable at first, and I almost felt inclined to get off my mule, and go to prayers with Cassim, when I saw him dismount as we rode along the beach and commence his ablutions for that purpose. As, however, he made no signal for me to halt, I proceeded quietly along with the rest of the party till we passed a broad current, some feet wide, of small hermit crabs, that were marching along, at a great pace, from the sea, towards the north, in which direction, it must be observed, Mecca lay. I pulled up my mule to observe what could possibly be the reason of such an array passing along, and my wild-looking friends coming up, Ibrahim, whose knowledge of Arabic rivalled mine, looked in my face inquiringly, and pointing to the crabs, remarked, “fennah rah?” (where go) to which I replied in equally good Arabic, “hadge” (pilgrimage), at which he raised a loud laugh, and telling his friends in their language, they seemed to enjoy the joke exceedingly. After this incident I got a little more confidence, and was just going to ask Ibrahim some question relative to the time we should be on the journey, when a sudden turn brought us to a little savannah, surrounded with date and mimosa trees, whilst beyond, rising high above the bright green foliage, was a pretty regular amphitheatre of high conical hills. As we had been scarcely an hour reaching this place, and I saw by the boxes being piled up that a halt was intended, 72I was rather astonished at finding our first day’s march so very short, and Cassim riding up, I put the question to him if it were intended to start again in the night, as is frequently the case with Kafilahs to avoid the heat of the day. Cassim, however, told me that we should not start again until the next morning very early, a number of camels and men not having joined who intended to accompany us to Abasha. My new servant Zaido, a slave of Ohmed Mahomed, was here introduced to me. He had been engaged to attend me on the road for twenty dollars, to be paid on our arrival in Shoa. He was a tall good-natured sort of a fellow, but the greatest coward I ever met among these brave people, and the very reverse in this respect to his much shorter fellow-slave, Allee Ohmed, who also had been ordered by his master to look after my mule, and who was ever ready to perform other services for me in the expectation of a few gilt buttons, and a boxeish, or present, at parting. Neither of them was much more than twenty years old, but Allee had proved himself a man of some courage in a battle with the Issah Soumaulee, in which he had killed his opponent.

Immediately on arriving at the halting-place, Allee took my mule, and Zaido brought me my carpet, with my Scotch plaid and Arab cloak, which were rolled up in it, and arranged my bed for the night in an open part of the savannah, placing my saddle under my head to serve for a pillow. 73Cassim took up his position on one side of me, and Ibrahim on the other side of Cassim, whilst during the night Alee and Zaido lay, one at my feet, and the other at my head, to guard against any attempt to assassinate me during the night, it being known that many of the Debenee tribe had declared that no white man should pass again through their country, owing to a dispute about the division of five or six thousand dollars they asserted the Sultaun had received from the English, in payment for the purchase of some small islands in the Bay of Tajourah. The murder of three of Capt. Harris’s European escort, eight or nine days’ journey inland, was a painful evidence of the vindictive spirit thus excited. From the Debenee I was afterwards told I had more to fear than from any other tribe I should have to pass through.

During the night, I received a note from Mr. Cruttenden, which I read and answered by the light of the moon. A slight shower of rain gave promise of an abundant supply of water during our journey, and was hailed by all as a very propitious omen.

March 28th.—Up and off two hours before sunrise. I would not wait for my mule, but walked on with Cassim and Ibrahim whilst the camels were being loaded. Our march lay along the sands, where, for a short time, I sat under the shade of some date-palms, whilst my companions bathed and performed their first prayers for the day. I saw an abundance of game, chiefly guinea-fowl, and the small antelope 74mentioned by Salt, a graceful little thing, scarcely twelve inches high, of a greyish fawn-colour, with beautifully formed head and large prominent black eyes. My double-barrelled carabine being loaded with ball, I would not shoot at them, fearing that I might miss, and I could not well afford to lose my character as a marksman among the people I was now living with, who consider every white man to be naturally a good shot.

Prayers being over, we again started, and soon passed a small native village of about eight houses, called Ambabboo, where we met some Bedouins with two or three camels who had come with the intention of joining our Kafilah. A little girl here brought me some milk in one of their curiously constructed baskets, and her brother, dragging along a young kid, wanted me to accept it. Cassim, who suspected the real meaning of all this generosity, objected to the kid on the plea of inconvenience. I, however, made them both happy by giving them a few beads and a couple of needles.

Leaving the coast, we entered a wood of low mimosa-trees, the thorny boughs of which I was obliged to be continually throwing from before my face. We soon came to a fordable part of a small creek communicating with the sea, and which I then found had caused the detour. The water where we passed was about two feet deep, and after crossing we reached the sea-shore again in a short time, and travelled along the sands until 75we came to an open bare spot, over which I could see, by the drift wood and large rolled stones, that during the wet season a torrent must rush into the sea. Here we were to halt for the rest of the day. A large Kafilah of natives going to Tajourah had spent the night in the same place, and were just leaving as our small party of pedestrians arrived, the time being the dawn of day, and we having been two hours on the march.

The name of this halting-place was Dulhull. I sat down on a large stone, at a short turn in the otherwise nearly direct line of the sea-shore from east to west, which admitted of a fine view of the Bay of Tajourah and the distant sea. The sun, “from ocean rising,” quickly dissolved the last shades of night, and one of the most lovely scenes my eyes ever beheld extended before me. All the azure and golden tinting of that imaginative painter, Turner, was realized, and I silently acknowledged the injustice of my premature judgment, in considering his pictures very pleasing, but most unnatural. The gorgeous apparel of the cloud-robed sun, the silvery play of the nearly calm reflecting surface of the sea; the blue rocks of the opposite Soumaulee shore; the palm-tree fringe of the waving line of coast, along which I had just been travelling; the distant view of Tajourah, and the quiet of its little merchant fleet, aided in producing an effect of enjoyment in my mind, that perhaps owed some portion of its charm to the 76feeling of having at last entered upon the long wished-for life of novel and wild adventure which, from a boy, I had so ardently desired. Behind me rose a succession of bare rugged hills, gradually increasing in height till at the peak of Jibel Goodee, about six miles off, they attained an elevation of 6,000 feet, all evidently of volcanic origin, save the little low heaps of recent sandstone close to the shores of the bay which had been upheaved, probably at the same period with the more imposing rocks beyond them.

One of these hills of stratified sandstone had been impregnated with the vapour of a cupras sublimation, until it had assumed a light green colour; and upon the strength of about five per cent. of copper, some travellers had represented that it was a Jibel Narse, or hill of copper. Many of the natives were firmly impressed with an idea that it was for the promise thus held out of an abundant supply of this metal, that had induced the English to attempt the purchase of Tajourah and the neighbouring country from the Sultaun Mahomed. I may here observe, that a purchase had been effected between this chief and the Indian Government of the two islands; one at the entrance of the bay, and another much smaller, lying in the little channel leading into Goobatul Khhrab, and for which, I believe, the Sultan received some five or six thousand dollars.

I was now joined by some of our Kafilah, which 77had in the meantime come up and commenced unlading. Zaido placed two mats under the shade of some closely-growing mimosa-trees, and one or two of the escort, who seemed willing to patronize me for the sake of the few buttons or needles I could bestow upon them, brought their mats and laid them down all around me. A rude sense of politeness seemed to prevent their pressing inconveniently near me; but I suspected that it was merely the hollow affectation of courtesy by the most cold-blooded assassins I ever met or ever read of. By their own showing, not one of them that wore a small tuft of hair upon the boss of his shield but had killed and murdered ten or twelve individuals, which, if only understood as two or three, the men surrounding me must have caused the death of at least a score of their fellow-beings; and the delight and evident zest with which they spoke of or listened to the several struggles in which they had been engaged, told the fierce and cruel character of these demons in human shape. “Neither the hospitality nor the high sense of honour that characterizes the savage of America or of the Oceanic Islands, is to be found among the Dankalli tribes. Murder is equally productive of renown as is the most honourable fight; and the same triumphant badges are worn by the valiant soldier and the cowardly assassin. The companion of the day and the sharer of your food will, under cover of night, strike without remorse his knife into your throat; 78and of all the savage people that inhabit this benighted land of Africa, the Dankalli are allowed by all to be the most treacherous and cruel.” This was the character I had received of my present companions; and it was necessary therefore that I should be careful to give them no excuse for attempting my life, acting as courteously as possible, distributing needles and bits of paper, loading and firing my pistols repeatedly for their amusement during the day. Having smashed, on one occasion, an earthen coffee-pot that the owner had challenged me to fire at, they were quite satisfied that I could as easily demolish an elephant with one of the little insignificant looking things that they saw I always wore at my waist, and this feeling I did not endeavour to dissipate, as I saw it had a very good effect upon the bearing of these men towards me. An accident that happened also, by which one of them was nearly shot, made them not over anxious to trust themselves too near to me, or my pistols, and turned out to be a fortunate circumstance, by preventing them from closing and crowding around me.

As evening drew on, Zaido, who had prepared me a breakfast in the morning of boiled rice and dates, now cooked me some kid’s flesh, a portion of another present I had received in the course of the day from some Bedouin shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep and goats in the neighbourhood, and who had sent it in by some of their children. The men 79did not appear themselves, for among our Kafilah were some individuals of a tribe with whom this Bedouin family had a blood feud. During the whole day I observed several of them assembled on a spur of Jibel Goodee, awaiting the result of our arrival with spear and shield in hand, as if they expected an attack. After supper I directed Allee and Zaido to make a little fort of boxes, as I saw I had nothing to trust to but the greatest precaution on my part. I was only afraid of night attacks, for during the day I felt pretty well assured that I should be quite free from any molestation, but even this partial idea of security led me subsequently into considerable danger; and, as I hope my experience may be of service to future travellers, my errors shall be duly paraded with the same fairness as those incidents I shall no doubt speak of, from which I expect any credit may arise.

The roof of my box-fort or hut was made by placing the long camel saddle-sticks across from side to side, over which I threw my carpet, and on this piled camel saddles, mats, and everything calculated to awaken me by making a noise in case of any one attempting to uncover my retreat. A good palanquin with locks on the doors would not be a bad carriage for such a country as Adal. The dilemma would be to procure bearers, for I do not think the native Dankalli could by any means be induced to the 80exercise of such a long-continued labour as the patient dauk carriers upon the roads of India.

Neither Ohmed Mahomed nor Ebin Izaak was to be seen to-day, and I found that they had returned during the past night to Tajourah, to spend another last day with their families, leaving Cassim in charge of the Kafilah. He sometimes walked up to the trees under which I lay during the day, to see that everything was right with me. A Bedouin, who had kept close to me the entire day, had placed himself at the entrance of my hut when I retired; and Zaido told me he was one of the escort who had sworn to Izaak not to let me go out of his sight, upon the promise of receiving a cloth from his son in Abasha. As he was a very superior-looking man, at least forty years of age, very quiet, and less importunate for trifles than the rest of his countrymen, I thanked him, as well as I could, for his attention, and gave him a cotton handkerchief.

After looking suspiciously to the right and left, creeping a little way into my hut he secured the gift in a dirty rag to the handle of his shield, which he hung up in my hut to be taken care of, by signs intimating that it would rain, and also that he was my very good friend, insisting at the same time, that I should write his name, Garahmee, down in my note-book. He then turned away to get some boiled rice with Zaido and Allee, whilst I 81turned in upon my mat, covered myself with my plaid and Arab cloak, and composed myself to sleep.

March 29.—I found we should not leave Dulhull to-day; neither Ohmed Mahomed, nor Ebin Izaak, having yet arrived, Garahmee and a new Bedouin friend, Moosa Gra, proposed to accompany me if I chose to bathe in the sea, but as it was in front of and in sight of the Kafilah, I told them I did not require their attendance. After bathing I took my yesterday morning’s position upon the stone on the sea-shore, and again looked with pleasure upon the lovely picture before me. While still enjoying the scene, a sudden flash from the beach in front of Tajourah followed in a few minutes by a booming report, told the departure of Mr. Cruttenden for Berberah, and scarcely had his little vessel returned the salute of the town, and raised her long lateen sail, than she flew as if impatient from the land, and at our distance seemed not unlike a large white bird scudding over the surface of the sea.

Mr. Cruttenden having left Tajourah, Cassim and Ibrahim, who had been, I could see, anxiously awaiting the report, thought they could go back to their homes without further trouble. Their protestations of anxiety for my safety, and desire to see me well started on my journey, having been sheer humbug, but by which of course they had secured proportionate rewards. I had scarcely recovered from the fit of musing, the circumstance 82of my having witnessed the departure of Mr. Cruttenden had occasioned, when these worthies came up to announce their own intention of immediately returning to Tajourah. Ibrahim, who had a raw kidney in his hand, offered part of it to me with the most innocent politeness, but which I having with a graceful bow declined, he handed to Cassim, who made but two mouthfuls of it. They amused themselves with my evident surprise at their indulging in such a delicacy as they undoubtedly considered it; and having put me, as they thought, into a good humour with them, proposed their return. I made no observation in reply, for I was only too glad to get Ibrahim away, as he very evidently disliked me, and all that were of my colour. I had nearly quarrelled with him the evening before, through resisting his attempts to cut the leaves out of a copy of Mr. M‘Queen’s survey of Africa, in an Appendix of which was contained an extract of the route through this country, from the journals of Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf, and which I had been comparing with the accounts I was receiving of the road from the natives who surrounded me. Upon learning that the account was that of the missionaries, Ibrahim, for some reason or other, drew his knife, and stated his intention of cutting the book up, but upon my putting it immediately into my saddle-bag, with a very significant expression, the by-standers took Ibrahim away. To all appearance, the circumstance was soon forgotten, 83for he appeared in a short time afterwards, and asked me to give him some lucifer matches, with which request I immediately complied, and in this manner established peace again between us.

On the present occasion Cassim began the conversation by saying, how anxious he was for the Kafilah to proceed, which was false; as Zaido had told me but a short time before that we were waiting for some friends of Cassim himself, who were going to join our Kafilah with a few camels, which they intended to load with salt for the Shoan market at the Bahr Assal, and that they would not be ready till the next day. Cassim, however, went on to state, that he was exceedingly angry with his brother, Ohmed Mahomed, for detaining us, and that it was his intention to go back to Tajourah to hasten him on to rejoin the Kafilah; and added, that Ibrahim would also accompany him for mutual protection on the road. He concluded, by representing that the smallest offering would be gladly accepted, but hinted his expectation of a considerable boxeish for his attendance so far, and proportionate to the very important position he held among the Tajourah people, which, he said, would be considerably diminished, if what I should give him were not what his admirers might expect. As I was not in a humour to understand all this, my little knowledge of Arabic wonderfully diminished, and it was absurd to see the grave personage Cassim, in consequence, 84throwing his hands and arms about, strutting and looking pompous, and then most benign, to convey to my obtuse understanding the impression most favourable for his wishes. Ibrahim stood very quietly by, cleaning his extremely white teeth with the ever accompanying stick of a singular kind of tree called Woomen, growing in the neighbourhood of Dulhull. He, however, made no observation until Cassim had finished, and had seen him receive four dollars, then his turn came.

Ibrahim was a little spare man, but commenced with saying, that he was quite as good as Cassim, that he was my friend, and, besides, was going to introduce me to another friend of his who would accompany me all the way, and sooner die than see me injured. This friend’s name he made me write down in my book with a particular note, that I should not forget to give him also a boxeish on our arrival in Abasha. As for himself, he added, he was convinced I should do him justice. To my sense of what was due to his numerous excellences, therefore, and to the goodness of Allah, he left all consideration of what bounty I intended to bestow upon him.

I had made up my mind to divide ten dollars between them at Segallo, the halting-place where it was originally intended they should leave me, but as that was at some distance, I thought they should get nothing by the little deceit they had practised in keeping me at Dulhull until Mr. Cruttenden had 85sailed, and then saving themselves any farther trouble, by returning immediately to Tajourah. As has been observed, I gave Cassim only four, and to Ibrahim I presented three dollars, observing to the latter, that I had given him more than the extra dollar Cassim had received, in beads, needles, buttons, and matches; for of all the natives, Bedouin, or townspeople, Ibrahim was the most bothering, and greedy in begging everything he could set his eyes upon. When he could obtain nothing else, he asked for medicine, and if I had taken him at his word, and done him full justice, I think I could not have done less than have seized this opportunity of poisoning him, and so have sent him to that place from whence he derived his very unamiable “nom de guerre,” among his own countrymen, of “Shaitan.”

Our grief at parting, not being of that excessive kind that would interfere with any opportunities I had of making observations on the people I was amongst, as soon as they were gone I had my mat spread again under the trees, and was soon surrounded by others, who were retreating from the hot sun to the same friendly shelter.

Some women also came down from among the hills with small skins of clotted milk, which they gladly exchanged for needles. The younger ones are very beautiful girls, but of exceedingly slender form, reminding me strongly of the appearance of the Indian girls in Calcutta, and strikingly 86different in figure from the female slaves brought down from Abyssinia. These latter are particularly plump, with roundly formed and fleshy limbs, and of rather short stature, whilst the Adal women are thin, muscular, and tall. The latter, too, were considerably more vivacious and active, and the characters of their features were as decidedly different as the chief points of their figure. I have before observed, that the genuine Dankalli belongs to the Circassian variety; but I shall not stay here to form farther comparisons with the Abyssinians, but will wait till I arrive in that country, and can bring my subjects properly before the reader.

The older women were repulsive looking witches with dependent breasts, like old black butter skins, lying empty and flat upon the chest. This disgusting appearance is produced by the constant pressure of the band placed over the shoulders, and across the breast, and which secures whatever burden the woman is carrying behind her. They invariably have something stowed away in this manner, either a child, a bundle of split doom leaves for plaiting, an odd bundle of salt, or a large skin full of milk. It is generally suspended from the chest upon the loins, and the constant pressure, in the course of time has the effect of completely obliterating the glandular portion of the breasts, leaving only two long double flaps of black skin, to tell where once the fountains of life had been. They had a constant habit of tapping the mouth 87with the tips of their fingers to express astonishment, and pressing both hands to the lower part of the face was the very modest manner in which they walked off their nearly naked bodies, when we came suddenly up to a party of them, for it was seldom they volunteered to stay in my neighbourhood unless called upon to do so. A white skin evidently had no charms for them, and I could only smile at their prejudice and bad taste. The same kind of feeling makes many a negro happy in London, who, if the truth were known, looks with an eye of pity or contempt upon the pale faces that turn in disgust from him.

Mothers, towards evening, came bringing their diseased children into camp, and when I could be of service, it was some pleasure to assist them with what little medicine I possessed; but to some who were irrecoverable, I only suggested such dietary treatment I considered might be palliative, for I would not risk the danger of having their death laid to my charge, as it would have been had I administered any drug, or held out any hopes of recovery. One or two blind people went away very much disappointed at my not being able to restore them their sight.

My usual evening meal of rice and kid-flesh being duly prepared, I returned into my hut, drew out in secret my pewter spoon, the only remaining one of three, and made a hearty supper. All illness having apparently left me, appetite and a 88buoyancy of spirit I had long been a stranger to, had returned, enabling me fully to enjoy all the pleasures, if there can be any imagined, of the life I was now leading.

CHAPTER VI.

Staying at Dulhull.—March 31st, Journey to Segallo, distance one and a-half miles, general direction S.S.W.—Halt for the night.—Journey to Daddahue, distance ten miles, general direction W.S.W.—Attack of the Bursane subdivision of the Ad’alee tribe.—Halt for the night.

March 30th.—During the night, Ohmed Mahomed made his appearance, and at day-break his loud voice, calling to load the camels, awakened me with a start. Zaido, with a small kid-skin filled with very dirty water, poured a little into my hands, which I then threw over my face, wiped it dry with my silk handkerchief (my napkin having been stolen the night before), and thus finished my hasty toilet. After having troubled myself to saddle my own mule, I found that the camels were being unloaded again, and on inquiry, learned that there was a division in the camp. One party wishing to remain for some more camels to join us, and the other desirous of starting without any delay. It was at length agreed that the camels going to take up salt at Bahr Assal should go on to that place one day in advance of the Kafilah I belonged to, so 90as to give them time to load. We were to follow the next morning, to enable the camels to come up, belonging to some parties who had sent a messenger from Tajourah to say they would join us in the course of the day. To this course no reasonable objection could be raised, as it was the interest of the Ras, or head of the Kafilah, and of every camel-owner that composed it, to get as great a number of people together as possible to resist any extortion, or repel any attack that might be made by the different tribes we should meet with on the road. Ohmed Mahomed, therefore, consented to this arrangement, and we were detained at Dulhull another day in consequence. I noticed after Ohmed Mahomed’s arrival in camp, that great, and I thought very unnecessary, care was taken to guard me from any attack at night. My place being more securely shut in, and Ohmed Mahomed and his servants taking care to lie at the entrance, and around it. Ohmed had his reason for this, and I should not have slept very comfortably had I been then fully aware of the threats held out by the Debenee against any unfortunate Engreez travelling through their country, and of which I was only subsequently informed.

Our Kafilah during this day was increased by twenty-four camels, which made the total number, with the few that had gone on to the Bahr Assal, eighty-four, and we could muster altogether about forty fighting men; we had besides a few women 91and boys in company. Five Bedouins from the Hy Soumaulee tribe, who had been transacting some business in Tajourah, also accompanied us, and offered for five dollars each to be my personal guard on the road, and the rumours of intended attacks, and the evident anticipation of such by Ohmed Mahomed, made me agree to the proposal. Garahmee, Moosa Gra, Adam Burrah, Moomen, and Omah Suis were accordingly enlisted into my service.

It must be observed, that in the first instance in Tajourah, these men had been passed off to Mr. Cruttenden as being part of the escort of ten men which had been agreed upon should be provided, and for which Mr. Cruttenden had paid twenty-five dollars per man to Izaak and Cassim. I now learnt that besides the owners of the camels themselves, none had been so engaged to defend the property of the Mission, and that these Bedouins belonged to us no farther than I chose to engage them, and feeling the necessity of the case, I did not hesitate in coming to a conclusion upon the subject, protesting at the same time against the deception practised upon Mr. Cruttenden.

Subsequent events proved how greatly I was obliged to these men and their tribe for the protection they afforded me, and without their assistance I feel assured I could never have delivered the stores safe in Shoa, or have brought also along with me a quantity of other property belonging to the 92Mission that I found on the road, and which had been abandoned by the officers of the preceding division. Their fidelity to our engagement was also remarkable, considering the reported bad character of this people, which I must say was confirmed by my own observation; but as by the terms of our engagement they were to receive no money until our arrival in Abyssinia, it was their interest, of course, to be faithful to their charge, for in case of any accident preventing me or the stores reaching our destination, it was understood they were not to receive their pay.

I was a witness to-day of the barbarous manner in which the Dankalli brand the camel. It seems two different marks are required, both of which are made with a red-hot iron. One intimates the tribe of the owner, the other his private mark. Two camels had been purchased by another Ibrahim, a cousin of Ebin Izaak, a young quiet-looking fellow, and less violent in his manner than is usual among his countrymen; he, however, did not practise the less forbearance towards his new purchase, but proceeded at once to stamp them as his property. The fore legs of one of the camels being first secured by a strong leathern thong; another was afterwards fastened around the hind ones in a similar manner. A rope attached to the former was then made to run through the loop of the latter, and this being pulled by three or four men the feet were all drawn together, and the consequence was that the poor animal 93fell with tremendous force to the ground, uttering the most horrible cries. A piece of iron about half an inch thick, and some two feet long, being heated red-hot was then applied to the shoulder, nearly the whole length, and three successive marks were thus inflicted. The iron being heated afresh each time, remained until it was quite cold upon the skin, which curled up in a most sickening manner as the rude instrument was taken off. Three similar marks were also made upon the rump, after which the animal was liberated, and allowed to get up. I was glad there were only these two to be operated upon, for I never heard such bellowing shrieks that disturbed the camp during the operation, such only as camels can produce when suffering bodily pain.

A goat being killed to-day for my use, and all the meat not being required, it was cut into long strips, about an inch in thickness, and hung up in the sun to dry, being festooned about the sides of my hut, from the projecting ends of the saddle-staves, which assisted in forming the roof. Zaido set me to watch, that no hungry kite out of the number which were circling above us should pounce upon, and carry the meat away. I, however, amused myself more with their impudent stoops, and Zaido, on his return from watering his camels, found the goat’s flesh rapidly disappearing, more to the satisfaction of the birds than his own. What remained, however, being sufficiently dry, he hastily put into 94a large skin bag, which he tied up ready for loading on the morrow, our start being announced by public criers to take place next morning.

March 31st.—Zaido and Allee being busy loading the camels, I started with Ohmed Mahomed, and my body-guard on foot, leaving my mule to follow. Our road lay still along the sea-shore, the sand having become more shingly than before, and mixed with great quantities of broken shells, and rolled pieces of red and madrapore coral. I took the opportunity of bathing while the party I was with performed their ablutions, and repeated the morning prayers.

This was a very short march, the halting-place, Segallo, not being more than half an hour, or one and a-half miles from Dulhull. Ohmed Mahomed endeavoured to allay my disappointment by saying we should start again at night; but of course I did not believe him. I remained in my hut, which was made as usual, all day, not feeling very well; in the evening, however, I strolled from the low jungle that here skirts the sea, and in which our camp was made, to the beach, where I amused myself observing some sea-gulls that exhibited no little sagacity in the manner in which they obtained their food. All along the Bay of Tajourah the small hermit crab abounds, and formed, I should suppose, from what I saw, the principal prey of these birds. It would be a difficult thing to get at this kind of Crustacea, with all the means that seagulls 95can command; but instinct has taught them to have recourse to a method of unshelling the crabs that certainly I should not have thought of. Seizing the one they intend to operate upon, they fly up to the height of ten or twelve feet, and letting it drop it naturally falls on the heaviest, or topside of the shell. Before the little animal can recover itself, the gull has caught it again, and flying up with it the same height as before, he lets it drop a second time, and so he continues till the repeated falls have fractured the shell, and he gets at the animal without further trouble. It takes ten or twelve of these short flights to accomplish the object, but it never fails; and as the birds are certainly patterns of perseverance in their pursuit, they get, no doubt, a good living in this very singular manner. Besides this instance of their sagacity, I have seen gulls over and over again defeat the attempts of the hawk to pounce upon them, by making a very successful but very unusual flight for them, which was to vie with the hawk himself in the elevation he was obliged to take for the success of his swoop. In such cases they seek not to shun the butcher of their kind, but following him in each gyration he makes, afford him no opportunity of attack, and soon tire him out. I was called away from my musing occupation by Moosa, who came with a great deal of mystery to inform me of something that he was not quite able to tell me, but on returning with him to the camp, I found two boxes 96had been broken, during the short march from Dulhull, by falling from the back of the camel. I was requested to put them to rights, as driving nails was what the Dankalli did not understand. My carpentering amused them very much; and the job being settled to their satisfaction, I adjourned to my hut and turned in for the night.

April 1st.—We were up very early this morning, at least one hour before sunrise, and all started together for Daddahue, or Wadalissan, two different names that were given me for the next halt. I was desired to keep with the Kafilah, for fear of our being attacked, and also informed that it would be near mid-day before we should arrive at the encamping ground.

Our first hour’s march lay along the sea-shore, which was of the same character as yesterday, but I observed great quantities of sponge washed high upon the beach, and picked up some very good specimens. Pebbles of a beautiful opaline chalcedony were very common, and with the coral and rich pearly shells of some large bivalve, would have been sufficient foundation for an imaginative fancy to have here described a very bright pavement of fairy land.

Leaving the sea-coast, we entered a narrow gully, or dry bed of a stream, overhung by a thick jungle of different kinds of shrubs and bushes. The road thus naturally formed, was most wretched to travel upon, being strewed with blocks of black lava, of all shapes 97and sizes. We continued along its serpentine channel for nearly two hours; and it would have been useless to have endeavoured to find another road, for the surface of the adjoining country on either side was in a much worse condition; besides, the thick thorny bushes presented insurmountable obstacles in every direction save the watercourses we followed. We at length arrived at a gorge, or narrow pass, where it appeared as if the collected waters of some large reservoir had at a former period broken through a wall of lava, and thus escaped to the neighbouring sea, spreading over the intervening ground the debris of its forced passage. This remarkable looking spot was called Galla Lafue, from a tree of a very singular character, which abounds in this neighbourhood. It is about six feet high, its leaves thick, smooth, and fleshy, covered with a silvery down on the underside, and of a pale green above. It bore a large purple and white flower, the bark was of a light grey colour, and abounded with a white acid juice. That it was employed in any manner amongst the Dankalli for medicine, I could not learn. It only grows in the beds of temporary streams. I met with it first at Dulhull, on the sea-shore, and have seen it also in more elevated situations in Abyssinia.

The pass of Galla Lafue is not more than three hundred yards long, and winds between high perpendicular and flat-topped rocks of black lava. Its greatest width did not extend thirty yards. Gnawed 98bones were strewn about, on several parts, and on looking up I saw the low cave of a wild beast, whose traces were too recent to leave any doubt of it having only retired upon our approach. We soon emerged from this narrow ravine, and then passed along some broken ground of irregular heaps of boulders and stones, that reminded me of the bottom of some former lake, situated in a country where the fierce rush of water had only allowed the heavier debris of the surrounding rocks to accumulate; and of this character, I should imagine, was the bursting torrent that at last had made its escape through the pass of Galla Lafue into the sea.

The Kafilah did not proceed in the direction of the dry stony bed, but turning to the left hand, ascended the sloping banks, which at this point assumed a less precipitous character than immediately in the pass.

Some of the camel-drivers and Bedouins went, however, to pools of water in the neighbourhood, and filled their affaleetahs, small neatly-made kid-skin bags, one of which it is necessary every traveller should be provided with, and which, when not in use, is rolled closely up and carried, hanging from the handle of the shield. Mine hung from my saddle-bow, and I generally took care to have it filled before we started in the morning. To-day, however, as I walked with a crowd of the natives, I did not wait for my lagging mule, but refreshed 99myself, when thirsty, at the little cup-like depressions in the cellular blocks of lava that had been filled by a shower of rain the preceding night, but which had not extended to our camp at Seggallo. We crossed an extensive plain of loose volcanic stones, where we marched as if we were passing upon stepping-stones over some brook in England, and as this uneasy kind of walking was compulsory for some hours, it became very tiresome, and I felt a great relief when we came to a district which did afford a little more opportunity for some stunted and straggling mimosa-trees to bloom, but with a very melancholy dirty green verdure. Our path was here greatly improved, but just as I was congratulating myself upon the change, and thinking I should be able to continue walking another hour or two, we came upon the Kafilah, which had started the day before us from Dulhull, and to whose farther advance some obstacle had arisen. This induced Ohmed Mahomed, our Ras, to halt here also, and in the course of the day I was enabled to learn the cause of our detention, which had surprised me; for, but a short time before we halted, Ohmed had told me, with evident sincerity, that he intended us to proceed for two more hours.

The camels being unloaded, my hut was built as usual, into which I retired with some pleasure, the day having been exceedingly hot, and the long fatiguing march of at least five hours, had completely wearied me. I slept for two or three hours, 100when Ohmed Mahomed came and awakened me, to ask me to load my guns and pistols, as the Bedouins were collecting on the opposite height to oppose our farther progress. I always kept my carbine, and three waist-pistols in readiness for such anticipated occasions, but on this intimation I soon charged, in addition, a fowling-piece I had with me, and also produced two other holster pistols from my saddle-bags.

It was now nearly three o’clock, and a slight sea-breeze blowing over the land, cooled the air, whilst groups of our merchants and camel-drivers were performing their afternoon prayers. A valley at least three miles broad stretched from north to south as far as the eye could reach. From our low position, we could not see anything above the level line of the flat top parallel banks which, not sixty feet high, sloped gently into the plain below. The banks were of rough loose stones of a very large size, but the plain consisted of rich alluvial soil, which supported by its produce the flocks of one of the largest tribes in the neighbourhood of Tajourah, the Bursane Bedouins, and the fighting men of whom had now gathered for the purpose, as they avowed, of plundering the Kafilah, and destroying the white man who accompanied it.

As the prayers went on amongst our people, the loud whooping of the collecting tribe was answered by my Hy Soumaulee escort, who stood upon the slope on our right, and facing that upon which 101were our opponents. Garahmee, Moosa Gra, and Adam Burrah, spear and shield in hand, leaped round and round, yelling with every bound, and then with lesser jumps, seemed to trample upon the body of some fallen foe. Whilst jumping in this manner, Adam Burrah fell down, and rolling over and over, was very much bruised.

Ohmed Mahomed took measures in the first place to conciliate, if possible, the opposite party, and some half-bloods of the tribe among our Kafilah went for the purpose of effecting a treaty, but were unsuccessful, and on their return, they were followed by a cloud of the enemy, who now seemed to cover the whole further side of the valley. All this time I had kept out of sight at the express desire of Ohmed Mahomed; Zaido, Allee, and myself being left with the stores, every other member of the Kafilah, after the prayers had ended, having joined the Hy Soumaulee, were now sitting together in a large semicircle on a level spot that occurred upon the slope of the hill. I was anxiously watching the progress of events; for being some hundreds of yards from the men of the Kafilah I expected for a certainty being cut off by some rush of the whooping Bedouins, who, fast advancing, I could now see with my glass, from the inglorious position assigned to me; their bright spear-heads glistening in the sun, over the tops of the low jungle through which they were passing. At length they approached far too near to be pleasant to the 102feelings of Ohmed Mahomed, who had depended upon the mere rumour of my firearms deterring them from making an attack upon the Kafilah. At first it was not his policy for me to be seen, for fear the parade might be deemed by the suspicious and jealous natives as a kind of threat, and thus interfere with the pacific arrangements he contemplated, and was most willing to see effected, but finding that they had advanced within three or four hundred yards without any symptom of the usual halt, preliminary to overtures of peace, Ohmed Mahomed sprang to his feet, and brandished his spear in defiance, leaping and yelling to deter their nearer approach. His efforts were answered only by similar cries, and seeing this, he turned suddenly round, and called out for me, Zaido, and Allee to come immediately, and join them. I understood him and his position in a moment, so pointing to my pistols, I bade Allee bring them along with him, and taking a gun in each hand, with head uncovered, ran quickly up, and, as if inoculated with the same savage ferocity as my companions, yelled in a manner that delighted, and astonished even them. Adam Burrah, with a loud shout of welcome, came running to meet me, and seizing hold of my wrist, dragged me into the front rank with him, where, squatting down on his heels like the rest, he pulled me down by his side. Ohmed Mahomed now came and placed himself on my other side, told me that I must only fire when he placed 103his hand on my arm, and adding the word “kill” in Arabic, pointed with his spear to a tall young man who, with unparalleled boldness, had advanced to less than one hundred yards of us, and stood making some inquiries from one of the women of our Kafilah, unheeding the loud cries of “cutta, cutta” (go away, go away,) that my friends were shouting with all their might to drive him off. Excited by his insolent bearing, Adam Burrah at last started up from my side, and having called “cutta” several times without the young man deigning to take the least notice, he rushed towards him. On perceiving this, the man instantly dropped on to his heels, so that only his head and his poised spear could be seen above his shield, and coolly awaited the attack, but Adam, seeing his foe thus prepared, dropt to the ground himself in the same manner behind his shield, at the distance of about twenty yards, and both began sparring with their spears. Garahmee, Moosa, and others, called to Adam Burrah to come back, and Ohmed Mahomed, willing to avoid bloodshed, sprang after him, suddenly snatched away his spear, and thus disarmed, he was obliged, but very reluctantly, to return to my side.

Considering that this was to be the commencement of the fray, I had taken up my gun, and the man observing this, and the determined front our little band sustained, thought it best to imitate Adam Burrah, and slowly walked back to 104his now retiring countrymen, who had immediately, on seeing me and the bright glaring barrel of my long fowling-piece, with one consent turned, and began a slow retreat, in a long straggling line to their original position on the opposite height, where, squatting down, they assumed, like ourselves, an attitude of defence, as if influenced by a desire to oppose our passage through their country rather than to make a gratuitous attack, which was certainly their first intention, before being acted upon by the wholesome fear of “the villanous saltpetre.” Garahmee now appeared to have assumed the character of commander-in-chief of our forces, walking backwards and forwards between the two extremities of the little semicircle we formed. In one hand, he held a small twig, which he waved about most energetically, as he recited some long speech of a very fiercely-sounding character. Occasionally, he tapped upon the head any of the party who, tired of the sitting position, attempted to rest himself by standing up. This part of their tactics, I observed, was particularly insisted upon, and was done, I was told, with a view of preventing the enemy from obtaining a correct knowledge of the numbers of their opponents. Garahmee was a recognised authority, for in his directions a marshal with his baton would not have been more implicitly obeyed by his army, than was this half-naked savage with his little stick by his wild companions.

105We did not stir from our position whilst the sun was up, but kept sitting in a very uncomfortable posture for me, some time even after it had set, when Ohmed Mahomed, touching my elbow, intimated I could go to my hut, for pointing to the men opposed to us, with a significant laugh, he said, “they are very good friends.” Zaido and Allee accompanied me to my hut, but the rest of the Kafilah remained in the same squatting position until after nine o’clock, by which time a peace had been made, and sworn to upon the Koran, between us and the Bedouins, a safe conduct being given to the Kafilah through their country, which extended to the Bahr assal, by a regular official-like document, drawn up in Arabic.

The present required by the chief was exceedingly moderate; three pieces of blue Surat cotton cloth to distribute among the tribe, being all that was asked for. At my request, one bag of rice was subsequently divided among some of the principal people, as an extraordinary present on the occasion of an Engreez coming into their country. All being settled most satisfactorily to myself, and to every one else, I got my rice supper, and slept the remainder of the night as soundly on the hard irregular surface of the rocky ground as if reposing on the softest couch. It is the excitement occasioned by scenes similar to the one I have endeavoured to describe, which gives a zest to desert life, besides the consciousness of having escaped a great peril 106attaches a value to existence itself of which we have had no previous idea, for, like health, it is sometimes held of little moment until we are on the eve of losing it for ever.

CHAPTER VII.

Leave Daddahue.—Journey through the Rah Issah to Bulhatoo, distance seven miles, general direction, W. S. W. and S.—Halt for the night.—Journey from Bulhatoo to Dafarrè, distance four miles, general direction, west by north.—Halt for the night.—Journey from Dafarrè to Aleek’shatan, distance five miles, general direction, south.—Journey from Aleek’shatan to Alephanta, distance, seven miles, general direction, west and south west.

April 2d.—Ohmed Mahomed had no wish to keep the Kafilah in a neighbourhood so populous. His store of tobacco would have been considerably diminished by such a stay, so he determined to push on this morning for the halting-place on the shores of the Goobat ul Khhrab, which we were to approach to-day, and take our last leave of the sea. Six camels of the Bursane Bedouins also joined our Kafilah, and during the march, the two or three good-tempered natives to whom they belonged, were laughed at, and laughed themselves at the effect a few weapons of the Jinn produced upon their tribe the night before.

The camels being loaded, we ascended the opposite side of the valley of Daddahue, and continued along the ridge in a parallel direction with the 108valley for nearly two hours, the road being over the same loose volcanic kind of stones as those of the preceding day’s march. I still persisted in walking with Ohmed Mahomed and the Hy Soumaulee, for my mule was so wretchedly slow, that I was much more fatigued sitting on the saddle than if I had walked all the way.

The road began now to descend into a deep ravine, four or five hundred feet below the level of the plain over which we had been marching. I sat on the edge of the more than perpendicular precipice which actually overhung the road beneath, whilst the opposite height, but a few feet higher, was not seventy yards distant. This pass was called the Rah Issah by the Dankalli, from its having been the spot, and one very well adapted for the purpose, where a rescue was effected by the Debenee tribe of a large herd of cattle, and many flocks that had been driven off their lands in a foray made by the Issah Soumaulee, a people who occupy the whole country that forms the southern border of the Bay of Tajourah, and extends inland without any well-defined division, as far as the plains of Error, the residence of the Wahama Dankalli. From the situation I had chosen, I had a good view of the camels as they wound along the several traverses of the rugged path to the narrow watercourse beneath, and many serious falls and considerable detentions occurred during the perilous descent; full two hours having elapsed before Ohmed Mahomed, myself, 109and the escort followed, for until the time that the Kafilah was safe below, I could see that an attack was apprehended from the Bursane people, even after all the ceremonial of the last night’s treaty.

Rah Issah is the dry bed of a torrent which only runs along it during the very uncertain season of the rains. It extends in a nearly direct line to Goobat ul Khhrab, where it expands into a broad open space, surrounded, except towards the gulf, by nearly perpendicular precipices of a crumbling greyish porphritic rock. In the Rah Issah, the overhanging cliffs threaten continually to roll down a torrent of loose stones upon the traveller below, and that they are thus constantly slipping, is proved by the immense quantity of loose debris scattered along the road. Our halt took place in the expanded termination of this ravine called Bulhatoo. Although we had been nearly four hours on the march, I do not think we travelled more than six miles. Here my shielding of boxes stood upon some exceedingly fine volcanic sand, so hot from the direct rays of the sun, that I can readily believe that the eggs of many birds which make their nests upon the ground in this country, are aided materially in incubation, if not altogether hatched by the heat of the sand alone, upon which the eggs are laid.

The water we obtained here was exactly similar to the celebrated chalybeate of Harrowgate, being strongly impregnated with sulphurated hydrogen. Ohmed Mahomed took me to a spot, wishing to 110know if I thought sweet water could be found where a patch of bright red earth broke through the darker covering of the sand. I found it was a beautiful and very tenacious clay, and was convinced if an attempt were made, an excellent spring of water would be met with. The labour, however, not suiting the inclination of my companions, and as I preferred drinking the chalybeate, we left the place undisturbed. Numerous dry thirsty looking senna shrubs dotted the plain; their yellow laburnum-like flowers, mocking by their glittering brightness, the dreary waste of sand and rock around. Grass there certainly was, in large and dispersed tufts of a coarse wire-like hay, rather than of the bright green, yielding blades, we so generally associate with the idea of turf. We remained here only one day and night, and I slept without any disturbance beyond the pealing laughter of the whole Kafilah, from a conversation kept up at the extreme ends of the camp by two of the merriest fellows in it, Adam Burrah and Omer Suis. After every one had retired to rest, each upon his plaited palm-leaf mat, and wrapped up in his body-cloth, these two commenced shouting out their repartees at the top of their voices, each remark being followed by bursts of laughter from the rest. I could hear Ohmed Mahomed, who lay at the entrance of my “bait,” as it was called, whispering suggestions to Adam Burrah, whilst I dare say, some other friend, aided Omer 111Suis in the same way, or else it is impossible to conceive how such a constant flow of wit could have kept the whole Kafilah, for hours together, awake with the laughter and noise.

April 3.—We were up at sunrise and away, ascending a low but steep eminence, along the ridge of which we travelled till half-past nine. On our road, we had a good view of the Goobat ul Khhrab, “The bad haven,” reposing in a dead calm, among the almost encircling hills of dark coloured volcanic rock which surround it. The road lay upon one long-extended sheet of lava reaching on one side to the gulf, where it suddenly terminated, and on the other, to where a narrow, but deeply water-cut ravine, had occasioned a sudden solution of its continuity in that direction. Here was our halting-place for the day, called Dafarrè, and on our arrival I descended into the ravine, which was in front of our encampment, in company with Garahmee and Moosa. These men, with great apparent attention, were anxious to find for me a cool retreat from the hot burning sun, and in a cave that smelt strongly of wild beasts I soon had my mat spread, my boots taken off, and all things prepared for a sleep, which Garahmee was very anxious I should indulge in after my long walk, for proud in the feeling of strength returned, which enabled me to keep up, untired, with the best walkers of the party, I still looked with contempt upon my mule. The only evil of my retreat 112I thought was, that it was too convenient, and before Garahmee and Moosa could well choose their positions on each side of me, some half dozen people of the Kafilah also came and took up their quarters in the cave. Garahmee would have had me retire to another and a better place, which he said he knew, and which was but a little beyond a turn in the course of the ravine, but as my boots were off, and I had commenced a conversation with such of the people of the Kafilah, who, like myself, understood a little Arabic, I determined to stay where I was, at which he went away, seemingly much displeased. Like Ibrahim Shaitan, however, under similar circumstances, he returned very soon, and, apparently, we were as good friends as before.

It is rather difficult to find a comfortable position when reposing upon loose uneven rock, but on reading over my notes under the date of to-day, I find that to save time and to secure comfort under similar circumstances again, I had noted down how to arrange things so as to obtain a tolerably easy bed. I remark, sagely enough, that I must not expect the pleasures of easy repose upon a couch which had the hard rock for a cushion, and only large stones for pillows, but that to make my resting-place as comfortable as it could be, I had placed my head resting between two large stones, employing another as a pillow, which I put under the arm of the side I lay upon, and one also behind the bend of my 113knees, whilst a heavy one for my feet to press against without fear of removing it, sustained me on the gentle slope of the floor of the cave. Thus I arranged myself for sleep, and slept well; and after some hours’ indulging in a confidence not often extended to the companions of my march who lay around, Zaido appeared to summon me to my hut for the night. Giving him my boots to carry, I collected my pistols, and followed him barefooted up the long unequal steps of huge stones that led from the cave to the summit of the steep precipitous side of the ravine. Having reached my “bait,” a large bowl of boiled rice, quite enough for the supper of a camel, was served up, mixed with nearly half-a-pint of ghee, or the liquid butter of the country.

March 4th.—We again started at the usual hour, sunrise, and marched five hours and a-half across the most tremendously rough country that can possibly be conceived, to be at all passable. Immediately after starting, we descended a narrow road, more like a steep staircase than anything else. It was not quite so convenient, but reminded me of the one by which we ascend the Monument, which is about as high as was this precipice. One by one, the camels slowly descended into a wide fissure-like valley, that extended to a similar wall of rock on the opposite side, and up which we had to ascend again. This fissured plain opened upon the crystalline shores of the Bahr Assal, or Salt Lake, of which 114we obtained a good view from the top of Muyah, the name of the precipice we had just descended. We were nearly an hour crossing the next plain of blown sand, which from its appearance I thought had probably been conveyed by the wind from the shores of the Bahr Assal; it was covered with the dry wiry grass before mentioned, and numerous plants of a species of colycinth. Before we reached the only passable place in the next ridge, we had to ascend a road which was so serpentine that frequently we had to turn, and proceed some distance with our faces looking in a direction towards Tajourah. In my notes I have remarked that this plain must have been the bottom of the old portion of the sea, which once connected the Bahr Assal with Goobat ul Khhrab, for I found in some places a sandstone, very light-coloured, and a cretaceous rock, in which I found traces of a spiral univalve and other shells.

After a long dreary march, during which we passed between and among certain broad and square chimney-like vents of volcanic vapours, (for I could account for their existence in no other way,) situated in the midst of an extensive field of black scoreaceous lava, at the eastern extremity of which, near Goobat ul Khhrab, was a small, but perfect and well-formed crater. We at length reached a small winding wada, or valley, in which were a few stunted doom palm-trees. Round the lower part of their trunks had collected the decaying remains of 115their own fan-like foliage, and the withered branches of some mimosa-trees, torn up by a temporary torrent, and thus arrested in their progress towards the Bahr Assal. Our road in this situation was along its dry bed, over coarse black volcanic sand, which seemed to be produced by the crumbling action of atmospherical causes upon the surrounding lava rocks. After following the direction of the watercourse for nearly an hour, we arrived at “Aleex’ Shaitan” (The Devil’s Water), where, to my great satisfaction, we halted for the day.

I was too fatigued to take a survey of the country, and sat down under a stunted mimosa-tree, over which I cast my black Arab cloak, to increase the shade. Garahmee and Moosa, whom I had noticed walking all the day together in earnest conversation, now came up, and desired me with apparent kindness to accompany them to a cave, situated about a quarter of a mile from the camp, and upon my not immediately complying Garahmee, affecting to suppose I did not understand him, went and brought Ohmed Mahomed, who, coming up, repeated the invitation to go to a “tihebe bait” (a good house), with him. I had no objection to proceed, so gathering myself up with no little difficulty, for I was very tired, we all went to another den of some wild beast, where scattered bones and other traces indicated its recent occupation. Ohmed Mahomed creeping in, for it was much less than the one at Dafarrè, remarked that there was but just 116room for me. As I expected he was going to remain, I pulled off my boots and belt, and laid them with my pistols down at some little distance from me, and should have gone immediately to sleep, had not Ohmed Mahomed, made preparations to depart, and told me, as he got out, that I must not sleep till Zaido came with my rice. This was quite an accidental observation, and so natural, that I only asked him to send Zaido quickly, and took up a position by placing myself at full length across the entrance of the cave, which was not above eight feet wide, so that Moosa and Garahmee, who had been squatting in their usual manner in front, could not conveniently come in.

Some moments after Ohmed Mahomed left, Garahmee, under pretence of stretching himself, laid down his spear, and turning round walked some little way until he could get a good view of the camp, towards which he looked with an inquisitive gaze, that told me at once I had been betrayed into this place for the purpose of assassination, and felt assured that a struggle for my life was now at hand. My heart beat thick, but I determined not to show the least feeling of mistrust until their game had begun; and placing myself a little more under cover of the roof of the cave, awaited the first signal of attack to seize my pistols, and defend myself as I best might. It may be astonishing to suppose how two men could so far overcome the fear of being instantly killed by my 117firearms; but Garahmee, who was a most cunning man, never dreamt that his son, as he used to call me, suspected in the least his design, so carelessly had I been accustomed to trust myself with him, and had been so deceived by his particularly mild and quiet deportment. His first step, after watching the occupation of the camp, was to endeavour to take Ohmed Mahomed’s place in the cave, but this I instantly objected to in a tone so suddenly harsh that he involuntarily started, and sat down again just at my feet, but outside the entrance. All this time Moosa had been sitting about five paces in front. His shield, held before him, concealed his whole body, a black face and bushy head of hair alone appearing above its upper edge; his spear was held perpendicularly, with its butt-end placed upon the earth, in the usual manner, when an attack is meditated.

Garahmee was evidently disconcerted by my refusal to admit him into the cave, and perhaps if I had assumed a greater apparent suspicion, he would have deferred his attempt until a more favourable opportunity; but seeing me seemingly undisturbed, he took his seat at my head, and asked peremptorily for some dollars; “and Moosa wants some too,” added he, turning and looking with an expression readily understood by the latter worthy, who instantly rose and taking the place just vacated by Garahmee, seconded the motion by holding out his hand for “nummo” (dollars). In my belt 118was the pouch made by Cruttenden for my watch, which I had carried in the vain expectation of making it serviceable in deciding the longitude of my halting-places, but perceiving the character of the people, had never brought it out for fear of exciting the cupidity of those around me. Its round form, however, as it lay in the pouch attached to my waist-belt, made an impression as if dollars were there concealed, as I afterwards learnt from Ohmed Mahomed, who assigned this as one reason for the attempt which had been made. Drawing the belt and pouch towards me, in the loops of which were still my pistols, I took one of them into my hand, and throwing myself as far back into the cave as I could, told them I had no dollars for them till I got to Abasha (Abyssinia), at the same time telling Moosa to go for Ohmed Mahomed and Ebin Izaak, as I could not talk to them in their language. They were taken rather aback at the strong position I had assumed, and the decided manner in which I had met the first step to an outrage; for amongst these people a demand for something always precedes the attack, to enable them to throw their victim, even if he suspect their object, off his guard, in the vain hope that he might be able to purchase peace by giving them what they ask for. Neither party, under present circumstances, now knew what farther to do. I, of course, had done sufficient for defence, and they found that they had too suddenly, for their 119purpose, laid themselves open to my suspicion; but Garahmee, with ready thought, on my telling Moosa a second time to go, volunteered to be the bearer of the message himself, and retiring, relieved me of his presence, and himself of the unpleasant feeling which must have arisen in his mind on having been so completely foiled, and seeing, besides, that I was perfectly aware of his intentions.

Aleex’ Shaitan was certainly the most unpleasant halting-place I staid at during my whole march, for the natural suspicion excited of plots being regularly formed for my assassination, made me not feel very comfortable, especially when, on retiring for the night, I found that Ohmed Mahomed, Zaido, and Allee, who generally slept around me, had left the camp to return to the precipice of Muyah, to bring up some camels that had been left there during the morning’s march, unable to come on with the rest of the Kafilah. The larger boxes with which these camels were loaded had been obliged to be taken off and carried, with a great deal of labour, by men down the narrow and winding descents which occurred on the road. I determined not to sleep until their return, and sat in my hut eating some very hard sea-biscuit, indulging occasionally in long pulls at my water-skin, the contents of which reminded me exactly of the muddy streams that in very rainy weather flows through the gutters of our streets at home. Having finished my light supper, I sat at the upper end of my box fortalice, resolutely 120resisting for some time the approach of sleep, until at length I found it impossible to keep my eyes open any longer, so without knowing exactly the time of my departure to the realms of Morpheus, I only awakened at the rude shake which Zaido gave my leg, when he called me up for the next day’s march.

April 5th.—We were on the march this morning by sunrise, our road continuing over broad fields of a thin stratum of black lava, overlaying a light-coloured and very finely-grained sandstone, beneath which was the same cretaceous formation with shells I had observed in several places yesterday. Dykes of a hard rock stood like high fences in a direction from east to west, and on one occasion we passed some distance actually along the interior of one, the centre of softer material having been denuded, leaving two thin walls of the outer and much harder stone.

After a short time, we came to the watering-place of Aleex’ Shaitan, which was a little to the left of our road, consisting of natural reservoirs, or pools of small dimensions, which contained some sweet, but very dirty water. A wada, or small valley, extended a short distance to the right, in which were larger and greener mimosa-trees than any I had met with before. I learnt that this was to have been our halting-place of yesterday, but that it was preoccupied by a Kafilah coming from Owssa to Tajourah, which was now passing us, and 121with whom an interchange of civilities and salutations took place.

In saluting each other, the Dankalli place the palms of their right hands together, and slowly slide them off again. A particular and very long form of greeting then takes place, a number of questions are asked in succession by one of the parties, and are replied to by a corresponding string of answers. The other party then asks his questions, is answered in the same manner, the right hands are again slided over each other, and the parties separate to encounter other friends. The greatest mistrust characterizes all their dealings with each other, and the hand grasped during the salutation, I was told was a certain signal of treachery, for numbers had been murdered by others standing by, whilst thus held by supposed friends.

The women, when they meet their male friends, put on an affectation of shyness, which, I suppose, passes amongst them for modesty. They take and hold the proffered hand in theirs for some time, carry it to their lips, and then taking each of the fingers, they press them in succession one by one. All this ceremonial I observed performed, even by a mother to her own son, who stood very majestically receiving this homage, as if it were nothing but his due.

The road now began to take the course of the valley, between high and barren hills of a sombre red colour, and of the same igneous origin with the whole of the surrounding country; white bands 122of chalk with shells lying upon and below layers of this rock, told of two different eras of volcanic energy, between the times of which the limestone stratum had been deposited in the estuary of a river that must here have entered the sea, and which was probably before the separation from the sea, of the salt lake of Assal. The shores of the latter, which, in a direct line, were not two miles distant, we were now approaching by a long circuitous ravine of some miles in length.

It must be kept in mind, that from the sea in the Goobat ul Khhrab to the Bahr Assal, the crow line would not be more than six miles, although from the rough and precipitous character of the fissured lava which intervenes, the journey of our Kafilah across occupied three days, from our halting-place on the gulf at Bulhatoo to Gunguntur, on the opposite side of the lake.

As the valley of Alephanta, which we were now entering, contracted suddenly, the bases of the conical hills on each side approached very near to each other, and around them in a most serpentine course our road now lay. Scarcely a trace of vegetation appeared to enliven this land of desolation; it was most truly “the valley of the shadow of death;” for at very short distances lay the bleaching half-eaten bones of the skeletons of camels and mules that had here found the last difficulty of the journey from Tajourah too much for their powers of endurance, and falling, had been deserted by their owners. 123The monarch of the place, a magnificent lion, stood on a small rocky ledge, about half way up one of the surrounding hills. He kept his face steadily turned towards the Kafilah, moving round as its long line marched silently past. My carabine was cocked in a moment, for I concluded that he was meditating an attack; but my companions intimated, that if we left him alone he would keep his distance, and not molest us. Once I gave the long-drawn death-halloo of the chase, but all the natives gathered hurriedly around me to prevent my repeating it; and I found that I had only succeeded in frightening them, without having had any other effect upon the lion but the slow lashing with his tail of his yellow sides, a movement that indicated anger rather than fear. He, however, respected our numbers, and we left him still gazing in his original position, until the last of the camels had placed the shoulder of a projecting hill between him and them. It was proposed, in order to shorten the distance, that I and a party of the Kafilah men, with Garahmee and Moosa, should take a short cut over the hills, rather than the much longer, though more pleasant road around their base; and as I wished to impress Garahmee, whose abilities as a plotter I began to think were of the first order, that I could still trust myself with him and his associates, and at the same time be determined to take care of myself, I made no objection to the proposal, but insisted upon walking the last in 124the line, affecting to wish that I might see the lion again, and get the opportunity of a shot at him. We followed a narrow path, ascending and descending the steep sides of numerous low conical-formed hills of large loose stones that occasionally detached themselves from under the feet, and went dashing with increasing velocity to a little secondary ridge of the debris, accumulating at the bottom. All around me were these hills of stones, treeless, shrubless, herbless; a greater impression of desolation never occurred to my mind, greater even than that produced by the widely-spreading open deserts of Arabia, or the long and dark valleys between the wave mountains of the seas to the south of the Cape, which, under a gloomy sky, struck me, I recollect, when I was amidst them, as more nearly allied to the character of human despair than anything I could have imagined in the physical world. This is the idea that dreary scenes are apt to suggest, and to which, perhaps, they owe that impress of horror with which we always contemplate them.

Two hours were occupied in passing through this valley “where the devil lies stoned.” It was likened, and very justly I should suppose, to one so called near Mecca, by a “hadji,” or pilgrim, who was returning to his tribe with us. We now saw in the distance the spot on the southern border of the lake, where the salt is broken and packed up for conveyance to Abyssinia; and on the broad extensive field of this purely white and glistening crystallized 125surface, a group of natives, busily engaged in collecting it with their camels and asses, reminding me of a scene not unlike one in the panorama of the Arctic voyages, representing the Esquimaux with their sledges and dogs upon the surface of the snow.

We soon descended the very gradual descent from the Alephanta Pass, through which we had just come, and commenced walking across one portion of the salt crust of the lake, which now extended in its full proportions before us. Its appearance was very novel, and I examined it with considerable interest, as it is a very remarkable feature of the country of Adal, and a most important one to the inhabitants, being the chief source of wealth and a great inducement to useful occupation to the different tribes who surround it for the distance of several days’ journey.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Salt Lake.—Journey to Gunguntur, distance from Aleex’ Shaitan, ten miles, general direction, W. S. W.—Scene of the murder of three Soldiers of the British Mission, in 1840.—Halt for the Night.—Journey to Alulee, distance seven miles, general direction, S. S. W.—Stay at Alulee.—Attack of the Muditu tribe.

Bahr Assal, by observations made by Dr. Beke in the first instance, and afterwards confirmed by the observations of Lieut. Barker and Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Kirk, officers connected with the Shoan mission, is from four to five hundred feet below the level of the sea. It is surrounded by very lofty mountains, excepting in the direction corresponding with the termination of the Bay of Tajourah, where the ground is one fissured slope of sheets of lava which have been poured out from the neighbourhood of Goobat ul Khhrab.

Considerable evaporation of the salt water of the original sea, which I conceive must have once extended to the lake, has taken place since its separation; and as this operation is favoured considerably by the great depression of its surface, the fresh water supplied by the numerous 127small streams that flow into it on all sides during the wet season, is not allowed to collect in sufficient quantity to re-dissolve the crystals formed during the hot dry summer before. The northern extremity of the lake is, however, free from salt in mass; but the water is such a concentrated solution of it, that when tasted, it almost blisters the tongue by its intensity. In extent it cannot be more than twenty miles around, being longer in one direction than another, in the proportion, I thought, of about five to three miles. We were about twenty minutes in passing across the salt crust of that extremity over which our march lay, and then crossing an extensive deposit of a large hard crystalline rock (sulphate of soda), we entered a narrow dark ravine along the bed of a small stream of brackish water, which was but a few inches deep, and ran very gently into the lake. As we proceeded the water became sweeter, till at length, when we reached Gunguntur, our halting-place for the day, we found it quite fresh and in little connected pools, that admitted the luxury of a bath, which I very soon took advantage of. The brackish taste of the stream at the gorge of the ravine was owing to its impregnation by the atmosphere, which bears considerable quantities of salt particles for some miles inland, and which had also very unpleasant effects upon the skin of my face and lips whilst I stayed in the neighbourhood.

The camels now coming up, I had my house built 128with greater speed than it used to be, as I assisted at its erection myself, not wishing any more invitations to leave the Kafilah on pretext of superior accommodations. On the occasion of the British Mission going up to Shoa, this was the place where the murder of the two sergeants of the——Regiment of Queen’s infantry and a Portuguese cook was effected by the natives, insufficient watch being kept by the party during the night. I heard twenty different relations of this atrocious act; the perpetrators of it being well-known to the people of Tajourah, and belonged to the Debenee tribe. In the course of the day, I took an opportunity of mentioning to Ohmed Mahomed my rencontre with Garahmee; and he told me, that if I left the Kafilah and accompanied the Bedouins, I should always be exposed to the same attempts; “for I have my enemies,” he added, “and they will (drawing his hand across his throat) kill you, merely because you are my friend.” The Ras felt that his boxeish at the end of the journey was in jeopardy, so instead of going away to his own house of salt-bags, which had been constructed for him, he placed his mat alongside of mine, remained in my hut nearly all day, and slept there during the night. We had a long conversation upon the division of the country we were passing through among the Dankalli tribes, and I found that the Muditu and the Assobah tribes laid claim to equal portions of the salt lake, with 129liberty to take up salt on their respective shores. He added, they were constantly fighting either between themselves, or with the Issah Soumaulee tribes, who in strong parties sometimes came down and loaded great numbers of camels with the salt. Gunguntur, our present halting-place, belonged to the Muditu; on one side of the valley they had some huts, but the other was not frequented by them, as no food could be found for their flocks. I rather suppose it was the contiguity of the Issah Soumaulee, who on the opposite side held them in check, and would not allow them to cross over the ravine.

In the evening I accompanied Ohmed Mahomed to the scene of the murder of the soldiers. It was a little open space surrounded by high red precipitous hills, where two or three small streams joined the one running into Bahr Assal. A triangular plain of loose angular debris of several feet thick had been channelled by water, and seemed as if traversed by a wide road having flat-topped banks of three or four feet high. The sombre hue of its high embosoming rocks, the bare surface of the stone-covered plain, with the absence of all vegetation, formed a scene well suited for a deed of blood, especially if it can be pictured upon a night when the moon, sometimes obscured by clouds, cast occasional shadows of a pitchy darkness upon the earth.

It appears that the members of the Mission lay in a long line beneath one of the low banks. 130In the middle of the night, Allee Chous, the Arab sentinel, being probably asleep, two natives cautiously approached along the level plain, descended the bank, and striking together, each having selected his victim, the soft parts of the necks were divided almost to the vertebre, and the two soldiers died without a struggle. The Portuguese cook, who lay next to them, was disturbed, and seeing the assassins, he gave a cry of alarm, and the heavy knife of one of them, whilst retreating, was plunged into his abdomen. He died on the following day. Some attempt was made to pursue the murderers, but the darkness and the number of huge boulders around the base of the hills amongst which they retreated, favoured their escape. As I felt quite sure of the intentions of Garahmee and Moosa to serve me in the same way, if they could get the opportunity, I felt no little anxiety on turning in to-night, when on the level tops of the sides of my box house, I saw these two rascals busily arranging their mats, as if solicitous to convince me they did not wish any recurrence of the tragedy, which had formed the only topic of conversation to-day; Ohmed Mahomed, however, soon dislodged them, on the plea, that they ran the risk of upsetting the boxes upon me, and as these wooden walls were really rather shaky, they could not object to his request, that they would make their place of rest somewhere else. To prevent, still farther, any attempt during the night, that should not awaken 131me, he placed a chevaux de frize of camel saddles over the whole, so that the removal of them must have made considerable noise.

April 6th.—The camels were loaded, and we were on the road a little before sunrise. Ohmed Mahomed took me to see a cave, made of some large boulders, three of which sustained a fourth on their summit, as a roof. They were of exceedingly large dimensions, the cave being at least twenty feet high, which may give some idea of the size of these rocks which had fallen from the sides of the adjoining cliffs.

We followed the course of the little river towards its source between high steep cliffs of a porphyritic rock, generally of a bright red colour. Here our path was rugged in the extreme, winding around huge detached rocks that lay in the bed of the stream, and the tortuous course and irregular surface of the road now rendered walking very difficult. Sometimes, in more favoured spots, we snatched a passing glimpse of small verdure-covered spots, where a solitary clump of the doom palm-tree, or a sweetly-smelling mimosa, connected the traveller with the earth of beauty he otherwise would have seemed to have been leaving, as he traversed the deep, dark gully or cleft in the volcanic plain of the country above and around him. Underneath the shade of one of the doom palms, a rude cairn of stones marked the grave of the Portuguese belonging to the escort of the Mission, 132who died near this spot, from the wound he received at Gunguntur.

We were four hours marching before we reached Allulee, where it was designed we should halt; and here I certainly was surprised to find several broad sheets of water, clear and sweet, in which grew a great quantity of bright green excellent grass. Considerable numbers of the doom palm-tree fanned the air with their large leaves, and widely-spreading umbrella-like mimosa-trees afforded a grateful shade. The ravine here widened into a hilly but open country, a mile or so in diameter, and we seemed to have come to a place where there was room enough to breathe, and to feel happy in our escape from the narrow confines of the ravine we had just passed. Several of the rocks were encrusted with a saline deposit from the atmosphere, and a promise of an abundance of game was held out by the quantity of antelopes that resorted here for the sake of water. The salt, also, I expect, was no little inducement, as in common with most herbivorous animals, they are exceedingly fond of it. A little slope of gravelly soil, rising from the edge of one of the ponds, and resting upon a steep lava-bank in the rear, was the spot chosen for our encampment; and my quarters being arranged as usual, I gladly retreated into it, to prepare, by a good night’s rest, for the following day’s hunting which I had promised myself, as Ohmed Mahomed had told me, we should take advantage of this favourable 133spot to rest and recruit the camels, who were nearly worn out by their tiresome journey so far.

During the day a good deal of washing took place, all the Bedouins and camel-men taking this opportunity of washing their fotahs and body-clothes. For cleansing-troughs they dug small holes in the soil, which they half filled with water, and added thereto straw, or a few handsful of fresh camels’ dung, as a substitute for soap. I found Zaido had carefully collected, during the last few days, a mat-bag full of the same kind of commodity, the produce of my mule, which he had very carefully stowed away for this purpose, as he said it was far superior in its cleansing properties to the camels’ dung. A regular washing day now made the whole place alive; every body seemed anxious to be in white apparel, and in succeeding lots, they took possession of the holes. They commenced by well saturating their clothes in the dirty composition, kneading them with their hands, and when tired of that, stamping them with their feet. The clothes being then taken out, were well rinsed in the neighbouring pond, and being opened out, a critical view was taken of their condition, which, if not satisfactory, a repetition of all these operations followed. After all this, they were dried and bleached in the sun, and were certainly much improved in appearance by the process of ablution they had undergone. The lively character of the scene altogether had a 134beneficial effect upon me, and I felt again enjoying the life I was leading. I also anticipated some shooting the next day, and cleaned my guns in preparation, in which operation I was assisted by Zaido and Allee, who managed by some nonsense or other to derange the action of the locks of my carbine, for in their anxiety to prove themselves fitting attendants in the chase, they persisted in exhibiting their knowledge of firearms, by attempting to let the hammer of the lock gently down upon the nipple in the process of uncocking. This difficult operation bothered them a great deal, and the result was that, much to their discomfiture, and my displeasure, they materially injured one lock, to repair which cost me a deal of time and trouble. The evening I spent talking with Allee respecting a great fight, which some three or four years before, had taken place between the Assa-hemerah Muditu and the other Dankalli tribes coalesced against them, in which contest several hundreds were slain, and near to the scene of which we should pass during our journey.

As night came on, a large feast of boiled rice and dates was prepared for a considerable number of the Muditu, who had come into camp, and were, as usual, demanding some present on the occasion of our passing through their country. They came in so late, however, that they were not aware of my presence; and consequently, did not come near me that evening. Ohmed Mahomed 135being engaged with them till nearly midnight, I closed the entrance of my hut with mats to prevent the intrusion of any home or foreign Bedouins, and was soon fast asleep.

Thursday, 7th.—This morning I was awakened rather unpleasantly by a heavy shower of rain, which, penetrating my carpet-roof, soon wet me completely through. I got out, and retreated to the thick cover of a low mimosa-tree, over which some of the Bedouins threw my carpet, and as many as could be covered by its shelter came and sat close around me. A stream of thick muddy water suddenly came into existence, hundreds of small rills issuing from every hill top, filling the hollow below our camp almost immediately, and where a few hours before we walked and the camels fed, a river too deep to ford, and above forty feet wide, rushed with great impetuosity into the ravine we travelled along yesterday. A camel having died in the night, a party of the drivers on the occasion of this flood appearing, dragged the body into the influence of its current which soon carried it away. One of its tributaries, a brook of considerable size, very shortly afterwards made its way through the centre of our camp, and actually turned one of the boxes over before some dams of stones, and a small canal, could be made to direct its course in another direction, so that the water should not damage the stores, or the numerous bags 136of salt that had been unfairly added to the burdens of our camels at the salt lake.

In this miserable manner I spent nearly the whole day, crouching on my heels beneath the tree, and anxiously endeavouring to prevent my firearms being rendered useless by the wet; and it was with no small degree of pleasure that a little before three o’clock, I saw the rain ceasing as suddenly as it commenced, the sun come out, and the volume and force of the river rapidly diminish. The wet clothes were now stretched upon the ground, or on the tops of the dwarf shrubs, of which, in this favoured spot, great numbers were growing. My bed of mats, my cloak, plaid, and carpet, in a very short time were perfectly dry, and I was once more made comfortable in my retreat, but with the most dismal forebodings of fever, and all the other evils which exposure to damp and moisture in hot countries are apt to engender, and from the bad effects of which I had only so recently recovered. After the very evident depression occasioned amongst the Kafilah men by the rain during the day, the warm and welcome sunshine of the few hours before sunset, brought about a re-action amongst them, and when they had retired to their mats for the night, another of their farcical conversations was carried on by several distant individuals of the camp, who shouted aloud their observations, whilst 137the laughing accompaniment of their companions proved the zest with which they enjoyed this evident encounter of some rival wits.

April 8th.—This morning, the loud voice of Garahmee called us to saddle and march two hours before sunrise, and, surprised at his assumption of this part of the duties of the Ras, I began to be afraid that Garahmee’s bold bearing, combined with his talents for finesse, had placed him at the head of the Kafilah, although not possessing himself a camel, or a single bag of salt. On inquiring from the timid whispering Zaido, I found this to be the case, and that Garahmee had taken the command partly from the want of decision and partly from the wish to avoid a contest with him, not only of Ohmed Mahomed, but of all the rest of the Kafilah men. Besides, Garahmee was supported by his four Hy Soumaulee brothers, who were quite sufficient to impose submission upon the peaceably disposed people of Tajourah, who had everything to lose by a collision with them. It was Garahmee’s object now to hurry on our Kafilah to prevent it being joined by another, which had arrived after us, and was then loading with salt at Assal, and messengers from which had arrived in our camp during the night, to request Ohmed Mahomed to remain where we were at Allulee for it to join us, and proceed together.

Many of our camels were already loaded, and all had been collected for the same purpose, but very 138reluctantly by their owners, as the designs of Garahmee were fully understood, when all at once a general rush was made for spears and shields, Ohmed Mahomed calling hastily upon me to bring my guns, and take my place with the rest in a line of defence which was formed a few yards from my hut. The women, all collected together, were crying out “koo, koo, koo,” in a long-continued strain, whilst the men brandished their spears with loud cries of defiance. Garahmee, Moosa, and Adam Burrah performed the usual stamping pas de trois in front, and a man with the most ludicrous gravity, armed with spear and shield, dancing round and round, with a very small and slow step, from one extremity of the semicircle to the other, completed the scene on our side of the preparations made on the occasion of this sudden commotion. Before I made these observations, however, Zaido, the black colour of whose cheeks was now changed to a motley grey, pointed out to me about an equal number of Muditu, assembled upon the irregular slope of the opposite side of the valley, who were approaching in a close compact body, and not in the straggling manner as did the Bursane Bedouins on the previous occasion. Every one of our party anticipated a certain attack, and each had provided himself with a large fragment of rock, which was to precede the hurling of the spear. As the enemy approached very rapidly, and was now but a few hundred yards off, every one of my party called 139upon me to step out and fire. I stood up immediately for that purpose, and directly they saw me, the whole body of the Muditu came to a sudden halt as if astonished at the unexpected appearance of a white man, with the deadly character of whose weapons they were well acquainted, as in one engagement, when a party of the very same tribe had come down upon a Feringee Kafilah at the same place, two of them were shot dead by the party who accompanied it, and who, from several reasons, I believe to have been Kielmeyer, the well-known German adventurer, who was returning to Abyssinia, where he had long resided, and who was killed, according to some accounts, but by others, reported to have died a natural death of fever, at Killaloo, a few days’ journey farther inland.

On the present occasion, the Muditu did not hesitate long what to do, but immediately squatted down in a manner similar to ourselves, on the spot where they had halted, and there we were sitting two hours, without either party taking farther steps, for Ohmed Mahomed, upon seeing them thus checked, pulled me down again by his side, and I was well content not to be obliged to shed blood, unless absolutely forced by the most extreme necessity. Some few of our Kafilah men now went and loosened the ropes that fastened the legs of the tethered camels, it being far too late in the day, even had not arrangements now to be made with the assembled Muditu, for us to think of starting, 140and no interruption was offered to the men engaged in driving out the camels to forage for the remainder of the day. Opportunities of peaceful advances being made having thus offered, I soon found Ohmed Mahomed and Ebin Izaak, attended by Garahmee, retire beneath some, mimosa-trees, where they were joined first, by several Muditu women, who had followed their male friends to the rencontre, and who, it seems, came down here to invite our leaders to a conference, but as Ohmed Mahomed himself had a blood feud with some of the tribe unsettled, he was obliged to retire, leaving the management of the business to the politic Garahmee and the young and not very talented Ebin Izaak. The former, however, was quite sufficient for the purposes required; but whilst I was glad of our being obliged to remain now for the other Kafilah from the Salt Lake, I could not help regretting the importance which circumstances seemed to be conferring upon Garahmee, who, I was convinced, was greatly mistrusted by Ohmed Mahomed, and who, if he had obtained the power of controlling our movements, would, in the end, have certainly occasioned the loss of the stores, and put an end to all my expectations of discoveries in Africa in a very summary and disagreeable manner.

Two bags of rice, all my private stock of dates, and three pieces of blue Surat calico, were our compromise for a safe passage through the country of this 141tribe, with the understanding, that none of the Muditu of that party should come nearer than what they were to our camp, but that the rice and dates should be cooked and eaten on their own halting-spot. Having agreed to all this, peace was proclaimed by Garahmee shouting in the midst of the Kafilah for every one to return to his charge, either of salt or stores, for the day. I crept into my hut covered with glory, for Zaido and Allee, and a number of other idlers of the camp came laughing, though very quietly, as if they were half afraid of the Muditu hearing them, even at the distance they were. Pointing with a slight gesture, the thumb turned back over the shoulder, in the direction of the feasting enemy, they nodded at the gun on the ground, and then laughed again, evidently as well pleased as myself at the bloodless victory we had obtained by moral force alone.

Although, among other stipulations, none of the Muditu were to come within a certain distance of our camp, a great many of their women came begging tobacco and needles from me, tapping their lips, in mute astonishment at my novel appearance, as they stooped down, looking into my den, as if I had been some wild beast, caught and encaged for their amusement.

A chief also was allowed to bring down to my hut, as a token of peace and good will, a very fine sheep, for which I gave him some brass wire and a little powder, which he asked for to dress a severe 142wound upon the neck he had recently received in fight, it being a popular idea among the Dankalli tribes, that nothing will cure a flesh wound so quickly, as gunpowder sprinkled upon the divided parts.

I was very much amused, when the sheep was slaughtered, by the contest which took place for the intestines and fat. It was of the usual Adal kind, covered with short hair, entirely white, except the small black head. The tail was large and heavy, consisting principally of a huge deposit of suet overhanging from the rump. Two or three applicants were almost fighting about the possession of this, which I at length settled by dividing between Garahmee and Moosa, who retired with it, borrowing my copper cooking-pot and a large wooden bowl from Zaido, for some purpose or other I could not make out, but which determined me to watch their proceedings to satisfy my curiosity. Having melted the fat over a low fire they soon prepared with camels’ dung and dry sticks, they poured the oily liquid into the bowl; Moosa then took his seat upon the ground, sitting between Garahmee’s legs, who commenced, with a long skewer-like comb of one prong, to comb out and arrange the rather tangled mass of long stiff curly hair, which was the pride and chiefest care of Moosa. Having tastefully adjusted the ends of the hair, behind and over the ears, in one regular line, and brought it to a level surface all over the head, 143Garahmee then took a large mouthful of the melted fat from the bowl, and suddenly applying his lips to the surface of the hair, continued to send it in spirts, so as fairly to spread it over every part, and to do it effectually and properly, taking several fresh pulls at the bowl, until he thought a just half was expended, when he got up and exchanged places with Moosa, who did for him the same friendly office. Garahmee, however, was quite bald in front, so all his share of the grease was not only blown over the hair on the back part of his head, but also well rubbed in with the hands. After this operation had been duly performed, the character of their hair was completely changed, and at a distance seemed, Moosa’s more especially, as if each had on a skull-cap of frosted silver.

It is not necessary, whilst staying in this place, to record daily occurrences, which were now beginning to lose all novelty, and circumstances of different kinds detained us here for four days, now being deterred by the condition of the country, which was reported to have been flooded by the late rains, and now staying for the arrival of the tardy Kafilah, which, for many very good reasons that Ohmed Mahomed took care to enumerate to me, was especially wanted to assist in the protection of the whole. The road also from Allulee to the Hawash was in the most disturbed state, from the jealousy with which the Wahama, the tribe of Mahomed Allee, the favourite Ras ul 144Kafilah of the British Mission, viewed the present patronage of the people of Tajourah; and what with the same spirit engendered also in the Debenee tribe, and the avowed hostility of the Muditu, I saw little chance of any but the most disastrous results occurring to the Kafilah and myself.

During my stay at Allulee, an affaletah (kid-skin bag), full of palm wine, was brought me by Zaido every morning, he having suspended it below an orifice made near the top of the tree each preceding evening. Before sunrise he again ascended the tree, and taking the bag down, conveyed it beneath his robe, with a deal of caution, to my hut. His religion (Islamism) rendered this proceeding illegal, and he wished to enhance the favour by the great appearance of difficulty in procuring it; but a circumstance that happened one day proved to me that there were other wine-drinkers besides myself in the camp. I was busy writing, when, all at once, I heard loud sounds of merriment raised at no great distance from my hut, and removed one of the side boxes, so that, without exposing myself to the sun, I could see all that was going on. A poor fellow, evidently too tipsy to walk, was standing stark naked, with his hands tied behind his back by a long cord, the other end of which was fastened to a large stone; whilst two or three men kept discharging skins of water over him, that all the boys of the camp, in great glee, were busy supplying from the neighbouring pools, raising a loud shout 145of laughter as each skinful seemed to rouse the drunken man for a moment, who staggered along, pulling after him the large stone, until he had completed the circuit of the camp, when he was allowed to lie down in quiet, and, covered with mats piled high above him, was left to recover from his debauch.

Palm wine is a very thin, light liquor, tasting like excellent ginger-beer, and, like it, effervescing every time the bag which contains it is opened. I always could drink three or four pints a-day, and Ohmed Mahomed would frequently steal into my hut, and help me in finishing my large leathern bottle, which a skin bag may certainly be called.

One afternoon I more attentively observed a very active game, in which the Dankalli appear to take great delight. It is played with a hard, elastic ball, and seemed to require more bodily exertion than our game at cricket. The players divest themselves of their tobes and knives, securing their fotah around the body by simply tucking the ends under a fold of the upper edge. One of them then takes the ball, which he strikes against the ground, and after two or three preliminary bounds with it high into the air, he tries to catch it as it falls on the back of his hand, then rolling it into his palm, he strikes it with force a second time on to the ground, and again tries to catch it while falling from the rebound. At this moment the other players rush towards the ball, and attempt to keep it bounding 146up and down at a short distance from the ground, by hitting it with their open hands thick and fast. It certainly appears astonishing when some one more dexterous than the others does manage, after many trials, to bring the ball into such a position that admits of his being able to catch it on the back of his hand, to run clear of the players, followed fast by them, strike the ball fairly on the ground, catch it as it rises, and, with a triumphant shout, throw it towards the party most distant from him. The new possessor of the ball now endeavours, before the rest can reach him, to go through the same required moves, and send the ball back in the direction from which he received it. A good deal of laughing, shouting, and wrestling accompanies this boisterous game, and sometimes heavy falls are given, in endeavouring to trip up the controller of the ball’s movements before he can effect his desired object of bearing it away and performing the requisite ceremonial.

There is something in this game that deserves attention, it being of a character so unusual among the people of very hot countries. I believe it to be peculiar to the Dankalli tribes, neither the Arabs, nor the Galla, nor the Abyssinians, their very near neighbours, knowing anything about it, and never, as far as I could observe, indulging in such energetic exercise. The only parallel case of a similar systematic exertion employed for recreation among the inhabitants of a warm country, is the amusement 147of cricketing among the English residents in India, where that game is kept up with great spirit, and will most likely be a favourite game with their half-caste descendants. Ultimately it may become naturalized, like, I think, this Dankalli game has been in the country of Adal.

CHAPTER IX.

Staying at Allulee.—Amusements.—More camels join our Kafilah.—Introduced to a new-comer, Ohmed Medina.—Journey to Gurguddee, time marching one hour and a-half, direction S. W.—Halt for the night.—Murder of a slave.—March to Khrabtu, time occupied, seven hours.—General direction, south.—Proceed to Saggadarah, time marching three hours.—General direction, south-west.

As I had not seen my mule for some days, on the fourth morning of my stay at Allulee, I sent Allee to bring her up to my quarters; I found that she was bleeding profusely at the mouth, and on examination, discovered five or six large leeches adhering to the under surface of the tongue. It was a job to detach them, so difficult was it to retain the slimy, blood-distended monsters in the grasp, and so tenaciously they clung to their prey. Allee pulled, Zaido tried, and then Ebin Izaak affirmed he knew how to effect their removal, but still the leeches were of a different opinion, and held on proof against all efforts to dislodge them, until I brought to bear the results of my professional education, and by the secret application of a little salt, overcame all objection, and the 149leeches dropt out one after the other, as if mesmerized by my touch. My Dankalli friends stared, as well they might, at this striking illustration of knowledge being power, especially as the modus operandi was a mystery they could not fathom, and they took themselves and the mule off, with an idea that I must be a mighty magician, like Moses of old, and that my knowledge must indeed be, as they expressed it, “as extensive as the sea.”

I experienced a little surprise myself in the evening of the same day, when the camels were brought into camp for the night. These animals are driven out every day, in charge of one or two individuals, to browse, principally on the green leaves and large clusters of curling pods of the mimosa-trees, which abound in this neighbourhood. A little before sunset, their owners and the slaves proceed in all directions to bring them in, and although sometimes a circuit of at least eighteen miles has been cleared of what little vegetation it boasts of, yet it is very seldom a camel is ever lost, unless actually driven away by some robber lurking on the outskirts of their feeding-ground. On this evening, two or three men drove the numerous herds of camels before them, and came into camp on one side of a low hill, whilst on the other the remainder of the men who had assisted in collecting them came in a body, exactly like the Muditu the preceding day. At a short distance before them, pirouetting in a succession of bounding leaps, his body bent towards the ground, whilst the 150knees were being continually brought up nearly to his chin, the man whom I had seen punished the day before for being drunk led them on. All chanted a low, moaning song, and came pressing hard against each other’s shoulders, with their shields advanced, presenting a very compact front. Having reached the camp, and paraded past my hut in this manner, their song ceased, the capering buffoon suspended his dance, and the party dispersed to assist in securing the camels for the night, and whose number had been greatly increased by arrivals during the day.

In the course of the last night, we remained at Allulee, twenty-eight more camels joined us with salt, and nearly as many men; for besides the drivers, two extensive slave merchants, had hurried from Tajourah after us with five or six attendants and a mule. The principal of this party, Ohmed Medina, was a fine tall athletic man, about forty years of age, with a mild and very pleasing expression of countenance. He was considered to be the richest slave merchant of the southern Dankalli tribes; and, in the opinion of his countrymen, with whom he was a great favourite, was, besides, a very courageous and successful warrior. Instead of assuming the poor garb, and pretending great poverty, as did Ohmed Mahomed, and the other chief people of the Kafilah, he affected a very superior style of dress, wore an Indian finely wove check fotah, a very large tobe, and a splendid dagger, the sheath of which was more 151than one half of it overlaid with thin plates of silver. He evidently cared very little for the reported character of the Bedouins, as regarded their rapacity, and felt quite equal to a contest with them on any disputed question that might arise. He attended very strictly to his religious duties, but was far from being a bigot, excepting in always expecting the coffee to be first handed to him on occasions of drinking it with me, and as I was indebted to his presence for that real enjoyment of travelling, which can only arise from a consciousness of security, I was very willing to make even greater concessions, than in this simple act, to secure his friendship and good will. As with him no treachery could be suspected, I have frequently, without any other companion, traversed for hours the sandy plains, or stone-covered flat-topped ridges that constitute almost the whole country between Tajourah and the Hawash. He was particularly quick in comprehending my ideas, clothed as they were in very bad Arabic, and as we soon got accustomed to a short vocabulary of the most useful words, and resorted to familiar comparisons, when we wished to convey abstruse ideas, we talked away for hours together; he amusing me by the simplicity of several of his remarks respecting European politics and customs; and I giving him long accounts of our wars, our commerce, and our religion. His extensive knowledge of the whole 152country of Adal and of Abyssinia, I found very useful, and he was ever ready to give me accounts of the places he knew, of the roads, of the halting-grounds, and of the trade. He would sometimes dwell with considerable interest upon the great wealth that formerly characterized the commerce of Abyssinia, and indulged in hopes that he should live to see it restored again, now that the English had come into the country. He admitted that the Dankalli tribes themselves, by their violence had depopulated and destroyed the once extensive and powerful kingdom of Adal.

Ohmed Medina had visited Bombay and Aden, and had the most exalted ideas of our wealth, and the political power of England; he often declared his admiration of our laws and customs, and said that he should come and live in one of our “belladee” or towns, and become an Islam Feringee.

Garahmee saw that his supremacy in the Kafilah was now impossible, and with his usual tact, sunk into an obsequious follower, where he could not dictate as an arrogant chief. For my own part, I now felt easy, and secure from the fate which I felt convinced I should have met with had not Ohmed Medina joined our Kafilah; as it was, had I been travelling in a well-ordered country, my personal safety could not have been better assured, and many a pleasant hour’s sleep have I enjoyed 153after a long day’s journey, confident in his watchful care, for he always ordered his servants to build his shade of mats, and salt-bags, but a few yards from the entrance of my own hut.

I was first introduced to Ohmed Medina, during the march on the morning of the tenth of April, when we again resumed our journey. We travelled not more than three miles from our last halting-place, amongst little denuded hills of a reddish porphyritic stone before we came to an open plain of no very great dimensions. Passing out of the gorge of a small stream running through banks which were covered with tamarisks, and mimosa shrubs; we came suddenly upon a large shallow lake of fresh water, which prevented us from continuing the march for that day. We accordingly returned to the little wood-enbosomed plain called Gurguddee, and which appeared to be a favourite burial-place for the tribes in the neighbourhood. Among a vast number of others, two large kairns, or heaps of stones, were pointed out to me, as being the tombs of two great chiefs, one of which, however, appeared to command no respect; or, in fact, only excited a contrary feeling, several stones being cast upon it in contempt. A legend connected with it, reminded me forcibly of the tale of Myrrha and her father. The other was the tomb of a Sheik, celebrated for his piety, and was strewed over by palm branches, and the decayed foliage of other trees. Many of the Kafilah men, amongst 154whom I noticed Ohmed Medina, added each a tribute of green leaves, and repeated a short prayer near to it.

A Kafilah of donkeys laden with salt, going to Owssa, came up with us this day, and although the marshy lake before us seemed to lie direct in their way, they would not halt, but taking a long circuit around its border, went on their way, thus avoided any chance of collision with any individuals of our party, which appears is always to be expected on occasions of two Kafilahs coming together, and the greatest caution marks the conduct of people who thus happen to meet. This cautious suspicion of intention is also the sole cause of the great politeness, which, it cannot help being observed, marks all their intercourse with each other. One of the last traits I should have expected to find amongst a people so lawless, and otherwise so savage in their manners and customs.

We rested here the whole day. Zaido having been sent back to the last halting-place, on some errand, by Ohmed Mahomed, returned in a very short time running at the top of his speed, without spear or shield, and panting with excitement and fear, as he came in. All our people turned out from under the trees with their usual impetuous rush to seize spears and shields. Ohmed Medina, Garahmee, and some few others, as they got armed, went with me in the direction of the pursuing party who came in sight on a distant height, 155but on seeing our approach they retreated very quickly behind the hill again. After a short search, we returned into camp, without the arms thrown away by Zaido in his flight, and which we could not find. When quiet had been again established, and I was sitting in my hut, I could not help laughing at Zaido’s grimaces, as he endeavoured to tell me the jeopardy he had been in, concluding his relation with a pathetic appeal to my feelings, wishing to know what indeed the “Ahkeem” (myself) would have done had he been killed, and trusting that I would supply him with a new shield and spear, in return for his great attention and care of me.

This accident was the topic of conversation all day, and in consequence of it a great zekar was held in the evening, similar to those I had seen performed in Tajourah, and which was kept up until the middle of the night. All their praying, however, had no effect in withholding the arm of the assassin, for that very night, shortly after all parties had retired to their mats, the devotees sleeping perhaps more soundly from their exertions, the whole camp were suddenly awakened by a loud shriek, followed by a sudden burst of clamouring voices, and a confused rush to arms, during which several stumbled over my hut in their hurry. Ohmed Medina was shouting, “Ahkeem, ahkeem.” Zaido was pushing to get into my hut as 156I was trying to get out, and if his voice had not told me who it was that was thus intruding, it would have been rather a dangerous retreat for him. I got out at last, and made the best of my way, for it was a very dark night, in the direction that the voices seemed to be, and I soon met Ohmed Mahomed, who took me to the place of slaughter; but I was of no service, the man was quite dead, and no art of mine could close again the deep gash in his throat, that had terminated so suddenly his existence. He was the slave of one of the camel-owners, and it was supposed had been murdered by one of the Muditu, who had crept unobserved among the camels, and had thus revenged the recent murder of one of their tribe that had occurred in Tajourah.

April 11th.—The catastrophe of last night, and the evident hostility of the tribe we were among, induced Ohmed Mahomed, despite the bad state of the road, to hasten on another day’s journey to reach a country inhabited by the Debenee tribe, the chief of whom, Lohitu, a brave and generous warrior, was a great friend of Ohmed Medina.

It was a very long march of nearly seven hours, for we had to go round the shallow, muddy, but extensive Lake of Gurguddee, which occupied a portion of a vast plain, lying nearly north and south, as far as the eye could reach either way. It was bounded east and west, by long low ridges of loose lava cinders, at the distance of about five miles 157from each other. In a direction nearly due north-west, I was shown the high hills across which I was told one road to Owssa passed.

Having doubled the southern extremity of the lake, or marsh, more properly speaking, we passed across a level plain of the finest marl, in which scarcely a stone the size of a pea could be seen, and traversed in every direction by little narrow cracks, which told of the very recent evaporation of a still greater extent of water than that which had presented an obstacle to our direct progress. Upon this plain I saw for the first time those vast herds of antelopes, which I had all along looked forward to, as likely to afford me the exciting sport that has recently tempted so many adventurous Nimrods to follow up “war’s dim image” in the wilds of Southern Africa. In one herd I saw on the plain of Gurguddee, there were at least from four to five hundred antelopes; but they were so alarmed at the appearance and noise of the camels and people, that it was impossible to get within shot of them, so after two or three unsuccessful attempts, I resolved to husband my powers for the fatigues of the long walk that Ohmed Medina was anxious I should understand lay before me.

We were seven hours reaching our halting-place, the latter two hours of the march, having been along the shady bottom of the dry bed of a stream that sometimes flowed into the plain we had just crossed. Here were some large mimosa-trees, under 158the shade of which I was glad to sit and rest myself, towards the latter end of the journey, and await the coming up of the camels, which the pedestrian party I was with had left far behind. Whilst sitting here, one of the Hy Soumaulee brought me as a refreshment, a handful of the young green pods of one species of the mimosa-tree, which tasted not unlike the shell of the common pea, and after a long abstinence from fresh vegetable food, I enjoyed this singular kind of salad very well.

Six fine antelopes, part of a large herd that was browsing among the bushes now approached within fifty yards of us, and as soon as I observed them, without saying a word, or scarcely stirring from my position, I took up my carbine, and fired at one as she had just put her feet against the trunk of a low tree to reach, like a goat, the leaves and tender extremities of the branches. She fell, of course, for the ball had broken her backbone; and Adam Burrah springing up, rushed like a hound upon her, and cut her throat in the most orthodox manner, with his dagger, as he repeated the usual grace after the scrupulously pious Garahmee, who had also run to his assistance.

My mule coming up with the camels, the dead game was lashed across the saddle, after due examination by my Dankalli friends of the effect of gunshot, as exhibited in the wound, and who shook their heads with sundry emphatic grunts, as if the idea kept recurring to their minds of the possibility of a 159like thing occurring to them, at the same time balancing the open hand horizontally, giving the outer edges of it an undulatory movement, a mode of expressing surprise, very common among this people.

Khrabtu, the name of the place where we halted, was an open space, where three dry watercourses met, surrounded by high crumbling cliffs of a dark-coloured lava rock. A little pool of dirty water, at some distance from the camp, was the only representative of the streams which, during the rains, flow through this ravine into the plain we had just crossed. Around us were large mimosa trees, the lower branches of which were hung with the decaying and rotten remains of the uprooted palm and other trees and shrubs which had been brought down, and thus entangled, by the floods of the previous year. In what I should presume, during the time of the inundations, were small islands, young doom palms made a thick jungle with their large, strong foliage, and after the camels were unloaded, it appeared a great object with the drivers to collect large bundles of the green leaves, and during the rest of the day all were occupied in removing the strong midrib of each long lobe, the strips being preserved, as the material with which they sewed up the holes and worn-out corners of the salt-bags, that were beginning to be somewhat the worse for the journey. The Hy Soumaulee, who had no mats, or palm-leaf bags to 160repair, devoted themselves to the much more agreeable employment of skinning the antelope and preparing it for the cooking-pot, but not without indulging in some portion of the meat raw. Adam Burrah, for his share, took the bones of the back, and was now busy endeavouring to separate them by bending the whole with both hands against the upright sole of his foot, as, sitting upon the ground, he almost laid himself upon his back, by the force of his exertions, turning and twisting the many-jointed bones about, in a peculiarly determined manner, to have it broken into as many portions as he could. Allee and Moosa divided the raw kidneys between them, which they eat up on the spot, whilst Garahmee, in possession of a very great delicacy, sucked the almost liquid marrow from the shank bones; for this purpose having smashed them, one after the other, between two large stones.

In a short time Zaido brought his large wooden bowl, in which were heavy lumps of flesh, very hot, and but half boiled. On his approach, all hands forgot their employments to pounce upon the cooked meat, and I saw that if I did not make a push there was little chance of my getting any; so forcing myself between the scrambling parties, I seized hold of the first portion I could put my hand on and bore away the greater part of the haunch, and upon this, occasionally daubing my tongue with a piece of dirty rough salt I always carried in my ammunition-bag, I managed to make as hearty 161and as savage a meal as any of the rest. I could not help noticing the attention paid to new comers who were too late for the scramble at the contents of the bowl. Some of their more successful companions, would strip off a piece from the bone with their teeth, and throw it at them, not at all in the gentle manner that we might have expected, a kindness like that to have been performed.

Zaido managed to put by one whole leg, and to conceal it, had pushed it under the mats of the roof of my hut, close to my head; for a joke I took it down inside, and divided it, without his knowledge, among some hungry Bedouins, much to his indignant surprise, when he afterwards discovered his loss, for he unhesitatingly attributed the abstraction of the meat, to the thievish propensity of his countrymen, an unhappy failing he on more than one occasion had reason to lament.

Our Kafilah had now assumed the character of one united family, no divisions, no continual calahms, that had characterized our progress before the arrival of Ohmed Medina, who took his place as Comptroller-General, and all of us submitted without a murmur to his command. As for myself, I felt perfectly easy, for the same deference the rest of the Kafilah paid to Ohmed Medina, was reflected upon me by the respect and attention which he always showed, and which had a corresponding effect upon all the rest. This night particularly, I noticed the great change in the bearing 162of my Hy Soumaulee escort towards me, who, instead of coming with a stealthy sneaking pace, as they had frequently done before, to observe what arrangements of defence I had made for the night, now came boldly, but very civilly, one after the other, to the entrance of my retreat, and “negasseed” me almost to sleep. The usual salutation of the evening being a long repetition of the word “negassee,” signifying, I concluded, as much as our “good night.”

April 12th.—Left Khrabtu at sunrise, and three hours after, we reached the halting-place of Saggadarah, situated in the wide bed of a small stream called Korree. Its banks were composed of low hills of different coloured, irregularly stratified rock, that if not volcanic, had been greatly altered from their original character of deposited formations, by the agency of fire. The whole valley abounded with vegetation; wide-spreading sweetly-scented mimosas, and clumps of luxuriantly growing doom palm, made travelling beneath their shade delightfully agreeable. An immense number of a small kind of dove, with the slightest tinge of red, scarcely a blush, blended with their usual silvery grey plumage, kept darting from bush to bush, as we disturbed them anew, every few yards we advanced, whilst the little antelope of Salt, and a large kind of partridge, were not unfrequently seen running beneath the thin underwood. Hanging nests of fresh green grass, were suspended like 163immense bell-shaped blossoms, from the upper boughs of the mimosa-trees, and the evident care of the passing Bedouins to prevent their shouldered spears from injuring them, told of some innocent superstition, still keeping alive gentle feelings, amidst all the rudeness of their savage untutored nurture.

Ohmed Medina, on one occasion, when I was desirous of looking at the contents of one of these nests, cautiously pulled down by its farthest extremity a branch to which one was attached, without disturbing the position of a single blade of its building materials. I then looked through its little aperture on one side, but found, however, neither eggs nor young, which was to be accounted for by its recent construction.

As was generally the case, the watering-place was some little distance from the spot where we had encamped. Water, certainly, abounded in our immediate neighbourhood, but it was so impregnated with copper, that it was known to the Dankalli to be “poison water,” and two or three instances of its deleterious effects were related to me, and drinking it was one of the causes to which I heard attributed the death of the Feringee (Kielmeyer) at Killaloo.

In the black coarse sand of the dry bed of the stream, I found several specimens of the spiral shell, which I had observed, as characterizing the stratum of chalk, in the neighbourhood of the Bahr Assal. 164I accompanied a party going to the sweet water-place with the camels, where I bathed, and also picked up several living specimens of another singular, but very small shell, the mouth of which opened to the left of its cell. The pool in which I found them was situated at some little distance from the camp, and among hard close-grained rocks of a reddish brown colour, very different in external appearance, from those in the neighbourhood of our encampment, which were of a bright green colour, containing evidently a considerable per centage of the mineral, with which the water in their neighbourhood was impregnated.

Either the half-cooked venison of yesterday, or the water in this place disagreeing with me, all the afternoon of this day I was very ill, and as I felt no better after bathing, I sent for Ohmed Medina, to consult with him how we should manage, if I were too ill to proceed on the morrow. Adam Burrah, who accompanied him, however, undertook to doctor me, and, creeping into my hut, with a handful of fresh cow-dung, would make me hold it under my nose, all the time he was pinching up the whole of the scalp from the back of the head, beginning very scientifically at the nape of the neck, and managed, by pressing it forwards, and pinching it up from all sides, to bring, gradually, a good large fold of it over my forehead. This he then included in a portion of his tobe, and applying his teeth to assist him in its compression, I thought 165he would not have desisted, until he had bitten the piece out altogether. I submitted to this operation, because, in the first place, Ohmed Medina affirmed it to be the best remedy I could possibly have to relieve the headache, and in the next, I was determined to see some little of the native practice of physic, and this was too good an opportunity to let escape. The cow-dung, which was very affectionately broken into small pieces, agreeably to their ideas of my delicate education, I very soon dispensed with, assuring them, after a sniff or two, it had had a wonderfully beneficial effect, and that I had no doubt, after my scalp was well kneaded again by Adam Burrah, I should be quite recovered. This was not actually the case; but as I took some of my own medicine, and omitted my usual supper, by the next morning I was fully restored to health, and as I gave all credit, and a fee of four buttons, to Adam Burrah, I established his medical character for ever after, among his admiring countrymen.

CHAPTER X.

Journey from Saggadarah.—Reach Bellad Hy, time marching, four hours, general direction S.S.W.—Halt for the night.—Journey to Ramudalee, time marching, seven hours, general direction S.S.W.—Halt at Ramudalee to receive the visit of Lohitu, chief of the Debenee tribe.

April 13th.—One hour before sunrise, I and Ohmed Medina, attended by the Hy Soumaulee, preceded the Kafilah. Adam Burrah being too ill to accompany us, having, as it was asserted, contracted my illness of the preceding night by his endeavours to relieve me, I left him my mule to ride. We continued our journey between low flat-topped ridges of the same cuprous rock as during yesterday, till we opened upon a little plain, with green sloping banks on all sides, and evidently the head of the small stream which, during the rains, ran along the road we had come, and was called Bahr Saggadarah, or the Saggadarah water. It was overgrown with large and tall mimosa-trees, and a singular rush-like tree, with a thick trunk, the drooping leafless branches of which reminded me very strongly of the emu-tree of New Holland.

From this wooded bottom, or flat, we began to 167ascend a gentle acclivity by a narrow road, which soon altered in character, from that along which we had been travelling for the two hours previously. Numerous stones of very unequal size had to be stumbled over, and when we had gained the summit a dreary prospect lay before us; a widely-extended country, or table-land, covered with large loose blocks, of a black scoreaceous lava. I took a last fond look of the narrow, but beautiful valley we had just emerged from, and which I now found was a little green oasis in the midst of a wilderness of stones. There was no help for it, so with a long hop, as I recovered myself from a severe blow I gave my foot against a large stone, when with averted face I was still looking towards the valley, I commenced following my companions. I soon came up to them, and found our new position was called Bellad Hy, the country of Hy, from whence I imagine the Hy Soumaulee derive their name, although it forms at present no portion of their domains, being part of the country of the Debenee, who claim all the land from Gurguddee to the valley of Gobard, a few days’ journey in advance.

I noticed on the plain of Hy, many tombs of the circular kind, like those I saw of the Soumaulee at Berberah, with the usual entrance to the south, and the line of the grave in the centre, placed exactly due east and west. These tombs were so numerous that for the last few days of our journeying, I had no occasion to refer to my compass to 168take the bearings of our progress, as I determined it always by the position of the graves, which I could do with much greater deliberation and correctness than by the hasty, stealthy look at a vibrating needle, agitated by my movements as I walked along. These graves the Dankalli refer to a period antecedent to their occupation of the country, when the Kafirs, as they call the previous possessors, had no knowledge of the Koran, and placed the head of the corpse, when they buried it, in the direction of the rising sun, and not towards the Kaaba at Mecca. The fact was, that these graves were those of Sabian Affahs, the common ancestors both of the Soumaulee and the Dankalli, and who, as the Avalites of the ancients, occupied the whole of the eastern horn of Africa. The introduction of the Mahomedan faith has effected the separation of the two people in modern times, and now many of the professors of Islamism are ashamed to own their Pagan ancestors.

In about two hours, we passed the deserted village seen by the very worthy Missionaries, Messieurs Isenberg and Krapf; and I could not resist laughing in my heart, at the idea suggested by a comparison of the ruined stone kraals, so designated, that pointed out an occasional station of the Bedouins, during the rains in this now herbless wilderness, with the idea suggested by the beautifully told tale, bearing the same title, and beginning—

We proceeded with a skating-like step, very fatiguing 169to the knees, from stone to stone, for several miles, a few tufts of dry wire-like grass offering but a poor excuse for vegetation. Snakes, however, found here sustenance, and a coarse-looking tuberculated lizard, sunned itself upon the hot black stones, and being nearly of the same colour, its sudden dart to a hole beneath, only made the traveller aware of its presence. Deep fissures, not seen until we were close to them, traversed the plain in directions nearly north-east and south-west, and sometimes long low ridges of erupted rock, appeared just above the otherwise level surface.

Where we halted were a few stunted mimosa trees, low and dry, scarcely to be distinguished from the characteristic grass of this district, and promising but a very scanty repast, to the one hundred and thirty or one hundred and forty camels belonging to our Kafilah; and worse than this, not a drop of water was to be found in the neighbourhood. It was, in fact, another “deserted village,” consisting only of the remains of little stone enclosures, about three feet in diameter, covered on the top with bushes, where it is usual, for the Bedouin shepherds, to secure for the night, the young of their flocks from the depredations of wild beasts. Here was also a large circular wall, of loose stones, about four feet high, in which the older herds were kept.

One of these enclosures, we found large enough to form my house for the day, and my carpet was laid over the open top as a roof, whilst mats were 170spread upon the ground. The stores of the Kafilah were piled around; and at a little distance, in long pyramidal ridges, raised upon a broad row of stones, the bags of salt were heaped up, something in the same way that cannon-balls are built into heaps in a battery.

April 14th.—We left the halting-ground of Hy one hour before sunrise, and, much to my gratification, suddenly exchanged the rough stony plain for the dry sandy bed of an occasional wide stream. Here, again, were abundance of the rush willow as I termed it, though not belonging at all to the genus salix, and also some mimosa-trees; but I did not observe, that the doom palm was present, nor did I see this tree again during my journey. We did not long continue on this level and agreeable road, but ascended a low acclivity covered with large round volcanic stones, apparently detached from the heights above. After a short walk of about half an hour over this jutting headland, as it proved to be, we again descended into the bed of the same stream, for by having taken this direction, we had cut off an extensive curve in its course. The dry channel of the stream now widened considerably, in some places extending in a long avenue, between two banks fringed with the rush willow and mimosa-trees; whilst in others it would suddenly contract, encroached upon by the huge masses of detached rocks, which seemed continually to be falling from the edge of the lava-plain 171of Hy; it would then, when the soft and yielding alluvial soil of the plain of Ramudalee on the other side admitted, again expand into wide reaches of a fine white sand. Where its straight course was most apparent, I took care to illustrate to Ohmed Medina the condition of our roads in England, to which, in some places it bore an exact resemblance; and growing out of this conversation, a long discussion took place between us upon wheel carriages. The description of the Queen’s state coach was a dream of gold to him, and upon this, and its probable worth in dollars, he employed himself thinking for the rest of the day.

Our pedestrian party preceded the camels a long distance, generally consisting of Ohmed Medina, Garahmee, and the other Hy Soumaulee, myself, and a variable lot of the camel owners, who would now sit down and stay, or at other times run forward to join us, as the rugged or level character of the road decided the necessity of more or less attention to their camels, and to the security of their loads. The march was a long one in a south-west direction, and it was very evident that the plain of Hy was the separation between the waters flowing to the east into the muddy lake of Gurguddee, and those which directed their course, through the valley of Gobard, to the large terminal lake of the Hawash, called Abhibhad. We halted several times, to rest ourselves, under the shade of 172some convenient trees, and at one place we sat until the camels came up. Here we found a welcome spring of pure water, that was absorbed again by the sand, almost immediately after its escape from the little circles of stones, through which it bubbled. It was embosomed in a grove of sweetly-smelling mimosa-trees, that grew very luxuriantly, favoured by the constant moisture of the soil. We all drank heartily of the clear sweet water, and reclined upon patches of a fine velvet-like grass, that beneath the tallest and more solitary trees spread a beautiful green carpet for our repose.

Whilst thus enjoying our rest, two women and a girl appeared at the opposite extremity of the valley, driving a few goats before them; their empty water-skins were fixed upon the loins, and each carried a small cup, made of a dried gourd-shell, with which they lift the water from the spring into the skins. Their dog was with them, a kind of long-legged harrier of a red and white colour, which saluted us after the usual canine fashion, and received a shower of stones in return. The women did not seem to be disturbed by our appearance, but came and saluted all present (myself excepted) in their peculiar manner. I now learnt, much to my surprise, that one of them was the mother of Omah Suis, who instead of being one of the Hy Soumaulee tribe, with whom I had previously classed him, was a Debenee, and son of Abucarl, the last chief of that tribe, and would, should he 173outlive Lohitu, the present possessor of the honours, succeed to the dignity, as the same rule of descent was observed among them as at Tajourah, the title of Sheik, or superior, being alternately possessed by the heads of two subdivisions of the tribe.

This dowager lady of Abucarl, was a fat and rather handsomely made woman, about forty years of age, at which period the Dankalli women generally look very haggard. She wore the usual dress, a skin petticoat, with a short fringe made of thongs attached to the lower edge, and fastened round her waist by a piece of common palm-leaf rope. Upon her neck she bore a very large necklace of small spiral shells, of a dark blue colour, with a continuous white line winding around, and interspersed with these, were large red beads of some coloured resinous composition, manufactured on the shores of the Red Sea, and brought from thence by merchants travelling into the interior. Hanging before her ears, were large triangularly formed appendages four or five inches long, the base depending below being, at least, three inches. These were made of thick brass wire, and from them were suspended, several large pieces of pewter. At first, I considered them to be the very extreme of barbarous ear-rings, but on looking more closely, I found they were not attached to the ear at all, but suspended from the top of the head, and secured from falling forwards, by narrow fillets of greasy rag tied behind. A square piece of blue 174cotton cloth folded into a triangular shape, and soaking with ghee (the liquid butter of the country) was worn as a head dress, and protection from the sun. I should observe, that her hair was plaited into innumerable small strings, similar to the style of hair-dressing adopted by the women of Gurahgee, and the slave-girls at Tajourah. I am not quite sure, but I think the hair is also dressed in this manner by the Soumaulee and Galla females.

Her older friend wore a corresponding dress and ornaments, but the girl had only the skin petticoat, and held in her hand a pair of old sandles, made very simply of a single strip of ox-skin fitted to the shape of the sole of the foot with lappels on each side, to which were attached the thongs which fastened them upon her feet.

During our conversation with the new comers, the camels, with Omah Suis, came up; and his mother without any difference of manner, as I could perceive, performed the usual salutation, by pressing the separate fingers of his hand successively, as she had done to the least known individual of the group, and he seemed to be no more affected by her presence, than if she had been a stranger.

In, about an hour afterwards, we came to our halting-place upon the gravelly plain of Ramudalee, two or three miles beyond the bed of the stream, and where it was determined that we 175should stay some few days to await the arrival of Lohitu, in whose territories and near whose kraal we then were. The chief was absent endeavouring to assemble the braves of the several Dankalli tribes, against the Issah Soumaulee, who had been making some inroads into the country; and besides stealing some of his own camels had murdered one of his relations.

When I had taken possession of my hut, Omah Suis brought up his mother, and told me who she was; and with more affection than I had given him credit for, remarked that if I thought he was my friend, I was to make my acknowledgments to her. Now Omah Suis was a very great favourite of mine, for his willingness to assist, on all occasions, Zaido and Allee in looking after my mule and building my hut; besides which, as he scarcely ever begged for anything, but bore himself right royally, I suppose by virtue of his birth, I had determined in my own mind, to give him a good present at parting. Having in one of my boxes a much handsomer necklace than that which his mother had on, I instructed Allee, who was our interpreter, to tell her to come for it, when, under cover of night, I could take it unseen by the other natives from the box. In the mean time, I gave her a fresh cover of blue cotton cloth for her head, and a few needles, with which she departed very well pleased.

Towards evening she came again for the promised 176necklace, bringing with her a large skin full of delicious clotted cream, which she intimated by significant signs, I must put out of sight, or some one would be sure to come and steal it; and also, that in the morning, when the sun rose, she would come again for the bag. I took her advice about hiding it, and what I did not put out of sight, in the readiest manner, by drinking there and then, was laid under the head of the mat behind me; and, during the night, I managed to finish it entirely.

CHAPTER XI.

Staying at Ramudalee.—Himyah and his matchlock.—Chase of a hyæna.—Visitors from the Debenee tribe.—Guinea-fowl shooting.—Ahkeem shooting.—Arrival of Lohitu, Chief of the Debenee.—April 17th, leave Ramudalee for the valley of Gobard, general direction S.W., time occupied on the journey six hours.

April 15th.—There was some rain a few hours before sunrise, and however grateful it might be to thirsty nature in this scorched-up country, I felt very uncomfortable myself, for it came soaking through my carpet-roof, and I awoke in a state of wretchedness that no physical misfortune, except actual bodily injury, could have occasioned; but lying in a heavy rain upon the bare earth, or, what is worse, upon wet palm-leaves, (for my mats consisted of nothing else,) was but miserable accommodation for an invalid traveller.

The sun rising, however, put a stop to the descent of the rain, and by nine o’clock the camp was all comfortably dry again, so rapidly, in this country, is the water either absorbed by the arid soil or evaporated by the sun.

Ohmed Medina, and a sporting character who 178had been a close attendant upon me during our journey, but of whom I have not had occasion to speak before, now came to invite me to take a walk around the neighbourhood of our camp, for in the valley below, and, in fact, on all sides, we could see considerable numbers of deer, which promised no little sport. The individual I now introduce to the reader was named Himyah, and was a tall, ugly, middle-aged man, the very person whom I particularized in Tajourah as being the possessor of the only matchlock, previous to Mr. Cruttenden presenting one to the Sultaun’s brother, Izaak. This morning I found that he had brought his clumsy piece with him; it had escaped my observation before, from its looking so very little like a gun, as it was carefully wrapt up in a lot of rags, and lashed behind a heap of salt on one of Himyah’s camels. Its stock consisted of one long piece of wood, of equal dimensions through its whole extent, from the muzzle to the back of the pan of the lock, where a slight bend terminated in a semi-lunar butt-end, something in the form of half a Dutch cheese, its round surface being adapted to the hollow of the shoulder. The barrel was nearly six feet long, and the metal loops for receiving the ramrod being broken off, this necessary appendage was obliged to be carried in the barrel, secured within the muzzle by a tightly-fitting piece of wood.

I was very glad to have the opportunity of seeing the country, which had become remarkably 179changed in its character, since crossing the bed of the stream we travelled down yesterday, and which was a natural division, very well marked, between the wild volcanic desert to the east and south, and the extensive undulating plain of gravelly soil to the west, which was thickly covered with high tufts of a strong, coarse grass, and afforded plenty of food for the camels. It was, in fact, the great inducement for our halt at this place, although attributed by the politic Ohmed Mahomed, to a desire on his part not to offend Lohitu, by passing any further through his dominions without a conference.

Mimosa-trees also abounded here, and their bright green delicate foliage, when growing closely together, made some better watered parts of the country look as if covered with extensive meadows. Herds of some hundreds of a species of antelope, called “wydiddoo” could be observed in one direction, feeding on the edges of these woods, whilst on the other side, the less but more elegant “symbilla” was raising itself almost into the trees, to reach the tufts of curled seed-pods, that form its favourite food. These pods were also being gathered in considerable quantities by the camel-men, who placed them carefully in their body-cloths, or tobes, and intended them as a bonne bouche, for any camel deemed not altogether in such condition, as its owner could wish. They were always a dose at bed-time, being 180given the last thing, after the camels had been driven home, and had lain down for the night.

Ohmed Medina, Zaido, and Allee, with their spears and shields, accompanied Himyah and myself with our guns, and we proceeded down the face of the declivity, from our camp to the edge of the winding watercourse in front. Here, on the stiff clay of the not yet quite dried up pools which resulted from this morning’s rain, we found the large footprints of a hyæna, that had been prowling round the camp, and we immediately set about following the traces, in the hopes of meeting a nobler object of attack, than the fearful and provokingly shy antelope. These foot-marks took us in the direction of the lava-plain of Hy, and we soon found, that the extreme difficulty of recovering several times the broken trail, and the little chance we, could have, in the country he seemed to have retired to, of coming upon his retreat before he discovered our approach, offered no sufficient inducement for us to continue the chase.

Ohmed Medina had just come to a stand, and was making the proposal for us to return, when Zaido and Allee, simultaneously pointed in the direction of one of the numerous kairns, that mark the graves of the Dankalli. There we saw the object of our pursuit on the look-out, and apparently watching our movements, his grizzly head and high shoulders, protruding beyond the cover afforded by a large kairn, at the distance of 181at least four times the range of my short carbine. To circumvent him by some means or other, however, was our determination, so Ohmed Medina directed us all to squat down on our heels, as in the usual manner for a calahm, I having intimated to him, the impossibility of my killing the beast so far off, by shaking my head, and pointing to the length of my gun, and then to the great distance intervening. By good fortune, the hyæna seemed as determined as ourselves, to see the affair properly over, and kept his eyes fixed upon us all the time, as if we had been sitting in the direction he wished to go, and was waiting for us to retire.

After a few words amongst ourselves, Himyah got out of the little circle, and first moving off towards the camp, until well out of sight of the hyæna, he made a sudden turn to the right, and stealing among the detached portions of rock, which abounded along the edges of the plain, he, in a short time, made his appearance again far in the rear of the animal, who was still sitting, like ourselves, on its haunches, and not in the least aware of the dangerous proximity of the ugly Dankalli, with his still more ugly matchlock. All at once we saw Himyah drop behind a large stone, that quite screened him from our observation, during the long time he was taking his aim, but which, it seems, afforded him a most advantageous rest for the long barrel of his piece. After some minutes of suspense, a little puff of smoke from the 182pan of his large lock, told that at length the death of our victim was determined. We were, however, disappointed, for no report followed, and again we had to wait for the long operation, of pricking and priming the touch-hole afresh, and we certainly began to think that before Himyah could get ready, the hyæna would be off. But he was a doomed beast, and his senses had left him; so at last bang went the matchlock, knocking Himyah into sight one way by the recoil, and on the other, the hyæna over and over into the open ground, where Zaido and Allee, racing to be first, soon terminated his struggles with their spears. Himyah was delighted with the success of his shot. Ohmed Medina thought the old matchlock was a “tihebe bandook” (a capital gun), whilst Zaido and Allee were beckoning a crowd of Bedouins and Kafilah men, who had heard the report, and were now hastening in a long line, to witness the grand feat in the sporting annals of their country, the honour of which belonged entirely to them, through Himyah’s creditable firing, and who was saluted accordingly by several as an “Engreez got-tam,” (English soldier.)^[3]

183After Himyah had been duly congratulated and praised on all sides, I began to examine a severe wound on his face, which had been cut by the butt end of his matchlock in the recoil; and it was well that the cheek-bone, was in his case unusually high and prominent, or he would certainly have seriously damaged his eye, or perhaps knocked it out altogether. A piece of my frock, which I tore off for the occasion, and a little shaking of my powder-flask over the wound, set all to rights again, and having presented him with nearly twelve charges of powder, as a reward for his dexterity, I made him both comfortable and happy, under the circumstances, and we proceeded afresh in search of game.

We descended into the bed of the stream which we kept along but a very short time before we came upon a numerous covey of fine guinea-fowl, walking before us at a rapid rate. I should suppose there were nearly fifty or sixty of them, and whether it was that numbers gave confidence, or that they were unsuspicious, from never having been molested before, after having got out of our direct course, they seemed to think, that was quite as much as was expected or wanted, and began pecking away on the banks on either side again, with as much careless ease, as if they had been so many barn-door fowls. I soon drew the charge of one of my barrels, and substituted some shot for the bullet with which it was loaded; for having anticipated meeting with only large animals, I had prepared 184accordingly. Leaving the group of my attendant friends, I crept to the trees which fringed the borders of the watercourse, and surprised myself exceedingly by finding, as I cautiously looked up, that I was not more than ten or fifteen yards from several dozen of the guinea-fowl, who only walked on a little farther when they saw me.

It was a sad case of misplaced confidence; for upon the strength of their great tameness, I took the opportunity of adding a few of the fine small pebbles, which abounded where I stood, to the charge of shot, and on firing this mixture among them, eight or nine of these fine birds fell fluttering together. As one or two, which were but slightly wounded, succeeded in getting away, I sprang forward to pick up the rest, a task in which I was assisted by Zaido, Allee, and Himyah, who, with their long knives unsheathed, seemed as if rushing to an attack upon the Muditu, or Issah Soumaulee. I soon found that all this hurry, was to secure the performance of the rites of religion over the dying birds; each being taken up, the head turned towards Mecca, and the throat cut, whilst the usual short prayer of Ul’ Allah, or Allah Achbah, was hurriedly pronounced.

One, and only one, was voted too late to receive the last consolations of religion, although I am sure, that more than one half of the others were quite dead, before this attention could be paid to them. To this one, over which no rite was performed, I volunteered to give a Christian burial 185with rice, &c., in my cooking-pot. As I thus got as much as I wanted in return for my shot, whilst the other birds went to my Islam attendants, the division was hailed with universal approbation, and was followed by a general consent to return to camp, bearing our game in triumph slung upon a spear, and carried on the shoulders of two men. This was the best course that could be adopted, for what with the report of the guns, and the noisy talking crowd of Bedouins who had now collected, there was not much likelihood that we should have another chance of adding to our bag, as everything in the shape of an antelope had taken alarm and trotted away to a distance, farther than Ohmed Medina deemed it prudent for us to follow.

In the afternoon several men of the Debenee tribe came into camp. They were very friendly, and accordingly very troublesome, pestering me for the remainder of the day, for small presents of needles, paper, and buttons. Tobacco was a continual demand of theirs, and the only method I could take to get rid of them was by referring them to Ohmed Mahomed, who undertook, at my request, to divide two large skin bags of this luxury amongst them. Women also brought milk in large quantities, which they offered for the most trifling things. A square bit of paper, scarcely four inches in extent, would purchase at least a gallon of the richest and sweetest milk, and Allee, Zaido, and myself so satisfied ourselves with it, as to be enabled to present 186the guinea-fowls, intended for our dinner in the evening, to others less fortunate than ourselves. As my particular one had been boiled in the same cooking pot with the rest, and the bit of stick that had been placed upon it as a mark, being lost, I thought, of course, that all must go to the dogs; but silence upon the subject was the order of the day, nothing being said about it by us, and no questions asked by the others, so the birds, both the Christian and Islam, were gladly received and speedily devoured, by our hungry and unscrupulous friends.

The next morning I proposed hunting again, and the same party as yesterday started, but as we could get no opportunity of approaching the antelopes near enough for a shot, Himyah, of whose dexterity as a marksman I had had honourable evidence the day before, tried this morning his skill upon me, but fortunately, having no rest for his matchlock, the ball went some few inches over my head. The circumstances that occasioned this were most singular and accidental. Before us was a herd of about twenty Wydiddoo antelopes; their white faces, yellow sides, and black straight horns, just visible over the tall grass, among which they were feeding. It was to outflank these, and take them on whichever side they should dart when they discovered us, that directed the plan of our approach. We both stooped low upon the ground, and crept cautiously along so as to be lost entirely to sight among the grass. In this tiresome manner 187we proceeded for about a quarter of an hour, both diverging nearly in a right line from each other, the rest of our party all this time sitting close to the ground, in the place where we started from. We moved in opposite directions, until we had placed a distance of at least half a mile between us, before we began to bend again towards the sides of the herd, and as I had to get within eighty yards of them, before I could fire with any hope of success, whilst Himyah’s long matchlock would carry pointblank at least two hundred yards, he arrived at a point favourable for a shot, long before I did. My yellow Arab dress was exactly the colour of the deer, and the short barrel of my carbine projecting over my head, as I carried it conveniently upon my shoulder, made no bad representation of a horn, especially when seen in profile, and in fact I intended taking advantage, of all these favourable circumstances, to aid me in my approach on our timid game. Just as my heart was beating thick, with the hopes and expectancy of a successful shot, and I had begun actually to laugh in my sleeve, at the simplicity of the deceived animals, all at once I was astonished by the sharp phit of a ball, as it passed close to my head, followed by a report, that for a moment seemed to paralyze the startled deer, but which, before I could recover from my own surprise, placed a long distance between me and them. The astonishment of Himyah may be supposed when he saw me bound to my feet. His first idea 188was to seek for shelter among the high grass, either to cover himself from the expected shot in return, or to hide himself altogether from my sight. Seeing me, however, turning from him and look towards the deer, to see if any chance of obtaining a shot still existed, he made off directly to Ohmed Medina, to whom he was relating all the particulars when I came up. With apparent fear, that for the future I should mistrust his intentions towards me, he immediately took my hand between his, and protested in an emphatic manner, that it had been the deception of my appearance, which had so extraordinarily misled him, in this attempt to procure some venison. I readily excused him; but after this adventure it was determined that we should return to camp, as in our limited sporting ground, there was no hope of obtaining that day, such another chance as the one we had just lost; and besides, the sun was getting so exceedingly powerful, that we were all glad to escape from its burning rays.

Omah Suis, in return for the presents I had made his mother, brought me several pounds of fine Owssa dates, which added not a little to the savouriness of my rice puddings, for I had begun to boil my usual mess with milk instead of water, adding not a little to Zaido’s knowledge of cooking, which had wonderfully increased since his association with me, he having learnt to curry a guinea-fowl, and to make sougee-gruel almost as well as myself.

On the occasions of previous journeys, he often 189remarked, he had eaten nothing the whole way, but wheat boiled in water, and broken dried bread of the jowaree flour. I am afraid he was rendered unhappy for the rest of his life; for after his acquaintance with me, and the diet I had accustomed him to, he never could, I should think, relish again the simple fare of his countrymen. The jowaree bread, for example, was a crumbly dust, of a bright red colour, very sour to the taste. I have eaten many handfuls of it on emergencies, certainly, but it was only because I could get nothing else. The boiled wheat was another of their messes; this, with rich clotted cream, was not so unpalatable, although my puddings of dates, rice, and milk, were allowed to be greatly superior, and a volunteer dinner party, were always ready to finish the contents of a large cooking-pot, which, for the sake of popularity, I used to direct Zaido to prepare every day.

On the second evening of our stay at Ramudalee, after I had turned in, Zaido disturbed me to report the arrival of Lohitu, who had come into camp with three or four attendants, and who very shortly afterwards made his appearance with Ohmed Medina and Ohmed Mahomed, and sat talking till near midnight at the entrance of my hut. A bowl of rice was prepared for them by Zaido, who called me up again to lend them my only spoon, which was used alternately, one after the other taking it, and having conveyed a large quantity of rice into his mouth, 190gave it to his neighbour in the politest manner possible. After this social repast, rolling themselves in their tobes, they lay down upon mats, which Zaido had placed for that purpose, and continued their conversation until long after I was asleep. I noticed that there was more real respect paid to this chief than to all the others we met with on the road; and as Lohitu had a very great character for generosity of disposition, and was also acknowledged to be the bravest man of his tribe, I think that the attention paid to him by the heads of our Kafilah, and which was very marked, was from sincere feelings of regard, and not from any fear of his power to injure us.

April 17th.—Whilst the camels were being loaded this morning, Lohitu was busily engaged canvassing all my Hy Soumaulee friends, to engage them on an expedition against the Issah Soumaulee, and Garahmee, Moosa, and Adam Burrah, consented, after their return from Shoa, to accompany him. Omah Suis came in high glee, to announce the fact of their adhesion to the cause of the Debenee having been obtained, and which he was at great pains to make me understand, was entirely owing to the overpowering eloquence of his chief. He came, also, to bid me farewell, as he said he should not see me again, until I returned to his country, where he assured Allee, who was, as usual, our interpreter, I might always come with perfect security. When he went away, I put into his hand two dollars, as 191his proportion of the sum, I had agreed to give my escort to accompany me to Shoa. As he received them with many thanks, nor even attempted to make a claim beyond them, as I expected he would, I could not let him go, without bestowing upon him the remaining three dollars, exacting a promise that he would not say a word about the extraordinary gift to any one, for I could not expect to meet another moderate man among the generally greedy and rapacious Bedouins, and who, had they known it, would never have rested until they had received the same amount. His present of the dates, was worth the three additional dollars I gave him, for although their real value was not, perhaps, the third of the sum, the feeling that prompted him, to make a long day’s journey, to procure them for me, was so gratifying, and so unexpectedly met with in an Adal savage, that I should not have felt satisfied with myself, if I had not returned his kindness in some way or other.

We marched for five hours, sometimes west-south-west, but more frequently south-west, over the extensive undulating plain of Abiheosoph, continuous with the plain of Ramudalee, and of the same geological character, a shingly kind of gravel, formed of small angular fragments of every kind of volcanic rock. As we approached the bank of a stream, covered with mimosa and other trees, I noticed, that this gravelly formation had been denuded, into numerous small hills of uniform 192height, by the occasionally running waters which fed the stream. Another remarkable feature, was the protruded ridges of a few feet high of black cellular lava, and which extended in directions generally due north and south. A coarse kind of grass, in high and large tufts, covered this plain, and numerous ant-hills raised their tops some feet higher than any of the Kafilah men. It was not unusual for one of these to be made a kind of look-out. Perched upon the summit, some curious Bedouin, squatting upon his heels, would peer above his shield, looking, as I thought, something like a bronze Blemmyes upon a conical pedestal. On the road, we passed the carcase of a recently deceased ox, which had fallen up to his shoulders, through the frail roof of earth, that covered the den of a wild boar, and in that miserable situation, unable to extricate himself, must the animal have hung suspended until dead.

From Abiheosoph we descended, by a gentle declivity, through a grove of the most powerfully-scented mimosa-trees, from whose high branches, depended the large drop-like nests, so characteristic of the African oasis. During our progress, we flushed, from among the roots of long dry grass, several large coveys of the earth-coloured small desert partridge; and vast herds of antelopes, disturbed by our approach, cantered gently away among the thin trunks of the trees, and then halting, turned round to take a long inquisitive gaze at the intruders.

193We soon reached the stream of Gobard, which was flowing nearly due west into the Lake Abhibhad. Where we crossed over, it was not more than two feet deep and thirty feet wide, and to ford it I merely took off my boots, and turned my trowsers up above my knees. We then marched another hour, upon the beautiful green-sward of this Adal Eden, walking nearly all the way, under large natural parasols of high mimosa-trees, some distance intervening between the trunks of each, yet their widely-spreading tops, encroaching upon each other on every side, formed one continued grove.

Our halting-place was under the farther bank of the valley of the Gobard, a steep, stony, water-worn ridge, called San-karl, at the distant extremity of which, towards the east, a singular pyramidal monument had been in view nearly the whole day. I was very well content to lie down, by the side of Lohitu and Ohmed Medina, immediately we arrived, I was so tired by my long march of six hours, having walked at least twelve miles, the latter part under a burning sun. In this situation I soon fell asleep, and did not wake until some time after my hut was erected. Ohmed Medina, then retiring himself, shook me by the shoulder, and recommended me not to continue longer under the trees, beneath the shade of which we had been resting ourselves. He also promised to come to my hut, and have a 194long talk with me about the Hawash, and told me to get out some paper, as he would write a map of the country for my information. As he spoke, he directed my attention to the termination of the valley to the west, and concluded by saying, “Beyond those trees the river ends.”

CHAPTER XII.

Conversation with Ohmed Medina respecting the course of the river Hawash.—Description of that river.—Its termination in Lake Abhibhad.—The various watersheds of the basin of the Hawash.—Comparison of present route with that of previous travellers.

When Ohmed Medina did come, he prepared to stop the whole day, directed Zaido to boil some coffee, placed his spear upright against the boxes of my hut, and wheeled his shield very gently up towards the farther end of my retreat, asking me at the same time to suspend it from the roof by the little wooden hook that was attached to a leathern thong for this purpose. He then unbuckled his sword-belt, and after handing it to me also to take care of, he stooped on to his hands and knees, and crept well under the shade. I produced my pencil and paper, and we soon entered into a long conversation upon the Hawash, in which we were joined by a young man belonging to Owssa, named Ohmedu, who had come into my hut out of curiosity, but learning what we were about, volunteered some information respecting his native place. The map projected between these two was an excellent one, 196an imbodied transcript of the clear idea, which both had of the geography of the country we were in. No confusion or contradiction, but a straightforward delineation, that carried conviction of its truth by its plain and consistent simplicity.

A curved line, like a long ʃ, was first drawn in a general direction of north and south, the curves at each extremity inclining respectively to the east and west, the former where it partially encircled Owssa, the latter where, as Ohmed Medina said, in our comparative manner of talking, “it surrounded Shoa, like a swordbelt round the waist.” The descending and ascending portions of the Owssa curve were joined by a straight line, marking the situation of an artificial canal which connected these two portions of the river, and including within their limits an isolated tract of country of some extent, which represented Owssa, and which, for the first time, I now understood to be a large district rather than a town, as I had always previously considered it to be, in common with other travellers. Ohmed Medina now drew seven successive parallel lines, all flowing from the west, which I was given to understand represented the principal tributary streams, as far as the northern limits of the kingdom of Shoa, for beyond, or towards the south, he professed to know nothing, except the general fact of the river encircling Shoa in that direction.

To these seven streams, which Ohmed Medina drew upon his sketch map, Ohmedu added a small 197one, flowing directly from the north, in a line with the descending portion of the river after it has formed the northern boundary of Owssa. This was called Gussisson, and on the east, near its entrance into the Hawash, a small cross was placed by my informant, to represent the house of his uncle, the Sultaun, as he styled him, of Owssa.

The next stream to this flowed from the west, and was called the Mellee. It was succeeded by another still more to the south, called Tahlahlac; to this followed the Douhee, then the Burkanah, the fifth in order was the Jahrah, the sixth the Ahsu, and the seventh the Howdee. All these streams flow from the west, a particularity pointed out to me by Ohmed Medina, and which was a fact exactly opposite, to that which I had expected to find, led by the representations of Mr. M‘Queen, in his “Survey of Africa,” published in 1840.

Ohmed Medina and Ohmedu had crossed every stream they named, either in their journeys from Owssa to Gondah, or from the former place to Shoa. One road leads to both these places as far as the Hawash, but from the ford situated between where the Douhee and the Burkanah streams enter that river, Kafilahs diverge, some going towards the north, to Gondah, and others towards the south, to Shoa. This has occasioned the general name, Abisha, usually applied in the same way in which we say, Abyssinia, to be modified by the Dankalli, into Abisha Gondah, and 198Abisha Shoa, for the purpose of more definitely particularizing whichever portion of the table-land around the sources of the river Abi or Bruce’s-Nile, they may allude to in conversation.

During the whole conversation so far, our actual situation at the time, with respect to the termination of the Hawash, had never been alluded to. Ohmed Medina, supposing that I had understood him fully when he said, “Over those trees the river ends,” had not thought it necessary to repeat the remark, but finished his map by making three lakes, one larger and two smaller ones, into which the line representing the river Hawash, was led as to its termination. As I wrote the names down from their dictation, I was waiting to receive that of the largest lake, Abhibhad, when a careless movement of the hand over the shoulder, made by Ohmedu as his companion pronounced the word, intimated that the lake was in our immediate neighbourhood, and on making the inquiry, I found that it was not one hour’s journey from where we then were, and that during our morning’s march, before we descended into the valley of the Gobard, we had been even much nearer to it. This was a discovery; especially as I had not heard of any account having been sent either to England or to India by previous travellers, whilst I knew that at Aden considerable desire was felt to receive some information respecting the large city, as it was then supposed to be, of Owssa, and the termination of the river Hawash. 199My desire to visit the very shores of the lake, the waters of which were concealed by the foliage of a dense forest of mimosa-trees, was, therefore, increased by this opportunity of being able to add a new fact to our geographical knowledge.

I had but eighty dollars remaining, of the one hundred allowed me by the Government, for the expenses of the Kafilah on the road, and as I had not performed one-third of the journey, I could with prudence, offer only the sum of twenty-five dollars, to Lohitu and Ohmed Medina for an escort, to traverse the short distance intervening between the camp and the lake. The latter certainly exerted himself to procure volunteers among the Debenee who visited us, but after their chief had refused, not one would undertake even the office of guide; for I insisted that I would go alone, if a guard could not be procured. Many of the Tajourah people now came around me, intreating me not to attempt such a thing, as my death would be the certain consequence, and that ever after “their faces would be blackened with the commander in Aden,” meaning Captain Haines, so that in the end I was obliged to submit, for I saw that I could not help myself. It appears the tract of rich alluvial soil in this situation, being well watered by its contiguity to the lakes, is covered with vegetation during the whole year, and is always held by the strongest tribe; for sometimes, from the necessity 200occasioned by long-continued droughts, the tribes occupying less favoured spots are compelled, to resort here, where they fight most desperately, for the required relief of food and water for their cattle. I could, therefore, well understand, that the ever-verdant shores of these lakes, must be one continued scene of contention. On the occasion of our visit to their neighbourhood, I found that the Galayla Muditu tribe were in possession, and at war, of course, with every other. This rendered the appearance of a few individuals amongst them particularly unsafe, as they killed all such intruders when discovered; and of a number quite impossible, as their approach would occasion an immediate alarm throughout the whole country. Under these circumstances it was deemed our wisest course to let the sleeping wild beast alone, and not rouse an excitement that might end in the destruction of the Kafilah.

Every object of science, however, was effected, except the testing and analysis of the waters of the lakes, for the depression which the largest occupies in the level table-land surrounding, was plainly visible through the wide gorge cut by the entrance of the river of Gobard into it. Our halting-place was actually upon a portion of the bottom, of what I considered at some periods of the year, to form part of the then flooded lake, the soil consisting of a light-brown friable marl, in which were embedded vast numbers of a spiral 201univalve, exactly identical with some I had taken, from a thin stratum of a cretaceous earth, lying beneath the lava in the narrow strip of land, between the sea at Goobat ul Khhrab and the Salt Lake. I have the authority of Dr. Roth, the naturalist attached to the British Political Mission, that living specimens of this fresh water shell have been found in this neighbourhood; an interesting fact, as it proves that the fossils I collected between Goobat ul Khhrab and the Salt Lake, and those at Gobard, are very recent, and that the river Hawash, at some former period of the earth’s history, entered the sea in the Bay of Tajourah.

Besides the Gobard and Hawash, no other river enters the Abhibhad Lake, although the extensive plain to the south, as far as the hills of Hurrah that form the water-shed of the river Whabbee, is drained by a stream, the waters of which flow close to the western side of this lake, through Killaloo to the Hawash. This is only during the rains, when this part of Adal is, I should think, one extensive morass, in which a chain of shallow lakes, communicating at times with each other, in a direction bearing to the north and east, forms a river called Waha-ambillee, which Ohmed Medina said terminated at Killaloo, but Ohmedu contended that it proceeded into the Hawash, just before that river entered its final lake, Abhibhad.

The course of the river of Gobard from the east, 202marks the descent of the water-shed in that direction, to the lower level of the country around these lakes. This small river, in length, not more I should think than thirty miles, flows directly from the east, and its wide bed constitutes a convenient road to the port of Zeila. In the time of Abyssinian supremacy over all this part of Africa, the communication with Gondah and the sea-coast, was through the populous and fertile oasis of Owssa, along the valley of the Gobard to Zeilah; and tradition still preserves, the memory of the once lucrative commerce, that was carried on with the then rich provinces through which the road lay. I was frequently told by Ohmed Medina, that gold and silks were the burdens of camels in years gone by, instead of the salt and blue calico, which is the only merchandise, excepting slaves, of Kafilahs at the present day.

The Hawash, in its course into Lake Abhibhad, bounds the country of Owssa on the west, the north, and the east, and the circuit is completed, by the ascending and descending portions of the river, being connected on the south, by an artificial canal called Garandurah; thus completely surrounding Owssa, and contributing considerably to the proverbial fertility of this Ethiopic oasis. The existence of this canal, and several subordinate ones for the purposes of irrigation, also accounts for the representation made in early Portuguese maps, that 203the Hawash does not reach the sea, but is diverted from its course, by numerous canals made by the natives.

Having obtained some idea of the geographical bearings of the watersheds of the Hawash, by learning the directions of the various streams which flow towards the centre of its peculiar system, the lakes in sight of the encampment, I endeavoured to decide our relative position with regard to the halting-places of previous travellers, as it was only by subsequent comparison with their observations, more particularly with those of Lieut. Barker and Dr. Kirk, who surveyed the road taken by the British Political Mission on its way to Shoa the preceding year, that I could determine the exact situation of the lake, for from circumstances, I was unable to make any meridional observations myself. From what I could then learn, the enterprising and zealous agents of the Church Missionary Society, the Rev. Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf; the French traveller M. Rochet de Hericourt, Dr. Beke, and the British Mission, had all taken a route, one short day’s journey farther to the east than mine. On the return from Shoa, of Mr. Isenberg, in 1840, that gentleman may have been brought to my halting-place in the Gobard; for in his notes I believe is contained the observation, that on that occasion he took a road much nearer to the lakes than on his previous journey. The reverse of this occurred to me when I returned 204from Shoa last year, and again visited this neighbourhood; for the British Mission, whom I then accompanied, retraced its former route, and we halted on the very same spot they had done two years before. This afforded me the opportunity of fixing my comparisons of situation upon positive data, but I shall not anticipate the result, as I return to the subject again in relating the particulars of my second visit to this interesting locality.

A long morning having been occupied in writing, discussing, and viewing, everything possible relative to the situation of Lake Abhibhad, towards evening I strolled about in the immediate precincts of the camp, attended by Lohitu and Ohmed Medina, the former having good sense enough to think a crumbling bank of the embedded shells would interest me, led me to a spot where I found in great numbers, the spiral univalve I have before alluded to. On our return to the camp, I shot one of those small antelopes to which I believe the Abyssinian traveller, Salt, has given his name. It was not so large as a hare, but very elegantly formed; the head light and delicate, with prominent black eyes, and little annulated straight horns. Its colour was a dunnish or iron grey, the hair rather coarse, I thought, for so small an animal. I had not quite killed it, and Lohitu ran up, but afraid of injuring his spear by missing his aim, and striking only the ground, he kept shaking it in 205mid-air, as if going to dart it at the poor thing, every time, that with a broken leap, it attempted to escape. Moosa and Adam Burrah, followed by a crowd of others, came running up on hearing Ohmed Medina shout for the latter, who being a very zealous sportsman, I had constituted my head forrester on occasions of the chase. The trivial cause for so much stir excited a loud laugh, and two or three of the boys rushing in soon secured the dying animal, over which a timely “Ul Allah” was said, and so sanctified it for food.

CHAPTER XIII.

Leave Gobard for Arabderah.—View of Lake Abhibhad from the ridge of San-karl.—General direction of march south, time occupied two and a-half hours.—March to Saggagahdah, general direction S.W., time marching an hour and a-half.—Meet Kafilah of Mahomed Allee.—Halt for the night.

April 18th.—We were on our march again by sunrise, Lohitu accompanying the party of the non-interested in the care of the camels, and who generally preceded them half an hour. Of this party, Ohmed Medina had assumed the leadership from the first day of his having joined, and I took care always to accompany him. We made a short bend towards the south, along a narrow water-cut channel, dark from the trees on every side closing their tops over our heads, and then ascended diagonally the steep, loose, stony face of the ridge of San-karl, forming the southern bank of the valley of Gobard. Having reached the top, Lohitu stopped suddenly to inform me that this height was the general place of assembly for all the tribes of the Dankalli, when combined in some military operation, against the Issah Soumaulee to the east, or the Assa-hemerah Muditu to the west. We were continuing our journey 207along the plain on the summit of this ridge, when the loud voice of Ohmed Mahomed calling after us, caused us to stop until he came up. On his near approach, he turned round, and with his hand directed my attention to a division very visible in the flat country to the north-west, which marked the course of the stream of the Hawash, and the valley of which, seemed to be not more extensive than that formed by the stream of the Gobard. I was, however, informed, that it was really much more extensive, and that an immense number of Bedouins inhabited the fertile district on each side of the river, for nearly two days’ journey before it bends round to the north of Owssa.

The precipitous termination of the flat country to the west of the Lake Abhibhad, was also very plainly seen over the tree-covered expanse, that marked the entrance of the Gobard, into that general recipient of the waters of Adal. A prominent feature of the scene also, on the opposite bank, of this stream, and to the immediate north-east of the lake, was the ridge of yellow gravelly soil, divided into numerous small denuded hills, that I passed along the morning before. On the south and west, the surrounding country was one wide stony plain, through which protruded numerous low dykes of lava, and at the distance of about twenty miles could be observed the summit of a single cone, called Jibel Obinoe, whilst in the opposite direction, towards Zeila and Tajourah, 208were a range of peaked hills, that formed the barrier between the Hawash and the sea, and the western face of which formed the water-shed of the Gobard river, flowing into Lake Abhibhad.

From the appearance and general character of the surrounding country, I concluded that the Abhibhad Lake occupied one of those numerous and extensive depressions, which, like large fissures, here intersect the otherwise level country of Adal, many of which are now filled up with the detritus of the ridges around, and the marly deposition from water, which, during the rains, collects in them. These fissures are in variable magnetic directions, but they never cross each other, and I saw evidence sufficient to satisfy myself, that at least in this neighbourhood, they form rays diverging from one common centre, which is very well marked by the severed summit of Obinoe.

After satisfying my curiosity with the excellent view of the country afforded by my situation, we proceeded on our journey. We soon descended into the bed of a small stream running into the Gobard, along the bottom of which the heavily-laden camels were now slowly winding their way, among numerous sweetly-smelling, white-blossomed mimosas, which scented the whole valley, and afforded a delicious banquet to the busy inhabitants of a natural bee-hive, so situated that to all honey-eating animals, save man, it was inaccessible. It occupied a small cave on the steep 209face of one of the precipitous cliffs which bounded the stream. In this narrow valley we passed several watering-places, where I would gladly have drank, but that every pool was occupied by two or three dirty Dankalli, who were busily washing and bathing themselves in the cool and refreshing water. No observation was made by our party at this pollution, for as there was here an extensive supply, my companions thought there was as much room for them, as for the numerous camels which now came up, and made their way into it, not so much to satisfy thirst, as to enjoy the walk through the water, and which they soon rendered a very thick solution of mud. This, however, was not undrinkable, as I found when, after a tiresome march over the stone-covered plain of Arabderah for at least three hours, we came to our halting-ground, and found all the pools dried up, so that the few skins which had been filled at Gobard and at this place were our only supply for the day, and for the first time during the journey, was I put upon an allowance of one saucepanful, which I had to divide with a number of thirsty companions.

During this march I became great friends with the Debenee Chief. Upon my giving a small paper packet, containing needles, to one of the Bedouins, in exchange for a dried goat-skin, Zaido asked me to purchase, to place under the saddle of my mule, Lohitu took the packet from the man, and opening it, looked at me with surprise for having paid such 210a great price for my bargain. After saying a few words to the man, he only gave him three of the needles, and distributed what remained, by giving one each to the rest of the party, about a dozen being around us at the time. He kept three himself, placing them in the sheath of his very old and worthless dagger, among the ornaments of which, I noticed an old rusty pair of scissors, which he had thrust in between the thongs that secured it to his belt.

Lohitu was a very handsome man, with a high, noble forehead, well-formed nose and mouth, and but for a heavy look, occasioned by his thick, bushy eyebrows, would have realized my idea of a savage chief with whom I could have associated, honour and generosity; and even with the prejudice against the Bedouins I entertained, occasioned by the evidences of their sanguinary and deceitful character, which had come under my own notice, I still could only think well of this generally acknowledged brave and respected man, who was, without any qualification or jealousy of his excellence whatever, admitted to be the first man of all the combined tribes. Heaven only knows, how much blood it had been necessary to shed to produce this unanimity, but the tale of his having saved the life of the only Muditu who was spared in a recent engagement, was the solitary instance of the sort I ever heard of; for on occasions of their warfare, every conquered man, who is not able to save himself by flight, is most ruthlessly massacred by the victors, 211on purpose to add to the boasted numbers of slain, the grand total of which, constitute the only claim to individual eminence among the Dankalli tribes.

On the march to-day I gave Lohitu a ring, which I had put on my finger the first morning after our arrival at Ramudalee, for the purpose of presenting to this noted chieftain. It consisted of one large red cornelian, which had been cut by an Indian mechanic in Calcutta, where I purchased it, into a thick, showy ring, one well suited to the taste of such people of eminence among the savage tribes with whom I was now sojourning. Lohitu was exceedingly pleased with it, and wore it for that day, but whether he was really superior to the common feeling in such matters of adornment, or preferred the convenience of a little cash which Ohmed Mahomed offered to him for it, I do not know; but I heard after he had left us, that Ohmed Mahomed had the ring in his possession, and that he had given to Lohitu in exchange for it four dollars, or eight cubits of the blue Surat cloth. This latter is the only money current in Adal, one cubit in length of this Surat cloth, the full width of the piece, being in value half a dollar. It is neatly folded into a three-cornered packet, and the outer extremity is tucked into the middle, in such a manner as to secure the whole in that form.

Our halting-place was bare of everything but large flat stones of lava, that had evidently formed originally one thin but entire stratum, which, on 212exposure to the atmosphere, had separated into loose stones. These had become partially rounded at the edges, by continual denudation of wind and water, assisted by the alternation of heat and cold, arising from the different temperature of the several winds, which traverse this height, from the hot sandy plains of Zeila to the east, or the cooler surface of Lake Abhibhad to the west.

The curiously divided summit of Jibel Obinoe, a slight elevation above the generally very level table-land, was now visible in the south-west, and the hills which at Gobard bore towards the north, were now considerably more towards the north-east. The scene otherwise was similar to the one from San-karl, consisting of dark yellow plains, with black ridges of lava breaking through the surface, and no vegetation, except the dry unyielding grass, and a small prickly plant with blue flowers, which was the only food for the camels, this arid and stony country had to offer.

No Bedouins disturbed us here, nor was my evening’s meal of tasteless rice improved by presents of milk, and in desperation at such poor fare, I determined to have recourse to my cheese and sea-biscuit, upon which, after some time and difficulty, I managed to make my supper. Zaido and Allee joined me in this as in more tempting viands, and found some amusement in the excessive hardness of the biscuit, actually fracturing a long and dry leg-bone of a camel, plenty of which always 213marked the usual caravan halting-places, by employing it as a geological hammer to break what they called my “stone bread.”

A council was held during the whole day, a busy subject of discussion having apparently arisen, and I soon found, by Allee’s information, that a Kafilah of no friendly character was approaching, and that probably we should meet it to-morrow. As it was exceedingly strong, and its Ras had been very ill-treated and imprisoned when last in Tajourah, the leaders of our Kafilah were anxiously deliberating upon the probable consequences of a meeting, and were very earnest, I could see, in their endeavours to secure Lohitu to their cause. Ohmed Mahomed also in the evening came to see me, and asked if I would give Lohitu five dollars, to get some boxes belonging to the Embassy, that he asserted were detained in a neighbouring kraal. What with the information I had received from Allee, that the Ras of the Kafilah coming down was the Mahomed Allee who had taken the stores with Messrs. Bernatz and Scott to join the Political Mission in Shoa, and being aware also of the treatment, that division of the Embassy received in Tajourah, three of the servants being murdered in one night, I knew very well that the object of Ohmed Mahomed’s request for money, was not to get the boxes, but to bribe Lohitu to declare himself our friend, and reject accordingly any offer of the same kind that might be 214made by Mahomed Allee, who, it was expected, would take this opportunity of retaliating. I, of course, consented, and this being accomplished, Ohmed Mahomed, to ingratiate himself also with the attendants of Lohitu, had a camel, that had been ailing many days, slaughtered, and a feast of raw meat, for want of water to cook it in, terminated the day. One party of the revellers who sat near my hut, I observed rolling up strips of the flesh, and stowing them away in their affaleetahs for a feast at the next halting-place, as the Dankalli certainly prefer the flesh of animals cooked, excepting the liver and other viscera, which are almost always eaten raw. This same party had also come in for the backbone in their share, and after the fleshy parts had been stript off and preserved for a better opportunity of cooking, the assembled circle very fairly, and with much brotherly love, sent the raw juicy bone round, each one taking a fair chop at it with his heavy dagger, and then making a good strong pull at the almost detached piece with his teeth. In this manner they soon cleared and divided the bone, and each one then possessed himself of a single vertebra to look over, and finish his repast, which did not conclude until every bit of the cartilage had been torn off and eaten.

Tuesday, April 19.—Started at sunrise, and left Arabderah with Lohitu, Moosa, Adam Burrah, and a number of others. Ohmed Medina and Garahmee were absent, having returned to Gobard 215in search of the mule belonging to the former, which had strayed during the night. The western portion of the plain of Arabderah is much less stony than the eastern, and the ground was covered with little shallow depressions of dried clay, the residium of evaporated water. The country of Owssa is visible from that point, where we leave the elevated plateau, and descend into the valley-plain to the south. The prolongation of the height of Arabderah towards the north-west is called Dulhull, and forms the southern border of the Abhibhad Lake.

This morning I rode upon my mule, as my boots were getting much the worse, for walking over the rough and stony road we had travelled along. Lohitu was very reserved, walking nearly all the way by my side without speaking a word, except in answer to me, when I sought to know the names of different places we passed. However, on the other side of me there was plenty of noise, for the Bedouins who accompanied us were walking in two lines of five or six in a row, and amusing themselves with singing alternately extempore stanzas, in which my name, “Ahkeem,” and that of Lohitu very frequently occurred. One or two of them occasionally, broke out of the line to touch my knee with the butt-end of their spears, when they wished me to listen, more particularly to something or other that related to myself, and that I might be aware that what they were saying was a compliment. Simple-minded 216people! to what excellence might not education raise them! Their great natural abilities, now only developed in the commission of crime, if only properly cultivated, would, I am convinced, lead to a national character as extreme for good as it now is, unfortunately, for evil.

We thus marched for about two hours, having descended, almost immediately after the start, a rough, stony, but gentle declivity from the lava-strewn plateau of Arabderah, to the wide and extensive fissure-plain of Sagagahdah. We were now suddenly halted by a gesture of Lohitu, who pointed with his spear into the mirage, that seemed to fill with water the whole upper or western end of the plain, on the edge of which, but on the distant opposite side, we could see two horsemen coming at full speed towards us. We had stood but a very few minutes, when Ebin Izaak, on his mule, came gallopping up, and calling to me, as I thought, to follow him, passed us as fast as he could go in the direction to meet the new comers. Just as I was pushing my slow mule into an attempt to gallop, Ohmed Mahomed, who came running up, called out to me to remain, and, as I did not exactly understand him, Lohitu caught hold of my bridle and made signs for me to dismount. I soon learnt that our halting-place for the day had been determined upon, immediately the approaching Kafilah had come into sight, and already, a little in the rear, our camels were being unloaded.

CHAPTER XIV.

Description of the plain of Sagagahdah.—Dowaleeka Lake.—Effects of mirage.—Slave Kafilah.—Write letters to Aden.—Retire from camp with Lohitu.—Interview with Mahomed Allee.

The plain of Sagagahdah is of considerable extent. It stretches in one straight line from the country of the Issah Soumaulee, in the south-east, to Jibel Obinoe, in the north-west, a distance of more than thirty miles, with a uniform width of between five and six miles. The sides are flat-topped parallel ridges, from four to five hundred feet high, being the abrupt termination of elevated volcanic plateaus. That to the north is called Dulhull, and separates the plain of Sagagahdah from the one of a somewhat similar character, occupied by the Lake Abhibhad. The ridge to the south is called Mahree. During the season of the greatest rains, the plain of Sagagahdah is a complete morass, or shallow lake, collecting the waters that flow over the Dulhull and Mahree ridges. These numerous little streams seem constantly to be forming new channels, for but a few yards from a deeply-cut and apparently very convenient watercourse, the traveller 218sometimes observes, the torrent rushing down a precipitous and evidently a very recent one. This interesting geological phenomenon is to be attributed to the occurrence of frequent earthquakes in this situation, which have the effect of altering the previous level of the country. Another striking evidence of this was pointed out to me by Ohmed Medina, whose naturally inquiring mind, led him to ask of me a solution of that which to him and to others also who mentioned it, was a very remarkable circumstance. A large lake, it appeared, had come into existence within the last six years, in an adjoining plain, called Dowaleeka, similar to the one of Sagagahdah, and a constant sheet of water which abounded in leeches now occupied its upper end, where previously a regular Kafilah route had existed to Shoa.

The sides of these fissured plains, I think, at a certain depth, must meet in a synclinal axis; but time has nearly filled the valley between, to their present level, with the detritus of the rocks around, and the marly deposition from the evaporated water, collected in them during the season of the rains. In the plain of Lukhee, a day’s journey more to the west, this operation of filling up has proceeded, even to the forming of one general level of the country, and the alluvial soil of the former valley is now continuous, with the stony summits of the bounding ridges.

Coming from the opposite side, diagonally across 219to our station, could be now seen the stranger Kafilah, camel after camel, emerging from the mirage in a long-extended line. The effect of this natural phenomenon, the mirage, was greater than I expected. The very perfect and natural resemblance it bears to water, the reflection even of the adjoining ridges as perfectly distinct as from the surface of a lake, contributing very much to the illusion. To ascribe to any traveller the originality of the beautiful expression, “ships of the desert,” as applied to that useful animal the camel, is an injustice to the simple elegance of natural ideas. Not one, but half a dozen of the Bedouins, came to me in succession, and directed my attention to the broad and enlarged figure of the camel with its burden, as it appeared through the medium of the mirage, and all expressed themselves exactly in the same terms, that it was the ship of their country, and any one who has seen the camel in such a situation would have immediately suggested to his mind, a distant vessel sailing end on before a breeze, with all its studding sails set, so exact a resemblance is observed between it and the distorted image of the laden camel.

The merry sound of the laughing, chatting, singing, infant children, who formed the bulk of a Kafilah of at least two hundred slaves, now gradually reached us, increasing, as they approached, into the buzzing hubbub of a crowd of people, who at length passed us, and halted for the day, at the 220distance of about half a mile from our camp, eastward.

The people of both Kafilahs soon mixed with each other with the best feeling imaginable, interchanging salutes and repeating to each other the most important news from their respective starting-places. The new-comers had been thirty-eight days from Shoa, and at a day’s journey on this side of the Hawash, had been attacked by the Hittoo Galla, who had killed two of the Kafilah men, and seven of the smallest children of the slaves, for these unfortunates are always murdered, if their captors in such forays find it impossible, as in this instance, to carry them away. Several of the Galla were also slain. News of the British Embassy I could not obtain, except that the last detachment of stores had got safely up, and that the Ras ul Kafilah on that occasion, Mahomed Allee, was now at the head of the present return one. I was also told that forty of the slaves belonged to him, and that they had been given to him by our Ambassador in Shoa. Such was the report, but of course I understood this properly, that the money Mahomed Allee had received for his services he had laid out in the purchase of slaves, in the like manner that Ohmed Mahomed and Ebin Izaak, were taking up with me to Shoa, the dollars paid to them in Tajourah by Mr. Cruttenden, to invest in the same revolting merchandise.

The principal men of either Kafilah were now 221sitting in two adjoining circles, whilst Lohitu sat apart with a stranger who had joined us from a direction exactly opposite to that in which the new arrivals had come. As they sat within a few yards of me, I perceived that he bore on his breast the “Arriah,” or incised figure of the Debenee tribe; and I concluded, therefore, he was some member of the family of the Chief; Zaido, however, who had a very acute eye to perceive any threatened or rather suspected danger, whispered to me, as he pushed my breakfast of rice into my hut, that an Issah Soumaulee was talking to Lohitu. As I could not understand how it happened that one of this hated tribe dare venture alone among the Debenee, I set the man down to be a half-blood, which would also account for his being marked with the peculiar symbol of that tribe.

These two were soon joined by a third, another stranger to me, who came from the calahm circle of the Shoa Kafilah, and brought with him a small coil of brass wire, weighing, perhaps, one ounce or so, which Lohitu received in his usual silent manner, and deposited beneath his tobe. I had promised Mr. Cruttenden to write to Aden by every opportunity, and as I considered this an admirable one, from the previous connexion of Mahomed Allee with the English, I sent to Ohmed Mahomed to request that he would bring him to me, that besides the letter I intended to send, I might also give him some verbal message to Capt. Haines or 222Mr. Cruttenden. Ohmed Mahomed immediately appeared, but refused to let Mahomed Allee come to receive the letter, adding, that the latter would not be allowed to take it to Aden, even if I gave it to him, as the Sultaun of Tajourah would not permit him to enter that town. As, however, I persisted in my desire to employ Mahomed Allee, whom I knew to be well thought of by the authorities in Aden, Ohmed Mahomed at length consented to bring him, and went away for that purpose. In about half an hour he returned, and having introduced Mahomed Allee to me, I gave him my letters for Capt. Haines, and one for home, informing him that on their delivery in Aden he would receive a boxeish or present, as usual, for his trouble.

After concluding this business to my satisfaction, I went with Lohitu, at the request of Ohmed Mahomed, some distance from the camp, and we sat down amidst the ruins of some loose stone walls, where formerly a large kraal had been. This move was suggested, I thought, by a desire to save me from the pestering applications of the Bedouins of Mahomed Allee’s Kafilah, who had previously surrounded my hut in crowds, begging for everything that could enter into the mind of a Dankalli as constituting riches, such as needles, buttons, paper, gunpowder, and brass wire.

For two hours did the mighty Chief of the Debenee and I sit in gloomy silence, both building 223little walls and pyramids of the loose stones that lay within our reach, until we had cleared the whole neighbourhood of all but the larger ones. As I now got rather tired of my occupation, I made one or two attempts to get up, as hints to my companion that we should be going. Each time, however, he laid hold of my Arab frock, and pointing again to my place, he intimated that I was in his charge, and that until the sun was down I must stay with him. Being particularly quiet when I cannot help myself, I made a virtue of necessity, and took up my old position, and for occupation proposed to fix around the head of Lohitu’s spear, the brass wire which I had seen given to him in the morning. By the time that business was completed to the satisfaction of the Chief, who in return gave me a whip made of the hide of the hippopotamus, the sun had set, and we returned to the camp; I retiring to my hut, and Lohitu to a group of Tajourah people, with whom he soon squatted in an earnest calahm.

No sooner had I taken my seat and called to Zaido about getting me some supper, than a fierce-looking stranger forced aside the mat, which depending from the roof of the hut, overhung the entrance. My usual exclamation of “Cutta,” “Cutta,” Go away, Go away, on such occasions of intrusion, was unheeded, and without any ceremony, and quite undeterred by the pistol I had already seized, the man took his seat on my mat, 224and putting his hands to his breast, with a kind of salutation and a smile of introduction, said, “Mahomed Allee,” and then in Arabic asked me if I had no letters to send down to the Commander at Aden, for by that name is Capt. Haines generally known among the Dankalli merchants. Zaido at this moment making his appearance, I appealed to him, if this were Mahomed Allee, and Zaido, who looked anything but comfortable, reluctantly admitted that it was, stammering out at the same time, that “Mahomed Allee had better go away.” The latter, however, did not understand this, but laughed most sneeringly, as he said, “Cutta,” with a contemptuous wave of the hand, that made Zaido back expeditiously out of the hut, carrying on his shoulders the hanging door mat.

Being determined not to allow myself to be so imposed upon as I had evidently been by Ohmed Mahomed, I tore a leaf out of my note-book, having exhausted all the paper I had taken out in the morning, except that on which I wrote my letters, in presents to the begging Bedouins. Upon the abstracted leaf I wrote a hasty note, telling Capt. Haines of the deception practised upon me, and recommending that no present should be given to the counterfeit Mahomed Allee, as a punishment for his impudence. This being made up into a note, was carefully deposited by Mahomed Allee, between the double fold of ox-skin which formed the scabbard of his knife, and which is made a convenient 225receptacle by the Dankalli, for many trifling articles, such as needles, snuff, or thread. Mahomed Allee now informed me, that he had got letters to Aden from the Political Mission in Shoa, and also desired me to write down in my note-book the name of a kraal, where were deposited seventeen packages and boxes, he had been obliged to leave on the road, when in charge of the last English Kafilah that had gone up to Shoa. He attributed this abandonment to the numbers of his camels that had died upon the march from the scarcity of water. He also said that no difficulty would be incurred, for the Bedouin who had them in charge, was a relation of his own, and would himself take them along with the present Kafilah to Shoa. After this Mahomed Allee retired, asking me only for a handful of tobacco, which I bade Zaido to give him, but was afterwards obliged to increase the niggardly bestowal of my servant, by taking the skin bag from him, and shaking its contents into the open tobe of my new acquaintance.

I should not have slept well that night, if I had not told Ohmed Mahomed of the deception he had practised upon me, and as he came to my hut a few moments after Mahomed Allee had left, I took care to mention it. He excused himself very coolly by saying, that Lohitu had promised to cut the throat of Mahomed Allee, before he reached 226Gobard, suiting the action to the word, by sawing away at his own throat with the edge of his open hand, and adding, “that then all the letters given to him by the Embassy in Shoa, would be taken from him and carried to Aden by Mahomed Murkee,” the man whom he had passed upon me, for Mahomed Allee. It was certainly not very agreeable, to be thus made the confidant of an intended murder, especially when the victim was a man I was inclined to think well of, not judging from the little I had seen of him myself, but from the recommendations he had received from the missionaries, Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf, whom he took up on their first visit to Shoa, and also from the commendations I had heard bestowed upon him by Mr. Cruttenden in Tajourah. I determined therefore that, at all risks, I would exonerate myself from becoming an accomplice before the fact, should the assassination take place, by revealing the whole design to Mahomed Allee, and also exert my influence with Lohitu to procure for him a safe passage through the country of the Debenee. It was too late to do anything this night, although Mahomed Allee and his friends were still squatting, a very few yards in front of my hut. Fearing, however, that some attempt was about to be made upon the party by the friends of Ohmed Mahomed, who were also gathering into a 227calahm, I was obliged to call out to him to go away, which I did, in a tone that he understood very well to be intended as a warning; and he and his three or four friends accordingly got up, and retired to their own Kafilah.

During the afternoon of to-day, whilst I sat with Lohitu at the ruined kraal, I could not help observing the innocent curiosity, not unmixed with fear, with which the little slave-girls came to have a peep at me. Lohitu himself could not resist smiling, at the occasional hasty retreat of those who happened to come near me, before they were aware of their situation. They were employed in collecting for fuel, dried camel’s dung, and the little rotten sticks that had floated with the last rains into the plain. Their ages varied from eight to fourteen years. I saw no slaves in this Kafilah who exceeded those years, and I was given to understand that most of them were Gurague Christians. A few boys were also to be seen amongst them who ran stark naked; or else with only a bit of old ragged cloth, tied by the two ends under the chin, and hanging behind upon their neck and shoulders. The girls wore a chemise of the same dirty description, gathered around the waist by a piece of plaited or twisted palm-leaf rope. They were, without exception, most interesting and sharp-looking little things, and did not appear to be 228fatigued by their long journey, or ill-used by their masters. The necessities of a licentious religion is pandered to by the slave-trade carried on between the sea-coast and the interior of Africa; and no greater blow could be struck at Mahomedanism than by putting an end to this anti-human traffic.

CHAPTER XV.

Journey from Sagagahdah to Mokoito, general direction W.S.W., time marching four hours.—Meet old friends.—Conversation upon origin of the Dankalli people.—Journey from Mokoito to Ahmahguloff, general direction W.N.W., time marching three hours.—Description of halting-place.

April 20th.—On getting ready to start this morning, I found all had been arranged for the immediate return of Lohitu, evidently, as had been intimated by Ohmed Mahomed, for the purpose of interfering with the peaceable progress of the Kafilah of Mahomed Allee through the country of the Debenee. The latter, fortunately, came up to bid me farewell, as I was superintending the saddling of my mule. He had taken the precaution to bring with him a number of his friends. I took the opportunity of a single moment when I saw that I was not watched, to say to him one word, “Lohitu!” at the same time drawing my hand across my throat, with a look that sufficiently told him the whole conspiracy. His reply was merely the same word, “Lohitu?” as if to ask me if I were quite sure; and taking my nod in the proper sense, he shook hands with me, English fashion, saying, “Tihebe,” (good) and away he 230hurried with his friends, who, if they were as brave as himself, would, with the others of his Kafilah to aid them, I had no doubt, prove more than a match for even the daring Lohitu and his numerous tribe.

Having mounted my mule, I rode up to Lohitu, and taking out my only remaining spoon, which I knew he coveted, I gave it to him, with two dollars I had ready for the purpose. As I presented them I pointed to Mahomed Allee, mentioning his name, and putting my hand to my breast, said, in the Dankalli language, “Occo,” (friend). Lohitu, with the quick perception characteristic of the whole nation, comprehended me at once, and receiving my present, put his hand to his breast in the same manner he had seen me do, and repeated the same word, “Occo,” in a tone of sincerity that at once removed my fears for Mahomed Allee. The pleasure I felt in consequence, at having thus frustrated the infamous design of my Tajourah friends, who stood scowling by, enabled me to return with interest their looks of disdain, as I rode alone for above an hour afterwards, before any of them chose to come up and speak to me. At last Ebin Izaak trotted his mule up to my side, and after riding a little time in silence, produced from beneath his shield, which hung as usual over the left knee from the bow of his saddle, the three bones of a leg of a sheep, united by the ligaments of the joint, and with scarcely 231any meat upon them. Pushing one extremity of the continuous bones towards me, he said very abruptly, “Yarcul” (eat). I could not help smiling at the scanty appearance of the repast, but immediately assented to the proposal, and catching hold of my end, we began twisting and pulling to separate the bones, till at last when they did go, and I got possession of the thigh bone for my share, both of us nearly lurched over on opposite sides of our mules, and we had each to grip fast hold of the mane, with the hand that was at liberty, to retain our seats in the saddle. What little meat was on the bones was soon stript off with our teeth, during which time Ebin Izaak accounted for his possession of the treat, no sheep having been killed in our Kafilah, by saying that it was the generous gift of some valued friend, belonging to the Kafilah of Mahomed Allee.

Our road lay along a smooth level plain of yellow marl, cracked in every direction by the baking heat of the sun, whilst the mirage before us mocked the dryness of the soil, by the affectation of the appearance of nature’s most refreshing gift, either to animals or to the equally thirsty earth.

The distortion of all objects that could be perceived in the mirage was very remarkable; small stones became huge rocks, and thin tufts of grass assumed the figure of ostriches; and I was taken in most certainly, much to the amusement of Ebin 232Izaak, who told me as I went after them that they were nothing but grass; yet so distinct was the appearance, and so natural the motion given to their well-defined image by the flickering of the vapour, that I did not hesitate to go in pursuit, feeling convinced that he must be mistaken.

Izaak, after stripping everything eatable off the bones, very carefully deposited them again in the hollow of his shield, observing, at the same time, they would do for a boxeish for some of the camel-drivers. We now proceeded in very friendly conversation, respecting the likelihood of a marriage taking place between my Queen and Salie Selasse, the King of Shoa, which some of the wiser people of Tajourah could alone surmise, as the probable cause of the numerous valuable presents, which had been sent up to that monarch. Whilst I was endeavouring to explain the impossibility of such a thing, and turning in my mind to what reasonable object I could attribute our present intercourse with Shoa, we were suddenly hailed by a voice I knew, and looking in the direction from whence it proceeded, saw before us, in a low jungle, the slave-boy of Ohmed Mahomed, who was evidently on the watch for our approach.

At his request we dismounted, and leaving the mules in his charge, we pushed aside the strong thorny boughs of myrrh and young mimosa-trees, and made our way to the edge of a small stream that crept along, shaded from the sun by the 233grateful bushes it nourished. Here, in a natural arbour, we found fast asleep our two friends, Ohmed Medina and Garahmee, each with his tobe wrapped closely around the body, and also covering the head, which was supported upon a small wooden pillow. Their spears lay upon the ground close to their right hands, and their shields were suspended amidst the bending boughs of the rude bower, which concealed them from the observation of any passing native. The boy, as I supposed, had been posted to watch for our arrival.

The noise we made awakened Garahmee, who, after the usual lengthened salutations, gave Ebin Izaak an account of their journey to Owssa, from whence it appeared they had travelled during the last night, having arrived where we found them some hours before us. Others of the Kafilah now joining us, Ohmed Medina was roused from his slumbers. Finding Lohitu not accompanying us, I could hear him making some inquiries respecting that chief; and not being satisfied with the information he obtained, as soon as he had arranged his dress, he entered into conversation with me, wanting to know what present I had given to Lohitu, and if I were pleased with him. He then directed my attention to a new shield he had, and which he told me had been given to him by the generous Chief, whose many excellent qualities were now his theme for some time. Among other things, he said, improving upon the idea of Ebin Izaak 234respecting the Queen and Salie Selasse, that the best thing she could do was to marry Lohitu; and the English, and the Dankalli would then be one people. I smiled at the honour so seriously intended, but I laughed outright, when Ohmed Medina, pointing to the slave-boy, to whom Ebin Izaak as a mark of favour had given the two bones, asked me if my lady Queen smoked like that. Only imagine a thin bushy-headed black, whose entire dress consisted of a narrow strip of dirty cloth thrown across the shoulders, sitting apart, that he might not be importuned to share with others, the luxury he was indulging in. His pipe, the long shank bone of a leg of mutton, having the smaller end broken off with a stone, whilst the broader extremity was bruised into a concavity, that admitted a small portion of tobacco to be lodged in its cellular structure. Through this novel meerschaum was the fragrant weed being inhaled, and to the appearance of this party I was referred in order to understand fully the question, “Does your Queen smoke like that?” said in a manner, too, that intimated such an accomplishment on her part would be a great recommendation to the Dankalli, in case of the wedding. I was obliged to say she did not, and looked as if I thought the country, hardly worth the trouble of learning to smoke out of a sheepshank, on purpose to obtain possession of it. Observing, or suspecting this, Ohmed Medina rather sharply closed the 235conversation, by remarking, “Ah, I see, she does not want a country of stones like this.”

The Kafilah halted for the day close under the southern bank of the plain, a precipitous cliff of an easily disintegrated volcanic stone, the debris of which, from detached rocks of several tons weight to small angular fragments, were strewed along its base some distance into the plain. A little stream was the chief agent of denudation; in a very serpentine course, it flowed towards the other side, each bank fringed with dwarf shrubs, and its crystal waters set in a bright enamel of a most delicate kind of grass, which, like a bed of green soft moss, extended along its borders. It burst through a narrow and very recently formed channel from the lava-strewn plateau of Mahree above, and in the rear of our camp passed with a rushing impetuosity, which gradually decreased into the gentlest ripple, as it flowed over its pebbly bed near to the spot where, on our first arrival, we found our friends Ohmed Medina and Garahmee.

Here, among the thick bushes, I took up my residence for the day, surrounded by the Hy Soumaulee, whose heavy war-knives I had undertaken to improve in outward appearance, by fixing a bright dress naval button into a hollow piece of brass, usually placed as an ornament upon the end of the scabbard, but which, without the button to cover the otherwise bare extremity, presented an appearance that was not satisfactory to my educated 236Birmingham ideas of what constituted elegance. When I pointed out the defect, and suggested the improvement, it was surprising to observe the numbers who applied for the decoration. The order of the button, in fact, became quite the rage, and it was not until it had become very general indeed, that I lost the popularity which its first establishment had occasioned. Like knighthood, to have been respected, it ought to have been kept select, and the braves alone should have been thus rewarded; but when, moved by selfish considerations, I bestowed it upon Zaido, whose cowardice was the laugh of the whole Kafilah, I found the moral of my influence gone, and the previously much-prized button became valued only as an article of commerce. But the mean in spirit have no idea of personal distinction, as I confessed to myself when I heard, that Zaido had sold honour’s bright badge, for a small bag of tobacco.

The halting-place was called Dulhull, although I found afterwards that this, properly speaking, was the name of the ridge to the north, which alone separated us from the Lake Abhibhad. From one informant I received the name Mokoito as that of the plain, and the ridge under which our encampment lay was still called Mahree.

Ohmed Medina had so much to tell the chief people of the Kafilah, about the business which had taken him to Owssa, that I did not have much of his conversation during the day, or any opportunity 237of taking him to task, for giving me the slip at Arabderah, for I now perceived, that what I heard in that place of him and Garahmee returning to Gobard, was a fiction of convenience, to avoid any importunity on my part to accompany them. Ohmed Mahomed, in a better humour than I expected, after my morning’s speech to Lohitu in favour of Mahomed Allee, came and sat with me an hour or two, endeavouring to convince me that he had done everything for the best, and that Mahomed Allee was a great scoundrel. He also attempted to give me some information respecting Owssa and Hurrah, the latter being a celebrated city, once the capital of the large kingdom of Adea, situated about four days’ journey directly to the south. Owssa, also, it should have been observed before, was formerly the seat of the Government of the kingdom of Adal, but for the last three centuries, these former Amahra or Abyssinian monarchical divisions of the country of Adgem, Adea, and Adal, have given way to the more numerous subdivisions required by the system of patriarchal authority, which alone is recognised among the present barbarous Dankalli occupants. Ohmed Mahomed failed to enlighten me, on the subject of the relative geographical position, of these still important emporiums of the produce of this country, for unfortunately he did not possess, like Ohmed Medina, that generalizing talent of taking, as it were, a bird’s-eye view of the intervening 238country in his mind, and then depicting a transcript readily upon the sand, to convey at once a correct idea of the whole to a stranger.

Towards evening, all who had been, during the heat of the day, basking and sleeping under the cool shade of the bushes, now took up their wooden pillows, and with mats hanging down from their shoulders, proceeded to the camp, within the limits of which it is usual for all to sleep.

April 21st.—On our starting this morning, I again offered thirty dollars to induce the Hy Soumaulee to accompany me to Owssa, as Ohmed Medina said, if they consented, he would also go with us. I received the usual pantomimic reply of pointing first to their knives, and then to their throats, with an expressive twist of their features that said how sorry they should be for such a misfortune to befall us, and Garahmee, to make the scene still more impressive, holding his spear by its lower end, and extending it at arm’s length, pointed to the tops of all the ridges around, as he slowly moved on his heel, and repeated the alarm cry of “Ko! ko! ko!” telling me as plainly as possible, that our advance would be the signal for the whole country to be up in arms. I told Ohmed Medina over and over again, that I might have accompanied him and Garahmee from Arabderah, but he swore by the Prophet and the name of Allah that it was quite impossible; for if I had it would have occasioned the death of the whole party. As it was, 239they had been obliged to take the most precipitous roads, and travelled only in the darkest hours of the night, which, he said, I could not have done, or he would himself have proposed my going, as he wished me to see and know everything about the country. I at length dropped the subject, for how could I disbelieve him in this, who on all other occasions had shown himself ready to give me every information I required, and frequently volunteered a great deal more; always valuable when coming from a man of his good sense and observation.

During the march, passing by some kairns, we began a conversation upon the Kafirs who formerly occupied this country. Of the ancient religion Ohmed Medina knew nothing, but he thought it probable, when I pointed out the constant compass bearing of the graves, and its reference to the rising sun, that the former inhabitants might have worshipped that luminary. On asking him what was the belief of the present Soumaulee, he called them “Monahfuk,” that is, people who knew Allah by name, and who acknowledged the Prophet, but could not pray, their knowledge of Islamism extending only to the two expressions of “Ahum d’Allah!” (“Thanks be to God!”), and “Mahomed Abdurasuel!” (“Mahomed, slave of the Most High!”)

Ohmed Medina did not deny that the Dankalli and Soumaulee were formerly one people, although 240he seemed to admit this with reluctance; but after I had told him, as he said, a great deal more than he knew previously, and now learnt for the first time, that differences in the knowledge of the Mahomedan religion, had been the occasion of their modern separation; he then confessed, that even at the present day, the division between the Dankalli and Soumaulee Bedouin tribes was scarcely recognisable. To illustrate this remark, he informed me, that a great portion of the Issah Soumaulee acknowledged Lohitu as their Chief, and bore the Debenee mark upon their breasts. This was the reason that the man belonging to the Issah, I had seen yesterday speaking to Lohitu, bore that symbol, or arms of the tribe as it may be called, and for which I could not before account. Ohmed Medina went on to say, that my friends the Hy Soumaulee were “Affah,” as much so, as the other Dankalli, and that the half of the Wahama tribe, to which Mahomed Allee belonged, were actually Issah Soumaulee. This last observation also assisted me to explain a plea urged by the Sultaun of Tajourah to exclude this obnoxious person from that town, it being asserted whilst I was there that he was an Issah Soumaulee, and consequently ought to take his Kafilah to Zeila.

After a short journey of three hours we arrived at Ahmahguloff, a halting-place in the plain, exactly similar to the one of yesterday. The same narrow tract covered with stones which had fallen 241from the edge of the wall-like cliff adjoining, and another little stream brawling down its narrow ravine, and hiding itself in a tortuous green line of bushes as it traversed the plain. The banks of this stream, however, were too soft and marshy, to tempt us to seek our retreat from the sun, among the bowers formed by its overhanging shrubs. My fortalice of boxes was therefore erected amidst the stores and piles of salt, which, connected by far-spreading camel saddles, and covered with mats, gave to the camp the character of a large caravansary. At this place I became acquainted, very disagreeably, with one of the most noisome of vermin, and which afterwards I found abounded in the neighbourhood of Kafilah stations. It was a round flat tic, the size of a split pea, and of a dark red colour. It attacked indiscriminately men and beasts. No sooner was the mat laid down, and I had composed myself for rest, than from all quarters I saw these dirty-looking squat-made insects crawling towards me, converging, as it were from the circumference of everywhere, to an unfortunate centre. They most assuredly smelt blood, and that at immense distances. For this purpose, I suppose, as also for their feeding apparatus, they were furnished with long pipe-like snouts, some lines in length, with which, after making a lodgment upon the body, they made their attack. Six short legs carried the body along at an extraordinary pace, when aware of the 242presence of blood in their neighbourhood. The worst was, there was no way of getting rid of them; and it would have been a long and tiresome job to have killed all that were seen. My naked companions protected me in a great measure, for to these the insects directed their chief attention, whilst upon the first intimation of the presence of the few, that did venture upon my legs, I pulled up the bottoms of my trowsers, and with the sharp point of my knife dislodged the little vampires very quickly. The favourite locality of these pests appears to be beneath trees where cattle have recently been. The numbers that may be seen in such situations are incredible, and they very soon drive the tired traveller from the shelter, where he had hoped to find a friendly shade from the burning sun. The natives call them “killem,” and a somewhat similar insect, though much larger, preys exclusively upon the camel, where their presence is believed by the owner, to indicate health in the animal.

In this situation I also observed numerous large ant-hills, some of which were conical-formed eminences, at least six feet high, with a circumference of several yards. Himyah having fired his matchlock, at a vulture perched on the top of one of these insect edifices, missed the bird, but buried the ball deep into the interior. I walked up to examine the injury done to the walls of clay, and was surprised to find the work of restoration already 243commenced, and busily going forward. Had the little animals the power of speech, I question much if such unanimity of purpose would have determined the energies of the whole community, so immediately to the repair of the injury. Had a corresponding one been committed on a Dankalli kraal, as I observed to Himyah, they would have had a month’s calahm about it; to which my companion, turning up the end of his nose, gave an affirmative jerk of the head, at the same time ejaculating, “Whalla,” “by God,” as if he had never heard a truer thing than that, in the whole course of his life.

We both stooped over the hole to watch the progress of the work. Short-legged thick-bodied labouring ants, already bore masses of moistened earth several times their own weight to close up the orifice made by the ball; whilst on all sides the easily distinguished soldiers, were, running about in great numbers, apparently on the look-out for the fierce invader, who had made such an onslaught on their castle.

We did not remain at Ahmahguloff for the night, but after “asseir,” or afternoon prayer, the camels were again loaded, and we moved to another halting-place about six miles farther to the west, but still in the plain. A Bedouin who had come into the camp during the day, reported that abundant forage would be found there. Where we were, the circumstance of the Kafilah of 244Mahomed Allee having halted here two evenings before, had caused a great scarcity of vegetation; their camels, in fact, had eaten up everything in the shape of leaves and grass.

The road lay along the base of the bounding ridge to the south of the plain. As during the morning’s march we took care to choose our path outside of the fallen fragments of rock, and upon ground where scarcely a stone the size of a bean could be found, except such as had been thrown by the hand of some idler passing by. It seemed, indeed, to be the dried bottom of a muddy lake, the waters of which had been recently evaporated, for not a green leaf could I see upon it during the two hours we marched across the parched surface, until we arrived at our halting-ground, where there certainly were a few patches of coarse grass; and the sloping sides of the ridge on our left, were more overgrown with myrrh and other bushes, the small twigs and young foliage of which, the camels are very fond of. The name of Ahmahguloff was still retained, and I was given to understand, that all the country until we turned out of the plain was now so called. The hill of Obinoe was in our front, not more than five or six miles distant, and I could now plainly perceive the extremities of several other plains terminating at that height, as at a centre.

CHAPTER XVI.

Journey from Ahmahguloff to Koranhedudah, general direction S.W., time occupied three hours.—Pass Jibel Obinoe.—Plain of Amardu.—Account of myrrh-tree.—Description of halting-place.—Singular solar phenomenon.—April 23d. Journey from Koranhedudah to Herhowlee, general direction W.N.W., time two hours and a-half.—Bedouin village.—Bedouin ladies.

April 22d.—Ebin Izaak, Ohmed Mahomed, Ohmed Medina, and myself, all rode our mules during this morning’s march so that we outstript the pedestrians very soon. Passing out of the plain we ascended a steep acclivity of loose stones, which led us over one extremity of the ridge of Mahree, covered with large blocks of lava. After half an hour’s ride along this, we descended the opposite side, the road being down the tortuous and often precipitous bed of an occasional torrent. My mule having placed her feet upon an easily detached stone, came down upon her side with great violence. I threw myself off, falling in an opposite direction, and escaped with a few bruises. Remounting again very speedily, for all had come to my assistance, we entered a narrow valley plain called Amardu, similar in character to the one we had been marching 246along for the last three days, and like it terminating at Jibel Obinoe, now about four miles distant.

The singularly cleft summit of the low peak of Obinoe, and its apparent relative position with respect to the various fissured plains that appear to terminate there as at a centre, induced me to sketch its outline, as I would a head-land at sea, placing also sundry small arrows to indicate the directions of the several valleys. Its appearance was, as if at this point, the previously level plateau had been upraised from beneath, with a force but just sufficient to lift the then fractured portions into opposite inclined planes, and the severed summit distinctly marked, the separated edges of the original table-land. The greatest height that has been attained by the upraised portion, is not 700 feet above the level of the valley plains, and not 400 above the level of the flat-topt heights of Dulhull and Mahree.

The plain of Amardu was intersected with deep narrow gullies, or dry watercourses, four or five feet deep, and as many wide. Plenty of coarse grass seemed to promise excellent forage for the camels, and I expected, when we dismounted again under a large tree, that we were going to halt for the day; however, I was told that this was a favourite rendezvous for deer and wild asses, and I soon saw several herds of these animals, besides great numbers of guinea-fowl on every side of us. My companions had evidently preceded the Kafilah 247with me, on purpose to obtain, if possible, one of the larger antelopes, and Ohmed Mahomed now asked me to go and endeavour to shoot one. I accordingly started, and taking advantage of one of the water channels, I soon found myself abreast four very fine ones, as large as roebucks, and not more than eighty yards distant. I fired at once, but being in a hurry, and my short carbine not carrying point-blank more than sixty yards, the ball struck the one I aimed at low on the hind leg, breaking it below the hough. It staggered on to its hind quarters, but recovering itself immediately, tried on three legs to follow its affrighted companions. Ebin Izaak seeing this, jumped upon his mule, and throwing his shield from the bow of his saddle, and his tobe from his shoulders, galloped in a direction that would either cut off its retreat, and prevent it joining the others, or else force it up the steep face of the cliff, down which we had just come. After a chase of about half an hour, in sight the whole time, we saw our eager huntsman come alongside the antelope and at full speed launch his spear into its side. As the animal fell tumbling on its face, Izaak leaped from his mule, and soon put an end to its vain effort to rise and to resist, by cutting its throat with his dagger.

The Hy Soumaulee and some of the Kafilah men having followed us over the ridge of Mahree, now came bounding down the bed of the stream, one after the other, gathered around the dead 248antelope, and lashing its feet together, they brought it to the tree under which we at first halted. We here waited for the approach of the camels, which were at length seen rounding the extremity of the ridge, and entering the plain of Amardu, without going over the ridge as we had done. Before they came to us I shot three fine guinea-fowl at one discharge, so that the object of our preceding the Kafilah had not been disappointed. In addition to the feast thus promised, Ohmed Medina directed one of the Hy Soumaulee to gather a large quantity of a very delicate vegetable that abounded here, which he assured me the Banyans at Bombay were very fond of, and that he knew I should like it too, appearing at the same time rather surprised, at my ignorance of the plant, which at first I refused to have anything to do with.

The camels coming up, I was glad to find we were not to stop here for the day, as I began to feel impatient at the length of the journey to Shoa, and anxious that it should be concluded as soon as possible, having been now nearly four weeks almost daily marching, and still I was informed we had not reached half way.

The game was placed upon the camels, and the vegetable, crammed into one of Zaido’s skin bags, was thrown between the saddle-staves, where their extremities cross each other over the back of the camel, and we again started for a halting-place called 249Koranhedudah, about three hours’ march in a direction, south-west. We ascended a long, but gentle acclivity, for at least two hours of this time, along a road strewn with the everlasting lava cinders, and at length reached a small circular spot about a mile in diameter, surrounded with low black ridges of the usual character, and at the foot of which were several pools of clear water, where an abundance of frogs kept up a continual croaking. Myrrh and mimosa-trees abounded in this place; among the latter I noticed the variety producing gum arabic, and also another which yielded a strong astringent gum, that resembled very much the gum kino.

Accompanied by Ebin Izaak I went in search of some gum myrrh, as I was very anxious to procure specimens of the leaves, flowers, and seeds of the tree that yields this useful drug, and a description of which I had been taught, had long been a desideratum in “Materia Medica.”

There are in the country of Adal two varieties; one, a low thorny ragged-looking tree, with bright green leaves, trifoliolate, and an undulating edge, is that which has been described by Ehrenberg, and a wood-cut of which will be found in page 1629 of the second volume of Pereira’s “Elements of Materia Medica.” This produces the finest sort of myrrh in our shops. The other is a more leafy tree, if I may use the expression, and its appearance reminded me exceedingly of the common hawthorn of home, having 250the same largely serrated, dark green leaves, growing in bunches of four or five, springing by several little leaf-stalks from a common centre. These bunches are arranged alternately around the branch, at the distance of half an inch from each other, but varying with the age and size of the branch. The young shoots appear to be these sessile bunches, which, more luxuriant in their growth, project their axis into one long common foot-stalk, around which the leaves are then arranged singly, exactly, if I remember right, as do the young shoots of the hawthorn, the terminations of which, like in the myrrh-tree, decaying, leave strong thorns. The flowers are small, of a light green colour, hanging in pairs beneath the leaves, and in size and shape resemble very much the flowers of our gooseberry-tree. According to the system of Linnæus, with which alone I am acquainted, it belongs to the class octandria, order monogynia, the eight stamens being alternately long and short, the former corresponding to the four partial clefts in the edge of the one-leafed calyx. The fruit is a kind of berry, that, when ripe, easily throws off the dry shell in two pieces, and the two seeds it contains, escape. The outer bark is thin, transparent, and easily detached, the inner thick, woody, and, if cut with a knife, appears to abound with vessels, from the divided extremities, of which a yellow turbid fluid (the gum myrrh) immediately makes its appearance. This, if wiped off upon 251paper, leaves a greasy stain, like oil would do. Naturally the gum exudes from cracks in the bark of the trunk near the roots, and flows freely upon the stones immediately underneath. Artificially, it is obtained by bruises made with stones. Iron instruments are never employed to produce the wound, not from any prejudice, I believe, but from the scarcity of that metal, and the great care taken of their weapons by the Dankalli, and from finding, perhaps, that a blow given with a stone occasions a broader injury to the bark, and that the gum exudes more plentifully in consequence. The natives collect it principally in the hot months of July and August, but it is to be found, though in very small quantities, at other times of the year. It is collected in small kid-skins, and taken to Errur, where the Hurrah merchants, when they pass through that country on their way home from Shoa, purchase it. An equal quantity of tobacco is given in exchange for it. The Hurrah merchant conveys it to the great annual market at Berberah, from whence great quantities are shipped for India and Arabia.

During our search for the myrrh, I often came upon the gum Arabic mimosa, with its little black thorn, very different from the long white-thorned variety from which I obtained some of the red gum. Gum Arabic, when taken from the tree, is soft, and of an agreeable taste, something resembling very young wheat in the ear, and must be a nutritious and pleasant food. The Dankalli 252seemed to be perfectly aware of its demulcent effect in allaying thirst, and insisted that in the absence of water, it was a sufficient substitute. When I thought upon the numerous instances of benevolent adaptations for our happiness and convenience in other more favoured spots, I could not help reflecting, experienced as I was in the scanty resources of a desert, how much more striking, in such situations, were these extraordinary provisions against human suffering in cases of extremity.

On returning to the camp my attention was directed to a singular phenomenon. Exactly over head was a large circular cloud, like a huge shield, in the centre of which the sun shone with a subdued light, a brilliant boss. The outer circle or edge of the cloud was of a bright silver colour, then a narrow band of dull yellow, and the remainder, until it reached the bright centre, was as black as a heavy thunder-cloud. Its diameter was about one-fourth of the sky. In about an hour it gradually disappeared, leaving for a short time afterwards a perfectly circular rainbow around the sun, at the distance of its original circumference. I observed, that although the sun seemed to shine very brightly, as if through an aperture in the centre of this singular appearance, it cast no shadow, and also that the air was much cooler during its continuance. It frequently occurs in Adal, and appears to depend, like the halo around the moon, upon the moisture in the atmosphere.

253A geographical discussion on the situation of Hurrah and Abasha concluded the day, and after superintending the cooking of one of the guinea-fowls, I turned into my hut, for supper and then to bed. Thunder, lightning, and rain seemed to promise an uncomfortable night, but after a short heavy shower, I was agreeably disappointed by its clearing up and continuing fine for the rest of the night.

April 23d.—Left Koranhedudah, or “the Plain of Ravens,” by sunrise, our march continuing along the banks of a small river flowing towards the south-east into the new lake of Doweleeka. A day or two before I had been told, as something peculiar, that we should cross such a watercourse. It appeared to be a permanently-running water, for the trees on either bank were of an unusual size, and some of them of a novel character, but I had no opportunity of examining them closely. Having forded the stream where it flowed over a broad surface of rather large stones, some of which were not covered by the water, we entered an extensive plain, abounding with a rank coarse grass, amidst the tufts of which we travelled for nearly three hours, passing a deserted kraal, with numerous broken stone enclosures for folding the young of the flock. Numerous kairns were also visible. It was very evident that at some seasons this plain was a favourite resort of the Bedouins, and, in fact, after another hour’s march, during which we crossed two or three narrow brooks, we came suddenly 254upon a number of native huts, situated on a ridge of lava, which here, as in several other places in the plain, protruded through the clayey soil.

This encampment belonged to the tribe of my Hy Soumaulee friends, and were the first huts of the natives I had seen during my journey. There were about twenty or thirty of them, but Ohmed Mahomed, with great gravity, informed me that the name of the city was Herhowlee, the plain around being called Lukhee. On my expressing a wish to see the interior of one of the mansions, a very handsome nice-looking girl, to whom Ohmed Mahomed applied, immediately assented, and took me to her father’s, I suppose, for on our arrival there was no one to be seen but an old gentleman, nearly blind. He was busily employed stirring with a stick some kind of grain, which was boiling in a red earthenware pot over the fire. The house itself was exactly the same, as some I had seen at Berberah, about twelve feet long by six in breadth and height, consisting of a frame of bent twigs, over which were thickly laid mats of the palm leaf, sufficient to throw off the rain, whilst entire leaves of the same tree, placed perpendicularly, closed the farther extremity. The fire-place was a small circle of stones, occupying the one half of the entrance end, and which portion was also protected by a shielding of palm-leaves, whilst the other half was left open to serve as a door. There was nothing like furniture in the place, except a flat stone reared 255against the side of the room, which, from its mealy appearance, was evidently used as a mill. From the roof was hung one of the large water-tight baskets of the common construction, containing, I presume, the family riches of tobacco, beads, bits of paper, coloured rags, and lumps of sheep’s-tail fat. Very few natives interrupted me in my examination, as they evidently thought I was fascinated with the beauties of their handsome sister; and this little experience was of service to me, for afterwards, when, as was always the case, I did not want to be troubled with the numerous beggars who, in populous districts, besiege the traveller with requests for everything they see, I used to station at the entrance of my hut one of their women, and it was seldom, or never, that the men would then intrude, and if they did, some trifle, or a word from my keeper, always sent them away. The husband or the father of the woman, however, always came up on leaving our halting-place to receive the gift which was expected for the services performed, and which, of course, when I came to understand their customs better, I took care to reserve for them. The traveller will generally find that the older his duenna is, the more relief and rest he will obtain after his journey, for she will take care to keep away all intruders, and it is laughable to observe the abuse or threats they indulge in, whenever the younger girls come peeping and running about. A few needles, a piece of 256blue Surat cloth for the head, and another for their principal male friend, is all and more than they expect; whilst the freedom from annoyance and constant watching, which is secured by this proceeding, is of great service to the traveller after the fatigue of a long day’s journey.

The plain of Lukhee, at that part of it where we were, appears to have been once a similar valley to that we had travelled along during the three last days, but it has been completely filled up, with the deposited sediment of the numerous small streams in this neighbourhood, to the height of the lava plateau through which these wide and deep fissures, have originally radiated.

The country around extending in one wide plain, advantage had been taken of the little eminence, near which the huts were erected, to form a kind of small solid look-out, about fifteen feet high, built of loose stones, and used on occasions of anticipated invasion, by the inhabitants of Herhowlee, who could here keep watch and announce the approach of danger. Ohmed Mahomed and two of my Hy Soumaulee escort took me to its summit, to point out the different distant eminences visible from it. Before us, to the south, lay the extensive plain of Lukhee, over which was just discernible, at the distance of at least fifty miles, the high hills of Goror, near the town of Hurrah, where the coffee brought to Berberah is largely cultivated. Turning towards the north we could 257perceive the abrupt termination of the flat-topped lava ridges, about the river of Killaloo; whilst to the south-west was the valley of Gaiel, through which flowed the waters of Errur on to Killaloo. To the west the plain extended to the Hawash, near to which were two hills, whose tops were just visible, called Hyhilloo and Abhidah.

In the evening I went with Himyah and Ohmed Medina after some antelopes, but could not get near enough to them; however, we roused a large yellow-coloured snake, of at least five feet in length, that, unscathed by my hurried shot at him, went hissing hot, into his hole under a clump of grass, nor did he cease making the noise, until the last of his tail had disappeared, just in time to escape being pinched off, by the butt-end of a spear, which was struck at it by Ohmed Medina.

At Herhowlee, we were unfortunate enough to meet with a runaway slave, belonging to Ohmed Mahomed. He was a great rascal, and his master would rather, that he had not made his appearance. His name was Allee, and having lived for the last six months with the Bedouins, had acquired somewhat of their wildness. I suspected him, from the great intimacy that seemed to exist between him and Garahmee, and he was just that kind of character, that might be made the instrument of an unscrupulous man.

CHAPTER XVII.

Staying at Herhowlee.—Dankalli sell their female children for slaves.—Pillar of sand and cloud of fire indications of rain.—Engage escort of thirty Hy Soumaulee. Comparison between modern Dankalli and ancient Blemmyes.—April 26th, Journey from Herhowlee to Barradudda, general direction S.S.W.; time marching two hours.—Description of halting-place.—Religious discussion with Ohmed Medina.

April 24th.—A beautiful morning, air fresh and cool, and I was disappointed at there being no start. We were staying, I believe, to give the camels a rest. All this day I kept in my hut amusing myself by projecting a map from the information I had received of the surrounding country, including Owssa and the lakes of the Hawash. On showing it to Ohmed Medina for his confirmation of the particulars, he was much pleased with the attempt, and begged me to make a copy for him. This map quite restored me to his good opinion, as to the extent of my knowledge, which had been somewhat shaken by my ignorance of the vegetable, he had gathered for me the day before, and which turned out to be most excellent. I should observe, that I have since learnt that it 259is the common Barjee of Indian bazaars, and Ohmed Medina was quite right therefore in the statement he made of its being a favourite food of the Banyans, and it indicated no little observation on his part, to have noticed that circumstance.

Garahmee to-day left us to pay a short visit to his family, who lived in a kraal some miles to the north, in the direction of Owssa. As he expected a present upon the occasion, I gave him a couple of coloured handkerchiefs for his two wives. It is very seldom that a Dankalli Bedouin has more than one help-mate; but Garahmee, making great pretensions to a godly life, like a pious Mahomedan, had added another wife to his establishment. The precepts of his religion being so far practised, his virtue was rewarded, by the profit arising from the sale of his more numerous offspring; having just been to Tajourah, to conclude a bargain for his youngest and only remaining daughter. He had on previous occasions disposed of two elder ones, and before he left Herhowlee, he came to me again and offered for three dollars, to bring me the daughter of some friend who, he said, had one to dispose of, but I have no doubt, he intended to steal the girl, had I consented to the business.

To-day I witnessed a very interesting proof of the great similarity between the climate and physical character of this country, and that through which Moses led the Israelites in their flight from Egypt. About noon, a sudden stir among the 260Kafilah people, induced me to leave my hut to see what could be the matter; every one was running about for mats and skins, with which they covered in a great hurry the heaps of salt-bags, that surrounded the encampment. Those who had charge of the stores of the Embassy, were equally busy in protecting the boxes and packages, from a storm which was fast approaching, for on looking towards the east I saw, with astonishment, the sky in that direction quite dark, with one vast cloud of wind, and the red sand borne up before it. Its rotary motion was very evident, although the whirlwind, as it really was, was too large and too near to be seen distinctly as a separate body, which it might have been at some little distance. It advanced towards the camp at the rate of about ten or twelve miles an hour, but as numbers were now shouting to me to get under cover, and I did not know exactly what effects to anticipate, I made a dive into my hut, and wrapping my head and face up in my handkerchief to prevent inhaling more of the fine sand than could be avoided, I awaited the result. In a few moments afterwards, the strength of the wind passed over us, whirling the roof of my hut, along with the mats covering the salt, high up in the air, and scattering them far and wide over the plain. The heavy stones that had been placed upon them to prevent such an occurrence being rolled off, sometimes upon the prostrate Kafilah men, who lay under the sides of the 261salt heaps, which they had hoped would have served as a kind of shielding from the blinding and choking sand. A few drops of rain, and some distant claps of thunder, accompanied this phenomenon. In a few minutes, the sky clearing, the short silence of the camp gave way to a burst of shouting and laughing, as the people chased the retiring column, in pursuit of their flying mats and ropes. I got out of my retreat, and saw moving towards the west, an immense pillar of sand, reaching from earth to heaven, in form and size exactly like the huge water-spouts I have seen out at sea, off the island of Ceylon.

On asking Ohmed Medina respecting these sand spouts, and whether they were common in Adal, he told me, that sometimes twenty or thirty of them, might be seen at once upon extensive plains which admitted of their formation, and added, that they were always accompanied by rain, and with the sheet lightning in the horizon by night, and that these signs, directed the Bedouins to situations, where they would not fail to find water for their flocks. This was a most interesting fact for me to learn, evidently proving, as it does, that the goodness of heaven was not especially devoted to the comfort and happiness of the Israelites alone, as with some little national vanity, and more ignorance of natural phenomena, these people have ascribed the presence of the pillar of a cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, to be, imagining them to 262have been solely created for the purpose of directing them in their wanderings through the wilderness. We find, however, that in Adal the same benevolence has there provided for the Dankalli Bedouin, similar indications for his convenience, in a country where water is only occasionally found. Moses, very properly led the Israelites to believe these signs to be, as they really are, miracles of mercy exerted in the behalf of man, and which still prove, as in the time of that great leader, that the hand of God is always stretched over his creatures, to preserve them in situations, where otherwise, they would be exposed to great privations.

All the evening, Ohmed Medina and Ohmed Mahomed were engaged in a great council; the men of Herhowlee and of the Kafilah, forming one great circle, between the village and our encampment. Immediately on our arrival the best understanding had been established between us, and after the first surprise occasioned by my appearance had worn away, I was received by the inhabitants of the village, on the same familiar terms as other people of the Kafilah, and sometimes visited them in their houses. Here medicine was in great demand, and frequently asked for in exchange, for the milk and butter which were offered.

The cause of the calahm this evening I found, was the circumstance becoming known to our Ras ul Kafilah, that a serious quarrel existed 263between the Hy Soumaulee and the Wahama, the next tribe on our route to Shoa. As the treatment of Mahomed Allee, who was a Wahama, when last in Tajourah, had been exceedingly unfriendly, his tribe had determined to resent it, and threatened a very hostile reception, to future Tajourah Kafilahs passing through their country. All this we had been made aware of, when we met the Kafilah of Mahomed Allee at Sagagahdah, and Ohmed Mahomed felt a corresponding anxiety, until he was somewhat relieved, by finding that his friends, the Hy Soumaulee, had also a quarrel with the same tribe. A large council was accordingly called together this evening, to determine upon a combined mode of proceeding, to ensure a safe passage through the country of our common enemy.

The result was, that an additional escort of thirty Hy Soumaulee were engaged, who were to receive for their services four dollars each man, to be paid on our arrival in Shoa. After it was all settled, I was requested to give, the security of my promise for its payment; and as I was convinced that any expense really necessary to secure the safety of the stores, would be readily paid on the termination of our journey by the Mission in Shoa, I did not hesitate to assure them, that they would certainly receive, on our arrival, what I considered to be, their very moderate demand. The Hy Soumaulee expressed themselves satisfied, and two-thirds of the required number were immediately enlisted, who, after giving 264their names to be enrolled in my note-book, hastened to their homes, to make some preparations for the journey.

April 25th.—We were obliged to remain at Herhowlee all this day, to allow of some jowahree biscuit being prepared, for the use of the new escort upon the road. Numerous deliberative calahms were held during the day, for the Dankalli people cannot do the least public business, without having a succession of these council-meetings to determine upon the best course to be adopted.

In these calahms, it is usual for every one to sit down in a large circle, holding before him his shield, over the top of which the face alone is visible. In the right hand they hold the spear upright, its butt-end resting upon the ground. Each has a voice in the assembly, but it is very seldom that more than two or three of them speak, and the advice of the elders appears to have the greatest influence. When any difference of opinion arises, the party in the minority never endeavours to argue, but either remains silent or retires from the circle, so that the greatest unanimity always prevails. In case of very different opinions being supported by influential men, I have seen the two parties divide into separate rings. Each discuss their own particular views, and subsequent conferences of the chiefs of either side then determine the course of action to be adopted. During the whole proceedings the greatest care is taken to 265avoid a quarrel. If, however, party feeling should run unusually high, the precaution of a general peace assembly is resorted to both before and after the discussion, when every man takes an oath upon the Koran not to injure the others, so that whilst a number of tribes are combined together in any general business, it very rarely happens that a quarrel takes place among them.

With respect to the usual attitude of these people, when sitting in conversation, or in council, their faces just appearing above the upper edge of their shields, it struck me that very probably, this might have given occasion, for the representations made of an Ethiopian people who had no heads, but whose eyes and mouths were placed upon their breasts. No other reason can be found to account for the described appearance of the Blemmyes, and those who have seen the Dankalli sitting behind their shields, either in council or in battle array, must admit, I think, the probability that this national and characteristic custom was the foundation of the ancient report.

April 26th.—All the Hy Soumaulee being ready to start, our Kafilah moved off the ground about sunrise. I marched in company with Ohmed Medina and our numerous escort, over a rich well-watered country for two hours, till we arrived at the commencement of a large plain, flanked by flat-topped lava ridges, where it was again resolved to halt for the day. The plain was called Barradudda, 266and afforded excellent and abundant forage for the camels.

It was a beautiful spot which was selected for the encampment, the whole surface of the earth being one extensive green sward of fresh young grass. Mimosa-trees there grew to an extraordinary height, festooned from the topmost branches with a many-flowered climbing plant, which extending from tree to tree, formed a continued suite of the coolest bowers. The aditu, also offered its thick shade of round velvet-like leaves, from amidst which its short white trunk, seemed to represent the painted tent-pole of some bright green pavilion, of the richest material. Doves in all directions fled startled at our approach, only to return immediately, with louder cooing, to the quickly-remembered care of their young, who, in flat slightly-built nests of dry sticks and grass, lay crowding to the centre, as if aware of the insecurity of their frail-built homes. Hares in great numbers bounded from beneath our feet, and after running a few yards, would turn to gaze again upon the intruders on the quiet of their retreats, whilst the tall stalking bustard scarcely deigned to notice our arrival, but seemingly intent upon his beetle hunt, slowly removed himself from the increasing noise.

The scene was particularly inviting to me after the stones and sand of the previous few days’ journey, and although our march this morning had not been long, I was not sorry to learn the determination 267of the Ras ul Kafilah to remain here for the day. I soon got my carpet and mats arranged, borrowed a wooden pillow for my head, and with two or three of the new escort on one side, and Ohmed Medina on the other, had a long conversation, as we lay under the trees, upon the subject of religion. I endeavoured to make Ohmed Medina understand what a good Christian his Prophet Mahomed was, which was duly interpreted to the amused Bedouins, who all sat very patiently in an attitude of attention, until sufficient novel matter had been understood by Ohmed Medina, to interest them in the recital.

There are few interesting subjects, respecting which so little is generally known, as the Mahomedan religion. It professes a belief in one true and only God; and Islamism, apart from the rule of life instituted by Mahomed, was professed by Abraham, by Isaac, and, according to my opinion, which is of no value, but as satisfactory to my own conscience, was also taught by Jesus and his disciples. That our Saviour will appear again, is the cherished hope of every enlightened Mahomedan, and he glories in affirming that all the inhabitants of the world will then become his followers. This is so general an idea, that even the ignorant Mahomedans of the East, firmly believe that the Amhara, or Christian population, of Abyssinia, will at a future time seize Mecca, and destroy the temple. Something similar to this is the expressed fear 268of the Turks at the present day, that the Feringees will ultimately take Constantinople, and put down their religion. Both these popular ideas originate from the same source, as that which directs the learned Islam Mollum to expect the coming of Jesus; a tradition respecting Mahomed, who is stated to have confessed, that inasmuch as that Christ was not dead but living, and would come again, he was superior to himself, who was mortal and should die, like other men.

The numerous and fast extending sect, the Whaabbees, act up to this admission, and not only are they careful, to avoid all allusions to Mahomed in their prayers, but affect to make intercession in his behalf, by praying that God will forgive him his great sins; for not only they, but all other Mahomedans admit that their Prophet was so far from being immaculate, that he frequently violated the laws which he himself had promulgated as coming direct from Allah. The Whaabbees, who are Mahomedan Unitarians, a few years back, overran all Arabia, destroyed the tomb of Mahomed in Medina, and were about to act in a similar manner towards the temple in Mecca. The first man, however, who had mounted the roof for this purpose, by some accident, was precipitated to the ground and killed. This looked so like a judgment, that the zeal of these reformers abated considerably, and being soon after driven out of the Hedjas, and in some measure suppressed, 269by Mahomed Allee Pacha, this famous shrine escaped, for some short time, that destruction which I hope yet to see accomplished.

I need not enter into details of our interesting conversation, which only terminated with the setting sun. All afternoon we lay discussing matters of religion until it was fully understood by all that I was a Christian Whaahbee; and Ohmed Medina taking hold of my beard, drew it gently through his hand, as he said, that “an Ahkeem with such a promise of wisdom as that, ought to be altogether a Mussulman.” “Thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian,” would have been a more gratifying speech from my Islam companion, but I am no St. Paul.

In my notes upon this conversation, I have remarked that it is my firm conviction that the believers in one God, who live according to the moral precepts of the religion of Jesus, is the sect to whom is reserved, the glory of reuniting in one faith, the present divided family of man. Unitarianism, is the fore-coming shadow of this to be universally acknowledged belief, and all who profess its tenets should reflect, upon the important object committed to their agency, and encouraged by the high hope, that must result from their thoughts upon the subject, they will perhaps increase their endeavours to spread more widely, the principles of faith which they profess.

This observation is inserted solely as a matter of what I conceive to be duty; I hope, therefore, that 270thus recording my conviction, a bearing testimony to what the natural education of circumstances has taught me to believe to be the truth, will not be charged as presumption; especially when I feel assured that my omitting it, would be an act of the grossest ingratitude to my constant Guide and Guard, who has led and preserved me, through no ordinary difficulties and dangers.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Staying at Barradudda.—Milk diet.—Wound myself by accidental discharge of gun.—Bedouin skirmish.—Mode of warfare among Dankalli.—Compensation for wounds and injured property.—Peace re-established.

During the evening of our first day’s halt at Barradudda, a party of the women of Herhowlee came into camp, bearing upon their loins, in the usual fashion, large skins of milk. They had followed the Kafilah, upon hearing that we had halted at so short a distance. I came in for a share of their delicious burden, and certainly among the many discomforts of a wandering desert life, the constant supply of rich sweet curdled milk, which forms the principal food of the natives, compensates somewhat for the compulsatory abstinence of an educated stomach, from the cooked viands, and other creature comforts attendant upon civilization. One woman, for a handful of tobacco, brought me a kid-skin, containing about a quart of camel’s milk. This is of a very different character, to that of cattle, sheep, or goats, and as it never affords any cream, is never mixed with 272the produce of these for the purpose of making butter. It is a favourite drink of the Dankalli, from its medicinal virtues, being a gentle aperient. It is a light and agreeable beverage, having very little body, as connoisseurs are accustomed to say when speaking of their wines. Camels yield milk at all hours, and not merely at the stated morning and evening’s milkings of the flocks, which is a great recommendation of these animals to a Dankalli family.

On turning in for the night, Allee the Second sat at the entrance of my hut, telling me a long tale of the luxuries of Owssa, dates, milk, and wheaten bread, and nothing to do but sleep and eat, and eat and sleep. He seemed to think that if there were Paradise upon earth, it was situated in this particular part of Africa; but I expect, that the poets of Greece and Rome, held a more correct opinion, when they made it the kingdom of hell, for I am convinced myself, that when they send their heroes to the infernal regions, they are only describing some journey, made into this dangerous and desert-spread continent. The punishments of Tantalus, or the mirage; of Sisyphus, or the whirlwind of sand; and of Ixion for his amour with a cloud, or the necessity of continually revolving water-wheels, to irrigate even the most favoured spots; all tend to connect Africa, in my opinion with the hell of mythological history; and the natural phenomena there witnessed are the 273foundations, of the highly-coloured figurative punishments awarded to the guilty, who were supposed to be banished to these dreary and unhappy deserts, in contradistinction to the abode of the blest in the beautiful and luxuriant garden of the Hesperides, the elysium of the West.

April 27th.—Barradudda was too abundant of forage and water to admit of our leaving to-day, so we remained, much to my discomfort, for I found the little bug-like tics, as great admirers of beautiful scenery as ourselves, and seemed on this spot to be collected in myriads. They constitute, I should think, a very efficient remedy for the bad effects of too much blood being made by animals, who otherwise might suffer from the unlimited indulgence in good food, this place admits of.

After writing out a few notes on the conversation of yesterday with Ohmed Medina, I set about cleaning my carbine. Having drawn the charge of both barrels, as I supposed, I put caps upon the nipple, and to show how little was to be feared from the detonation of these alone, which the surrounding Bedouins thought quite as dangerous as ball and powder, I put my hand very bravely to the muzzle of the gun. On pulling the trigger, however, much to my surprise, I blew my hand into the mouth of a gaping Bedouin, who, with some others, sat upon their heels watching all my movements, until it came to the explosion, with 274very evident interest. Fortunately, the only injury I received was a severely contused burn of the whole of the palm of my hand, but the Bedouins thinking I must be killed outright rushed from the hut in a great hurry; Moosa dropped the bullet he held in his hand, another, the powder of the only barrel it appeared, that I had drawn the complete charge of, whilst each of the others seemed anxious to get as far away as he possibly could. The fellow whom I had upset, rolled over and over in an agony of mind, in too great a hurry, to get on his legs and run.

Ohmed Mahomed, and Ohmed Medina, expecting the worst from the stir that was so suddenly occasioned, came with two or three of the Tajourah people to my aid, as soon as they could snatch up their spears and shields, for the commotion and rush to arms had now become general. Quiet, however, was soon restored upon my endeavouring to laugh at the accident, as my friends came up, and who certainly were very sorry to see the state of my hand, the extent of injury to which I could not ascertain, so contracted were my fingers over the palm. Himyah, the matchlock man, was the only one who enjoyed the accident, and he laughed with most unrestrained mirth, as he pointed to the cut on his cheek, not yet cured, and called my attention to the fact, of my having laughed as immoderately, on the occasion of his accident, as he did now, at mine. Having washed 275the wound with the hot water Zaido had prepared for the purpose of cleaning my gun, a poultice was made with some biscuits that remained, and binding it on the injured part I retired with gloomy anticipations of the morrow’s examination, expecting to find a most extensive injury done to the tendons of my hand. I could not help though being much amused, with the very-varying accounts of this accident, related by the Bedouins to their women, or strangers, who visited the camp.

Among other visitors, were six Wahamas, who came to make some proposition of peace to the Hy Soumaulee people, and on whose account a long calahm was held, for three or four hours during the day. One of them had relations with us, an old man and his son, the wife of the former being the aunt of one of the Wahama, and after the calahm, the family party retired together to the shade of a large mimosa-tree, a few hundred yards from the camp, where they sat for some time in friendly conversation.

About four o’clock, a sudden commotion among the Kafilah men, all rushing to spears and shields, and loud shouts of “Ahkeem! Ahkeem!” awoke me from my siesta. Jumping up from my mat, I seized my firearms, and ran towards the place where Ohmed Medina and Ebin Izaak were beckoning me to come. In front, was a crowd of some twelve or fourteen men fighting in the greatest desperation, and so near to us, that the 276spears that were thrown almost struck the shields of those with whom I was sitting. About thirty yards beyond the combatants, who, in close fight, were yelling, struggling, and falling, another line, consisting chiefly of my Hy Soumaulee escort, sat with their shields before them, in the same quiet spectator-like fashion as ourselves. I must observe, however, that Adam Burrah and Moosa, as soon as they saw me in the line with the Tajourah people, came from the opposite side, and sat close in front of me. Ohmed Medina told me not to fire, or take any part in the business except to take care of myself, as the quarrel was a private one, and that no one would attack us, if we did not commence hostilities. To make more secure against an accident, Ebin Izaak kept his hand on my right arm all the time, to prevent me taking up either of my guns that lay upon the ground on each side of me.

During the fight I noticed, that occasionally one of the Kafilah men would spring up from his sitting posture, and with a loud shout run towards the combatants. He was invariably answered by one of the Hy Soumaulee opposite, who rushed to meet him; so that in a short time, more than double the number of the original fighters were engaged.

The contest which was now taking place in my sight was an actual representation, on a small scale, of the mode of fighting practised by the 277Dankalli tribes. When two hostile bodies of these people meet, it is not usual for the whole to engage, but sitting down in two opposite lines at the distance of sixty or eighty yards from each other, they await the result, produced by the yelling, jumping, and speechifying of their leaders, who for this purpose stand up immediately in front of their men.

At the intended attack upon our Kafilah at Wadalissan, by the Bursane Bedouins, Garahmee, in addition to his duty of keeping the people squatting upon their heels, evidently recited some martial song, or speech, which at intervals, was responded to with loud yells, and shaking of the spears in the direction of the enemy.

A few becoming sufficiently excited by these means, they rush from either side into the intervening space. The combat then commences, by each of these singling out his opponent and squatting opposite to him, in their usual attitude, at the distance of a few yards. Balancing their spears in a threatening manner, they spar at each other for several minutes, until one conceives he has a favourable opportunity of launching his spear, when, springing to his feet, he darts it with great force and precision. Seldom, however, any injury is thus produced, for his wary antagonist, with his shield, dashes it aside, and then endeavours to break by jumping and stamping upon it, as it lies upon the ground. He, in his turn, threatens 278with his weapon, his spearless opponent, who, bounding from side to side, in a stooping posture, endeavours to cover with his shield his whole body, save the head, and thus gives no steady object for the aim of the coming missile. At length, the spear being thrown, probably with the same harmless effect, both snatch their knives from their girdle, and rush with great impetuosity upon each other, throwing their shields to the ground to admit of their grappling with their left hands, whilst with the right they strike swift and heavy blows at the neck and into the left side. A few moments decide the murderous conflict, and the loud shout of the victor, as he pushes from his front the heavy corpse of the slain, proclaims his success in the gladiatorial combat.

During the fight, continual shouts of encouragement, or of derision, are raised by the non-combatants, who are waiting only the stimulus of revenge, on seeing a friend or leader killed, or to be prompted by the desire to assist some wounded companion, when they then rush into the conflict, from their previous couchant position, in the rear. No sooner, however, does any one spring forward for this purpose, than he is met by some brave of the opposite side, who runs to encounter him. Sometimes two or three, or even more, hasten for the same purpose; but corresponding opponents leap forward to engage hand to hand in a succession of duels, with those who shew this 279anxiety to mingle in the fray. In this manner the excitement spreads, pair after pair enter the ensanguined lists, and new comers continue to lengthen out the contest, until one side exhausts its warriors, and the weak and cowardly of that party alone are sitting in the rear. The victors now joined by their reserve friends rush forward to attack these, and kill whoever resists, while the rest, throwing aside their spears and shields, fly for their lives. Thus terminates a sanguinary affair, for of the number of warriors actually engaged, one half, on the side of the defeated party, must be slain; sometimes, with very little loss on the part of the victors.

To return to the little battle in our front, I soon observed, that part of the latter comers up, instead of joining in the fight, were throwing their twisted tobes across the arms of the combatants, and dragging them, one by one, out of the mélée, some being thrown violently to the ground, in the efforts made by their friends to separate them. In a few minutes afterwards, four men burst from the crowd, threw away their shields, their spears had been broken previously, and ran at the top of their speed, in a direction towards the south. No one followed after to molest them, or to prevent their retreat, and the remaining combatants, who were able to walk, returned to their respective sides, where they fell into line as before. No attention, at the time, being paid to the deep gashes, and 280bleeding wounds, every one of them exhibited on some part of their bodies.

The cause of the quarrel had been the attempt of one of the Wahamas, who had retired with two of our Kafilah men to some little distance from the camp, to appropriate to himself the shield of the old man, when the son of the latter had returned on some errand to the camp. The old man, however, still retained somewhat of the spirit of youth, and after a vain struggle to retain possession of the shield, suddenly let it go, but seizing a spear, hurled it at the thief, just as he was making off with his prize. It was fortunate for him that the weapon was thrown with the trembling hand of age; for as it was, it inflicted a severe wound a little below the hip, and hung trailing a moment or two before it fell out.

The man thinking himself more grievously hurt than he was, dropt the shield, and began calling out “Wahama, Wahama,” rushing at the same time with his drawn knife upon the old man. The son of the latter, who had returned on the first alarm, ran to the rescue of his father, whilst the Wahama people hastened to the assistance of their friend. A number of the Kafilah people, Hy Soumaulee and half-bloods, now mingled in the fray, whilst those who knew nothing of either party, or were not relations, took no part beyond looking after their own safety. My escort, not knowing how the affair would terminate, sat prepared for any emergency 281on one side, whilst the Kafilah people formed another semicircular line opposite. It was evident, however, that both the Hy Soumaulee and the Tajourah people were afraid of the consequences that might arise from any of the Wahama negotiators being killed; and at length, after a message from Ohmed Mahomed, in which he promised a tobe to the Chief of the Hy Soumaulee, and some blue sood to his men, several of them laid aside their arms, and with their twisted tobes managed, by main force, to drag asunder the contending parties, and in this manner restored peace.

Settling this affair was a very serious business. Two of the Wahamas were severely wounded, Himyah had got the muscles of the upper arm transfixed by a spear, and numbers of others had received sundry cuts, stabs, and scratches. Then there were broken spears, lost knives, torn tobes, and injured shields, for all of which compensation was claimed.

I was desired to go to the assistance of the Wahama by some of their friends, but both Ohmed Medina and Ohmed Mahomed insisted on my not moving until the peace assembly had been convened. Some design was evidently intended against my person by the determined “Cutta” with which Moosa and Adam Burrah sent away the friends of the wounded men, and who would not have done so had they not suspected something unfair. Heaven only knows what those intentions were; 282but as the Wahamas desired nothing so much as to see the Tajourah people foiled in any attempt to take up an English Kafilah to Shoa, and which they asserted could be only done by their own country-man Mahomed Allee, I dare say they would have attempted to assassinate me, to contribute so much to the discomfiture of their hated rivals. Even the half-bloods, who formed part of our own Kafilah, always disliked to converse, on the subject of the transmission of stores, through the country of Adal. Some preference and especial marks of favour bestowed upon Mahomed Allee by the Embassy and Salie Selasse, King of Shoa, seemed, in their minds, to have constituted a right of monopoly, as regarded this business, in his favour and that of his tribe.

Nature’s last daily care, the star-spangled curtain of night, was drawn around her tumultuous children, and we all retired from the scene of strife; my injured hand paining me much less than I could have anticipated. Ohmed Medina, Ebin Izaak, and fifteen or sixteen others, were now engaged in chanting a noisy zekar, whilst Ohmed Mahomed, supported by Moosa, sat in a large calahm of the Kafilah men and Hy Soumaulee until long after midnight, arranging the offerings or presents intended to be given as compensation to the injured in the late conflict. The two dying Wahamas were lively enough upon this subject, and although they could not join in the discussion, insisted on being placed on two mats in 283the centre of the circle, instead of being carried, as was proposed, to Herhowlee. Their case was first discussed, and after a deal of arguing, five dollars’ worth of blue sood and a tobe each, was received by them as satisfaction for their wounds, they undertaking also to accompany us through their own country, on purpose to obviate the effects of the evil reports it was expected their friends, who ran away from the conflict, would spread. A drawback from one of these wounded men was one dollar’s worth of sood, paid to Himyah for the wound in his arm. The old man on whose account the quarrel commenced had to pay for two spears and to receive one, in lieu of which he consented to take one of the shields that had been thrown away by the fugitives. In this manner all injured articles, every deep cut or smallest bruise, was fairly balanced according to their ideas of the market value of such commodities, against every kind of merchandise, from a cow or sheep down to a handful of tobacco.

Long before this business was concluded, Zaido, who, in addition to his other duties, was cashier to Ohmed Mahomed, had come to a conclusion that our halt at Barradudah would be a very expensive one. Already he had manufactured into the currency of the country one entire piece of blue calico, and still fresh comers, demanding their compensation, kept him measuring cubits with his fore arm, and then tearing each half dollar’s worth 284away, with a wrench that seemed every time to dislocate his heart. It was too dark to observe the expression of his countenance, but, no doubt, it was dolorous in the extreme; if I could judge from his sighs and often-repeated oaths, that “twenty times the value of all the good the camels had received by their halt had been paid by him to men, who”—here he muttered some scandal, I suppose, for he did not think it expedient to whisper even to me, (he was sitting close under the side of my hut,) his real opinion of the Bedouins, who had occasioned all the tumult. Another trouble that disturbed his mind not a little, was the great probability of our being obliged to pay all over again in the Wahama country, the inhabitants of which, he was convinced, would be all up in arms, to resent the insult and injury committed by us upon their heralds.

I fell asleep at last, tired out with the excitement and noise, nor did I awake the next morning, until roused by Zaido and the two Allees walking away with the boxes of my hut, which were the only loads that had yet to be placed upon the backs of the camels.

CHAPTER XIX.

Journey from Barradudda to Thermadullah, general direction south by west, time marching three hours and a-half.—Quarrel with Ras ul Kafilah.—Cooking scene.—Dankalli improvisatore.—April 29th. Staying at Thermadullah.—Camel saddles.—Stung by scorpion.—Cure.—Account of some neighbouring hot springs.

April 28th.—We started from Barradudda by sunrise, travelling nearly due south for the first two hours, and south-west for the remainder of to-day’s journey. The road was all the way excellent, being over a dry hard clay covered with high coarse grass, which was alive with hares, floricans, and guinea-fowl. To the north and east were long continuous lava plateaus, one portion of which formed the western boundary of Lake Abhibhad, and beyond which Owssa was said to be at the distance of twenty miles. In a wide fissure plain of this table-land, about fifteen miles to the westward of Abhibhad, another long and narrow lake, called Killaloo, terminated the river Wahahumbilla coming from the south, part of which, in the direction of the lake, was visible from some situations during our march this morning.

286I took the opportunity when I saw Ohmedu and Ohmed Medina together, to ask the latter if he had crossed over any stream when he went to Owssa from Arabderah. As he replied that he had not, I recalled to Ohmedu’s recollection that, when at Gobard, he said the river Wahahumbilla went into the Hawash, just before this latter entered lake Abhibhad, but which could not be the case, for if so, Ohmed Medina must have observed it on the occasion of his late journey to Owssa. Ohmedu readily admitted that he might be wrong, and I have therefore represented in my map the river Wahahumbilla as terminating at Killaloo, although it is probable that during very great floods that lake may overflow, and then communicate with the river Hawash.

After travelling nearly four hours we arrived at a tree-covered valley called Thermadullah, where we halted for the day. On our march I had an opportunity of observing a family of Bedouins moving with all their property, houses included, towards Killaloo in search of water. Seven camels were laden with mats and the bamboo frames of the native wigwams. The roof canes belonging to these rose, on each side of the animals, with a long tapering curve behind, and high above them into the air. The imagination easily furnished these with some light gossamer structure, and in this manner suggested to itself a new poetical flying-machine, vieing with the Pegasus of mythological 287fable. Besides the hut, each camel bore a considerable amount of household furniture. Black earthenware pots, contained in a kind of cage protectors made of some flexible shrub; the family store of palm-leaves for the industrious housewife to weave into mats, or to make the native rope; a few handsome-looking baskets hung round with shells suspended from thongs; and a child or two placed amidst the whole, or perched upon the top; sometimes holding in its arms a noisy bleating kid or lamb that was too young to walk with its dam. Some older children, boys and girls, quite naked, assisted their mothers in driving before them the flocks of sheep and goats. No men accompanied this party, but their absence was accounted for, by their being engaged in tending a herd of some thousands of oxen, whose dusty track I observed like a low red cloud some miles in extent, about a league to the west of us.

We had ourselves three cows and several sheep and goats, the returns of some little trading with the people of Herhowlee, who having bought from different persons in the Kafilah a small quantity of tobacco, and a few cubits of blue sood, had paid in kind for their purchases.

When Ohmed Mahomed engaged the Hy Soumaulee escort, he did not tell me that part of the agreement was that they should have a bullock, or its equivalent in sheep or goats, every second day. This I learnt from the men themselves, 288who to-day came annoying me a great deal for the performance of this part of the stipulation. On applying to Ohmed Mahomed for an explanation, he said that they were justified in claiming it, not from any promise he had made, but because the men of the additional escort, the British Embassy had been necessitated to engage on the road, always received a bullock to regale themselves with every other day. He was exceedingly impertinent in reply to my observation that I had no authority to incur such an additional expense, and which might probably be considered to have been incurred unnecessarily on our arrival in Shoa. He turned upon his heel, saying, loud enough to be heard by the Hy Soumaulee, that I must pay for the bullocks, and was a fool to raise a question about such a trifle, and that where I spent one dollar the Embassy had expended one hundred; concluding, as he retired beneath his shielding of mats, “Go away, go away, give the dollars, if the English want the road the English must pay for it.” It was no use quarrelling with him, to do which I felt exceedingly inclined, and it would have been some satisfaction, to have discharged the shot of one barrel of my carbine, into the bare posteriors of this black rascal, exposed as he was whilst creeping into his retreat. My situation however did not admit of such a display of feeling, and I retired to my hut to consider upon some plan to prevent the extortion, which, 289under colour of payment for these cattle, I considered at the time was being levied, to make up for the heavy expenditure incurred, by the consequences of the quarrel of yesterday. I never doubted but that his comparison, between my expenses and those of the Embassy, was like his usual statements, founded upon untruth. I was determined, therefore, not to be imposed upon by Ohmed Mahomed, without letting him know that in the end, he would be a much greater loser by his present system of extorting a few dollars from me, by my withholding all commendation for care and attention upon our arrival in Shoa.

Accordingly, towards evening, when the men came again demanding the bullock, I accompanied them to the hut of Ohmed Mahomed, and asked him, as if I had consented to their demand, what was the price of the animal. As I expected, he asked a most unreasonable sum, no less than nine dollars, two being the fair market price. I told him in reply, very quietly, that he was no friend to the English, and that I should consider him, therefore, no longer my Ras ul Kafilah, but that for the future Ebin Izaak alone should transact all business with me; I also gave him to understand that I should represent to the proper quarter the treatment I had received, which would occasion a considerable diminution in the amount of boxeish, or present, he would receive in Shoa. On hearing this, he got immediately into a dreadful rage, stormed away, and pushed by me out 290of the hut, as if bent “on purpose dire;” but hearing, as I also jumped to my feet, the repeated warning click of both locks of my carbine, he replaced his seized spear against the heap of salt-bags, loudly complaining in his own language to Ohmed Medina and a crowd of the Kafilah people, who, hearing words running very high, had come, all armed, to hear what could be the matter. They kept at a very respectful distance from me, some of them calling out they were my friends, for two or three of the boldest had at first threatened me both by shouting and shaking their spears; but, having taken on the first alarm a good position among the camels, I managed to enact a sufficiently bold bearing to deter them from a nearer approach, although my hopes just at that moment were most recreant indeed.

After a little consultation, seeing I would not leave my camel-battery to come to them, Ohmed Medina and Ebin Izaak left the crowd, and walking some distance on one side, squatted down as they do in a calahm, beckoning me to go to them. As these two were men, of whose friendly intentions I could have no doubt, I joined them immediately, and we sat talking and explaining matters for nearly an hour, when it was arranged, that peace between Ohmed Mahomed and myself should be made in the usual manner, and that we must both be good friends. For this purpose Ebin Izaak brought Ohmed Mahomed into the little circle, the Fahtah, or opening chapter of the Koran, was recited, and 291shaking hands, we each repeated “Y’Allah abbi!” (God bless you!) and thus ended very satisfactorily, an affair, which at one time had rather a serious aspect.

We now entered upon the subject of providing food for the Hy Soumaulee. I complained of the exorbitant price asked for the bullocks, and proposed that I should give three dollars each, for those that would be required. Ohmed Medina said, it was enough; so that business was also settled. A laughing proposal was then made, to tie Ohmed Mahomed, during the night, but I replied, that I had nothing to fear from him after the Fahtah had been read, and with this compliment to the sacred character of their oath, I got up, and retired to my hut.

In a very short time, my escort had slaughtered and flayed the bullock; and, in expectation of a hearty meal, were quite happy. One half of them lay in a line upon the ground, at the back of my hut, whilst the remainder were busily employed, boiling the meat, at numerous little wood fires, which occupied shallow holes, scraped with their fingers, in the soil. Three stones, around each of these, supported large earthenware pots; and the bubbling contents, and the sharp crackling fuel told, that things were going on as satisfactorily as possible. Some of the cooks, sitting on their heels, were amusing themselves, during the process of the boiling, by picking the bones, from which the meat in the pots had been cut. Their long 292knives, held close on one side the face, as, with both hands, the bone was held most lovingly to the mouth, glistened frequently in the blaze of the fires, when, with sudden snatches, they detached with their teeth, the raw remnants of flesh that still remained.

Somewhat amused with the scene, I took a stroll among the cooking fires, and the recumbent escort; as I came near one of them, he, without raising his head from the wooden pillow on which it rested, reached his arm out, and rolling a stone nearer to him, patted it with his hand, and calling out, “Ahkeem,” very politely invited me to take a seat by his side. Here our conversation stopt; for, besides “How do you,” I did not understand a word scarcely of their language. However, my presence was the signal for a song; Carmel Ibrahim, my present entertainer, and chief man of the Hy Soumaulee escort, commencing. An improvisatored chant, of which, of course, I was the subject, was sung in alternate stanzas by a noisy chorus, who followed Carmel’s dictation, something like a country congregation, when, from the scarcity of books, the clerk, to accommodate them, gives out two lines of the hymn at a time. I awaited, very patiently, the termination of the song, which only ended when supper was reported ready; music that moment lost its charm, and the savage, good-humoured choristers bounded to their feet, and thronged around the 293respective fires. The meat was taken out of the seething pots, and placed in the dirty tobe of one of the party upon the ground, and every one then helped himself. The supply of provisions being plentiful, they had no fear that their appetites would not be satisfied, so the best feeling prevailed amongst the party, each taking what he thought sufficient for himself, and the greatest unanimity, as to eating as much as ever they possibly could, characterized the entertainment.

Zaido, in an agony of mind at not finding me in the hut, now came shouting in the dark for me, and on relieving his anxious fears about my safety by reporting myself present, he quickly placed before me a bowl heaped up with pieces of meat, placed upon a quantity of boiled wheat, soaking in ghee. I made haste to do justice to his care; and in a short time afterwards, he and the two Allees were finishing what remained.

Before I close the account of this day, I must observe, that the burn in the palm of my hand troubled me very little indeed; the thick compact skin having only been superficially scorched, and the slight inflammation it excited, having quickly subsided, I felt but little inconvenience from the wound.

April 29th.—No start this morning, two camels being very ill, according to Ohmed Mahomed’s account, who asserted, they would not be able to proceed until the next day. Another name for 294our halting-place was Alee-bakalee. In a retired spot, surrounded by trees, I found a large sheet of water, which, according to all accounts I received, is to be found here during the whole year. Returning after a very refreshing bathe, I gathered a quantity of the Indian vegetable, and as all my rice and biscuit were expended, this addition to my present meat diet was very agreeable. Here I also shot a large adjutant bird, exactly similar to those I have seen in Calcutta. In the afternoon, I employed myself repairing the shattered boxes, which had not proved equal to the continual knocking about they were exposed to, and to which the numerous loadings and unloadings of the camels during the long march, contributed not a little. Small barrels, with shut-up tops, would be best adapted for the packing of stores so conveyed, and would suit much better the ingenious, but simple camel-saddle used by the Dankalli.

This saddle consists of four strong staves, about four feet in length, and as thick as a man’s wrist. Two of these are intended for each side of the camel. At the distance of one-third from the upper end are fixed small round pads of matting, stuffed with strips of the palm leaf. These rest on the sides of the hump, and relieve this rather tender part from the pressure of the load. The lower ends of the two staves on each side, are bound together, but the upper extremities, above the pads, diverge to the distance of a foot or 295eighteen inches; the staves of either side are connected together by ropes carried over the pads.

A quantity of palm-leaf mats, six feet long, and three feet broad, are first placed upon the back of the camel, and across these is thrown the saddle. The two conjoined ends on either side are now fastened underneath the belly, by a rope passing directly from the one to the other, in a straight line. No girding, similar to the manner in which we saddle horses is resorted to. The saddle being thus fixed, from the projecting extremities of the staves, on one side is suspended the burden that hangs upon the other, and thus, when properly adjusted, the weight of the two burdens tends to tighten the rope beneath the belly of the animal, and prevents the whole from shifting during the journey. Another advantage derived from this kind of saddle is, that when the camel lies down, the whole weight of the burden is lifted up from the back, for the lower extremities of the staves come upon the ground before the belly of the animal, and thus support the loads, whilst it remains in that position. If proper attention be paid to the equal distribution of weight on each side, when first loaded, the camel marches the whole day without any danger of casting its burden, unless the rope should happen to break, which connects the lower ends of the staves of either side. Too frequently, the slaves of the owner neglect this important duty, and I have observed with what difficulty, the narrow body of the camel has been 296able to contend, against the unequal pressure upon its sides. In such cases, if attention be not paid to its loud moanings, and the restless movements of its head, when vainly endeavouring to lift off the load from its back, the animal soon falls to the ground, unwilling or unable to proceed farther, without a readjustment of the loads.

The numerous ropes required in loading camels with the long narrow salt-bags, are generally made of two plies of the thin portion of the doom palm leaf, twisted in contrary directions with the hands, and then allowed to twine naturally upon each other. Hempen ropes are preferred, when they can be obtained; and several specimens were shown to me; that had been manufactured by some Galla people to the south of the Hawash, in the neighbourhood of Shoa.

I continued nailing the boxes, teaching Zaido the use of a hammer and a nail-passer, when attempting to lift over one of the packages, I placed my hand under its lower edge, and was suddenly made aware, by a severe sting in the ball of my thumb, that some reptile had located itself beneath. In an agony of anxious curiosity, I pushed over the box, and then exposed to view a large scorpion, at least an inch and a-half in diameter. The pain for the moment was intense, shooting rapidly along my arm into the shoulder and neck, and as I had been taught to believe, that the most serious consequences would arise from a wound of such a description, 297I looked at it very seriously for a few moments, with all the contentment of despair; the loss of all hope had made me more tranquil than in my moral philosophy I had ever conceived would have been the case. The pain, however, like sharp rheumatic touches, soon called me back to reasonable expression, and excessive suffering made me stamp again, causing Zaido and the others to laugh immoderately. They made chase, however, after the reptile, which was hastily running off, with his tail curved high over his back, and sting displayed, in a high state of irritation, no doubt. It was very soon stopped by one of the Allees dropping, after several attempts, the butt-end of his spear upon it, and holding it down till Zaido, with the nail-passer, had amputated the last joint of the tail, which supported the sting. He then took the animal up, tore it ruthlessly into two pieces, and began to rub the wound in my hand, with the ichorous-looking juice which, instead of blood, appears to circulate through the animal. I was also comforted in my mind by assurances that all would be well in an hour, for the knife, as my friends called the sting, was a very small one.

I learnt from this occurrence, that the Dankalli do not consider the sting of the scorpion of their country dangerous, and it is well that it is not so, for they are found in any quantity underneath every large stone. Sometimes on rolling one over, in the shallow depression of the ground, I have noticed the entrance to a nest of these nauseous-looking 298reptiles; and on removing a little of the soil, perhaps I should unearth an old one as large as a crown-piece, semi-transparent, of a dirty, mottled yellow colour, with about ten or a dozen young ones, like so many huge spiders, running about in all directions, as if fully aware of their situation, and that no endeavours would be spared to destroy the whole family party.

As it is useful to observe coincidental ideas upon subjects somewhat related, which are entertained by very different and distinct nations, I may be allowed to remark the resemblance between the remedy on this occasion, and which was quite sufficient for the cure, and that which is adopted by the lower orders in Scotland at the present time, to counteract the effects of the bite of a viper. It is usual among them to kill and flay the reptile, and the moist inner surface of the skin is then well rubbed over the wound, as were the separated portions of the scorpion in my case by the Dankalli.

The pain in my hand not subsiding immediately, I thought it prudent to retreat into my hut, bidding Zaido to bring my gun, hammer, nails, &c. Ohmed Medina came to amuse me, and told some long tales of the numerous Jinn that haunted the country, which, however, must be understood to mean the volcanic phenomena, which are continually altering the surface level of the country of Adal. A very famous residence of a large community of these Jinn, Ohmed Medina stated to be 299about two days’ journey towards the north-east, before we came to the river Hawash in that direction. The name of the place was Ta’hou, and the caravan route, from Owssa to Gondah, passed close to the neighbourhood of this evil spot, the principal features of which, I was given to understand, were, several boiling springs, a few yards distance from each other, that threw up columns of hot water and vapour, several feet high. Around the borders of these steam fountains a large quantity of a very white stone is found. From this circumstance, I inferred, that they were of the same character as the geysers of Iceland, depositing, like them, a thick bed of silex around their apertures.

Ohmed Medina left me, to perform the usual vesper adorations before and after sunset. By the time he had finished, and returned to ask how the wound in my hand felt, I had almost forgotten the circumstance, for the pain had subsided, and the sting had left no trace of a wound.

When I retired to rest, the remainder of the bullock left uncooked the evening before, was being prepared by my hungry escort. The Dankalli, as far as I could observe, make but one regular meal a day, and that after sunset. They eat, certainly, at any other time, when anything is put before them, but this is very irregular, and considered only as an extraordinary indulgence.

CHAPTER XX.

Journey from Thermaduddah to Alee-bakalee, general direction, south by west, time marching, one hour.—May 1st. Journey from Alee-bakalee to Hasanderah, general direction, south-west, time marching, eight hours.—Dankalli naturalists.—Large herd of cattle— Architectural labours.—Mahomedan popular superstitions.—Sale of children.—A Bedouin father.

April 30th.—We left Thermaduddah this morning by sunrise, making a short march to the southward, across a narrow plain covered with grass, and bordered by low banks of a stony character, but, upon which, the myrrh, the mimosa, and aditu trees, grew to a respectable size. The name of our halting-place for the day was Alee-bakalee, which appeared to be the name of a stream that occasionally, at the time of the rains, flows to the northward into the Killaloo Lake; and the representative of which, at this time, was the water I bathed in yesterday, and which, I now recollected, was called by the same name.

For a little paper distributed to those I employed, I soon had a small party of market-gardeners collecting the “Hashish,” the Arab name for the green food of cattle (and which, the Bedouins of the 301Kafilah had applied to my Indian vegetable Bargee),^[4] here found in great plenty. Several shields-full were quickly laid in my plaid before me, and taking as much as I required for myself, I bestowed the remainder upon my mule. She seemed as highly pleased with the treat as myself, and eat away, as if her family physician had recommended it as a preventive for the scurvy, which her present idle life seemed to predispose her to.

The day was rather poor in incident. I lay in my hut reflecting upon the probabilities of my reaching Shoa alive; and projecting, in case I did, very extensive journeys into the interior from that kingdom, as a starting-place. In the evening, I and the two Allees, went after some guinea-fowl, but only shot one, and a hare. The latter, I found, was useless, for a somewhat similar objection is entertained by Mahomedans to this animal, as among the Jews, by whom it is considered to be unclean.

After I had lain down to sleep, a large calahm was held, in which, the escort and the Kafilah men all joined. Two sheep had then to be killed for the escort; so that it was nearly midnight, before their day’s meal was prepared for them. The calahm had some reference to the two Wahamas, who were wounded at Barradudda, and who, after the agreement to accompany us, were found unable to do so, and had been taken back to Herhowlee. The 302question discussed was, whether we should remain until they were well enough to join us, or go on at once, and take our chance, with respect to the resentment of their tribe. I was not sorry that it was determined to proceed; and from that day I became of considerable consequence, for my presence with firearms had principally induced the chief men of the Kafilah to consent to the impatient onward move of the Hy Soumaulee, who, having no property to lose, had no objection to accelerate the crisis; suspense, to them, being a most intolerable bore. They soon found out that I shared the same feeling with them, for I was getting heartily tired, of my sojourn in the wilderness; and the poetical sentiment,

now found no echo in the wishes, or desires, of my heart. Frequently did they solicit Ohmed Medina to start off with me, and accompanied by them, leave the Kafilah to come on afterwards, however it could; and, for fear I might be influenced by such requests, Ohmed Mahomed became as polite as possible; and found (quite by accident, of course, but very much to my delight) a large goat-skin bag full of rice, which he very gravely asserted had not formed any part of my own store, but was some of his friend Himyah’s, who was taking it up as a present to the frontier governor of Efat, the Wallasma Mahomed, but, at his 303request, Himyah had given it to him, for me. This was brought to me at night, to avoid observation; and, although, I thought it to be in this case, quite unnecessary, the same caution was exhibited, as on all other occasions of sale, or of making presents. So as not to excite the cupidity of the Bedouins, nothing like the delivery of any property occurs during the day. Among these wily and suspicious people, every thing of that kind changes hands, under the convenient cover of the darkness of night.

May 1st.—At sunrise, we were up and off; and if I complained, yesterday, of the short march, to-day, had I not felt more pleased, than otherwise, with the progress we made, I might with equal reason, have objected to the length of our journey, being eight hours travelling, and all the way on foot. The road was very good, with but few inequalities of surface, as we continued following the dry watercourse of Alee-bakalee, which appeared to contract as we advanced.

The appearance of the country that we passed through was, as might be expected, very uniform, the whole way; a beautiful long valley, extending in a general direction, from the south-west towards the north-east. A rich alluvial soil was thinly strewn with a few dark coloured fragments of the lava ridges which formed the boundaries towards the east and west. Grass was very plentiful; and the trees so thick, as in some parts, to assume the appearance of a wood. Enormous ant-hills 304showed their red tops between the summits of the low trees, and numerous herds of several different kinds of antelope were feeding all around. At length, the lava ridges on either side seemed to approach each other, and we reached a confined valley, through which flowed a narrow stream, winding among thick clumps of very high trees. Birds of the most brilliant plumage, and gorgeously tinted butterflies, made the road one continued cabinet gallery of all that is rare and beautiful, in the colours which are most admired, in these painted favourites of nature.

Some Dankalli naturalists, who wanted a few red tail feathers to ornament their greasy locks, made a requisition for me to supply them, pointing to my gun, and then to the birds; but I would not understand them in any other way than my own, and so nodding very good humouredly, I told them to remain where they were; and going a few yards from the road, fired into a busy-pecking crowd of guinea-fowl, bringing back with me a brace of very fine ones; birds, however, which, to the great disappointment of my Dankalli fashionable friends, were found to have scarcely any more tail feathers than they had themselves.

We should have halted two hours before we did, at the very commencement of the valley of Hasanderah Kabeer, as the little stream was called, but that we there found it filled with an immense herd of cattle, through which we marched, 305as if in a long-extended Smithfield market, for at least five miles. I had not imagined such vast herds to have been in the possession of the Dankalli Bedouins. The number of men required to attend them was very great, and afforded me an explanation, why I had met with so few upon the journey; their chief employment being to protect their cattle, with whom they constantly remain. The elders only indulge in the domestic comforts found in the kraal, and are supported chiefly by the produce of the flocks of sheep and goats, which during the day are placed under the care of the children.

The young men and women follow the herds; the former lie idly under the trees during the heat of the day, whilst the latter perform the duties of milking and of making the ghee or fluid butter. Churning is performed by the milk being placed in large skin bags, suspended upon the hips by a leathern thong passed over the shoulders and across the breasts. A quick semi-rotary movement of the trunk continually agitates the contents, until the butter is formed in soft white lumps; it is then taken out with the hand as it collects upon the surface of the milk, and is placed into lesser skins, where in a few hours it assumes the appearance of a light yellow oily fluid, the ghee of the Berberah market, from whence it is exported in great quantities to India and the Persian Gulf.

The cattle of Adal are nearly all of one colour, 306a kind of brindled iron grey, with moderately sized horns, curving first outwards, then forwards, and upwards.

Our Kafilah having reached the farther extremity of Hasanderah Kabeer, we found a clear open spot where grass and water were equally abundant as along the whole line of our march to-day. Trees of greater altitude, and with a thicker shade than any I had seen before, invited us to that rest which we all needed, after our long march of nearly twenty miles. Our pedestrian party had outstripped the camels above two hours, and were nearly all asleep, when the leading files of these gaunt, sober stepping animals, paced their serpentine course among the thick bushes of wild cotton, and of a tree, that reminded me exceedingly of our hazel, by its foliage and general character. The camels were not so fatigued as I expected they would be, but the late halts and short marches, in a country so abounding with vegetation, had enabled them to recruit their strength, almost worn out by the hardships and their scanty food, during the journey through the wilderness of stones between Tajourah and Herhowlee. They were glad enough, however, I dare say, on their arrival at Hasanderah; for, too impatient to wait for farther attendance, after the loads and saddles were removed, these sagacious animals soon swept off, with their nose and cheek, the numerous chafing mats which are placed below the saddle to prevent 307abrasions and ulcers on the hump, to which they are very liable.

One good effect was produced by a long march; that was the freedom from importunity I enjoyed, for all the Bedouins and Kafilah men seemed determined to take, immediate advantage of the shady accommodations of this “hotel verte,” or in plain English, this extensive “bush inn.” I obliged myself, tired as I was, to build my own hut rather than seek a bower, where others would throng, greatly to my discomfort; and something of a conscience told me that Zaido and the Allees, after unloading the two-and-twenty camels belonging to their master, Ohmed Mahomed, would require rest as well as myself. My architectural occupation attracted the attention of the chief of the escort, Carmel Ibrahim, and he, very good-naturedly, came to assist me, so that by our joint labours, and his excellent suggestions, a box-house was constructed, the most convenient I had yet occupied, for the boxes, on previous occasions placed close together, were now arranged with spaces between, that admitted both light and air.

At sunset, when the camels were to be brought in for the night, Ohmed Medina and a party, principally of Tajourah people, came to get some coffee with me, which was quickly prepared by Zaido; who, on a little fire made of camel-dung and dried sticks, had soon the long-necked vase of coarse red earthenware, in which the social inspiring 308berry was boiled. The only cup we had was fairly circulated, whilst another discussion upon religion was entered upon, nearly of the same character as our previous one.

The party had come with the intention of converting me, but they were all disappointed, for I proved that my religion was founded upon truth, and that they themselves believed every principle of faith I did. My reason for not going so far as they did, as to receive the Koran as the Word of God, was because my book, the New Testament, did not testify to the truth of Mahomed’s mission, as their’s did to that of Jesus. This plea, however, was met by a curious tirade against Poulos (St. Paul), the only one of the apostles that the Mahomedans appear to have any knowledge of, and him they charge with having falsified the Gospels, by striking out the name of Mahomed wherever it appeared. I have since learned, that all the foundation they have for this accusation is the circumstance of one of the forms of the name Mahomed, “Ohmed” having the same signification in Arabic as the Greek word παρακλητος. Comforter, one of the designations of the Holy Ghost, and the coming of which was certainly promised by Christ.

A long afternoon was occupied discussing this subject, and during the conversation, my Islam friends exhibited the greatest politeness, never interrupting me as I stammered away in bad Arabic, until some one of them, comprehending my 309meaning, immediately interpreted it more fully to the rest; and as I understood a good deal more than I could speak, I was always able to know whether they had caught my idea or not. Neither proud intolerance, or obstinate bigotry, occasioned one hasty or disparaging expression. All sat in their usual silent manner whilst another spoke, squatting upon their heels, which, in order to be more comfortable, as it was a lengthy debate, were raised a little by two small stones, placed for that purpose beneath them. The same courtesy marked all the friendly conversations I had with them. During this morning’s march, Ohmed Medina, in a joking manner, said, that the English were not a nation of men like themselves, but a nation of women, because they allowed themselves to be governed by a Queen. I retorted by saying, that the fact was, “that the English women were as strong as the Dankalli men.” A remark which Ohmed Medina immediately translated into their language, much to the amusement of the Hy Soumaulee around, who did not seem in the least annoyed by the freedom of the comparison.

May 2d.—A slight shower fell, not sufficient to come through the roof of my hut, but it rendered the ground so muddy that we were obliged to remain where we were for this day. Another large herd of cattle had passed us during the night, going to Killaloo, and their footmarks contributed in a great measure to the bad condition of the ground. Several 310of the women belonging to the herd had staid behind, and brought into our camp some skins of milk for sale, receiving tobacco in exchange. An old man also arrived early in the morning, having travelled all night, hearing that we were in the neighbourhood, to obtain some information respecting his two daughters, who, six months before, had gone with a Kafilah down to Tajourah. Not hearing anything to his satisfaction from my companions, he came to me, dragging with him a kid, which he presented to me, begging that I would look into my book, and give him some account of his missing daughters. He had heard, he said, that they had been very ill, and he only desired to know if they were dead or had got better. The old man, savage as he was, did credit to our nature, from the anxiety and love he evinced for his offspring; and the sorrow he showed was an anomaly to me I could not understand, for I had made up my mind, that the Dankalli could not be charged with any constitutional weakness, as regards the influence of domestic attachments or family ties; here was an evidence to the contrary, and I record it for the benefit of any one, who may be better able than myself, to reconcile such differences of character among these interesting people.

Many of the Dankalli Bedouins do certainly sell their female children. Garahmee, as I have before observed, had thus disposed of three, and Moosa of two daughters, and on more than one occasion I 311had offered to me for sale, girls from ten to fourteen years old, at the price of about four or five dollars each. In merchandise, the value of a really handsome slave girl, appears much more trifling than when paid for in hard dollars, as six or seven cubits of blue sood, worth about two shillings in England, is a more than sufficient temptation to induce even a mother to part with her child. These bargains, I observed, were always transacted with the female relatives, but the returns, I was told, were generally handed over to the fathers or brothers. The girls were frightened to death at the idea of being sold to me, but seemed happy enough to leave their desert homes in search of fortunes elsewhere, with masters of their own colour; and both parents and children, in these business transactions, supported themselves most stoically, although on the eve of being separated for ever.

With respect to the old man’s daughters, Ohmed Mahomed, who acted as interpreter between us, practised a somewhat similar trick upon me as he did at Sagagahdah, when he passed Mahomed Murkee upon me for Mahomed Allee. Whilst I was in Tajourah, I was frequently called in to people who were sick, and, among others, to a number of young slave girls belonging to Abu Bukeree, one of the chief men of the town. These children were suffering from an epidemic that took off a great number, and Ohmed Mahomed asserted that two of them were the children of the old man; 312and at the moment, forgetting his duplicity on the former occasion, I added my testimony to the fact of their illness and death, and the old man turned away in tears. After he was gone, and I was again alone, Zaido, in this triumph of the deceitful policy of his master, now came, and expecting me to express my approbation of the cleverness displayed, told me that the girls were quite well, and perhaps sold at Mocha by that time. I now saw the little trick that Ohmed Mahomed had again practised upon me, and feeling exceedingly annoyed at having been so impudently made the tool of an unprincipled slave-dealer, I was almost inclined to go after Ohmed Mahomed, and, in despite of all consequences, tell him to his face he was a dishonest man; but, on second thoughts, considered it would be a more prudent course, as I could not remedy the injury done, to let things remain as they were; especially, as the old man would probably be more contented with the idea of their death, than if he were made aware of the real truth of the matter.

CHAPTER XXI.

Purchase of some tobacco, with remarks on its use among the Dankalli.—Make cover for hat.—Conversation with Ohmed Mahomed.—May 3, Journey from Hasanderah to Bundurah.—General direction, S.W. by W.—Time marching seven hours.—Singular effect of refraction.—Joined by party of Issah Soumaulee; description of their appearance and arms.—Affectionate inquiries of Kafilah friends.—Description of halting-place and country around Bundurah.

Several applications for tobacco to-day determined me to purchase from Ohmed Medina three pounds, for which I gave only three dollars, the most reasonable price that was ever asked me, for any commodity I required during the journey. Over the presents intended for the road I had no command whatever, they having been placed in the charge of Ohmed Mahomed before we left Tajourah; and he took such especial care of them that the three skin bags full of handkerchiefs, coloured cottons, and white calico cloth, were untouched when we arrived in Shoa. All the presents required, were supplied from a stock of blue cloth and tobes, he had purchased at Berberah, and which he took care to charge to the Commander 314in Shoa (the British Ambassador) at the price of three dollars each tobe, and of ten dollars the piece of blue sood, much to his great gain and emolument. At the same time, the cunning fellow expected at the end of our journey, to have given to him all the original and much more valuable presents, as a kind of perquisite belonging to his office as Ras ul Kafilah.

Tobacco, in all its forms, is eagerly sought for by the Dankalli; their constant asking for it is one of the principal annoyances a traveller experiences in passing through Adal. A very little, however, sends the sturdy beggars away quite satisfied, and if it were not for the numbers of them, their moderate expectations would be a source of amusement, for a thimbleful is received with a great deal more thankfulness than a handful, which, if bestowed, they look at with a kind of feeling, that if you can afford to give so much, there is no harm done in asking you for a little more.

The sort of tobacco I saw most general among these people was the dried leaf, unprepared in any other manner than by mere exposure to the sun after being gathered. The Bedouins used it rudely crushed between the fingers, and well mixed up with an equal quantity of fine wood ashes. This rough powder is placed between the cheek and the lower jaw, where it forms a large lump, which is allowed to remain until all the bitter or active principle of the mass is extracted. It makes a most 315unsightly protuberance, just above and on one side of the chin, and occasions a continual ejection of saliva, which, as it is cast only upon the earth, is less objectionable than a similar indulgence when committed in the more civilized resorts of men, as, for example, in the drawing-rooms of the less fastidious of our Transatlantic brethren.

The people of Tajourah manufacture this tobacco into snuff by first scorching the leaf, and then triturating it between two stones, something in the same manner as paint is ground in England. Some of the Dankalli tribes, among which are the Assobah, and Omah Battah’s family of the Sidee Ahbreu, are remarkable for their abstinence from the use of this intoxicating herb, an indulgence in which, by any individual belonging to either of these tribes would be followed by his assassination. These people may have derived this prejudice from some early connexion with the Christian Church of Abyssinia, one canon of which interdicts the use of tobacco among its communicants. I suspected also that it might have arisen from the exhortation of some of their more respected Sheiks, who had learnt the existence of a similar abstinence from tobacco, practised by the modern Islam sect termed Whaahbee. On inquiry, however, I found that the Dankalli had rejected its use long before the appearance of these Unitarians of South Arabia. I may observe that the Whaahbee found their objection to the use of tobacco, upon some 316commandment contained in the Koran, that says “no property shall be consumed in fire,” which they contend is the case when smoking is indulged in, and that consequently, it is a crime of scarcely less atrocity than downright arson.

Tobacco in the form of snuff is used, however, by all the tribes, and I have myself seen the Chief of the Sidee Ahbreu snuffing greedily a large quantity up his nose whilst he was telling me, with a great deal of self-satisfaction, that the use of tobacco was a capital crime among his people. This luxury is kept in a little bag, or pouch, made of two pieces of fine gut, stretched and dried in the sun, and then sewed together. What little snuff they can get possession of is carefully deposited in this; it is then folded up several times one way, and placed between the scabbard of their knife and the thongs that secure it to their girdle. “Surat,” the name of snuff in the Dankalli language, indicates the place on the coast of India from whence was imported the first that came into Adal.

I was much amused by a comparison memory suggested, between the Dankalli of the present day, and the beggars for tobacco in the south of Galloway, in Scotland, not one hundred years ago, where a traveller of that day relates of the inhabitants, “that they are for the most part great chewers of tobacco, and are so addicted to it that they will ask for a piece thereof from a stranger as he is riding on his way, and therefore let not a 317traveller want an ounce or two of roll tobacco in his pocket, and for an inch or two thereof he need not fear the want of a guide by day or night.” This relation so accords with the practices of the Dankalli Bedouins, that supposing freedom from any attack is assured by the protection of some powerful chief, all other services and attention required during a sojourn amongst them, may be commanded by following the recommendation of the worthy traveller in Galloway.

During the day I managed to make a new covering for my hat, for in passing beneath and among the thorny mimosas, the old one had been torn to rags. Having to get out a shirt to cut up for the necessary material, such a collection of my escort and Kafilah men that gathered around my hut, I never saw, and snatching for the buttons, or begging for the remnants, they left me little more than barely sufficient for my purposes, and, in fact, I was obliged to purchase back, for a couple of needles, part of one of the sleeves, to finish my task in a creditable manner. Everything I required to perform this, my needles, my thread, the white tape binding, and the last shreds of the shirt, were distributed fairly among the admiring mob, before I could get them away.

Ohmed Medina, whilst at prayers this evening, without moving from the mat upon which he performed his prostrations, called me to bring my gun to have a pot shot at some guinea-fowl, that were 318roosted for the night, in the branches of an aditu tree very near to the camp. Having only one barrel loaded with shot, the other containing a ball I sent the latter, first among the crowd of birds, not above twenty yards from me, and killed three, following it up by pouring in the shot, which brought down four more of the scared fugitives.

All had their throats cut before they were quite dead, each bird having three or four assistant executioners to settle its business, although numbers rather delayed than accelerated the operation, which Ohmed Medina consecrated, by bawling out from his prayer-mat the necessary “Allah achbar!” “Allah achbar!”

Ohmed Mahomed, who had become very civil the last day or two, visited my hut in the evening, and I had some conversation with him relative to our starting the next day, and sounded his intentions by remarking, that here was plenty of forage and excellent water. “Good, Good,” replied Ohmed, pointing to the camels; and then, with hands spread some distance from his stomach, intimated how well distended the animals seemed to be with food. I shook my head, telling him I was very sorry to see it, for where forage was abundant, there our stay was sure to be long. Ohmed Mahomed, to close the dialogue, and get away, responded, “Ehwah, ehwah” (yes, yes); “Jimel, big-belly,” making signs; “Jimel, carry big box. Jimel, little-belly,” screwing himself up. “Jimel, carry marfish” (nothing). The 319English of all this, it must be understood, was pantomimic; and a pretty good idea may be drawn from this little scene, of the manner in which conversations were carried on, between me and some of my companions.

May 3d.—Long before sunrise this morning, I was awoke by the hoarse voice of Ohmed Mahomed, as he stood upon one of the boxes, giving the usual loud cry, as a signal for starting. For some reason or other, it had been arranged that the Hy Soumaulee and myself, instead of preceding the Kafilah, as had been customary, should now remain until the very last camel had moved off the ground. Ohmed Mahomed was, perhaps, not quite sure, but that we might give him the slip, and push on for Shoa, without waiting for him.

After I had booted and belted, I retired to a large stone with my carbine in my hand, where I sat until the camels were all loaded, and, one after the other, in detached strings of six or eight, led by a slave, the long rope halter thrown over one shoulder, and his spear on the other, were stalking solemnly along the winding path among the clumps of trees, which now hid them for a moment or two from the view, and between which they then again appeared, until lost altogether to sight among the distant foliage.

Whilst I was sitting, I had an opportunity of observing a singular effect of mirage upon the summit of a long low ridge, that formed one of the sides of the 320valley of Hasanderah. It evidently depended upon the refraction of the rays of light passing through a stratum of air, in which was suspended or contained a considerable quantity of the vapour of water, and which, of less specific gravity than the air itself, was rising from the damp earth in this neighbourhood. On the top of the ridge, standing in high relief, from the grey sky behind him, was a Bedouin, who, of gigantic proportions, seemed to be quite as tall as a very high tree, which was growing near to where he stood. I looked at him with astonishment; and thought of the enemy described by Ossian’s frightened scout,—“I saw their chief, tall as a rock of ice; his shield the rising moon, his spear a blasted pine;” of so enormous a size, was the figure and arms of this supernatural-looking being. Feeling assured that it must be some unusual phenomenon, rather than anything real, I left my seat to examine more closely the unmoving bronze colossus upon the height. A short walk soon proved to me that I was not wrong in my idea of the real character of this appearance, for I found that the tall tree, on my approach, sunk into a low mimosa bush, scarcely five feet high, and the tall giant reduced himself, to the form of my Hy Soumaulee friend, Carmel Ibrahim, who was waiting very leisurely a little apart, like myself, the departure of the Kafilah.

When the word was given for us to start after 321the camels, I mounted my mule, and travelled at a pace that suited her exactly, being about seven hours marching fourteen miles. We soon ascended from the valley of Hasanderah, and passing over the ridge, emerged into a very extensive treeless plain, where were numerous denuded bases of small volcanic cones, the remains of which consisted of stratified concentric circles of black lava, just appearing above the surface of the ground. The diameters of the numerous instances of this peculiar geological structure, I passed during the day, varied from fifteen to thirty yards. Grass was everywhere abundant. Numerous sand-pillars moved along before and behind us; sometimes, as many as twenty, or even thirty, appearing in sight at once. They varied considerably in form, from that of an upright exact column to that of an inverted trumpet, sustained at an angle of 50° from the horizon.

On our march we were overtaken by four men, whom, Ohmed Medina, on seeing, instantly pointed out to me as being Issah Soumaulee. That they differed in some respects from the Dankalli, was obvious, at first sight; but this was most strikingly apparent in the character of their arms. In the first place, they carried neither spears nor shields, instead of these, having light bows and rather bulky quivers, which hung under the left arm, from the shoulder of the same side, by broad 322leathern bands. In the belt of untanned hide, which secured the fotah, or cloth, around the waist, they had each an old rusty knife in a worn-out scabbard, and scarcely eight inches long. The rude hilts of these weapons were merely round bits of wood, hollowed between the ends for the grasp of the hand.

In the long frizzly character of their hair, and in the colour of their skin, they resembled the Dankalli, with whom their stature, and the general character of their features, also accorded. At the present day, the Dankalli and Soumaulee are distinct, as nations; but, the great similarity of their language, of their customs, and their indistinct separation, in the various tribes that border on this road to Abyssinia, and which made it therefore a most interesting one, prove them to have descended from one common origin, the Avalites of ancient geographers.

Some modification in the character of these ancient people, has been occasioned by intermixture with other nations, which has produced a difference in personal appearance. In the north, acted upon by the Grecian and Egyptian colonists, who made that part of the country of the Avalites, a rich and populous kingdom. Their representatives at the present day, the Dankalli, have assumed, or retained, the Circassian type; whilst in the south and west, their long intercourse with Shankalli 323tribes, have given somewhat of the character of the Negro to the more southern Soumaulee and the inland Galla.

The bows of the Soumaulee are of the most classical shape, having a central depression, between two curved arms, at the extremities of which, the strong catgut string is fastened. Instead, as in the bows best known to us, the middle portion of the string being at the greatest distance from the centre, in those used by the Soumaulee, this part of the string actually rests upon the wood in that situation, and each time the arrow is discharged, strikes the back of the left thumb of the archer, with great force. Thinking I should not be aware of this, Ohmed Medina, as a practical joke, put one of the bows into my hand, and requested me to bend it; with a very great effort I effected this, but took care to let the string down gently, with a knowing kind of wink, which made them all laugh at seeing me up to the little trick intended. The quivers were made of a long cucumber-kind of gourd-shell, but quite straight, with a parchment cover, which fitted like the top of a large pill-box. Inside were contained ten or twelve arrows, about a foot long, made of a thin hollow reed. These were each armed with a broad head of blue steel, the shape and size of the ace of spades, attached to a nail-like spike, one inch and a-half long, which, when the arrow was to be used, was thrust into a deep hole, down one extremity. The lower end 324of the shaft was feathered, as usual, for the purpose of steadying it in its flight. When such a weapon is discharged, and strikes the game, the endeavours which are made, by the animal to escape, occasion the head to become detached from the reed, which falls to the ground, whilst the former remains in the wound; and as it is loaded with a black mass of vegetable poison, the absorption of this into the system, soon terminates the life of the animal. I had no opportunity, nor has any other traveller, I believe, of identifying the plant, which supplies this poison, with the “Euphorbia Antiquorum,” of botanists. I do not think it inhabits the low country of the basin of the Hawash; for the Soumaulee told me, they obtained it from the South of Hurrah; and as this city stands upon the highland, where commences the water-shed of the river Whabbee, to the south, I should suppose, that the poison plants of the Soumaulee will not be determined, until some traveller has visited that locality.

The party who joined us on the road, had just before succeeded in killing an ostrich, and each possessed a small parcel of the feathers. These were preserved in portions of the gut of the bird, cleaned and dried in the sun, through which, the feathers were carefully drawn, in the direction of the plumage, so as not to disarrange it. Besides these, contained in the parcels, they had others tied in a bunch, which they freely distributed among 325my escort, all of whom in a very short time were decorated, with one stuck at the back of their coarse, black, frizzly hair, over which curled the light, white, dancing feather, with very good effect, and in excellent keeping with the rest of the picture of savage life, our road presented.

One was given to me, but as I could not conveniently carry it in my hat, I secured it for the present, in the head-stall of my mule’s bridle; and the toilet of the whole party being finished, and our introduction to the Soumaulee concluded, we parted, and proceeded on our different ways; we, in the direction that the Kafilah had taken, whilst the strangers continued on their way in the direction of Owssa.

We were moving on, Ohmed Medina, by the side of my mule, talking all the way about the wars of the several tribes of the Dankalli, between themselves, and the Galla living on the banks of the Hawash. The Hy Soumaulee, in lines of six or seven, kept pacing away after us; each extended party listening to one of their number who was giving a very energetic relation of some late personal rencontres, in which he had been engaged. So occupied, were all, with the conversations of each other, that none but myself heard a distant shout from the rear, and turning, on my mule, I made out the running figure of a man, whose spear-head, even at the distance he was, glanced brightly in the sun’s light, and enabled me to 326decide that the approaching object was really a native, and on my directing attention, we all stopt for him to come up. He turned out to be an old acquaintance, Garahmee, whom I had begun to think had deserted us altogether. He had been two days on the journey, to overtake the Kafilah, travelling principally in the night; and had intended to have halted this day at Hasanderah. Finding, on his arrival there, traces of our departure very recent, he determined to push on at once, and our staying to converse with the Issah Soumaulee, had enabled him to come up with us, before half the day’s march had been performed. Although I had no great love for the cunning old rascal, I thought it would be prudent to be polite to him, so I dismounted, and proposed, that as he must be very tired, he should ride; at the same time pointing to the head of the mule, directed his attention to the feather placed there, as if it had been saved only for him.

After a little delay, we were again on our march, and soon overtook the rearmost camels, but as we walked much faster, gradually left them all behind. As I came up, the conductor of every fresh string, or the owner, walking by the side of his own beast, vociferated, “Ahkeem,” “Ahkeem,” as if our long separation, two hours before, must have obliterated all remembrance of them out of my memory, and they wished to receive some comfort and an assurance to 327the contrary, by my bawling out, in reply, their respective names, with an affectionate inquiry after their health. One good thing was, that among them Mahomed seemed to be a part of every master’s name, for if it were not Ohmed Mahomed it was almost sure to be Mahomed Ohmed, whilst the slaves all answered either to Allee or Zaido, so there was not much chance of being wrong. They were also a good-humoured set, for they were sure to laugh if I hit upon the right name, and a great deal more so, if I were wrong; but as remembering a man is as little attention as we possibly can pay to any one who acts courteously to us, I took care to flatter them when I could, by saluting my companions by their proper names.

We halted at a place called Bundurah, the elevated apex of a large triangular plain, the base of which to the south was formed by the Oburah range of hills, inhabited by the Alla Galla. Bundurah appeared to have been the central point of some extensive elevatory movement of the surface of the earth in this situation, as several long low ridges of lava radiated from it, especially to the north. To the west were also a great number of small volcanic cones, some of which looked like craters, but too distant for me to examine them. The plain was bare of trees, but abounded in grass and a plant of the mint species, like bergamot, which diffused a very fragrant odour.

We found here several Bedouins of the Wahama 328tribe, and the object of keeping me in the rear with the Hy Soumaulee escort was now obvious, for we entered, it seemed, to-day, the territories of these people whom we had every reason to expect would receive us in an hostile manner. It was, therefore, to protect the weak and straggling camels, who would be most likely to be attacked, if they were left behind without guard, that we had remained at Hasanderah so long after the Kafilah had started this morning.

Bundurah was not, strictly speaking, Wahama territory, but a kind of debateable land, which extended to our next halting-place, Kuditee. The Hy Soumaulee contend that this district belongs to them, and on this plea the people of Tajourah raised their objection to the Wahama Kafilahs coming to their port, for, possessing no country upon the line of road to Shoa, it was argued the proper point for the Wahama to communicate with foreign markets ought to be Zeilah. The Wahama, however, being the largest of all the Dankalli tribes, and the Hy Soumaulee the least, the latter are not able to contend the matter with them, and are obliged to submit to the usurpation they have no means of preventing; whilst the Tajourah people dare not refuse to the Wahama the convenience of their town for mercantile purposes, or most assuredly their road to Shoa would be closed by this powerful tribe.

Those whom we met at Bundurah had only 329arrived the day before, having been to the south of Errur with an expedition against the Alla Galla, who occupy the country between the Wahama and Hurrah. They had heard nothing about the quarrel at Herhowlee, and were very well disposed to be on good terms with us. One of our new friends displayed above his hair a white ostrich feather, and around his neck, wrist, and ankles, were small twisted strips of goat-skin, he having killed a Galla during the expedition. The boss of his shield, the handle of his knife, and the head of his spear, were also bound round with knots of the same twisted skin.

Ohmed Mahomed, anxious to secure friends among the Wahama, paid every attention to those we met in this place, and on one of the two women who accompanied them bestowed a piece of blue sood, or half a dollar, whilst I was called upon to make some present to the Galla slayer, which I did by giving him a handful of tobacco and some paper. The woman, by the bye, was an old lady-love of Ohmed Mahomed, and the sister of Lohitu. She had now become the helpmate of an influential man among the Wahama. Altogether our meeting with this party was most fortunate, as they proved grateful for the little presents they all received from us, and advocated our cause with good effect in the subsequent calahms of their tribe. This was the object which made Ohmed Mahomed so assiduously to cultivate their friendship; 330and to induce them to accompany us for the next two or three days, until we were out of that part of the country through which the Wahama people commanded the road, he promised each of the four men half a dollar. The youngest of the women it was proposed should live with me, but I was ungallant enough to object to this, for, although I did not mind her sitting in the hut during the day, I would insist on her not remaining there for the night. She did not seem to understand this at all, and I could not explain to her a morality of which she had no idea, so I gave Zaido a piece of sood to free me from the lady’s presence. He, however, mistook my meaning altogether, and, being a stingy kind of a character, intimated with some dumby kind of antics, that it was all right without such a sacrifice as that. I could not stand this, so hurried off to Ohmed Medina, and explained to him that as I was a Christian it was not exactly right for me to take a Mahomedan wife, especially as I was not going to become a settler in these parts. He very good-naturedly came and relieved me from my dilemma, by saying I was an invalid, and the woman taking the hint, instead of sleeping in my hut, laid down her mat, like Ruth at the feet of Boaz, and slept across the entrance.

CHAPTER XXII.

Journey from Bundurah to Kuditee, general direction south-west, time marching, four hours.—Territory of the Wahama.—Description of halting-ground.—Meet with party of friends returning from Shoa.—Strange request.—Custom of incising skin with sharp stone.—Influx of Wahama people into camp.—May 5th. Staying at Kuditee.—La Belle Sauvage.—Long discussion with the Wahama.—Differences settled, and allowed to proceed.

May 4th.—We moved off our halting-ground long before daylight, the Wahama men and women accompanying us. Our march was over a very level country of a sandy-kind of loam, on which the tallest grass, I ever saw in my life, grew, not in tufts, but in one continued field. It was quite as high as our shoulders, and our pathway through it looked like a deeply-cut canal. No trees were seen until the latter part of the march, where low mimosa-trees, with their spreading umbrella tops, running into each other, made a miniature grove, beneath which children might have walked in a delightful shade, but which restricted us to one narrow path, where the thorny boughs, just the height of our faces, annoyed us not a little. Numerous herds of the large Wydiddoo antelope grazed around, gazing on our approach, as if undecided how to act. As 332we came nearer, they trotted away for a short distance, turned about, formed front, in an irregular line, and then made up their minds either to continue their flight, or recommence their meal.

I noticed that the buck was solitary, living apart from the herd; but wherever we did see one of these gentlemen, we were pretty sure of finding his harem on the other side of the ridge, or at some short distance beyond, on the plain. All were far too shy for me to think of following them with my short carabine, so that my sporting on the road now was confined to shooting the tall-stalking bustards, or the tantalizing florican that, dropping a few yards after I had started them, would run in quite a different direction to what was expected; then, if flushed again, would fly up a short distance to drop again and take another dodging run, and when I was quite sure they were before me in the grass, would be started a long distance on one side, or even sometimes behind me, by others of my companions. Something more than ubiquity is required, following up these birds, with Dankalli beaters to assist the sportsman, for when half a dozen are calling several ways to come to their particular spots, it is a difficult thing for him to please all, or to prove that the bird would not have been there, had he gone to every other place but the one he did.

After a march of four hours, we arrived at a fair open spot, where water, in many little pools, lodged amidst groves of sweetly-scented henna trees, and the 333yellow-blossomed mimosa. Here it was determined the Kafilah should halt for the day. The moment we came up, five men sprung from a recumbent position to their feet, seizing spears and shields, whilst a little boy ran hastily to drive in three lean, ragged-looking horses that were standing beneath the shade of one of the larger trees, as if the fatigue of a night march, or the growing heat of the day had driven the animals for repose and shelter to the same retreat with their owners.

A word or two satisfied the surprised party that we were friends, and they soon found plenty of acquaintances among our Kafilah people. They belonged to the little village of Ambabboo, which it will be recollected, was our first halt after leaving Tajourah. They gave us some news from Shoa, from whence they were returning home. They reported that the members of the Political Mission were all well, and that Dr. Krapf had left Ankobar for Gondah. They confirmed what I had heard at Tajourah from the two Greeks, Demetrius and Joannes, of the death of three servants, who had formerly belonged to the British Embassy, and who, with five others had been discharged very summarily, and, I think, very unwisely, on their arrival in Shoa. These three unfortunate men had endeavoured to return with the same Kafilah which brought down the Greeks. They were attacked on this side of the Hawash by the Takale tribe, who, it was supposed, had killed the servants, and several 334slave children besides. Subsequently, however, I found that only one of the former was murdered, the other two being protected, and ultimately conveyed safe to Shoa by tribes to which they had fled immediately the attack was made by the Takale.

In return for their information, we gave them all the news from Berberah and Tajourah, besides a detailed account of every march we had made from the latter place. Ohmed Medina was spokesman on this occasion, and went through the long statement as quietly and regularly as if reading it out of a logbook. All this introductory conversation being got over, coffee and general talking came in together. I being very tired, and not understanding a word of what they were saying, soon fell asleep upon the ground, between Ebin Izaak and Ohmed Medina, nor was I disturbed in my long nap until an intimation from the latter, asking me if I were going to join in the assair, or afternoon’s prayer, was a hint for me to retire to my hut.

After prayers, I had a curious application from one of the strangers, who required an amulet or charm of such a nature that would insure him offspring, that he might see sons and daughters rising around him, and that he should not go down childless to the grave. It was no use protesting my inability to give him anything of the sort, or that I possessed no power to effect for him the desires of his heart. He was convinced I could, and as he refused to be satisfied with my advice to 335pray to Allah to grant him his request, Ohmed Medina, who was interpreter, slyly nudged me to give the man something or other and send him away. I consented very reluctantly to be a party to any such imposition, but scrawling some figures on a bit of paper, and writing down that I thought the bearer a regular simpleton, I told Ohmed Medina to assure him that whilst he wore that round his neck he would never die in child-bed. My bad Arabic, perfectly understood by Ohmed Medina, was sufficiently obscure to lead the man to think I was promising him, if not a quantity of children, at least one son before he died, and perfectly satisfied with this, he thankfully received the potent charm, and went his way rejoicing; I and Ohmed Medina having a good laugh at his folly, and the harmless deception that, in consequence of his importunity, I had been obliged to practise upon him.

A large sand-spout passed over the camp again to-day, accompanied with thunder and some few drops of rain. The usual laughable pursuit on its retreat, made by the Kafilah men after their tobes and mats, which had been carried away and spread over the plain, occasioned considerable merriment, especially as my broad-brimmed hat also took an extraordinary flight, pursued by the whole escort, who, I really believe, were very sorry when they caught it, such a game they had in following it up.

Great numbers of Wahama Bedouins visited us 336but as all of them were friends and relations of the party who accompanied us from Bundurah, they evinced no feeling of dissatisfaction at our presence. All were plentifully feasted by Ohmed Mahomed, and in the evening received presents of blue sood and tobacco. By a clever stroke of policy, an expectation was raised among these, that an additional escort would be required to travel with safety across the disturbed district for two or three days’ march on this side of the Hawash, which had not been traversed by any Kafilah since the large one of Mahomed Allee had come down from Shoa. Hopes were thus held out that the first comers of the Wahama would be selected to perform this service, and it then became their interest, of course, that we should first pass unmolested through their own country.

They were continually applying to me for something or other, but I had now got pretty well accustomed to their natural expectation, and by a corresponding bestowal of next to nothing, held out a warning intimation, that should they apply again they must not be surprised at having arrived at the very negative point in the diminishing scale of my worthless gifts. One great advantage also, arising from small presents is, that they are not so ostentatiously displayed by the receiver as are large ones, and others have therefore less inducement to apply for similar proofs of the traveller’s generosity.

337The woman of last night, occupied part of my hut again to-day. In the afternoon I amused myself copying into my note-book the muslin sprig pattern incised upon the skin of her body; in front from the neck over her breasts to the waist, and on her back from the shoulders to the hips. She seemed proud of the attention this savage kind of ornament attracted, and was very particular in showing me how it was performed. Going out of the hut, she soon came back with a piece of obsidian or volcanic glass, she had found among the sand. From this, the rough blow of another stone splintered off a scale-like fragment, sharp as a razor, and which she proved to me could shave off the hair if required. With this the strange operation of ornamenting the girls’ skins is performed when they are quite young, and it is also used to cut the “Arriah,” or tribe-symbol, upon the breasts or shoulders of the boys. As I looked at the rude instrument, my mind reverted to the fourth chapter of Exodus, where we are told, “Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.” Before this, I had no idea in what manner, the circumcision of the son of Moses could have been effected, for although stone instruments, to separate large substances, were general in the early history of man, it appears difficult to conceive how the delicate operation alluded to in the above verse could be 338accomplished by such as those. From the admitted volcanic character of the country which is presumed to have been the scene of Moses’s early life, I have been led to suppose, that Zipporah resorted to a splinter of obsidian, as the means of excision in the case of her son, as is done at the present day by the Adal mother, to incise on her children the marks of the tribe to which they belong.

Besides the new blue covering for the head, given to my female acquaintance by Ohmed Mahomed, her only other article of dress was the usual fringed petticoat of soft leather. In a roll of this garment, along its upper edge, she had hid a necklace of red beads and shells, and holding out her hand when she showed them to me, plainly enough asked me to give her some more; but as I had long ago distributed all I possessed of these desired ornaments, I could only add to her stock of valuables, a few needles and some black thread. These she deposited in her curious scrap album, which with a twist of the petticoat, she then replaced behind her, where it rested upon the loins, free from any casual observation.

At sunset, I was desired to fire off my guns, the noise of the reports being intended as a kind of warning voice, to deter any of the Wahama from attacking us. This was rendered the more necessary, for after sunset, great numbers flocked from all quarters, and our camp was full of them.

May 5th.—We could not start this morning, 339much to the great grief of every man of the Kafilah; the father of Mahomed Allee, and three or four other powerful Wahama chiefs, having come in during the night. Calahm circles, on all sides, covered the ground, with anything but fairy rings, though the spot itself, seemed a little Eden, where things of light and beauty might have been tempted to hold their nocturnal assemblies. The tall henna trees shed a delicious perfume, far and wide, exactly resembling that of our dear little weed, the mignonnette; and out of due reverence for, and remembrance of, the sweets of home, I carried in the bosom of my tobe a small branch of its clustered pale-yellow flowers. Whilst plucking this, I was joined by Carmel Ibrahim, who seemed not unmindful of its delightful odour, and stuck a small sprig in the hair at the back of his head; but I was still more pleased to find, that Ina, my Dankalli patroness, had some idea of the beautiful, having placed in her hair a wreath of the small blue convolvulus. Thus decorated, she looked most interesting, and greatly improved by the absence of her finery, which, as I before stated, for some sufficient reason, she kept packed up in her bustle behind.

Two or three Hy Soumaulee came to pull me back towards my hut, for I had strolled quite at my ease, some distance from the camp. Turning with my companion, Carmel Ibrahim, to look for some explanation, we saw that the various lesser 340councils had broken up, and two large circles, at some distance from each other, now discussed the momentous subjects that had occasioned such a numerous attendance of the Wahama. I thought of going to the Tajourah people at once, as twenty or thirty strangers surrounded my hut, but seeing me coming, Adam Burrah, and Moosa, jumped up, and met me, pointing to the hut, then to my carabine, and afterwards to the Wahama. I understood them to say, that I was to get my other gun loaded for the benefit of our visitors, so we all proceeded to the hut, Carmel Ibrahim, pushing a lane through the crowd of fierce-looking savages, who, without a word, fell backwards, as directed, gazing at me as an object of curiosity, but did not ask for a single thing.

It was an ominous silence, and I felt it to be so, but taking my long fowling-piece from beneath the roof of mats, I loaded it, a hint taken by more than one half of the crowd, who left immediately, and slowly paced towards their friends sitting in council, where they dropt upon their heels, adding their long bright spear-heads, glittering in the sun, to the ring of troubled light that was suspended above them. In this body, a few minutes afterwards, a great commotion was observed, and some of them recovering the upright posture, shouted out “Wahama, Wahama,” which was echoed back by the party about my hut, and by all stragglers in the precincts 341of the camp, as they hurried towards this point of gathering.

The Hy Soumaulee upon hearing this, immediately took me with them to the small denuded base of a former volcanic cone, which was a few feet higher than the surrounding plain; and which, besides the advantages of its elevated and isolated character, afforded a plentiful supply of large stones, or as Carmel Ibrahim called them, “bandook Bedouins,” Bedouin guns. The Tajourah people still continued their calahm, and were joined immediately by every man in the Kafilah, when the war cry of the Wahama was raised. It was very evident that a storm was coming; but still, it appeared, our opponents were a long time in making up their minds to attack us. Neither party had much advantage in point of numbers, although every hour was adding to the force of the Wahama, and this, I supposed, was occasioning the delay, thinking it probable that their leaders were waiting to collect as many of their people as possible, before they attempted to carry into effect the violent measures, that were proposed by some of the party.

In this state of suspense, the little band I was with, sat in silence, for above two hours; the Tajourah people, and the Wahama, all this time being engaged in close calahm. Whatever was said on either side was done in a very low tone of voice, and I was glad, when the sun set, to see the still 342scene broken into, by several of the slaves of my friends, go out to bring the camels in for the night.

Occasionally might be now seen messengers passing and repassing between the debating circles; and after the camels had been secured, Zaido, with a large skinful of milk and a corresponding wooden bowl, was a welcome visitor to our position. I saw directly that matters were going on favourably, by the saucy bearing and swagger of our black Ganymede, who, had he been serving at some feast of the gods, could not have talked more freely of the impotent assaults of the Titans, than he did of the “dust-eating Wahama,” as he now called them. We all took long deep draughts of the sweet new milk, and twice round the bowl was passed, no question of creed here interfering with the fair distribution of its contents, and we all laughed when Adam Burrah placed the dripping bowl upon the frizzled wig of Zaido, whilst a shower of small stones, tossed up by the rest of the amused Hy Soumaulee, deterred him from removing his wooden helmet, as he hastily retreated to the camp.

Matters, however, were yet far from being amicably arranged, and on one occasion Zaido, in a very different mood than when he visited us before, began to lament the little chance of our ever getting out of the clutches of the Wahama thieves, a pretty good proof that the war party, in the councils of the latter, was influencing more 343than he desired, the ultimate determination of the tribe. At nine o’clock, seeing there was little chance of returning during the night to my hut, Adam Burrah went to the camp, and having brought me a mat, and a fedeenah or wooden pillow, I laid myself down, and soon fell fast asleep. About midnight I was awakened by Ohmed Mahomed seizing my knee, and then crawling to my side, to tell me that all was settled amicably with the Wahama. He never had a narrower escape from death in his life, than when he took the method he did to apprize me of his presence, and to this day he relates, with exaggerated particulars, the push in the chest with my fortunately uncocked pistol, with which I met his silent and sudden approach.

Peaceable relations between us and the Wahama had been established by Ohmed Mahomed consenting to give, for distribution among the individuals of the tribe assembled at Kuditee, five pieces of blue cloth, and a tobe each to three of the principal chiefs. The fact of the father of Mahomed Allee and his two brothers being present contributed greatly to the reluctant assent given by the tribe, that our Kafilah should be allowed to proceed unmolested, and that no attempt upon my life should be made. This favourably disposed family party was aware of the situation of Mahomed Allee, who probably was in Tajourah at that time, and upon whom and whose property they well knew, 344retaliation and indemnity would be taken, should any violence be done to us.

I was now allowed by my careful guards, to sleep out the remainder of the night in my hut, and glad enough I was, to exchange my hard uneven bed of stone, for the softer couch of sand the encampment afforded. Taking up my guns, I very soon walked down to my retreat, one of the Hy Soumaulee bringing after me, the mat and wooden pillow. The father of Mahomed Allee was waiting to receive me, and the politic old man, as we shook hands, asked if I were “Engreez?” or “Feringee?” my reply, of course, instructing him as to the character of the conversation he must assume, during the next morning’s interview, which he in bad Arabic proposed, and I readily assented to; glad enough to escape from a lengthened discussion at so late an hour.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Journey from Kuditee to Hiero Murroo, general direction west by south, time marching one hour and a-half.—False alarm at starting.—Necessity for being prepared for strife in Adal.—Abu Bukeree, Sheik of the second Debenee tribe.—Old friend of Lieutenant Barker.—Offered marriage.—Stay at Hiero Murroo.—Find here abandoned property of mission.—Negotiations for its restoration.—Joined by Wahama Kafilah.

May 6th.—When I awoke this morning I found that the camels were being loaded in great haste. I got up, and on looking around, saw the Hy Soumaulee with Ohmed Medina, sitting upon their heels, their chins, as usual, resting upon the upper edge of their shields. They were stationed upon the same height where we had been drawn up in battle array the night before. Not being wanted among the boxes, Zaido and Allee were waiting to remove, I took up my firearms and postponed any inquiry as to what new cause of alarm existed, until I had joined my escort. Ohmed Medina then told me that, after all the stipulations of last night’s treaty, an attack was expected from the Wahama, and he directed my attention, as he spoke, to the squatting circle of 346this tribe, a foul ringworm on the fair face of nature, that were still debating some momentous subject or other, exactly in the same place, and in the same manner as if they had been sitting up, talking all night. They, however, offered no interruption to the saddling and loading the camels, which was done more expeditiously than I had ever witnessed before. Every now and then Ohmed Mahomed, who was working away amongst them like one of his own slaves, would straiten his bent back and with an anxious look towards us, call out that we must not stir from where we were, until the whole of the Kafilah had moved off the ground. At last the Wahama calahm terminated, and the circle broke up; first singly, then in twos and threes, they separated and went their several ways, each person bearing in a little cleft stick his share of the spoil, being generally one half dollar’s worth of blue sood, folded up into the usual three-cornered currency of the country.

It appeared that all their talk this morning had been to arrange some differences that had arisen between themselves, about the division of the cloth we had given to them, and bore no reference to us at all. In fact I was much struck with the conscientious manner in which these savages seemed to fulfil their engagement of the last night, all but a very few, who now announced their intention of accompanying us to Shoa, moving off the ground without a single look at the Kafilah, or seeming to be 347aware that a camel or package was in their neighbourhood.

Among those who remained, and now approached the party I was with, was the grey-headed father of Mahomed Allee. He came to tell me that he was going with us as far as Hiero Murroo, to deliver to me the boxes left by his son when unable, on the last occasion, to convey them to Shoa. He was a mild, sagacious, hale old man, and appeared much respected, not only by his own tribe, but also by every individual in our Kafilah.

During the march, we passed along the most southern edge of an extensive district of extinct volcanoes, each of which, varying in height from twenty to fifty feet, presented a perfectly-formed crater, almost invariably broken down on the side towards the south-east. Abundance of tales were told by my companions of the Jinns who inhabited these hills, one of which was called “the House of the Devil’s Wife,” another “Jibel Mudfah,” (Cannon mountain) both names evidently alluding to the usual noisy phenomena of volcanic action, which is here frequently exerted. I cannot assert positively, but I have reason to believe that the great fire observed in this neighbourhood by Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf, said by their guides to have been spontaneously produced, was connected in some manner with subterranean igneous operation.

Although our march was scarcely for two hours, and at the slow pace of the camels, it was sufficient 348to take us out of the narrow valley tract of Kuditee, and to bring us again into the country of the Debenee, the chief of which division of this extensive tribe was named Abu Bukeree.

Ohmed Mahomed took an opportunity of telling me that when he accompanied the British Mission on their journey to Shoa, their Kafilah then went one day’s journey to the north, for the purpose of avoiding the Wahama at Kuditee. The Tajourah people had hoped by this means to have defeated the machinations of Mahomed Allee, the favoured of the Embassy, to assume here the Ras ul Kafilahship.

Although so short a journey, numerous were the mischances of the camels to-day, who were continually falling from the bad management of their loads, consequent upon our hurried start. I was not very sorry either when we halted, for I felt quite tired, and fell fast asleep upon the ground whilst my hut was being erected. Moosa rather suddenly awakened me to introduce an elderly lady, his wife. She brought me a present of a skin of milk and a fowl, the sight of which rather surprised me, for I had not seen one since leaving Aden, either at Tajourah or on the road. Much curiosity was evinced by my Bedouin friends to know if I had ever seen one before, and for some time they imagined, as I did not know the name of it in Arabic, that it must be a great rarity to me; but I satisfied them, at last, of its being an old acquaintance of mine by giving a regular crow. 349Upon inquiry, I was told that the people of Owssa keep and eat fowls, but that the Bedouins did not. At Herhowlee I had given this same woman a handful of tobacco, and a coloured handkerchief for her child, and either out of gratitude, or with the hope of receiving a corresponding reward for the trouble taken in procuring this delicacy, as it was thought to be, she had actually gone all the way to Owssa, and back to where we now were, to get it for me. The name of Moosa’s wife was Claudia, and I noticed this the more, because I had before considered the name of Lohitu’s sister Mira, and of my Wahama friend Ina, as being very classical, and reminding me of female names common at the present day in Spain and Portugal.

Expecting, from the number of Bedouins who visited us, that some more demonstrations of violence would be made, I prepared some cartridges. Rolling up a ball with a quantity of powder in some paper, I tied it in the centre and at the two extremities, turning out a very serviceable looking article. Eight of these I fastened together, and stowed away in my cartouche-bag, so that when need was, I could load my guns with greater despatch and certainty. In cases of anticipated peril, the most courageous men will be found to be those, who have prepared themselves properly, for the exigences that are likely to occur. I always felt agitated myself if I were not duly prepared for accidents, and thus learnt by degrees that real 350valour consists in being always ready. A man has to be frightened a good many times before he graduates into a hero, but only let him have so ordered his resources of defence, and the anxiety natural to all men in situations of danger is kept suppressed, by the confidence which results from proper preparations having been made, to meet the worst that can happen.

The Sheik, or Chief, of this subdivision of the Debenee came to my hut in the course of the day. Allee the First pulled him along by the beard, calling out “Shabah, Shabah!” (old man) to make a way for him, through the crowd of his own people who encircled my place. I thought at first he was some blind individual who wanted me to restore him to sight, as he knelt down on his hands and knees to creep into the shade. Zaido, however, hanging his black head into the entrance of the hut, cried out that this was the celebrated Abu Bukeree, the friend of the “Kapitan,” for whom, of late, I had been making some inquiries. “Kapitan” was the name by which Lieut. Barker, of the Indian Navy, was known to the Dankalli. A few weeks before, this gentleman had travelled through Adal on his return from Shoa; his original intention had been to take the Hurrah road, and so to Zeilah, and for that purpose he had lived some months in Aliu-amba, a town in Shoa, inhabited chiefly by Hurrahgee people. A Kafilah going down, the Ras undertook to convey him and 351his servants; but Lieutenant Barker, on this side of the Hawash, having reason to suspect the designs of his guide, considered it prudent to leave in the night, and put himself under the protection of some of the Dankalli tribes, with whom he had become acquainted on his first journey through their country. This confidence in their good faith was not misplaced; and after a short journey of scarcely three weeks, he arrived safely at Tajourah, with his four Indian followers. On my return to Aden, after my first visit to Tajourah, I had the good fortune to see Lieutenant Barker at the house of Captain Haines for a few minutes; and he gave me the names of two chiefs, he wished me to reward for their kindness to him during his late journey, one of whom was this Abu Bukeree, and the other one Durtee Ohmed, Chief of the Sidee Ahbreu, living at the lake Murroo, two days’ journey farther on.

Abu Bukeree was an old man, and, rather a curious circumstance for a Bedouin, had a clean tobe upon his shoulders, which, to give me a hint, he told me had been presented to him by Mahomed Allee, when he was coming down from Shoa. He asked after the Kapitan, but without the least idea, I think, of a present being due to him from that gentleman. He also invited me to his house, or wigwam, an incident that, like the fowl brought me by Moosa’s wife, was the only instance of the sort I met with whilst in this country. From the novelty 352of the invitation, and the good character of the man I had received from Lieut. Barker, I felt inclined to accept it; and we got out of my retreat to look how far distant he lived, as he pointed to a patch of low green trees, among which the stone kraals and mat-huts were plainly visible. I told Zaido and Allee to come with me, but just as we were starting, Ohmed Mahomed sent for the chief to transact business, and he, therefore, left us to join a calahm of the Tajourah people.

In about an hour, the council having broken up, I sent to Ohmed Mahomed, desiring him to bring Abu Bukeree again to receive his reward for the kindness he had shown to Lieut. Barker. He came, however, alone, and wanted me to allow him to reward the old man. This I would not consent to, but told him I intended to give Abu Bukeree ten dollars in cash, for Lieut. Barker had desired me, not to give it to him in the blue sood currency. Ohmed Mahomed looked quite alarmed when I said, “Ten dollars.” “No, no, no,” he burst out, “bad, very bad; two dollars are enough, or every Tajourah Kafilah that comes up will always afterwards be made to pay the same sum.” I saw that my proposition was too extravagant, but as I thought two dollars disproportionate for the services performed, I concluded that five dollars would, perhaps, be a just recompence. Accordingly, a little before sunset, when Abu Bukeree came to bid me good-night, I slipped into his hand that 353sum, and feeling the weight of the dollars, he went away without even thanking me, such was the hurry of delight with which he sought some retired spot to examine to what extent he had been rewarded so unexpectedly.

He soon returned profuse in his acknowledgments, and bade Allee, who was a great favourite of his, to tell me how much he was my friend, and that if I ever came in that country again, no one of his tribe would molest or injure me, but that they and all English for the future should be brothers. I do not know what he would have done, had I carried out the generous intentions of Lieutenant Barker, who requested me to give him twenty dollars. Such a sudden acquisition of wealth, would have turned his brain.

Abu Bukeree was not undeserving of the money, for the grateful old fellow went to his kraal, and in about an hour he and his son drove to my hut one of the finest bullocks I had yet seen, which he presented to me as a proof of the regard and respect he had, not only for me, but for all the English. Not to be outdone in generosity, and having this evening to purchase some animal of the kind, I insisted upon paying for this; but instead of three, the usual price paid to Ohmed Mahomed for a bullock, I gave the value of one in Adal, two dollars, which required very little pressing to induce the old man to take.

354It now seemed as if there were a trial between us, of who should be the kindest to the other; but he certainly beat me, for in a very short time after he left me on this occasion, he returned with one of his daughters, a girl about fourteen years old, and wished me to receive her either as a temporary or a permanent wife; but as I had no idea of marriage even with royalty, I waived the honour intended, making a very good excuse, that having refused the daughter of the Sultaun of Tajourah under similar circumstances, I could not, without offending him, contract any engagements of the kind with other princesses on the road. Although this was not actually the fact as regarded myself, still, as it occurred to my companion, Mr. Cruttenden, to whom the Sultaun of Tajourah had offered his daughter for one hundred dollars, I did not hesitate to make use of the circumstance, to assist me in the dilemma I was in, of having to refuse the hand of a native, so highly connected with the rank and fashion of the country. Abu Bukeree was satisfied with my explanation, and the young lady herself was delighted, at her narrow escape from an introduction into civilized life.

There can be no doubt that the Dankalli Bedouins, especially the younger of both sexes, live in common. With this division of the Debenee, from some unexplained reason, we lived upon the most friendly terms; communication with each other was as free and as unreserved as if in 355Tajourah, and I had opportunities of observing, that not only the other women of the kraal, but even the wife of Abu Bukeree and his daughters, were the handmaids of the whole Kafilah, during the time we remained in his district.

May 7th.—On awaking this morning, I was not surprised at seeing no symptoms of a start. Calling Zaido, I learnt from him we were to remain here several days, for the road now before us was so beset with Gallas, that we could not proceed until several Kafilahs, which had been obliged to stay here for some weeks past, should join us, and we should then be able to force our way together across the disturbed country. Whilst he was speaking, Abu Mahomed Allee, on his mule, rode up and asked me to accompany him to view the property of the mission which had been left by his son, in a kraal about four miles to the south. Zaido, on hearing this request, went immediately for Ohmed Mahomed, who soon came up and objected to my leaving the Kafilah.

Ohmed Medina and Ebin Izaak, hearing of the matter, also joined us, and protested against my going out of their sight, as in case of my death they would be made answerable to Captain Haines at Aden. Seeing the opposition, and thinking it was exerted for my benefit, I did not persevere in my wish to accompany the old man, especially as Ohmed Mahomed assured me that the seventeen packages, or boxes, should be brought into camp to-morrow. 356They then took away Abu Mahomed Allee, and after a long discussion among themselves, they all again returned to my hut, and sitting down round the entrance, said they had come to have a calahm, to consider what sum of money they should receive in Shoa for taking up the abandoned property with us. I could promise them nothing more than the hire of the camels, which should be paid at half the rate given for those, which were engaged in Tajourah, as I understood that there was still to be performed, about the same distance as we had already come. This did not satisfy them at all; two hundred dollars they demanded as a present for themselves, independent of the camels’ hire, and unless I promised that, they said they would not interfere in the matter at all, or exert themselves to procure the restoration of the property. This I refused at once, and as I felt it to be another attempt at extortion, I threatened in return, that I would not stir from the halting-place we were at, until the boxes were given up, and if they chose to proceed without me, I would go and live at Errur with Abu Mahomed Allee, in whose kraal I should be as secure as I was with the Kafilah.

This determination had its weight in their deliberations, and they never alluded to the present again, but insisted upon receiving in Shoa, and not in Tajourah, the ten dollars per camel required to carry this addition to my charge. I agreed to this 357without further discussion, as it would have been absurd to hesitate under the circumstances, especially as I did not know, but that many valuable and necessary articles, might be amongst the recovered property.

All the day long Ohmed Mahomed was absent on this business, and I heard or saw nothing of him until the evening, when he came to congratulate me on the success of his labours, saying the boxes were on the road to the camp, and would arrive during the night.

The next morning by sunrise, Ibrahim, a younger brother of Mahomed Allee, according to promise, brought in the first instalment of the valuables, consisting of two small square boxes, packed in cloth, and containing shot. With him were upwards of forty men and women and a large Kafilah of salt which had been detained here nearly two months in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, for some days’ journey on both sides of the Hawash. A Galla tribe, called Hittoo, on the south of our route, and an Affah people, the Assa-hemerah Muditu, to the north of it, seemed to divide between them the attention of the rich and the fearful among my friends. The Hy Soumaulee, on the contrary, were in great glee, and often would amuse themselves when they saw me, by calling out the names of the hostile tribes, and then with an action as if striking with their daggers, or imitating the report of my firearms, intimate 358how they intended to serve them, should any attempt be made upon the Kafilah.

The two boxes just brought in, I looked upon as earnest of the arrival of the rest, and congratulated Ohmed Mahomed, in my own mind, for having once in the course of our journey, not deceived me in the information he had given. I was a little too hasty, however, in this conclusion, for another day passed over us, without any more being brought into camp.

The new comers of the Wahama Kafilah, men and women, annoyed me terribly to-day, blocking up, with a dense mass of squatting human nature, all the avenues to my hut, and begging for whatever they could see. The worst was, I could not encourage any of the female relatives of Abu Bukeree to come and live with me as a keeper, they were such a bad set. Had I done so, it would have raised a great scandal, and my character as a medical practitioner would have suffered, as it was now usual to ascribe all my extraordinary cures to excessive morality, as also, by the bye, all good and fortunate shots that I happened to make.

I distributed needles, and paper, and tobacco until I wished myself anywhere, even in a stall at the Pantheon, to have got out of my present huxtering business, with such a lot of gratis customers as I had; and had it not been for Ibrahim, the brother of Mahomed Allee, who went and 359brought his father to my assistance, I should not have got rid of them, even to take my usual siesta in the afternoon. A few words from him soon dispersed the crowd, who, like a lot of children, without a word or look to the contrary, obeyed the old man in a way I could wish to see, the younger members of civilized society pay attention, to the expressed wishes of their seniors.

The government of the Dankalli tribes is strictly patriarchal. Power concentrates naturally to elders distinguished for valour and wisdom, in a state of society where the fools and cowards are sure to be cut off in the earlier part of life. The daily occurrence of quarrels between themselves and other tribes, tends to cultivate caution and policy in naturally clever minds, to avoid the violent and fatal results of giving way to sudden passion. A long life of trial must produce, therefore, that memory of experience, and that penetration of judgment, which is so characteristic of the chiefs we meet with, on our road through Adal. After all, the axiom that knowledge is power, is the secret of the great influence possessed by the elders, among this people as among all others. Every old man here is a sage, and must be well versed in the philosophy of human nature, taught by an education of many years’ exposure, to the fatal consequences attendant upon unrestrained anger, or unprepared valour.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Delay in giving up the recovered stores.—Interview with father of Mahomed Allee.—Accompany him to a kraal.—Entertainment there.—Condition of the stores.—Murder in our camp.—Occupation of Kafilah people during long halts.—Game of gubertah.—Muditu visitors.—Expected attack.—Bedouins feasting.—Portion of entrail around the neck of a Bedouin, not for ornament, but use.—Amusements.

The name of our present halting-place was Hiero Murroo; and the third day of our stay there arrived, but no signs of any more boxes coming, nor could Ohmed Mahomed, when applied to, account for their non-appearance. Generally, the answer to my inquiries was—in the morning, he would promise that they would arrive before evening; and in the evening, he would be quite certain they would come in during the night. I thought, at last, there was no intention of giving up the boxes at all; and as I saw Ohmed Mahomed very friendly indeed with the principal man of the Bedouin kraal, where the property lay, accompanying him backwards and forwards several times, I at length suspected that he was endeavouring to get the boxes and their contents for his own use. The blame of such a dishonest action when discovered, he was well aware could be 361easily transferred to the shoulders of others, from whom it was impossible to look for restitution or redress. So convinced was I by his conduct of his intending this robbery, that I left our Kafilah, and walked to that of the Wahama, who were encamped about one hundred yards to the west of us. Having walked about a little, looking into every bush for Abu Mahomed Allee, or for his son Ibrahim, I at length found the former, hard at work, studying the Koran, which lay open upon the ground before him. He was reading away with very evident interest, some of the well-told relations of past, present, and future life contained in that volume.

I pushed aside the mat that hung from the top of the thick-leaved moomen-bush, under which he had retreated from the sun, and, without any ceremony, sat down by his side. He closed his book, took off the large, round German spectacles that, compressed across the bridge of his nose, secured themselves, without farther aid, in the required position. My business was soon told. Ohmed Mahomed was a great thief, and something worse; and I wanted the boxes to be with me, or I with them, and required his assistance, for I was determined not to leave Hiero Murroo without obtaining possession of the property thus left, and which I had no doubt, I told him, that Ohmed Mahomed wanted to steal, and then to lay the blame on the Wahama. The old man replied, that the party 362who had possession of the boxes, was only a half-blood Wahama, and he had but little influence over him, which was one reason that his son, Mahomed Allee, could not induce him to go on to Shoa with himself. Since he had seen the boxes last, he added, they had every one been opened, either by the Tajourah people, or the Bedouins of the kraal, but as they had, to his knowledge, remained four months among the latter, without exciting the least curiosity to know their contents, he had no doubt the outrage had been committed by the people of our Kafilah. This was a confirmation of my fears, and a good ground of complaint, which I did not hesitate to make after my return to camp. Before I left Abu Mahomed, the old gentleman promised that he would take me to see the boxes, if he could do so without offending my Ras ul Kafilah.

After a deal of trouble with Ebin Izaak, and Ohmed Mahomed, each asserting on my charging them with the deed, that he did not know of the breaking open of the boxes, I asked them, if they would go with me the following morning to the kraal, where they were kept, to examine the state they were in, but neither seeming inclined to indulge me, I walked back to my hut. I was soon after followed, however, by the father of Mahomed Allee, who asking me to accompany him, I buckled on my belt again, replaced my pistols, took up my carabine, and went off with him, without once looking back 363to see if any volunteers from the Kafilah would follow me. I could hear several of the principal people of Tajourah addressing me in rather an equivocal manner, as I passed them, muttering “Tihebe,” “Tihebe,” “Good,” “Good,” in a tone, anything but expressive of being pleased at my proceedings.

It was a longer walk than I expected, continuing for two hours at a very sharp pace over the plain, until we came in sight of several kraals, at distances of about half a mile from each other. Towards one of these we directed our steps, and as soon as we were observed, some half-dozen men, and a crowd of women, and naked children, issued out of the low wigwams, that were clustered upon a little eminence. On one side of this portable village was a large circle of loose stones, in which sheep, goats, and cattle were kept; and near to it another, formed of boughs of the long white-thorned mimosa, which was considered a sufficient defence for the security of the camels.

The evening’s milking was about to commence; the flocks arriving just at the moment we did; and their bleating made a terrible din. On our approach, the men came up to Abu Mahomed, and after each had saluted him with the open hand, sliding it over his, as he extended it for that purpose, they very civilly came and proffered the same kind of welcome to me. I was rather taken by surprise, but removing my carabine to the other hand, I presented my right, with all the gravity and 364decorum proper on the occasion. This reception was so flattering, that I began to conclude my appearance, as a civilized being, must be a good deal worn off, and that my life in the desert had given me somewhat of the savage air of one of these roving family of man. They invited us into one of the huts, and a large bundle of split palm-leaves, ready for the women to plait into mats, was placed for me to sit down upon. Scarcely had I taken the offered seat, than a woman brought in a large basket of milk, which was fairly divided between Abu Mahomed and myself; and after it was finished, we proceeded to view the stores.

I found them carefully enough heaped up between two of the huts, above which they stood some feet in height, and were covered with three or four covers of tarpaulin, the remains of a large tent, which being worn out and useless, had been also left with the boxes. They consisted principally, of the trunks of Dr. Roth and Mr. Scott, some boxes of ammunition, as also others containing a very small seed bead, a favourite with the Christians of Shoa, but of no value to the Dankalli people, two corn-mills, and two boxes of silks, and valuables. All these, with the exception of the latter, had been opened. But as Abu Mahomed had told me not to notice this circumstance, I did not ask for any explanation, being satisfied with what he had informed me upon the road, that seven days ago, he had seen them 365untouched, and that it must have been the instigation of some of my Kafilah, that had induced the man to allow them to be forced open. The injury done to some of the boxes, where a deal of violence had been used to open them, the man did attempt to account for, by stating, that they had been broken during the journey, by the knocking about consequent upon the numerous loadings, and unloadings of the camels, whilst the holes in the ammunition and other boxes, he attributed to the curiosity of the children of the kraal. One box containing beads was so much damaged, that I was obliged to have the parcels placed in skin bags. How all the things that had been left here so long, failed to excite the cupidity of the people, is beyond my comprehension. Paper, printed ginghams, and actually, some thirteen or fourteen dollars, in a box belonging to Mr. Scott, were left untouched. The beads, whatever may be said of their not being the kind, most in demand among the Dankalli, must still have been thought of some value. In this short review of the facts, it must be understood, that the inhabitants of Tajourah surpass in unprincipled cunning, the Bedouins of the interior, as they are on the other hand inferior to them in courage; so that the disgraceful conduct of Ohmed Mahomed, and Ebin Izaak, in the clandestine search they made, for dollars supposed to be contained in some of the packages, must not influence any opinion, that may be formed 366respecting the character of the inhabitants of the interior.

When Mahomed Allee took the last Kafilah of stores for the mission to Shoa, four thousand dollars and some musket cartridges were forwarded in similar packages; by some means the Tajourah people became acquainted with the fact, and when they heard of shot boxes being among those left at Errur, unable to be carried up, they jumped to the conclusion at once, that these boxes must also contain dollars. This led to their endeavour to prevent me seeing the boxes until they had perfectly satisfied themselves of their contents; and finding nothing but the presence of what, in their possession, would convict them of the dishonest action, they had left the articles untouched, and then, making a virtue of their disappointment, commented loudly upon the integrity and good faith of the Dankalli people.

Care having been evidently taken of the property to protect it from the weather, and the man and his friends behaving so civilly to me on the occasion of my visit, I promised him, on my return to camp, a half dollar’s worth of blue sood for his wife, and a coloured cotton handkerchief for a son who was to be circumcised in a day or two. On such occasions, as in Arabia, all the personal riches and household furniture of the family are paraded, and a great entertainment provided.

So much for the boxes I found in this place, 367and which occasioned me considerable anxiety and trouble during the four days we stayed at Hiero Murroo. What I regretted most was the offence I had given Ohmed Medina, who, in common with the rest of the Tajourah people, resented my holding any intercourse with the father of Mahomed Allee. None of them spoke to me for two days, but I remained in my hut in perfect contentment; pulling down a mat over the entrance, and making Zaido place a camel saddle as a kind of chevaux de frise in front, I slept very comfortably during the heat of the day. At night I took the precaution of building up the entrance of my hut with stones, whilst, over the region of my stomach I placed a shield, and curled one of my arms around my neck, so that any attempt upon my life would have been almost sure to have awakened me.

Though I was spared, an unfortunate slave of my friend Himyah was murdered by one of my Hy Soumaulee escort, for some offence committed by the unfortunate man during the preceding day. Although in the scuffle that immediately ensued he had been severely wounded in the face, this did not satisfy his opponent, who, unobserved, stole upon him during the night, and struck his dagger into the chest above the breast bone, killing him at one blow. The murderer next morning paraded with a large black feather in his hair, and was the coolest of the whole party as 368they sat alone, during the deliberations which ensued upon this deed of blood. Five bullocks was the fine imposed, which was paid by his friends collectively, who applied to me, to authorize Ohmed Mahomed to advance the money for that purpose. At first I insisted upon the Ras ul Kafilah discharging this man, but Ohmed Medina corroborating the statement that this was impossible in our situation, I had no other course but to resolve not to have any communication with the murderer. Even this I was only able to do for a few days, as the fellow would still come and sit down at the entrance of my hut, and converse with as much ease, as if conscious only of having done a most meritorious act. My last resort, therefore, to express my own abhorrence of his dastardly conduct, was to address him always as Cain, and by that name he very soon became known to the whole Kafilah, but of course, no one had any idea of the allusion contained in the appellation.

Our stay in Hiero Murroo being so long, and the place abounding with shrubby clumps of the moomen or tooth-brush-tree, nearly all the Kafilah people formed for themselves, with their knives, rude bowers, by cutting out some of the underwood, and scattering it over the top to increase the shade. In this manner sometimes three or four tenants would occupy one bush. The moomen, or woomen, as I have heard it also called, grew at the convenient 369distance of not more than five yards from each other, and towards evening I often took a walk, along the naturally formed lanes, to pick up some trait of character, by observing the inmates and their occupation in these human nests. If they were not sleeping, which was most frequently the case, they would perhaps be mending a tobe, or making their ox-skin sandals. Sometimes two idle rascals, lying upon their stomachs, would be passing away the time by a game called gubahtah, played with thirty-two pieces of dried camel’s dung, which were to be duly apportioned, according to certain laws, into sixteen holes, and depends, somewhat like backgammon, upon the choice of position and chance of number.

Many of the bushes were festooned inside and out, with strings of meat drying in the sun, upon which the circling falcon, which in great numbers always accompany a Kafilah, would make frequent stoops, scarcely scared, by the yell and often-hurled stones of the watching slave-boy.

In this place, as was usual where there was plenty of grass and water, we had constant supplies of milk. We also readily purchased young kids for needles or tobacco, and I generally preferred one of these to the dry venison of the chase, in the pursuit of which I always incurred much trouble and disappointment. Had I been possessed of a good rifle, it would have been very different, but for hunting purposes my short double-barrelled carabine was 370good for nothing. Presents were also frequently made, in return for medicine consisting, in addition to bags of milk, sometimes of a fine sheep or goat, so that the Hy Soumaulee, whilst we were living here, fared sumptuously at no expense to me, for Ohmed Mahomed was more conscientious, or had began to know me better than to make his every second day demand for a bullock.

Diseases of the eyes I found most prevalent among the Dankalli. Sometimes I was asked to afford assistance in cases of severe sword and spear wounds. One of the men belonging to the kraal where I found the boxes had three large wounds in the side, each one of which looked sufficient to have produced death; and besides these, he had a spear wound completely through the muscles of the thigh.

In treating several of their complaints I had recourse to an infallible water-cure, for having but a small stock of medicine, I was obliged to contrive how to make them go as far as I could. Epsom salts, among other sweet things, was considered quite a bon-bon, and of this article I had but about one pound weight, so I dispensed it generally in tea-spoonsful to each applicant, instructing them, at the same time, that to increase its effect they must drink a great deal of water immediately after taking it. In one case, an anxious mother returned some two or three hours after I had given her son a dose of the salts. As she stooped down to look into my 371apothecary’s shop, chattering away, she pointed to a large empty water-skin which she held in her hand; I could not understand her, but Zaido came to my assistance, and explained, that the woman wished to know, if her son might relieve himself by making water, “for,” said he, “he has taken three of those water-skinsful already, and he must do so, before he can drink any more, or he will burst most assuredly.” I gave the desired permission, and the woman departed. “Zaido,” said I, when she was gone, “when I say, drink a great deal of water, I do not mean as much as a thirsty camel can take, but only a good sized basket-full.” Zaido, as my assistant dispenser and interpreter, promised attention, and no deaths in consequence of excessive drinking occurred.

During the two last evenings of our stay in this place, several individuals of the Muditu people appeared on the outskirts of our camp, in parties of three or four. They were not received amongst us; generally standing at a distance of thirty or forty yards from the salt loads and stores. They examined us with some degree of interest, and were evidently endeavouring to form some idea of our purposes and movements. Their appearance, however, broke through the reserve that had for the better part of two days been observed between me and the people of the Kafilah, on account of my apparent predilection, for the father of their detested rival, Mahomed Allee. They now came 372to my hut, telling me in a low voice I must come out to frighten away the Assa-hemerah Muditu, by firing off my guns. This was done with very good effect, for they invariably took the hint, and after a few minutes’ stay, to save their honour, I suppose, they moved off the ground. On one of these warning intimations, a loud laugh was raised at the expense of one of our Muditu visitors, who, in the sudden astonishment occasioned by the report, brought up his spear to the attitude for launching it, but with the butt-end towards me.

One evening, Carmel Ibrahim, the Hy Soumaulee chief, was sitting upon the ground by my side, amusing himself and me by his vain endeavours to count thirty, which proved to be beyond his arithmetical powers, even with the aid of small stones. Counting these by fives, he produced a total of thirty-five, and when I said they were wrong, he added another five to correct the error. At last, with the aid of Allee, who had been taught the Arabic numerals at school in Tajourah, the thirty stones were ranged in a line, and I began my lesson, to learn their names in the Affah or Dankalli tongue.

Whilst thus engaged, Allee caught sight of three men coming in a direction from the north, the country of the Assa-hemerah. They approached the Kafilah very cautiously, and evidently trying to conceal their advance, by covering themselves with the low bushes between us and them. 373Carmel and Allee sprung to their spears, crying out the usual alarm, “Koo, koo, koo,” whilst I made a dive into my hut for my carabine and pistols. All the Kafilah men rushed to arms, and we were soon sitting, as usual, in a semicircular line, in a direction looking towards the expected foe.

After sitting nearly half an hour, and no enemy appearing, Carmel Ibrahim got up, and beckoning to me to accompany him, we went together for some distance in the front, until it was too dark to discern distant objects, when we returned, and dissipated the apprehensions of the rest as to any body of men being in the neighbourhood. The few first seen were some prowling thieves, quite as likely to have been Wahama as Muditu, and could have no hostile intention upon the Kafilah beyond individual murder, or stealing any trifling thing they might have met with.

The assembly having dispersed upon our report to their several bowers, Zaido and Allee set about slaughtering a sheep, Allee cutting the throat whilst Zaido threw himself upon the struggling animal. Seeing there was every probability of its escaping, I went to their assistance, calling out “Allah achbah! Allah achbah!” to summon some Bedouins I saw over the top of the next bush to give us their aid, conceiving that the common Islam ejaculation over animals being killed, would be the best intimation that could be given them, of what was going forward. One of them understood me properly, 374and soon came pushing round the bush to this labour of love. Dropping down by the side of Zaido, he caught hold of the head of the sheep by the chin, fixed its shoulders against his knee, and bending the former back, with a furious wrench tore the wound in the throat open by the force, and effected at once the dislocation of the neck, and immediate death. Soon flaying the animal, they dragged asunder the joints, separating the bones from their articulations by many twists, and with as little use of their well-preserved knives as possible. The flesh thus almost torn from the body was put into cooking vessels, whilst the head, with the skin still attached, was placed amidst the wood ashes of the fire, until the brain was well stewed in the bony cavity of the skull. The shank bones, broken between large stones, afforded to their fortunate possessors delicious tit-bits of raw marrow, drawn with a long spluttering sough into the mouth. The entrails, after being taken out, were hastily drawn through the closed hand, to squeeze the contents upon the ground, and without more dressing, transferred to the pots along with the other meat, and which were soon bubbling fast and furious, over the crackling, sparkling brushwood or dried mimosa that formed the fuel. By and by the savage banquet is prepared, and the meat taken from the pots is put upon mats, or into the hollow of an old shield; every one now tries to get first to help himself, all struggling and pushing, but in the 375best of humour. The circle nearest the meat hesitating to choose, thinking they possess the advantage of position, find hands intruding from behind, that carry off the very pieces, they had just fixed their minds upon.

It was not frequently that I joined these dinners, but whenever I did, I was received with every attention. One after another would push towards me his portion of the meat, or cut off with his knife that which he conceived to be the choicest bit, and which he would hand or toss to me, according as my distance was, from the party who paid me this compliment. Nor were they niggardly in the offerings thus made, and large lumps of fat in quick succession were tempting me to eat from every side. One lucky fellow, happy in the possession of some part of the entrails, would, perhaps, before he presented it for my acceptance, repass it through his pressing fingers, to extract more of its contents, with a kind of instinct, or an acute perception, that the less it contained of the dirty matter the more agreeable it would be to me.

I have had occasion previously to mention, that it is usual among the Dankalli to make but one meal a-day. It is, however, very seldom that this consists of animal food, for the Bedouins never think of slaughtering cattle for their own use. Milk, and occasionally, as a luxury, draughts of the rich fluid butter called ghee, constituting their food all the year round. On the settlement of blood feuds, 376when it is agreed that the compensation, consisting always of a number of cattle, shall be killed and eaten by the previously contending tribes, or when an animal has received some serious injury, or is about to die from disease, are the only occasions of indulgence in animal food.

Grain of any kind, dates, or vegetables, are unknown as the products of the country of Adal south of Owssa, although many parts are well calculated for the cultivation of all kinds of useful tropical plants. Cotton, indigo, and sugar, I am sure would thrive most luxuriantly along the broad valley of the river of Killalu, called Waha-ambillee, and which extends from the west of Lake Abhibhad to the extensive and widely-spreading plains of Errur to the south, to the base of the Oburah and Goror range.

In my notes written on this spot, I find the following observation recorded. That portion of the entrails, with which the Dankalli, in common with the other savage inhabitants of this part of Africa, are said to adorn themselves, is the omentum, or peritoneal covering of the bowels, and which corresponds with what, in our butchers’ shops, is called the leaf, and from which lard is rendered. This omentum abounds with fat, easily melted by the sun. It is taken and twisted by the hands into a kind of rope, which is tied around the neck, the ends hanging low behind the back. It is not, therefore, for ornament that entrails are worn by these 377people, but for the relief and comfort the skin receives from unctuous substances, when liable to exposure under a burning sun, and which has dictated the employment, of this natural and constant supply of grease, in the manner I have described.

One afternoon I was again treated with an extempore song, a method of expressing their feelings which appears to afford great pleasure to the Dankalli. I was sitting on the ground at the entrance of my hut, thinking upon past scenes and pleasures, at the same time humming a favourite old tune. This attracted the attention of Moosa, who, with the large wooden packing-needle they use for sewing the palm-leaf salt-bags, was mending my mule’s head-gear, two straps of which had got broken. Ejecting, with averted head, a great quantity of tobacco juice from his mouth far upon the sand, he began a low muttering song, which was soon joined in by Carmel Ibrahim, who lay in a neighbouring bush, Carmel, as usual, introducing my name, and exciting considerable mirth among the listeners who gathered around, but their merriment was as far as possible from being of a disrespectful character.

Every evening ball-playing amused the greater part of the Kafilah people, and the loud shouts on the Wahama side told of their being also engaged in the same noisy busy game. It was rather too boisterous for me to join, though I was often 378invited by our party, but I showed off by balancing some heavy sheets of pewter, Ohmed Medina was taking up to the Shoan market. All these I could lift with the greatest ease, and project them from one shoulder a considerable distance. None of my Dankalli companions could do this, and although I was very weak from my recent illness, they all acknowledged my superior strength. This was admitted on more than one occasion; but I recollect once particularly, at Arabderah, being requested to heave away, a large stone half buried in the soil. Garahmee, on going to prayers, there being no water, was necessitated to go through the performance in sand, and the cavity in which the stone was embedded was to represent the bathing vessel. Moosa, Carmel Ibrahim, Ohmed Medina, all tried to remove the stone without the least effect, but I rolled it out with comparative ease. From this circumstance, which was corroborated by other opportunities of observation, I do not consider bodily strength to be a characteristic of the Dankalli, although for agility and endurance under fatigue, I think they are unequalled by any people, not excepting even the North American Indians. That they would incur voluntarily this exercise of their physical and moral endurance is another thing, and from what little I know of them I do not think they would.

After remaining at Hiero Murroo five days, I was not sorry to find that we were to start on the 379morning of the sixth. Although I had determined not to appear anxious to get the journey over, still I could not help bribing Ebin Izaak with five dollars, to induce Ohmed Mahomed not to delay our march, after the boxes of Mahomed Allee’s Kafilah came into camp, which was on the morning of the fifth day of our stay, and accordingly, before evening, I received the intimation of our move the next morning. During the last day we were joined by several smaller Kafilahs, of from eight to twenty camels, so that we could now muster with the Wahama Kafilah, between three and four hundred camels, and nearly two hundred fighting men.

CHAPTER XXV.

Journey from Hiero Murroo to Mettah.—General direction, W.S.W., time marching four hours and a-half.—Conversation upon different roads through Adal to Shoa.—Commercial jealousy between the Muditu and the Dankalli.—Battle of Hihillo.—Surprise sleeping friend.—Frighten my servant Allee.—Halt near Assa-hemerah kraal.

May 12th.—We were up and away long before sunrise. Ohmed Medina and I were accompanied by a crowd of the escort and Kafilah men, all discoursing upon some great engagement that had taken place some few years before, when Lohitu led the combined Dankalli tribes against the Assa-hemerah Muditu, who occupied the whole country on the east of the Hawash, from Owssa to the ford of Mulkukuyu, where our road crossed the Hawash. The scene of this sanguinary conflict was about two hours’ march to the north-west of where we were, at the base of a high conical mountain which now came into sight, having previously been shut from the view by the small range of Abhidah. Almost all my Hy Soumaulee escort had been present in the battle, and I received long accounts, during the march, through the interpreting medium of Ohmed 381Medina, who himself was not there, but who took as much interest in the relations as I did.

It appears that for some years previous to 1839, the road to Shoa had been closed to the merchants of Tajourah and of Ambabboo, who previously had carried on an extensive trade with that country, taking up salt from Lake Assal, and receiving in return Abyssinian slaves, who were sold to great advantage in the Mahomedan ports on the shores of the Red Sea. The Assa-hemerah live on the north side of the more western portion of the road through Adal, and although speaking the same language, deny their nationality with the Dankalli tribes. This was their plea for extorting exorbitant duties for many years previous to 1839, but having at length fully established an intercourse with Shoa through their own country, by another passage of the river Hawash, north of Mulkukuyu, they endeavoured to monopolize the trade in salt and slaves. To effect this, they seized the whole country to the north of the road to Bahr Assal, and allowed no Tajourah Kafilah either to load with salt at the lake, or to proceed for slaves to Shoa.

For several years the Assa-hemerah had thus excluded all but their own Kafilahs from entering Shoa by the direct road, attacking and plundering all other Kafilahs that attempted it. I make the observation “direct road,” for we learn from the journal of Isenberg and Krapf, published by the Church Missionary Society, that the Tajourah 382people had some communication still with the kingdom of Shoa. They were, however, obliged to move with their camels along the sea-shore to the head of Goobat ul Khhrab, then, during the night, pass rapidly over the five or six miles which intervene between the sea in this situation and the salt lake. Loading their camels with the salt, they then returned to Tajourah. From this town they proceeded to Zeilah in bogalows, or native boats, and by a circuitous route through the country of the Issah Soumaulee, at length reached Shoa.

It was not likely such a palmy state of things, for the Assa-hemerah people, would be allowed to flourish long, without exciting some envy and jealousy, especially among the inhabitants of Tajourah and Owssa, who had not forgotten the great advantages that accrued to them when an uninterrupted road allowed them to carry on a direct trade with the populous countries to the west of the Hawash. Accordingly, through the machinations of some of the wise men of Tajourah, the braves of all the Dankalli tribes in the interior, consented to combine their forces under one leader, and Lohitu, the Debenee chief, was unanimously chosen to fill that post. Owssa is inhabited by a Muditu tribe, but on this occasion they assisted the Tajourah people, because of their dependence upon that port, to enable them to communicate with foreign markets, as the Owssa Muditu carry on a considerable trade with Gondah and Central 383Abyssinia. The other leagued tribes were the Issah Soumaulee, the Wahama, the Hy Soumaulee, the Debenee, and a mixed multitude of minor subdivisions that could scarcely be considered separate tribes. Tajourah and Ambabboo also sent their warriors; but Ohmed Medina laughed when he said they only sent ten men between them. Altogether the combined forces amounted to one thousand men, who were gathered together on San-karl to the west of the valley of Gobard, and which I recollected to have been pointed out to me by Lohitu himself as the rendezvous of his tribe on such occasions.

From San-karl they proceeded to Kuditee, and slept there the night preceding the engagement. The next morning they entered the country of the Assa-hemerah, two thousand of whom had collected upon the flank of the mountain Hyhilloo, to give battle to the invaders. Lohitu led his men directly to their front, and after a few personal combats, in which the leader and my little Tajourah acquaintance, Ibrahim Shatan, particularly distinguished themselves, the battle became general, and in less than one hour after they had first seen the Muditu, the latter fled, leaving more than one half their number slain.

Of the allies, I was informed, the Issah Soumaulee lost the greatest number, one hundred of them having been killed. The Debenee lost sixty, the Wahama eighty, the Hy Soumaulee, a very small tribe, thirty, and the Owssa Muditu 384fifty. The Tajourah people lost but one man; whilst of all the others who fought under Lohitu, not as particular tribes, but as amateurs, about twenty were killed, making a total of three hundred and forty-one, and considering the manner in which battles are fought among these people, I can easily conceive how so few, comparatively, of the victorious party were slain.

One interesting ethnological fact may be gleaned from this relation; that is, the presence of the Issah Soumaulee on this occasion, which is another evidence to prove, the intimate relationship of the Dankalli with that people.

Conversing upon the subject of this fight, we kept marching on for nearly five hours, but as we were in the rear of the Kafilah, and obliged to restrict ourselves to the slow pace of the camels, I do not think we accomplished more than ten miles during that time. We halted at a place called Mettah, or Maida, and the appearance of the country suggested, the appropriateness of the name, which I was given to understand, signified the same as the English word meadow.

Our march had been all the morning along a narrow plain, confined by low level ridges of black lava, about a mile distant from each other. Through the centre, but in a very serpentine course, a shallow channel had been cut through the fine alluvial soil, by an occasional stream, which flows towards the north and east. When we passed 385along its banks we only found a few shallow stagnant pools in its bed.

On leaving the line of march with Ohmed Medina to examine the stream more closely, we found, in its dry bed, very soundly sleeping, a man wrapt up in his tobe, his shield being secured by it over his stomach and bowels. Instinct, or something like it, had taught me the very same method of partially securing myself from assassination, whenever I expected foul play, or have had reason to suspect those, whom I well knew, would have been glad of an opportunity to take away my life, without danger to themselves from my firearms. Putting my hand to the heavy Adal knife I wore in my girdle, I turned to Ohmed Medina, to ask him if I should bury it in the heart of the unconscious sleeper. He taking my proposal to be serious, instantly interposed with the common Arabic negative, “La! la!” but which, in the usual amusing manner of an Adal interpretation, he prolonged to five or six repetitions. This awoke the man, who certainly looked as if he thought he were about to be put to death, and scowled most desperately, as in a moment he put himself behind his shield, and raised his spear for the attack. Ohmed Medina calmed his apprehensions by a word or two, but he also took care to drop behind his shield, as he spoke from the overhanging bank. The man, however, recovered confidence, let fall his weapon to the ground, and stood upright, and in a very short time 386we were all three walking back to the Hy Soumaulee, some of whom came to meet us, to inquire from whence our new friend had sprung. It seemed he belonged to the Wahama tribe, but from some cause or other was obliged to be very select in his lodgings, probably from having had a recent quarrel, which would have insured his death, had he been discovered by his enemy asleep.

At Mettah, the narrow plain we had travelled along spread out into an open level country, which appeared bounded by an extensive sea, so perfectly delusive was the appearance of the distant mirage, in which small eminences, here and there appearing, looked like islets standing amidst the waters. Large sand-pillars, their bases hidden in the mirage, rising like spirits from the vasty deep, until their tall summits were lost in the blue sky, moved steadily across, acted upon by some stronger current of air, and added one more circumstance to strengthen the delusion, by reminding the travelled spectator, of the water-spouts he has witnessed at sea. After all my experience I persisted in believing that there must be water before me, especially as it lay in the situation of a lake, Murroo, I had heard Lieut. Barker speak of, but Ohmed Medina very quietly referred me, to the stream and its course in an opposite direction, to corroborate his statement of its being “a great lie.”

My mule breaking loose, in consequence of 387not having been properly secured by Allee, strayed to a considerable distance towards the opposite side of the plain, and a large party went out to protect Zaido, and both Allees, who were sent to bring her in, for it appeared our movements were being watched by a party of men, squatting on the extremity of the ridge where it projected into the plain. So nearly approaching to the colour of these rocks, were the dark skins of the natives, that it was sometime before I could make them out, or the cause of all the bustle that seemed to have taken possession of the previously quiet camp. I thought at first it was some leopard or hyena, preparations were being made to hunt, that had occasioned the stir, and came out of my hut to see the anticipated sport. When I did discover the men I was surprised that such a number could have approached so close, and not have been discovered before. They must have marched parallel to us, covered by the ridge on our left, and the circumstance of its terminating opposite to where we had halted, prevented them continuing their ambush for any purposes of surprise, and our increased numbers made an open attack by them, out of the question. After the mule was driven in, they retired, but upon a report spreading that a large kraal of the Assa-hemerah lay over the other side of the ridge, my Hy Soumaulee friends, and most of the young men of the Kafilah, determined to proceed thither for the purpose, as they said on 388my protesting against it, to purchase milk. As, however, I knew that robbery was intended, and that murder would probably ensue, I offered them a bullock to remain, which they very reluctantly accepted. On my expostulating with Ohmed Medina, he admitted it was not right, and said very candidly, “What are my countrymen but wild beasts?”

Allee the First, now came into my hut to claim damages, showing a bruise upon his face, which he asserted had been inflicted by the mule, whilst catching her to bring her back to the camp. I said it was no such thing; for ever since her back had been almost broken by the butt-end of the spear of a fat Dankalli, whom she kicked in the belly, I observed she had improved very much in her disposition, and was very cautious how she attempted anything of the sort. However, I told him I would look in my book and see if his tale were correct. Opening, with a very grave countenance, Mr. M‘Queen’s Survey of Africa, which I had just been consulting, I looked up, after having examined it, and said, “Allee, Allee, you are a story-teller, for Ohmed Mahomed hit you that blow in your face.” I never shall forget the consternation that appeared in his face, as ejaculating “Whallah!” (By God), he backed out of my hut, thinking, I really believe, that I should metamorphose him into something or other before he could get away, for his attempted imposition. Having 389got safe out of my hut, however, he recovered from his fright, and, as if recollecting himself, said, “Ahkeem, will you tell me who stole my fedeenah?” alluding to the wooden prop or pillow for the head, I have before observed, as being so generally used by these people. By a singular accident this very fedeenah had been placed under my head by one of the Hy Soumaulee, as I slept out upon the hillside amongst them at Kuditee, whilst expecting the Wahama would attack us. When I was awakened by Ohmed Mahomed in the middle of the night, and told to return to my hut, the man who carried my mat for me brought away the pillow; whose it was I did not know, but as no inquiries were made about it, I always afterwards rolled it up in my Arab cloak for myself, as I found it very comfortable after a little use. I instantly suspected that this was the one respecting which Allee wanted information, and so, affecting to know all about it, I told him I would not tell him who the thief was, for the sake of peace, but that if he came in the evening I would return it myself to him. This, of course, I did, and quite convinced Allee of my immense power over the Jinn. The evil that resulted from this was, that a rumour was spread among the Kafilah that I had dealings with these spirits of fire, Allee swearing positively I carried one with me confined in a bottle, and that he had frequently seen me consulting it. The simple fellow meant my thermometer.

390After sunset a large drove of camels, sheep, and goats, were seen moving towards the Assa-hemerah village behind the ridge, but we saw nothing more of the inhabitants. They were evidently influenced by some hostile feeling towards us, for on every other occasion of being in an inhabited neighbourhood, the women, or at least the children, would bring in milk or young kids as presents, or for sale.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Journey from Mettah to Murroo, general direction, W.S.W., time marching, three hours and a-half.—Remarks upon the climate of Adal.—Pass some small extinct volcanoes.—A little farriery.—Cautions for practitioners of medicine resident among the Dankalli.—Halt for a short time at Kuma.—Second visit of Abu Bukeree.—Proceed to Murroo.—Halt near kraal of Durtee Ohmed, Sheik of the Sidee Ahbreu tribe.

May 13th.—Up at sunrise, and soon after the party of pedestrians followed the camels, proceeding along the plain in a west-south-west direction. The hills of Affrabah to the south-west, the terminal peak of the same range to the south-east, with the Hyhilloo mountain to the north, formed a well-defined triangular space of flat open country, which admitted the eye to range over an unbroken view of about ten miles on every side. Nor was this a sterile tract, but covered with a jungle of young mimosa trees, and plenty of excellent grass. Numerous dry watercourses presented themselves as we marched along, and in some, the yet soft clayey soil intimated the recent evaporation of the water. I should have observed, that slight showers of rain, of not longer than two or three minutes’ duration, occurred during every night of our stay in Hiero 392Murroo. These were the last sprinklings of the wet season, if the country of Adal may be said to have such distinctions in the unfixed character of its climate. The squally thunder-storms of February, and the great heats of August, constitute the extremes of annual difference, but the persistence in the character of even these months cannot be assured, and from what I observed myself, the reverse of these conditions are just as likely to happen. The same vicissitudes, I was told, characterize every month, and in different parts of Adal these states of the atmosphere exist at the same time. In such an irregular and uncertain climate, the presence of the cloud of fire by night, and the pillar of sand by day are invaluable, as guides to the Bedouin in search of water for his flocks, and natural history does not contain a more striking illustration of the benevolent purposes of God towards man, even in his most evil condition, than these phenomena present.

The singular position of the country of Adal is probably the cause of this irregularity in the seasons. Islands that are surrounded by seas are acknowledged to have their climates modified by the circumstances of their situation; and differing in kind, but exactly analogous, is the effect which is produced by the low position of Adal, surrounded on all sides, except towards the east, by elevated table lands. A reference to the map appended to this volume illustrates my idea better, perhaps, than I can describe it. It will be there seen, that to the north 393a water-shed directs the course of the river Takazza to the Nile, whilst to the south, an oppositely correspondent water-shed is drained by the river Whabbee, emptying itself into the Indian Ocean at Juba. Instead of a mountain range, which usually marks the separations of different watersheds, we here have a huge fissure of habitable land, drained by its own particular water system. To the west, the high plateau of Abyssinia closes the excavated plain of Adal, but it will be perceived that in that direction the progress of extension is rapidly going on, by the denuding agency of the river Hawash, which is annually removing its courses farther to the west, by the vast amount of the Abyssinian highland, it carries away during the rainy season in that country.

To this peculiar situation of Adal, therefore, I attribute the great irregularity in the season of the rains, generally so periodical in other intratropical districts. Opportunities of observation have been only afforded me, of becoming acquainted with the fact, but the character of the surrounding countries being known, and the relative position of Adal with these, being borne in mind, I have no doubt meteorologists will be able to account, for the irregularity and vicissitudes of the climate.

To the left of our road, a lake called Iruloff was reported to exist, which contained water all the year round. It communicates with the river of Killaloo. My attention was directed to the 394subject, by seeing in that direction a cloud of some thousands of the white ibis moving along the horizon. They were much smaller than the Egyptian ibis, and more like the paddy bird of India.

Towards the latter end of our march to-day the field of extinct craters again appeared, the cones much larger, and increasing in height as they approached the base of Hyhilloo and Abhidah. The trees and shrubs clothing their sides seemed thicker and more luxuriant; and the ground over which we marched was covered with light green grass, a small lemon-flavoured fragrant mint, and the little blue-flowered thorny-leaved plant of which the camels appear to be so fond. This latter grows about four or five inches high, the numerous flowerets growing along a spike like an ear of wheat, and when the seed is ripe it is not unlike, in form or size, shrivelled corn.

Ohmed Mahomed was very ill this morning, and obliged to ride his mule. Another awkward circumstance upon the march was a camel, subject to epileptic fits, falling, was obliged to be unloaded. The Kafilah people all attributed it to Jinn, and as the animal stumbled as if he were drunk, it was not a bad cause to assign for his complaint, especially as he was laden with a few dozens of choice Geneva going up for the use of the Mission in Shoa. This, by the bye, had got the name of “hubble-bubble,” from the rattling of the 395stone bottles against each other, as the husks of some kind of seed, in which they were first packed, got shaken out of the boxes. One of the great complaints brought against Mahomed Allee by the Tajourah people was, his having “shrab hubble-bubble,” drunk all the gin that had been entrusted to his care as Ras ul Kafilah. Whatever spirit, however, possessed the camel, I was applied to, to exorcise it. To do this I took a large lump of myrrh I had just gathered from the tree, and a piece of opium I happened to have with me. These I rolled up in paper like a horse ball, and having seen something of the sort in farriery, when giving medicine to cattle, I caught hold of the camel’s tongue with one hand, and passed the other, arm, elbow, and all, far down his throat, so that the animal could not get his physic back again any how; a mode of medical treatment that delighted the Dankalli exceedingly; and, had they been governors of an hospital, they would have been unanimous in appointing me physician, on the ground of my merits alone. My success, too, was surprising, for the camel recovered for the time, and this addition to my fame, increased the confidence of Ohmed Mahomed, in the efficacy of the remedies I had also given to him. Had this latter been treated properly he ought to have been bled, as he was evidently labouring under a determination of blood to the head.

I was prevented performing this little operation 396by recollecting the case of an unfortunate Armenian doctor, who, in Suikin, two years before, had been sacrificed by the populace on account of the death of a patient whom he had thus treated. The Turkish Governor of the town, before whom the complaint was made of this treatment, in vain interceded in behalf of the doctor; his expostulations had no effect, and he was obliged to permit that which he was unable to prevent, and the accused was taken from his presence to the outside of the walls of the town, where he was barbarously executed in the usual manner, by the weapons of the friends and relations of his deceased patient. I heard of this in Aden, the fact having been reported by the European Consuls in the neighbouring ports to their respective Governments, and, in consequence, a representation was made to the Porte upon the subject. In such countries if a traveller be requested to afford assistance to sick persons, for whom no hope of recovery exists, his best practice will be to recommend the friends of the patient to pray a certain number of times to Allah, or if he finds he must do something himself, let him give them some written charm or other, but never by any means administer medicine or perform the least operation. In cases when active measures are adopted, and the patient, to the surprise of himself and others, does get well, the cure is always ascribed to Allah alone; but should he die, the doctor is considered responsible for his death, 397which is certain to be attributed to him or his medicines. To show how careful a person ought to be, I shall relate a little incident that occurred to me whilst we were staying at our last halting-place. A woman came for some medicine for her husband, who was said to be very ill indeed. I could not go to see him as he lived ten or twelve miles from the Kafilah. As the woman was very importunate for medicine, which, having no knowledge of the case, I at first refused, to get rid of her, I opened a package of tea, and giving her a small spoonful, wrapt it up in a bit of old newspaper, and sent her away, with directions how to use it. The next morning, however, I found her, making a terrible noise at the entrance of my hut, saying that her husband was a great deal worse, and all owing to the medicine he had taken. No one could understand the simple character of the remedy I had sent him, so all my explanations went for nothing, until I happened to see, sticking between her skin petticoat and her own black hide, the identical paper I had put the medicine in; and snatching it from her waist, I found the tea still in it, actually untouched. This evidence of the woman’s imposture was conclusive, and she was taken away by those of her friends, who just before were making loud demands of compensation, for the injury they asserted I had done.

In simple cases of temporary disordered functions, or when medicine could be demonstrated to possess 398specific effects upon the seat of some organic disease, I always gladly availed myself of the opportunity of displaying the advantages and power, derivable from the knowledge of the medical properties of natural substances. In fact, I always pleaded to the more intelligent of my companions, that the desire to obtain an increase of knowledge, as an Ahkeem, was the principal reason why I had left my country to expose my health and life in a country like Adal, among a people so barbarous as even the Dankalli acknowledged themselves to be.

The Kafilah halted at Kuma, and a few camels were already unloaded, when it was determined by Ohmed Medina and Ohmed Mahomed, that we should proceed at once to Murroo, the residence of a tribe called Sidee Ahbreu, to the chief of which, one Durtee Ohmed, I had a kind of introduction from Lieutenant Barker, similar to the one I had to Abu Bukeree. Of this latter chieftain I had lost sight for several days, although his wives and children often visited me, bright with smiles, sometimes bringing me little skins of milk, or a large German-sausage-looking affair, consisting of a portion of the dried intestine of a cow filled with ghee. The absence of Abu Bukeree was occasioned by the presence of Abu Mahomed, the father of Mahomed Allee, who was still with the Wahama Kafilah which preceded us about two miles, and who would often visit me in our camp. Two suns at a time are allowed to be too many by the 399Dankalli; and so, with a becoming politeness, these old gentlemen had agreed to divide my attentions and presents, the father of Mahomed Allee to have the benefit of my acquaintance to Kuma, where the undisputed territory of Abu Bukeree commenced, and this latter was then to take his turn to Murroo. I do not think that when this arrangement was made between them, Abu Bukeree said anything about the present I had already given him. At all events, our Ras ul Kafilah had been no party to this negotiation, and his determination to proceed without halting at Kuma quite deranged their plan; Ohmed Mahomed conceived that it would be more profitable for him to continue the day’s journey on to Murroo, to avoid any more demands from Abu Bukeree for presents, on the plea of halting in his territory. Instructions were accordingly given to the Kafilah not to unload here. A short explanatory calahm with the Debenee chief, who was already on the ground to receive us, occasioned a little detention, but, as already observed, as he had received other presents at Hiero Murroo besides those I had given to him, he was obliged to be satisfied.

I did not like to see the old man treated in this manner, especially as I thought advantage had been taken of the peaceable character of himself and his tribe; so when he came to pay his respects to me as I sat under a tree, waiting with Zaido until the numerous camels had again gone some distance 400a-head, I promised him if he would accompany us to Murroo, to give him the old Arab frock I then wore. He accordingly accompanied us to our encamping ground, and received the almost worn-out garment with many thanks, as he held it up before him, like a Jew calculating the probable value of an old coat. After examining its novel cut and character, the venerable chief at last made up his mind what to do with it, for, nodding to his wife, who was in, what is called, a delicate situation, he intimated his idea that it would very well become her, and bestowed it accordingly.

Two little boys were now ordered to drive back a fine bullock, which had evidently been intended as a return present, for those which Abu Bukeree had expected from us. The old gentleman then bowed his salams, and mounted his mule; stooping, as he rode away, over the neck of the animal; the long bent back of age, strikingly contrasted with the straight shaft of the spear he carried on his shoulder.

Our halting-place, Murroo, was a natural park, in which small green savannahs were surrounded with tall, flat-topped mimosa-trees, the trunks of which were hidden, by an interlaced thicket of the ascending and descending runners of some luxuriantly growing climber. An immense number of sparrow-like birds, with their noisy chirrupings, seemed to raise great objections to our occupation of their favourite resort. The little woodland scene 401was altogether very pretty; but I was too tired after our long journey of five hours, to have any eye for the beautiful, and was glad to lie down in my hut immediately it was announced ready, bid Zaido place a mat over the entrance, and go to sleep at once.

At sunset, I awoke; Zaido bringing a large bowl of boiled wheat and clouted cream for my supper, and under the influence of an excellent appetite, I soon lessened its contents. A strange kind of humming now attracted my attention, and, getting out of my hut, I observed, at no great distance, a small circle of Tajourah people, who, neither in calahm nor zekar, seemed still to be occupied in the performance of some ceremony, each of the six persons engaged, taking his turn to repeat a short sentence or so, in a low murmuring tone, and then giving way to the next. Going nearer, to see what they were about, I was joined by Allee, who informed me they were doctoring Ohmed Mahomed, in their own fashion, by offering up prayers to Allah, and asked if I thought he would recover. As I had already given to him three strong cathartic pills, and his case was not a desperate one, I held out hopes to the distressed Allee, that probably the next morning his master would be quite well. Having approached the circle, and dropt upon my heels, close behind them, I watched the proceedings of these devotee practitioners in medicine, and noticed that each one, in succession, recited 402in a low voice, the first chapter of the Koran, and then spit upon the patient, who, wrapt up in a black Arab cloak, was lying at full length upon a mat, in the midst of them. Every one having duly performed this ceremony, the circle broke up, and coffee being brought, the good effect of the combined praying and spitting was acknowledged by all, when Ohmed Mahomed sat up, and called for the first cup.

This kind of medical treatment is not confined to the diseases of mankind, for on more than one occasion I have seen them adopt the same means of relief for a sick camel. When one of these animals lies down for the night, without performing a little necessary act, it is always considered a certain symptom of ill-health. The owner in this case, procures a piece of string long enough to go round the body of the camel, in which he ties seven knots, at nearly equal distances from each other. As he does this, at each knot, he stops and recites the Fahtah, or first chapter of the Koran, and should he not be able to do this himself, he procures the assistance of some learned friend, who performs that part of the duty for him. At the end of each Fahtah, the knot is spit upon. The string being thus duly consecrated, is then passed under the animal’s belly, and tied upon the back, and during the night, generally produces the diuretic effects desired.

May 14th.—Staying at Murroo. The first thing I did to-day was to get out some paper I intended 403to distribute among the members of the Sidee Ahbreu tribe, whom I expected to come begging. The first thing Allee the First did, was to steal the said paper, whilst I was busy packing up the box again. This he accomplished by putting his hand and arm between two boxes that formed part of my hut, and reaching from behind me the paper, which he then conveyed away beneath his tobe. I did not know who to charge with the robbery, but upon complaining to Ohmed Medina, he made some inquiries about it, which led to the detection of Master Allee, who, on being brought before me, retorted by charging me with having stolen his fedeenah, or wooden pillow. However innocently on my part, such being the actual case, I consented to a compromise. I was to receive back my paper, and Allee again into favour, without prejudice to his boxeish in Shoa, for his falling off in this instance, from the strict path of duty and honesty. It must be told how he came to know, that I had had possession of his fedeenah during the time he had lost it, and had not, as he at first supposed, procured its return to him by magical incantations. Whilst sitting the evening before with the praying party, after their curious ceremony was over, I was questioned as to my power over the inhabitants of the nether world. I denied any such power, stating that the spell I employed to dispossess the devil, or Jinn, from the sick camel, was a piece of myrrh, and not the paper 404it was wrapt up in. Then came the question how had I been able to procure the return of the wooden pillow; for Allee, as soon as I had given it to him, changed his previous tale of its having been stolen, and asserted he had left it behind at a halting-place, some days’ journey distance, from whence my familiar spirit had brought it at my command. This I satisfactorily explained by relating the whole circumstances; and Allee being laughed at for his credulity, now fell back upon the circumstance of my keeping the fedeenah, without any inquiry as to whom it belonged, to excuse his theft of the paper.

Abu Bukeree’s daughter brought some milk he had promised me, and begged hard for a dollar in silver. I referred her to Ohmed Mahomed, who, at my request, gave her, but very unwillingly, a head-covering of blue sood, and sent her away.

Our camp was about half a mile from the village of Durtee Ohmed, who was, as I was told, then on an expedition against the Alla Gallas, assisting a party of Wahama, who had gone to retaliate for some recent outrages committed by that people. In accordance with the request of Lieut. Barker, I intended to have given him a present, on being introduced to him, similar to the one I gave Abu Bukeree, and had provided five dollars for that purpose; as he was from home, however, I fancied they were so many dollars saved, put them up again, and thought no more of the matter.

405In the evening Ohmed Medina left us, going with Garahmee and Moosa, nearly all the way back again to Herhowlee, as they heard that an elephant had been recently killed at Dowaleeka; and with the hope of being able to purchase the ivory from the hunters, this party started intending to travel the whole night.

Plenty of women thronged the camp, and the men of the tribe, were particularly friendly and quiet. I soon found that family connexions between several of the principal Tajourah people and the elders of the Sidee Ahbreu occasioned the good feeling that existed between us. During our stay at Murroo, a regular fair was held, and at night, singing, dancing, and clapping hands, kept us up until a very late hour. Every day we were receiving fresh accounts of the inroads of the Alla and Hittoo Gallas from the south, who were driving off cattle, and carrying away the younger women of the Dankalli tribes in their immediate neighbourhood. This, however, did not interfere with the festivity of the camp, for other Kafilahs came in to join us from every side, and by the third day of our stay, we had in company more than one thousand camels, and could muster above five hundred fighting men. The different Kafilahs kept to themselves, each taking up such a position as was most convenient, but never at a greater distance from each other than two hundred yards.

The next day after we arrived, much to my 406surprise, for I thought him far enough away, Durtee Ohmed reported himself, and looked somewhat the better for the late stirring business he had been upon; for, instead of having but one eye, according to the description I recollected to have been given by Lieut. Barker, he had two quite as good as my own. I mentioned this to Ebin Izaak who had accompanied him, as he then explained, for fear any mistake might arise from this circumstance, and that I should refuse to give him the present, on account of the discrepancy in the appearance of the claimant, from what had been represented to be the case. He was also ready to swear on the Koran as to the identity of the man, and although not perfectly satisfied, still, as I had not been cheated extraordinarily by Ebin Izaak, I thought I would receive his testimony on this occasion, so gave the man three dollars, with which he went away perfectly satisfied.

Several messengers arrived from other Kafilahs on the road, all desiring us not to move until they had joined us. I was not sorry for the detention, having derived much benefit in my health since we reached Murroo. I was also nearly naturalized among the Dankalli, who had become accustomed to my complexion, and as for my clothes, they were not very different, either in hue or condition, from theirs. My yellow Arab frock was no novel thing to the Tajourah people, and a few days’ journey through the thorny 407jungle, and a few nights’ repose upon the ground, soon took the respectability out of it, and I was as ragged as any lover of freedom, or of nature, would ever desire to be. My broad-brimmed hat was considered a great curiosity, and greasy heads of males and females, would frequently try it on to see how it would fit. One of the old women too, pulled on my boots, the tops of which scarcely came up to the bottom of her skin petticoat. A chase was made after her, for she started off with them, and so long was she in returning, that I began seriously to think, she had run away with them under pretence of sport.

The Sidee Ahbreu were certainly the most lively and least quarrelsome of any of the tribes I had yet seen. Neither was this friendship purchased, for having disposed of everything I could well part with, I took care that they should know it by oft-repeated assertions that I had given all away upon the previous march. The good resulting from this was, that I had fewer beggars to satisfy in this place than anywhere else.

My stay with these people, led me to form a much better opinion of the character of the Dankalli, than I previously had done. Whether I had become accustomed to my situation, or really liked the life I was leading, I do not know; but, for one or the other reason, I enjoyed myself more here than anywhere else, during the long period I had been absent from England.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Amusements during stay at Murroo.—Bull fight.—Eating raw meat.—Another offer of marriage.—Strange mode of dressing the hair.—Caution to travellers; perhaps unnecessary.

Every morning I accompanied Himyah with his matchlock, after the numerous herds of antelope that came in sight. On one occasion, I slightly wounded a fine doe, which, getting away, we took care afterwards to make my mule one of the party, and, with her assistance, were enabled to follow, faster and farther our stricken game.

We used to have some excellent sport, and the best fun in the world, for Ebin Izaak joined us also with his mule, and Adam Burrah bought an old ragged-looking horse for a dollar and a-half from some of the Sidee Ahbreu, which we used to swear had been stolen from Shoa. Adam having no horse furniture whatever, was obliged to make a rude halter of palm-leaf rope, and for a saddle used to put his dirty tobe beneath him. It frequently happened in full chase, that his charger stopped suddenly on the edge of a narrow watercourse, and then, for a certainty, the half-naked rider would be precipitated over his head. 409The usual game of the mounted huntsmen were the young fawns; these they were sometimes able to separate from their dams, and after a sharp ride of about a quarter of an hour, directly upon their trail, the exhausted animal would lie down, and quietly allow its pursuer to dismount, and seize it. On one occasion, the chase was a doe, I had slightly wounded, but as the effect of the ball brought her to the ground, she did not recover herself until Carmel Ibrahim, to whom I had lent my mule, was close upon her haunches. There was no time to run, so she turned boldly on her pursuer, and the sudden surprise of the mule at the unusual act, occasioned the fall of her rider, who came down over her right shoulder, making sundry scrambling snatches at the mane and neck, to preserve him from too hard a contact with the sun-dried earth. After all, considering the vast number of antelopes, of several different kinds, the wydiddoo, the symbilla, and the sahla, which we saw, we made but a poor display of slaughtered game; and if I had not had Himyah, who was perpetually firing at distances too great to do any execution, as a decent excuse for not being able with my short gun to get near enough, I should have lost the valuable opinion of many of my Dankalli friends; whose good behaviour was attributable, in a great measure, to the firm belief they entertained, that as a shot, I was the most sudden-death kind of character, 410they ever had the good fortune to be friends with.

In addition to the amusement of hunting, we had a bull-fight one evening, on the occasion of killing a large red animal of the kind that had been purchased for the Hy Soumaulee. He was, as his rearers themselves acknowledged, a regular “shaitan,” one of the wildest and most unmanageable beasts that ever objected to be made into beefsteaks for the use of “the lords of the creation.” The society, however, he was amongst was well calculated to vindicate our supremacy in the animal kingdom; and it now became a subject of great public interest to reduce to obedience and cold meat, our angry, untamed defier; who, undecided on which point to make an attack, stood gazing, with restless eyes, and dilated nostrils, upon the noisy circle that was gradually contracting around him. I offered to shoot the animal, as there appeared some little shyness on the part of the boldest braves of our party to commence the fight, but the religious prejudices of the Tajourah people prevented the quick decision of a bullet; for the meat would of course have been unholy, if the bull dropped dead without having its throat duly cut, and the deed sanctified with the usual ul’allah.

The boys and younger men now began to amuse themselves by little ventures, as if going to rush upon the beast, but immediately running back to 411the crowd, when he gave a threatening sweep of his huge head and horns in that direction in which they appeared to be coming. He was evidently aware of his desperate situation, for beyond this threatening display, he scorned further notice of such ignoble enemies, but stood firmly, as if resolved to reserve his energies and strength for the life-struggle, that instinct bade him expect, with the yelling crowd that every moment increased. The circle around the victim, gradually contracted by the pressure from without, and the growing emulation of the boldest men, to draw the first blood. A boy on the front, right of the bull, for a moment drew the animal’s attention by the usual little teasing pretence, and immediately Carmel Ibrahim, the opportunity having occurred which favoured his position, rushed forwards, and seizing the tail, gave heavy and quick blows with his knife above the hock of the right hind leg. The bull upon this made a fierce charge in front, but the circle opened in haste, every one falling back upon the flanks; whilst Carmel, dragged along, was still chopping away, sometimes hitting and sometimes missing, until exhausted, he was obliged to let go his hold, and the bull continued his run, bellowing with rage and pain. The pursuit was general; and as the pace was but a sharp trot, many got close enough to launch their spears, several of which fell upon the haunches of the animal, but failed to produce any effect, except to drive him 412faster on. The value of the spears, however, prevented much repetition of this useless mode of proceeding. Before he had got half a mile from camp, he again halted, and another large circle formed around him, and after some one had rushed in upon him as Carmel had previously done, the crowd suddenly opened again upon either side, and the bull, with a loud roar, came dashing back, ploughing the earth furiously with his horns, and not halting in his career until brought up by the line of spectators in the camp, who had not joined in the pursuit. Again he stood and gazed around him for some retreat, but his restless, bloodshot eyes, and quick moving face were only turned upon foes. I again offered to be the butcher; and the ill success of those who had so far attempted to kill him, induced Ohmed Mahomed to consent, at the same time waving with his hand to the distant people in rear of the bull to get out of the way. I examined both locks of my carabine, and being assured that all was right, walked straight up to the animal until he made his charge, and fired, as he came down, sweeping the earth with his face. Whatever fury, or whatever madness excited him, he was not blinded by either, for the flash of my carabine evidently turned him in his career; for the ball, instead of passing through the head, as I had intended, much to my surprise, went completely through both shoulder-blades, and he tumbled over and over upon the ground. 413Plenty of time, however, was afforded for the performance of the requisite ceremonial, to satisfy every Mahomedan in camp; for, although, ostensibly, I only provided entertainment for the Hy Soumaulee, every Tajourah man in the Kafilah, considered himself entitled to some portion, of whatever animal was slaughtered.

I was, as usual, strongly recommended whilst staying at Murroo to take a wife, like Ohmed Mahomed, Ebin Izaak, and in fact, all the rest of my companions; who, as is usual, had taken to themselves, temporary helpmates. One of the girls, who presented herself to me as a candidate, was stated by her friends to be a very strong woman, and had had as many as four or five husbands. I thought this a rather strange recommendation, but it was evidently mentioned that she might find favour in my eyes. I dismissed her very unceremoniously as if I did not altogether understand the proposal, but at the same time, gave her as proofs of my regard for her people, and of my strong platonic attachment to herself, a few red beads, and a little paper, that she had asked for in the first instance as her dower.

It requires some little address to keep clear of these unscrupulous ladies, and I frequently had cause to fear that my constant rejection of their addresses would be construed into an affront to the tribes to which they belonged. An Arab friend of mine I met at Mozambique, named Said Hamza, 414told me of an adventure of his in the country of the Muzeguahs, some five or six weeks’ journey up the large river that empties itself into the Indian Ocean at Lamoo. He had been fined by the chief for forming some matrimonial connexion without his authority, so he determined to have nothing more to do with their women. A girl coming into his hut, he accordingly walked out, and this caused a much greater quarrel than before, for the whole tribe asserted, he had treated them with contempt by his haughty conduct towards the girl, and demanded to know if she were not good enough for him. Said Hamza in the end was again mulcted of a lot of brass wire and blue sood, before he could allay the national indignation, which his extreme caution had thus excited.

Such delicate dilemmas are best avoided, as I have before remarked, by engaging the first old woman that makes her appearance. To her must be referred all new comers of her sex, and she will generally manage to send them away without compromising the traveller at all.

As a light nutriment during my journey, I had been recommended in Aden to take with me some soojee, the fine oatmeal-like flour of ground rice. This I had reserved for food, on occasions of sickness during the journey, but considering that I had quite recovered, and being tired of boiled wheat, I now resolved to make use of it, as long as it would last. There being abundance of milk in this 415place, I made several messes with it, which were pronounced by all hands to be excellent. All the Hy Soumaulee had tasted it, and knew that the white milky-looking contents of the wooden bowl which was sometimes placed to cool on one side of my hut, was a nice enough pudding. A member of the Sidee Ahbreu tribe, however, not being sufficiently aware of the character of my food, came one afternoon, and seeing, as he supposed, such a capital opportunity of greasing his hair, with what he took to be prepared sheeps’-tails fat, squatted down by the side of the bowl; and before I could prevent him had filled his hair with the greater part of its contents, having taken two large handfuls from the bowl, and well rubbed it into his long dirty matted locks. No one could help laughing at the mistake, and even Zaido, who had to make a second bowl-full, grinned a revengeful smile, as he saw the disappointed Bedouin, anxiously trying to wipe away with his tobe all traces of a composition, which he was led to believe by his joking companions, would have the effect of reddening the colour of the hair, like the quick-lime dressing, which changes to that hue the hair of the Soumaulee exquisite.

The third evening of our stay, Ohmed Medina and his two companions returned. He had succeeded in purchasing the ivory, but had left it at Dowaleeka until his return. Himyah, who was standing by, asked me if I knew what ivory was, or had ever seen 416an elephant. It so happened that I did not know the meaning of the word “feel,” which is the Arabic term for elephant, and as I hesitated in replying, Ebin Izaak, supposing I had never seen or heard of one, pointing to a large mimosa-tree, informed me, it was a cow as high as that; whilst another, with the butt-end of his spear, drew a circle on the ground, having a diameter of about six feet, and swore positively that was the size of the animal’s foot. Such is the information we generally get from natives; and whether in natural history or geography, a traveller must exercise great caution, in noting down accounts or descriptions which he receives. A native said this, and a native said that, is the cause of all the confusion that exists, upon many important questions connected with central Africa. A little penetration will always determine the value of the communication, by the character of the individual who gives it, for mental ability and veracity, and if these can be depended upon, it is worse than useless, to entertain other and conflicting reports, of known fools and liars.

The evening that Ohmed Medina returned, a large calahm was held. After a long discussion, it was determined we should proceed the next day, whether the expected Hy Soumaulee Kafilah came or not; and although an opposition calahm was held at the same time by the escort, who naturally favoured their friends, I could see that it was finally 417resolved not to wait for them any longer, but to start in the morning.

The last night was spent in the usual happy manner; a bright moon lent its assistance to illumine the little forest glades, where merry dancers, in numerous small and quick revolving circles, kept up a continued chorus, with the usual accompaniment of sharp clapping hands.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Journey from Murroo to Sakeitaban, general direction, W.S.W., time marching, one hour.—Visit to Durtee Ohmed.—Halt for short time at Sakeitaban.—Proceed to Mullu, general direction, W.S.W., time marching, four hours.—Bad road.—Threats of assassination.—Shields of the Dankalli, and care of their arms.—Arrive at Mullu.—Write letter to Ankobar.

May 17th.—We left Murroo a little before sunrise. I was about to start, when Ohmed Mahomed came up, and introduced a one-eyed stranger, with the rather surprising information that he was the Durtee Ohmed, for whom I had a few days before been making inquiry. On looking about, I could not see Ebin Izaak to ask for an explanation, but as I conceived that Ohmed Mahomed knew of my having before given three dollars to a man who was said to be Durtee Ohmed, I said I should not repeat the present. My respectable Ras ul Kafilah denied any knowledge of the circumstance, and appeared quite indignant at the deceit practised upon me by Ebin Izaak. The one eye of the present applicant was repeatedly pointed to as evidence of identity, and at length I was induced to give the man two dollars as a present from Lieut. Barker.

419I had been detained a little in the rear by this business, so mounted my mule to gallop up to Ohmed Medina, who was now some way ahead. I dismounted when I reached the party he was with, but no Ebin Izaak being there to expostulate with for his deceit, I relieved my feelings by complaining of his conduct to Ohmed Medina. He laughed, but whether at my simplicity, or the pettifogging pilfering of my companions, I cannot say, but pointing to the kraal, the huts of which now became visible, he said he would shew me the real Durtee Ohmed, who was, and had been, sick for many days. He stipulated that I should not upbraid Ohmed Mahomed, or speak at all about the two dollars I had given to the man on his representations, and undertook that these should be carried to account for the purchase of food for the Hy Soumaulee. I readily agreed to this, as I now felt curious to see the finale of all this humbug. I learned that Ohmed Medina’s chief reason for taking me to visit Durtee Ohmed was to exculpate his young friend, Ebin Izaak, from having any interested motive in the trick he had played me.

The road went close to the kraal, but we had to turn off a few yards, to the farther hut of the whole, before I was introduced into the presence of the sick chief; who, on seeing me, extended his hand, and soon convinced me of his being the real Simon Pure, not only by his one eye, but also by his 420inquiries, and the interest he manifested in Lieut. Barker. The man to whom I had given the first three dollars followed us into the hut, and I then found that he was the son of the old chief.

It had not been deemed politic to introduce me to the latter by reason of the trip to the kraal, which would have been necessary, and was considered unsafe. It had, therefore, been arranged that any present I had to give should be received by the son, who was to personify his father, and as the motive seemed to have been purely out of consideration for me, I easily excused the hoax. Ebin Izaak thinking, as I had been cheated so often, that unless I saw the individual himself I should withhold the present, had concealed the truth, and with a few bold assertions, had removed, in a great measure, my doubts naturally excited by seeing Durtee Ohmed possessing two eyes instead of one, as I had expected.

It was just milking time when we arrived at the kraal. Girls standing up to their knees in sheep and goats, caught each the one she intended to operate upon, and placing a hind leg between her knees, so held the animal fast. In their left hands they held baskets of the usual closely-woven mid rib of the palm-leaf, which they soon filled with rich and frothy milk.

Ohmed Medina and I were pressed to drink; and the old man turning over on the mat upon which he lay, reached from behind him a very 421nicely made fedeenah, which he pressed upon my acceptance. His civility, and the remembrance of what was due to him for his attention to Lieut. Barker, induced me to add to my previous present two more dollars, making altogether five, the number I had originally intended to give him, but which I had kept back in the first instance from his son, because of certain misgivings as to his identity, that even Ebin Izaak’s protestations had failed to remove entirely.

Before Ohmed Medina and I came up again with the Kafilah, we found it already halted at a place called Sakeitaban, not much unlike the scene of our previous halt, and but little more than three miles distant from it. The camels were not unloaded, but appeared to be awaiting the decision of a calahm that was going on under a large tree, both the Tajourah people and the Hy Soumaulee taking part in the debate. Ohmed Medina joined them immediately, whilst I sat down until a signal from him intimated that our stay was determined upon. The assembly broke up, several of the parties going to their camels, and commencing to unload them. I now heard that the escort had insisted upon the Kafilah waiting for the one, belonging to their people, we had been expecting for the last four days, and from which fresh messengers had arrived who affirmed that it would be up in a few hours, which, much to my surprise, was really the case.

Ebin Izaak came to my hut very soon after the 422bustle of unloading had subsided, and as he seemed inclined to remain, I made Zaido enlarge it for our better accommodation. He was anxious to explain how he came to practise upon me the little imposition he had employed as regarded Durtee Ohmed. To occupy himself whilst he remained, he brought with him part of the branch of a myrrh-tree and a small kind of axe, that reminded me of one somewhat of the same kind I have seen represented upon old Egyptian monuments. It consisted of an iron head, the cutting edge of which was about one inch and a-half in extent, whilst the body of it was a socket three or four inches long, which received into it the pointed extremity of the short arm of a trimmed branch, which joined at a very acute angle the longer, or handle proper, about a foot and a-half long, the shorter portion inserted into the axe head not being more than six inches.^[5]

With this primitive tool he soon chopped out of the wood a pretty correct form of a spoon which gradually assumed, under the repeated light blows of the axe, a very elegant shape. I was so much pleased with this production of savage genius, that I gave him a small hollow-gouging chisel he had long coveted, to scoop out and finish the bowl. My pocket-knife was also in requisition, to enable him to ornament the 423handle with an intricate wavy pattern, and by mid-day he produced an article that for elegance might have vied with the most finished of the carved wagers, sung for in the pastorals of some of our classical poets.

Our conversation and occupation were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Hy Soumaulee Kafilah, a numerous body, consisting of several hundred camels, the original party having been joined by a large number from Owssa. Fortunately the new arrivals were anxious to proceed, and as this feeling was participated in by us, a short calahm was followed by our camels being driven into camp and loaded, whilst the Hy Soumaulee proceeded on their march. My mule innocently enough came within arms’ length of me, and I secured a ride to-day; for, with an amusing sagacity, when wanted in a morning at the general hour of starting, she frequently contrived to have made herself scarce, and thus obliged me to walk when I would much rather have ridden.

As the numerous Kafilahs now formed a little army, we moved across the country, not in a single file, but with an extended front. No attack in our present condition therefore, was anticipated, so my escort, with Ohmed Medina and myself, preceded in a body. The road continued for nearly two hours through a park-like country, high mimosa and other trees standing in clumps of three or four together, at considerable distances from each other.

424The moomen, or toothbrush-tree,^[6] abounded at Sakeitaban. Several of the Hy Soumaulee brought me a handful of the berries to eat, but I was soon obliged to call out “Hold, enough!” so warmly aromatic was their flavour. This singular fruit grows in drooping clusters of flesh-coloured mucilaginous berries, the size of our common red currants, each containing a single round seed, about as large as a peppercorn. The taste at first is sweet, and not unpleasant, and by some, I think, would be considered very agreeable indeed. After some little time, if many are eaten, the warmth in the palate increases considerably, and reminded me of the effect of pepper, or of very hot cress. As we approached the river Hawash, I found these trees growing more abundantly.

The moomen forms a dense bush, some yards in circuit, and as their thick, velvety, round leaves, of a bright green colour, afford an excellent shade, they form the favourite lairs, both of savage men, and of wild beasts. Reposing upon the ground, near the roots, free from underwood and thorns, whoever, or whatever lies there, is entirely concealed from sight; and not unfrequently a leopard or hyæna skulks out of, or a startled antelope bounds from, the very bush that the tired Bedouin has selected for his own retreat from the sun.

Birds, of every hue, made this Adal forest their home, and displayed all that enjoyment of life, 425which appears to be the one general feeling that animates these happy denizens of air. Their shrill piping songs, their joyous freedom, and quick sportive movements, as chasing each other, or challenging to the flight, they dart from tree to tree, excite corresponding feelings of buoyancy and happiness in the delighted traveller, glad to have escaped from the stony deserts, or the burning plains of the arid country he has previously passed through.

In two hours we arrived at a more open country, its surface gently undulating, with a gradual slope towards the west. Here, it was not so densely wooded; the trees appeared younger, and the idea occurred to me, that a flood might have rushed over and devastated this district, some few years before, and this natural plantation had sprung up subsequent to that event. I could not obtain any information corroborative of this as a fact, but the uniform height of the trees, their young appearance, and the contiguity to an overflowing river, the Hawash, afforded me some reasons for supposing this part of the country to have been so acted upon.

A curious kind of medicine, I observed carefully picked up by my Dankalli companions. This was the hard clay-like fæces of the manus, or pangolin, said to have cathartic effects. This mailed ant-eater excavates, with its strong fore claws, a passage through the thick mud walls of the ant-hills, and the numerous army of soldier and of labouring ants, that are hereupon summoned to 426the rescue, fall an easy prey to the slimy-tongued invader. The pangolin materially assists the porcupine in obtaining his food, for after the destruction of the little animals by the former, he takes advantage of the excavated passage, and possesses himself of the hoards of grain and other seeds, collected by these industrious insects. This, at least, appears to me the most reasonable mode of accounting for the presence of the porcupine, so frequently found in the neighbourhood of a burrowed, and, consequently, a ruined ant-hill.

During our march, Adam Burrah gave information to Ohmed Medina, that one of my escort, Esau Ibrahim, had threatened to take my life, in revenge for Ohmed Mahomed having denied some tobacco he wanted. I never liked this Esau; he always showed such unnecessary obsequiousness, that I had long suspected, he intended something more than he wished me to have any idea of. I was, therefore, not surprised when Ohmed Medina told me to take care of him; but I had nearly managed it very badly by suggesting, in reply, that he should be got rid of somehow or another. It was fortunate, both for himself and me, that I added almost immediately, I had thought of a plan, which was to send him with a letter to Shoa to announce my arrival, to do which I had been requested the two previous days by Ohmed Mahomed, and I now thought that two dollars could not be better expended, than by sending Esau out of the way on that errand. The same money 427would have induced Adam Burrah to have cut the throat of this rascal, and if I had only nodded my head, when this mode of relieving my care was proposed, it would have been done the same night. I preferred disappointing Adam Burrah, to whom, however, I was obliged to promise an additional present on our arrival in Shoa, to prevent such a sanguinary proof of his regard being done gratis.

Several times our road was crossed by swamps of small extent, that lay on each side of narrow and shallow ditches. It was most unpleasant walking for me, as my boots were quite worn out, and had large, gaping splits in the upper leather, which admitted the mud very freely. I would not ride, because my mule could scarcely drag herself through the soft, sticky clay. The broad foot of the camel was better suited for such situations, although these animals could not get on very well, and were continually slipping. On such occasions, one of their long legs, or sometimes both, slide outside with such a painfully prolonged sweep, that it is a most astonishing thing that dislocation does not sometimes take place.

I trudged along, in a very cross humour, my bare-legged companions laughing all the while, and sometimes lending me a hand, when I got stuck altogether in the mud. I, at length, began to be amused myself, as I thought of the will-o’-the-wisp that was leading me through such scenes; and from a personal review of myself, I took on getting 428over the last of these difficult portions of the road, I felt quite sure my own mother would have found it difficult to recognise her son in the bog-trotting, moss-trooping Bedouin that was now trying by a series of bending and extending movements of the feet, to squeeze out of the splits in the leather, as much as possible of the mud contained in his boots.

Having got quite clear of the marshy district, we entered upon a fine grassy plain, where we perceived two buffaloes, but at too great a distance for us to think of pursuing them. I learnt, on this occasion, that of the hide of these animals, the Dankalli manufacture their shields. These are well made, and formed of a circular slab of the still moist skin, about twenty inches in diameter, moulded into the required concave form, by being dried upon a corresponding convexity of heaped-up, hard clay. The rim is, at the same time, curled outwards and upwards by being well pecked as with a mattock, all around by a wooden instrument, exactly identical with the so-called wooden hoe, contained in the Egyptian room in the British Museum, and corresponding in form with the handle of the Dankalli axe I have before described. The shield is held in one hand by a strong and hard ring of twisted hide that, like a bar of metal, crosses over the centre, its size being such as to admit of the shield being slung sometimes upon the arm, like a basket. The centre of the front is ornamented 429by a small boss, from which depends a long tuft of horsehair, sometimes white, tinged with henna, sometimes black. This tuft is the characteristic symbol of a brave, as it is only assumed after the bearer has slain a man. On the inside of the shield, corresponding to the raised boss, is a depression, about one inch deep, and an inch and a-half in diameter, where generally is placed any little portable valuable, that can be stowed away in it. Gum myrrh, not unfrequently, occupies this place, and sometimes “eltit,” or assafœtida, or some other valued medicine. Assafœtida is not indigenous to Adal; the Dankalli obtain it in small quantities from Arabia.

One trait in the character of these people, is the great attention they pay to the condition of their arms. Brightening or sharpening them is their favourite amusement, and no fiercer scowls are excited than by the accidental disturbance of the carefully-deposited shield or spear. No traveller in Adal can help observing this; and in the description of a war-dance of these people, in a recent work upon Ethiopia, its imaginary character is betrayed by the alleged beating of the shields; which, however characteristic it may be of the peaceable Abyssinian, when he endeavours to represent the turmoil of strife, is quite out of place when speaking of Dankalli customs and manners.

We halted in a very open spot, amidst high grass, no trees being in sight, except toward the north and west, where a low mimosa forest extended 430as far as the bases of the hills of Hyhilloo and Abhidah. In the south-west the table mountain of Afrabah, cut off as it seemed from the ridge of Goror and of Oburah, on which is situated the celebrated city of Hurrah, at the distance of about sixty miles. Our halting-place was called Mullu, and the whole plain, north and south, bore the same general designation.

After getting into my hut, my first business was to send for Ohmed Mahomed, to consult respecting the letter that was to be forwarded to Shoa. Esau Ibrahim was sent for, and willingly undertook, for two dollars, to be the bearer. The letter was written and ready for him long before evening, but as the tribes now between us and the Hawash were hostile to Kafilahs or their messengers proceeding through their country, he was obliged to defer his departure until night. As he asserted that he should be able to deliver the letter in three days, I began to entertain some hopes of getting through the country; and before he started, by the interpreting assistance of my servant Allee, I charged him with an abundance of verbal messages to the officers of the British Mission in Ankobar, to induce them to come and meet me, which, in my ignorance of Shoan policy, I thought they might do, even so far as the banks of the Hawash. A most affectionate and sincere leave-taking passed between Esau Ibrahim and myself, and very soon after he had taken his departure, I went to sleep in peace.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Journey from Mullu to Annee, general direction, W.S.W., time marching, six hours.—Proceed over Plain of Mullu.—Halt in sight of Berdudda.—Muditu kraal and funeral.—Hare hunt.—Arrive at Annee.—Muditu visitors.—Moonlight scene.—May 19th, Staying at Berdudda.—Visit to camp of Hittoo Galla women.—Attack of formidable caterpillar.—Situation of halting-place at Annee.

May 17th.—We started before sunrise, still keeping in the van of the immense Kafilah, that, by a passive kind of physical force movement, was forcing a passage through an enemy’s country. We soon left the grassy plain of Mullu, and entered upon an undulating country, dotted with dwarf mimosas. Numerous antelopes, their fore feet resting upon the lower branches, were feeding upon the green leaves and clustered curling seed-pods; whilst the surface of the ground was black with numerous flocks of guinea-fowl, that tempted me frequently to turn some yards from the road, and add a few of these finely-flavoured birds to our other provisions.

We halted for a short time in sight of a large kraal, until the several Kafilahs whom we had 432preceded had come up, and after allowing them to pass us, we recommenced our march in the rear. This was owing to the bad character of the inhabitants of the village, who belonged to the Assa-hemerah Muditu, and as a good many of my companions kept calling my attention to them by repeating their name, and adding, with the usual oath, “Whalla (by God), they are bad men!” we may safely conclude they were no better than the other Dankalli tribes.

We very soon came upon a party of the tribe, who were employed in burying a dead man. The grave was about one hundred yards from our road, but the two men who appeared to have been making it by their soiled skins, approached us in a very respectful manner, and told us how they were engaged. The Kafilah people, as they came up, generally went a short distance in the direction pointed out, and, with faces turned towards Mecca, appeared to offer up a prayer. Ohmed Medina, to whom, a few mornings previously, I had been talking upon the subject of burying the dead among the Dankalli, took hold of my mule’s bridle, and led me to the grave, which was being filled up by four or five other men. Ohmed Medina muttered a prayer, and I also added a short one for the repose of the soul of the deceased.

It was the usual mode of burial practised among the Mahomedans, except that the grave was 433nearly circular. The diameter was so short, that I asked if the body were buried sitting, and was told that it was not, but that a low excavation on one side, at the bottom, received it in a kind of tomb. Near this were other graves, all marked by a little conical heap of loose stones five or six feet high, the top being finished off by two small upright stones placed about a foot apart. Some of these little pyramids, in other situations, I have seen exceeding ten or fifteen feet in height; and one, a prominent landmark for several days’ journey, situated upon the eastern extremity of the ridge of San-karl, to the south of the valley of Gobard, must be at least one hundred feet high.

As we passed in front of the village, which consisted of not less than fifty huts, a numerous assembly of the Muditu came out, the chiefs of whom saluted us in gloomy silence with a passing slide of the hand. As I rode on my mule, I kept giving my hand, letting it slip gently off theirs, and keeping a sharp look-out that they did not take the opportunity of pulling me off the mule, which many of them seemed inclined to do. Never did I see such a suppressed feeling of animosity so apparent in the scowling look and silent salute of both parties; whilst sundry nods and winks of the eye exchanged by many of my escort, and by nearly all the Tajourah people, told their quiet enjoyment of the great disappointment of these fellows, in not having a chance of obtaining even a present for 434their chief from us; a fact made very evident by the saucy look of confidence assumed by our Ras, Ohmed Mahomed, secure in the number of supporters whom he mustered around him.

The country we marched through to-day was called Berdudda. Towards the end of the journey, we passed an elevated plateau of no great height or extent, apparently of an upheaved alluvial stratum similar to that beneath our feet, but altered in its geological character by the action of heat. Birds of every hue abounded, brightly reflecting the sun’s rays from their bronzed or golden plumage; whilst the most beautifully painted butterflies added their kaleidoscopic colouring to the more immediate vicinity of our path.

Hares also were so numerous that they seemed to spring out of every bush and tuft of grass we came near. The Dankalli profess not to eat them, but this is a prejudice, I think, that has been introduced with the Mahomedan religion, the laws of which, respecting clean and unclean meats, are the same with those of Moses. That they kill hares, and take some little trouble to do so by running them down, I had frequent proofs. One to-day was put up, unfortunately, in such a situation, that in whatever way she ran, she was headed by some party or other of the Kafilah men. Though so insignificant an animal, the excitement of the chase she occasioned spread along the whole line of march, and men and boys, I, as well as the rest, were soon in hot 435pursuit of puss. She gave some excellent sport of the kind, doubling under the feet of one man, starting up suddenly behind another who had overrun her, and now leaping right into the face of a third, upsetting him by the suddenness of the shock, among his laughing companions. Her moments were, however, numbered, an unlucky stone thrown by a boy, struck her upon the head, and extended her upon the ground, where she lay for some minutes, throwing out her legs convulsively in vain struggles to escape from us and death. Having two fine guinea-fowls suspended from my saddle, I had so much consciousness of what was due to humanity as to feel some sorrow for this unnecessary destruction of life; for, after all our exertions to kill it, unless I made my supper of the hare, we should have been obliged to have left it to become the prey of some prowling beast or bird. Accordingly, I determined to bury my conscience in my stomach, bestowed the guinea-fowls upon my companions, and picking up the hare, inserted my knife between the back tendons of one hind leg, pushed the other through the orifice, and by the loop thus formed, suspended it from the bow of my saddle in regular sportsman-like manner.

We proceeded about six miles farther towards the south-west, and arrived at a place called Annee, an open gravelly spot, with high mimosa-trees standing at some distance from each other. Just beyond us 436was a pool of dirty water, not made any cleaner by a number of camels getting into and rolling themselves over in it.

Soon after we were settled for the day, and I was putting off as long as possible, the unpleasant necessity of drinking a large draught of the yellow solution contained in my little kid-skin bag, some Assa-hemerah women came in with loads of “nature’s” particularly delicious “beverage,” milk. “Oh! what lovely damsels! only a handful of tobacco for all that!” and how they patted their fingers against their thin lips in mute astonishment, as I transferred their burdens into a skin of my own, which, by the accidents and incidents of my journey, had become not much fairer than their own. Two strap-buttons (nearly all those from the top of my trousers had gone long previously) purchased me also half a leopard’s skin that had been brought into camp for sale, and a head-cover of blue sood was given for a fine goat, which I intended to take on with me to Shoa.

None of the male inhabitants of the neighbouring extensive kraal ventured to come into camp, but a large circle of forty or fifty were sitting in council not far from us; and between them and the stores, the Tajourah people and the Hy Soumaulee also held a calahm in one large body. From the country being more open here than at Murroo, I could see more of our consort Kafilahs, that, in 437groups at some distance from each other, were dotted all over the plain.

The day passed very quietly, and some ostriches coming in sight, it was even proposed that I should go out with a party to shoot one. Ohmed Medina and the greater part of my escort, were as anxious as possible for me to do so, but the more cautious of the Tajourah people, with Ohmed Mahomed at the head, objected, from the chances of our coming into collision with the Assa-hemerah: a very general feeling among the Hy Soumaulee and the Owssa Muditu Kafilahs with us being, to take this opportunity of retaliating some recent outrage upon a Kafilah of their friends that attempted to proceed to Shoa, but had been obliged to return by this very tribe. Much to the gratification of Carmel Ibrahim, I gave him the half leopard’s skin I had purchased here, as a return for his attention to me on several little hunting excursions, for next to Ohmed Medina, he possessed more of my confidence than any of the rest of the Kafilah.

In the cool of the evening, when the Assa-hemerah council had broken up, and our men were preparing for rest, I sat some time upon the boxes forming my hut, and beneath a beautifully bright moon, indulged in reveries that grew out of my strange situation. These musings, which I always recollect as the most unalloyed of all the enjoyments of my desert life, were a sufficient equivalent of themselves, for all the hardships and exposure 438consequent upon such wanderings. New ideas, fresh feelings, and novel truths pressed themselves forward with scarcely an exertion of thought, surrounded as I was by fields of unexplored nature, new to me in her vegetation, in her animal kingdom, and in the character of her principal phenomena. Of these I had certainly read, but I now looked upon reality, and saw that abundance of facts in previous descriptions had been overlooked, and still remain to requite a patient pursuer of truth, more competent to observe and reflect, than a mere beginner, like myself, in the study of natural history.

I certainly am affected by the still quiet of a moonlight night, and very readily believe, that if it can produce the moody calms and melancholy enjoyment it does on my particular disposition, that on some others it may have more exaggerated effects, and “moon-stricken lunacy” may not, perhaps, be improperly attributed to such an influence. However, I am not now sitting on the top of some piled up boxes, pistols around my waist, and a dagger ready to my hand, nor am I surrounded by the mummy-like forms of sleeping savages wrapt closely up in their tobes, whilst champing ruminating camels, with large goggle eyes, and goose looks, appear almost as contemplative as myself. I am not now the half-Bedouin, half-moss-trooper of the time I spent in Adal, and incidents will be more interesting to my reader, than any account of the dreamy castles that 439reared their airy turrets to amuse me in my solitude.

To aid reminiscences of other days, not from any want of thought, I began to whistle a favourite air, but being overheard by Moosa, he sat upon his mat, and tried, by calling out, “Ahkeem,” two or three times, to intimate that it was not exactly proper; but as I still continued, Zaido also awakened, and supposing I did not understand Moosa, put his hand up from where he lay by the side of the hut, and shook me by the foot, saying, “Ahkeem, that is very bad; all the Jinn in this country will seize the camels, if you whistle in that manner.” As he was evidently in earnest, and as I was getting tired, I slipped down from off the boxes, crept into my hut, and was very soon as quiet as they could wish me.

May 19th.—I was awakened some time before sunrise, by the usual loud summons of Ohmed Mahomed, for the Kafilah “to up and saddle,” but which, from the pitch and prolonged tone, I knew was intended to mean just the contrary. The very last thing, in fact, that Allee told me the night before was, that we should not start to-day, and wanted me to bet to the contrary half a dozen small gilt buttons, against a milk basket hung round with shells I had taken a fancy to. The truth was, that the country so abounded with vegetation, not having been exposed for some months to any grazing exhaustion by passing Kafilahs, that one and all 440composing our army decided upon remaining here to-day, whether the tribe we were among would like it or not; especially as the next three marches would be long and forced ones across the country of the Hittoo Gallas, a people much more numerous and fierce than the Assa-hemerah. Ohmed Mahomed’s signal cry was raised to deceive the people of Annee, up to the very last moment, with the idea that we were going to leave this morning, to prevent them collecting their friends, which they would have gone about very early, had they had any idea we should have remained a day longer with them.

During the day some unlocked for visitors came into camp, being three old women belonging to the Hittoo Galla. They accompanied a Kafilah of seven or eight donkeys, laden with tobacco and well made hempen ropes, which they offered for sale among our people. They received in exchange some white cotton cloth, and a little brass wire. They were very old and excessively ugly. These women did not wear the blue covering for the head common to the grown up Dankalli and Soumaulee females. The hair, however, was dressed in the same manner, hanging around the sides and back of the head like a small curtain, from the numerous little plaited locks being connected by bands of interwoven cotton thread. I need not mention that grease had been used with no sparing hand at their toilet. They wore the same kind 441of soft leather petticoat, as the Adal ladies; and their feet were protected by the simple sandal formed of one piece of dried ox-skin, secured to the sole of the foot by a loop into which one toe is inserted, and by a tie or thong of leather passed in front and around the ancles to the side lappels. Whilst bartering their goods they occupied themselves also in twisting a bundle of hemp, fastened to the front of their girdle, into an excellent rope, which, as it was made, was secured behind them upon their loins.

From the hemp and tobacco brought in this manner to our camp, I concluded that agriculture was carried on to a considerable extent by the Gallas occupying the fertile plains on each side of the southern portion of the river Hawash. This struck me at first as being a characteristic distinction between them and the Dankalli, whom I had been accustomed to associate only with the care of flocks and herds; but when I remembered the highly cultivated condition of Owssa, proved by the great quantities of dates and jowharee grain brought into Tajourah, either for home use or for exportation, I felt satisfied, that the physical character of the surface of different parts of the country of Adal had produced those differences in the mode of life observed in the herdsman Dankalli, in the agricultural Muditu and Galla, or in the seafaring Soumaulee, all of whom belong to one family of man.

After remaining about an hour with us the 442women turned back in the direction towards their own homes, which I did not at the time notice, except that I thought they missed a good market by not visiting the Kafilahs which were in our rear.

That which astonished me as much as anything during my journey, and which I have omitted to mention before, was the great numbers of Bedouins who had never, resided in towns, and who yet were able to read and write Arabic. Several have inscribed their names in my note books. This I considered a curious fact in mankind lore, to find savages so situated as the Dankalli, such adepts in an art so foreign to their pursuits or wants.

Connected with this knowledge of writing, I observed a circumstance that may afford some solution of the cause, for the different directions in which various nations are accustomed to write. The Dankalli, for instance, inscribe the letters from above downwards, which I attribute, in a great measure, to their resorting generally for practice to the skin of the left fore arm, which, projecting before them, the elbow resting upon the stomach, serves as a tablet, upon which a stunted mimosa thorn acts as a style. The letters are rendered visible by the pale coloured scarf, the erased transparent epidermis, which marks the course of the thorn upon the black skin. When the hand and arm are brought down in a direction across the chest, for the purpose of examining the writing, it is evident 443that, to commence with the first letter, the inscription must be read from the right side, and in this manner, or some analogous one, making use of, for example, a long narrow leaf, I endeavour to account for the different directions of writing, either from the right hand to the left, or vice versa, which is customary among various nations.

Whilst sitting under a tree to-day, a caterpillar fell upon my bare neck, and feeling a disagreeable kind of tickling, I put my hand upon it and threw it away. It was a common enough looking butterfly caterpillar, but it had most annoyingly disagreeable effects, which lasted for an hour afterwards, being exactly like the irritation that would be produced by a little of the fine hair of the pods of the Dolichos pruriens being rubbed over the part. I could not conceive it possible to be the result of an insect simply crawling upon my neck, so I looked about to see if there were not some vegetable production in my neighbourhood that would account for it. Seeing my attentive examination of the spot, and suspecting the object of my search, by the restless movements of my neck in the loose collar of my frock, Ohmed Medina, laughing, pointed out to me several other little animals suspended at the extremities of long silken filaments from the extreme branches over my head, and I then recollected the circumstance of having previously removed one of these caterpillars from my neck.

We were not troubled much by visits from the 444neighbouring Assa-hemerah, who seemed to think that the less intercourse they had with us the better. Three or four women brought their children to me for medicine, which I gave them, and some old people, blind with age, kneeling, shewed their sightless orbs, and went away disappointed at my inability to restore to them the light of day.

A little after sunset, at the request of the Ras ul Kafilah, Ohmed Mahomed, I fired my guns, as a warning voice for the especial instruction of any foes to Kafilahs that might be lurking around us.

Immediately to the south of our encamping ground, was a broad shallow valley, covered with low trees, and called Aleekduggee Kabeer, and which turned to the east and north in a direction towards Hiero Murroo. The stream that sometimes runs along it, flows into the temporary lake of Iruloff, which itself, on occasions of great rains, communicates with the river of Killaloo. In front of us, to the west, was a slightly elevated crest, over which was the valley of Aleekduggee Sageer, flowing towards the north into the Hawash.

CHAPTER XXX.

Journey from Annee to How, general direction W.S.W., time marching six hours.—Aleekduggee Sageer.—Immense Kafilah.—Water-cure for determination of blood to the head.—Attack of the Galla.—Display of forces.—Ras ul Kafilah balances profit and loss so far.

May 19th.—Being the first Kafilah but one in the line of march, we were saddled and away two hours before sunrise. We ascended the gently rising slope before us, arriving at the summit as the sun came upon the horizon. A sudden but gradual descent of a few feet led us into the extensive but shallow valley plain of Aleekduggee Sageer; which, in the account given of this country by the officers of the British mission in 1840, contained in the twelfth volume of the Royal Geographical Society’s Journal, is supposed to have been the former bed of a large river; but which most certainly, is nothing more than a broadly denuded valley, some four or five miles in extent, running for a few miles nearly parallel with the river Hawash, into which the little stream that has formed the valley enters, between the hills of Baardu and Hyhilloo; the latter being situated 446to the east of its junction with that river. Sometimes this valley is one extensive marsh, impassable to Kafilahs, and the delay it occasions on either bank frequently favours the attacks of the Hittoo Galla, and on this account is a locality very much dreaded by the traders and slave-merchants.

The sloping ascent and ridge we passed over during the earlier part of the march, was called Gudmuddee. We crossed the valley in two more hours, and as I had walked the whole way, I lay down to rest myself in the thin cool shade of a dwarf mimosa-tree, and immediately went to sleep. The sun had ascended high in its course to the meridian before I awoke, and I found Ebin Izaak and four or five of the Hy Soumaulee lying upon their stomachs upon the ground, watching the still coming line of camels, which in one long single file extended to the very top of Gudmuddee. Others were still coming into sight at that distant point, as those at our extremity of the line, kept yielding up their loads of salt, bags, and boxes, which were fast accumulating in detached heaps along the narrow ridge of How, that formed the western bank of Aleekduggee Sageer, and where we were to halt for the night.

There were now gathered together, at least, three thousand camels, and upwards of seven hundred men. The women also, especially those that accompanied the Wahama Kafilahs, were very numerous. The Tajourah people said they had never seen so large 447a collection of camels before; and many a wish was expressed by my Hy Soumaulee escort, that the Gallas might come down with the intention of attacking us, and then they said, the Ahkeem should see they were “Cottam,” like the English.

My sleepiness I found was not altogether the effect of fatigue, for I had not long retreated to my hut before a giddiness and a sense of sliding out of all consciousness, roused me with a kind of alarm, to the thought that some sun stroke or apoplectic fit might be approaching. I called out right lustily for Zaido, Allee, and water, as if there were a fire in my hut, and on their arrival, bearing the distended black hair skin bags upon their shoulders, they looked all in a hurry, as if to ask where it was; I, however, turned back the collar of my frock, and holding on by a spear, held my head down for them to give me the full benefit of a shower bath. To do which effectually they mounted on the top of the boxes, and with two Bedouin assistant surgeons to help them, let fall a gradually descending stream upon my head, which quite relieved me from all the unpleasant sensations that had occasioned my resorting to the remedy.

During the day a heavy thunder storm broke along the height, and a considerable fall of rain soon filled the cooking pots, which were hastily put out on all sides to catch the fresh cool water. The squall did not last long, but it completely 448deluged the camp, and it was well we had crossed Aleekduggee Sageer before it came on, or the march would have been much more laborious and painful to the heavily loaded camels, if even it could have been performed at all.

Another name for How, I understood, was Billin, although I think this latter name is given to the whole ridge, whilst the former properly belongs only to our particular halting-place. Just before sunset, whilst nearly all the men of our Kafilah, stript to their waist-cloths, were engaged in the bustle and the dust of their boisterous game of ball; and I was amusing myself with Zaido and the two Allees, trying our respective strength in balancing and heaving away heavy slabs of pewter; a sudden cry among the women, followed by a general rush of the players to shields and spears, and a plunge by Zaido into my hut to be out of the way, put an end to our sports. Some cause of alarm had arisen, but what it was I could neither see nor learn, but I never shall forget the tumultuous crowd, whooping, leaping, and yelling, that almost in a moment I was in the centre of; whilst the shrill screaming of the women, gathering upon and around some large ant-hills in our rear, pierced through all the roar. I was unarmed, my pistols and knife being in my hut, so almost as quickly as Zaido I turned to get at them, and seeing him on his hands and knees creeping up to the farther end, I caught hold of his waist-cloth to give him a lug out, and divested 449him in a moment of all the clothes he had on. His quick, almost convulsive, twitch round, as he cast an imploring look, until he saw who it was, made me smile, and throwing his cloth over him again, I told him to come out directly. He faltered out, “Tabanja, tabanja,” wishing me to suppose he had gone into the hut only to get my pistols for me.

Allee the First was waiting to go with us to where the Kafilah men had already formed a line, which was now extending fast to the right and to the left by the additional men who kept running up from the other Kafilahs on our rear and flanks, to take part in the expected fight. Thinking I was a long time, Allee stooped to look into the hut, and laughed outright at the trembling confusion of Zaido, who, however, was quickened in his actions considerably by this, and reaching to me my pistols, I soon buttoned on my belt, and was ready. We then started, running as fast as we could towards the squatting warriors, Himyah with his matchlock joining in the race. Immediately after taking a position between Ohmed Medina and Moosa, where I had been beckoned to come by the former, I missed one of my pistols from my waist, it having fallen out during the exertion of running. Pointing out my loss, I jumped again to my feet, and looking in the direction I had just come, saw Zaido standing as if on guard over something, and calling for me. Allee suspecting it was the missing 450pistol, immediately ran to the spot. When he returned with the weapon, and had given it to me, he tapped his breast with a deal of pride, and appealed to me if he were not a brave soldier, and Zaido an old woman.

I now looked out for the enemy, but only saw four rapidly diminishing figures upon horseback, crossing diagonally the valley of Aleekduggee Sageer. I watched them until they had ascended the height of Gudmuddee, among the trees of which they soon disappeared. From what I could learn, these men, whose numbers, although I saw only four, were variously stated to be from twenty to thirty, calculating upon the speed of their horses, had crossed over the valley a few miles to the south, and had then cautiously travelled along the ridge of Billin, until close upon a Kafilah of Wahamas who formed, in military language, our extreme right, and distant about half a mile from us. They were then discovered, the alarm spread, all other occupations were suspended, and the men of the numerous Kafilahs came trooping up in great haste to the scene of the supposed attack. Finding themselves perceived, and hearing a far-spreading war-cry, the horsemen immediately descended from the narrow ridge; most of them retreating down the western slope into the valley of the Hawash, the others to the east, crossed, as I have before said, the dry bed of the Aleekduggee Sageer in our front, and made a rapid return towards the point 451on the opposite bank, from whence it was conjectured they had at first proceeded. At all events, this party gave us a good view of their figures and appearance. All my companions agreed they belonged to the Hittoo Galla, and were not of the Muditu in whose country we had halted the night before, as I at first conjectured from their retreat being made in that direction. This was not likely either, when I came to reflect, for knowing our strength, the Muditu would not have sent such a useless party to attack, and they needed no scouts to inform them of our numbers, after we had just passed through their country. It was evident, as was generally supposed by our Kafilah, that these horsemen were out reconnoitring, and formed the van of a much greater number of footmen concealed from our view by the rising slope of Gudmuddee, upon which they had collected. Very probably the Galla women who visited us at Annee, and whose sudden departure surprised us, had returned to their people and given information of a large Kafilah being on the road, but not having been aware of the still larger ones farther in our rear, had carried home a most imperfect account of our strength. To this was attributed the defeat of their views to-day, for the Galla were no doubt quite unprepared to attack an army such as we were able to bring into the field against them.

We sat out all expectations of any more enemies approaching, being disturbed only once in the 452course of the hour so occupied, by forming a junction of two separate bodies. The men of the more distant Kafilahs having squatted down on a commanding eminence, nearly one hundred yards upon our left, Ohmed Medina, who acted as commander, directed us to join them. In this movement I was taken quite by surprise, a low murmur along the line being suddenly followed by everybody springing to his feet, I, of course, not being long in following their example. For the next few moments I was nearly carried off my legs by the sideway movement of the whole body. Shoulders were kept closely pressed together, and in this manner I was wedged in between two or three of them, and was carried along until, like a flock of crows, we all settled down again upon the right of the party towards which we had moved. Whilst this was being performed, a loud whirring noise was made by each individual, as if the tongue were rolled rapidly in the mouth during a long expiration. What its object was, or what it meant, I could never learn. It was, perhaps, merely a common custom for purposes of excitement, serving, like the long roll of a drum, to keep up a noise when silence is not calculated to raise and elevate the spirits.

A long conversation followed the breaking up of this martial display. Groups of individuals collected to discuss the probability of future attacks; and it was long after the usual hour of rest ere 453quiet and deep sleep came wholly over this so lately life-stirring scene. I had laid myself down in my hut, and was just concluding in my mind that it would be the wisest thing I could do to follow the example of my wild companions, and go to sleep, when a low buzzing noise attracted my attention, and I got up very quietly to see from whence it proceeded. Although endeavouring to conceal themselves in the dark shadow of a large pile of salt, I could make out by the light of the moon, Ohmed Mahomed, Ebin Izaak, and Zaido, taking stock as it were, measuring very carefully by cubits, the remnants and remaining pieces of blue calico. Occasionally, a cautiously made long tear told of a division between them, of what had not been given away as presents on the road; in fact, they were sharing the perquisites of the office of Rasul Kafilah, as agreed upon in Tajourah.

They seemed to be also enjoying a quiet cup of coffee; for the long-necked globular pipkin, in which it was usual to boil that berry, stood in the broad moonlight, and was frequently applied to. I sat down in the shade of my own hut, and amused myself watching them until every piece of cloth had been duly measured and divided, the last drop of coffee strained through the bit of dried grass stuffed in the mouth of the bottle-shaped coffee-pot, and their conversation upon profit and loss had been adjourned until another night. Then cautiously retiring to their rest, they stretched themselves upon their mats laid upon the 454sandy mattress of the earth, and wrapping themselves up in their white tobes, were soon numbered among the corse-like sleepers that in every direction were reposing around. Over these, as if on watchful guard, the glistening iron heads of their spears shone in the moon’s bright light, and seemed to be ready, self-acting, to protect their dreaming owners. Round polished shields were also ranged carefully against long heaps of salt-bags, or suspended from the coarse fringe of saddle-staves that surmounted the stores. The yellow bodied couchant camels filled the centre of the camp, generally employed in triturating the sweetened cud of the day’s repast, in the process producing the slightest noise and gentlest action, necessary to give a greater contrasted stillness to the otherwise quiet scene before me.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Journey from How to Mulkukuyu, general direction south-west, time marching, four hours and a-half.—Forest on right bank of Hawash.—The ford of Mulkukuyu.—Passage of the river.—Congratulations.—Scorpion hunting.—Visit the Hippopotamus lake.—Journey from Mulkukuyu to Azbotee, general direction west, time marching, five hours and a-half.—Lee Adu.—Change in character of the country.—View of the table-land of Abyssinia.—The so-called Abyssinian Alps.—Reflections.

May 20th.—Being nearly the first on the line of march, as we were the morning before, we again started from our halting-place some hours before sunrise, and after descending the precipitous side of the ridge of Billin or How, we entered upon an extensive and densely-wooded country to the west. For the first few miles, the march was across a very stony district, the mimosa-trees were low and ragged-looking, and not growing so closely together as we found them to do as we advanced. After proceeding some little distance, four ostriches, of a light-brown or stone colour, trotted away on our approach. The long thick legs seemed large in proportion to the body of the bird, and gave me the idea of a light frame, suspended upon two powerful spring propellers. The progress of the two hind legs of a trotting horse, 456separated from the rest of the body, if it can be imagined, will represent the gait of these birds when running. Another novelty to me, was a large mass of elephants’ dung, that, like a large Stilton cheese, was carried on the shoulder of one of the Hy Soumaulee, who brought it on purpose for me to see, and who claimed a present accordingly for his trouble. I had also given to me on this march, a lump of soft fresh gum-arabic, nearly a pound in weight, and of most agreeable flavour. It reminded me in taste of a green ear of corn.

I had ridden so far on my mule, but was now glad to dismount, as the trees began to be very numerous and troublesome, for as they were without exception, the long-thorned mimosa, my hat was continually being snatched off my head, or my Arab frock torn from my shoulders. There was some danger, too, to my eyes, for I stood a very great chance of having them severely injured by the sudden return of the armed boughs, dragged forward in the first instance by the shouldered spear of the individual who preceded me, as he carelessly pushed his way among the trees. Our path was a very monotonous one, something like travelling through a close wood in England. The shade was agreeable enough, and we certainly did come sometimes to open spots, where a little greensward refreshed the foot by its softness.

After walking nearly three hours, the number of my informants, crying out, “There is the Hawash! 457there is the Hawash!” increasing as we advanced, we came, greatly to my surprise after all that had been told me, very suddenly upon the edge of the low bank, which overhung the much-talked-of, long-wished-for river. A few moments before we came in sight of the stream, I noticed that Ohmed Medina was repeating a short prayer of thanks, for having reached it in safety, in which I heartily joined, and then lifting up my head, the yellow water of the Hawash was the first object I saw. My escort, and others of the Kafilah, had, at some distance, begun to race with one another to get down first, so that when we came, thirty or forty of them were already swimming about in the stream. Some confusion, and a good laugh was occasioned at the hurry of this bathing party to get out, when, by a few shouts, and waving our hands, Ohmed Medina intimated that it was my intention to celebrate our arrival in true Arab style, by firing off my pistols and carabine. This ceremony being duly performed, each report followed by a loud shout, I and three or four others sat, sheltered from the sun, under the bank close to the water’s edge, until the camels should come up. When I had ceased firing, the swimmers resumed their bath; though frequently invited, I did not choose to exhibit my white skin in all its unrobed singularity, to the critical remarks of a lot of black Dankalli.

We sat waiting for the camels above an hour, which I occupied in taking a good survey of the 458little reach before us, and in getting some information relative to the general character and course of the river. Its channel is a mere cut, or canal about fifteen feet deep and thirty yards broad, in the alluvial plane which extends some miles on either side. The water itself, at this period of the year, was only from two to three feet in depth; and in many places, large stones showed their summits above the surface. A fringe of various kinds of trees hung over from the banks on either side, and each extremity of that portion of the river I saw, seemed to be lost among their drooping, dark green foliage.

The first camel that came up, made a terrible mess of it, for he tumbled down the short, but steep bank, and occasioned such a dust I thought some explosion must have taken place. After this accident we thought it best to get out of the way, and accordingly forded the stream. My mule, who knew where she was as well as any of us, came cantering up with the first string of camels, and being a thirsty kind of a body was not long in letting herself carefully down the slope. I caught her easily as she stooped her head to drink, and made her carry me across, for as the ford took a long diagonal direction and the bottom abounded with stones, I did not choose to hazard my bare feet among them. The opposite bank was of exactly the same character as the one we had just before left, and my mule having surmounted it by a few 459snatching, tear-away steps, I dismounted and got under the shade of a large tree, from whence I could have a good view of the passage of the Kafilah.

The camels crossed without any other accident, and immediately I had seen the last of the stores over I followed Ohmed Mahomed, who had previously come up to congratulate me on being in the dominions of Sahale Selassee, king of Shoa.

We went about half a mile farther towards the west before we came to the halting-place for the day, which was called Mulkukuyu, from the passage at this place over the Hawash; melka, or mulku, in the language of the Galla, signifying a ford.

Here I found a sudden change from the well-wooded character of the other side, for although high trees and a considerable jungle existed, we all at once halted in a lava-abounding country; low ridges, and steep, conical, crater-like hills being visible in whatever direction we turned. Still, these were all well moulded up to their bases, and numerous broad impressions of the feet of the heavy elephant, deeply indented the rich and fertile soil.

I was congratulating myself so entirely all the day at having reached the other side of the Hawash, that I made but very few other observations upon the surrounding country. Towards evening Ohmed Medina, with his usual anxiety for me to see as much as I could, brought four or five Hy Soumaulee to go with him and me to the shores of a large 460lake in the immediate neighbourhood. I found it to be an irregular and very circumscribed depression among some low flat-topped hills, and communicating by a deeply-cut but narrow channel, with the river. This was now however, quite dry, and the waters of the lake appeared to be much lower than the level of the Hawash. Lofty trees, many of them quite new to me, grew close down to the water’s edge. Beneath them were some white pelicans, with their heads and long beaks resting upon their craws, that seemed to be idly ruminating upon their last meal of fish.

The smooth surface of the lake at intervals, was frequently disturbed by the cautiously protruded face and nostrils of a bulky hippopotamus, which, snorting with a deeply-drawn breath, would prepare for his gambolling plunge again to the bottom. I fired several times, but without success, although my companions were satisfied themselves that some were killed, because the noise of the report, and perhaps the soft harmless tap of a leaden bullet, induced the animals to remove themselves farther off, or to keep altogether out of sight below the surface, as on occasions of emergency they can remain for a long period at the bottom without a fresh supply of air. I looked out for crocodiles, many of which, other travellers reported were to be seen in this lake. I do not question the correctness of these observations because I did not happen to see one myself. Many of my companions 461appeared to be familiar with the sight of them, for among other astonishing beasts I was to see at the Hawash was one, they told me, something like a lizard, which they used to represent by joining the two elbows together, and then opening wide the hands and fore arms, intimated what an extent of mouth this animal had. Traces of hyænas, and of some large feline animal, were repeatedly seen, and although I saw no elephants in this place, their sharp trumpet cry was heard throughout the next night.

On idly turning over some stones, to see the greatest number of scorpions I could find in one family, I came upon a large black centipede, curled up in the usual manner of these reptiles when they are exposed. Stooping to examine it more closely, Ohmed Medina and others, who had seen me without remark amusing myself with the scorpions now cried out that this would kill me, and some got up from the ground to pull me away, for they supposed I was going to take hold of it. Turning up my face with a peculiar look, as if to ask them if they thought me such a goose, I said in English inquiringly, “Bite like devil?” to which Ohmed Medina, in a tone of the most decided affirmation, made me laugh by repeating my words like an echo, “Bite like devil!” accompanied with repeated nods of the head so appropriately, that he appeared fully to understand the import of the words he used.

We loitered along the stony banks of the lake until 462long after the moon had risen, in the vain hope that the hippopotami would come out to graze, as is usual with them during the night. This, however, they were prevented doing, being alarmed by loud laughter and the clapping of hands which proceeded from our camp, for the younger people of the Kafilah were amusing themselves with dancing to celebrate their safe passage over the Hawash. The unusual noise confined the unwieldy beasts to their watery home, although the frequent rough snort, and the ripple which followed their return to the bottom of the lake, were evidences of the interest with which they watched for the termination of the boisterous sounds that, so unaccountably to them, broke upon the stillness of night, and usurped with whooping yells the usual retreats of solitude and silence.

A sympathetic feeling we shared with the hungry animals occasioned us to return to camp, where Zaido excused himself for having nothing ready to eat, save some sun-dried strips of raw meat, by telling me that he had been occupied the whole evening with washing his tobe and that of Ohmed Mahomed. To interest me more in the excuse, he entered into the details of some great curiosity in the water way, which he described as lying more to the west than the lake I had just been visiting. This he asserted to be a natural reservoir of soap and water, and as evidence of its cleansing qualities, pointed to the 463dancers and to others more tranquil, who had lain down for the night, and I could perceive by the light of the moon a great improvement in the appearance of their tobes, the whiteness of which was really remarkable, considering the state of dirt and grease I had seen them in during the morning. As this water was also said to be undrinkable, and had a very bad smell, I concluded it to be some mineral water, and determined to visit it the next morning.

A lucifer match and a few dry sticks soon produced a crackling blaze, upon which was thrown a yard or two of the meat rope, that was quickly cooked and as speedily disappeared, and as soon as the dinner things were carried away, and the cloth removed, I joined in the festive revelries, taking part in turns both in the opera and ballet. A spirit of merriment seemed to be abroad, and I saw no reason why I should not join the rest, so picked up an old gourd-shell bottle, sat myself down on the top of my hut, and contributed to the music by thumping a hollow-sounding tune out of the bottom of this primitive tambourine. The dancing circle in front redoubled their efforts, shrieking, laughing, yelling, clapping hands, and hopping on alternate legs around a central figure, who, with body and head now bent forwards, now thrown backwards, slowly pirouetted in a direction contrary to that of the others, whilst with equal vigour, he plied his open hands. Thus they 464danced, thus I and others played; and when tired, I threw down my musical instrument, Allee and another struggled for the direction of the band, and I left the former far outshining me both in vivacity and dexterity of touch, although he managed luckily for my repose, very soon to knock out the bottom of the gourd, and thus gave the signal for the party to break up.

May 21st.—We started by sunrise this morning, the principal Wahama Kafilah alone accompanying us; the remainder, belonging to the different tribes, determined to remain at Mulkukuyu another day. About half a mile from our halting-place, we marched along the border of the washing lake, and I turned aside, with some of the Kafilah people, to examine it.

A few minutes’ walk satisfied me that it occupied the basin-like depression of one of a number of low extinct craters, among which we had just been moving. A descent of a few yards, took me to the edge of the water, which, as I expected, was of a mineral character, having an alkaline taste, and slightly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, detected by its smell. The lake was nearly circular; but its diameter was not one hundred yards in length. Its surface presented a green appearance, not occasioned, as I could perceive, by any subaqueous vegetation; and the water, when taken out, was colourless, and very clear.

Our road was sometimes over a black soil of 465decomposing vegetable matter, beneath high shady trees, among which myriads of a small chattering bird about the size of a sparrow, sent up one continual din, that, in some situations, put talking to each other as we passed, quite out of the question. Many of the trees had been deprived of all their lower branches by the elephant, which, on making a meal, tears down with his trunk one of these large limbs, and eats at his leisure the younger shoots and leaves. Some of those I saw thus pulled down, were from a height of at least twelve or fifteen feet from the ground, and were frequently more than six inches in diameter. A striking contrast between two very different agents in thus bringing large trees to the earth, was afforded by the juxtaposition of the overturned trunks of others, among and underneath whose roots, the many-turretted residence of the white ant had been constructed; the effect of which was, that very soon after these insects had so located themselves, the slightest breeze would occasion the downfall of the tree, and trunks thus fallen, and those dragged down by the elephant, lie side by side. Sometimes in this manner, little savannahs or open spots of green growing grass are formed, where the rays of the sun are thus enabled to penetrate the otherwise dense gloom of the few miles of forest that exists along the western bank of the Hawash.

Our road was one formed entirely by elephants in their wanderings backwards and forwards from 466the river to the extensive lake of Lee Adu, or Whitewater, situated about eight miles to the west of the Hawash, at the ford of Mulkukuyu. We arrived at Lee Adu in three hours, and halted a short time for the camels and mules to drink; we then proceeded again for two hours more, when we reached the commencement of a large undulating plain, called Azbotee, from where we had the first full and splendid view of the high table-land of Shoa, and the numerous small hills and valleys which occupy the long sloping talus from the edge of the elevated plateau in the distance, to the low level district in the neighbourhood where we were.

At Lee Adu, Ohmed Medina, Adam Burrah, Moosa, and myself, bathed in a retired corner of this broad sheet of water. Large fields of high reeds and rushes bordered it for some distance around us, and the broad-leaved lotus, with its white, cup-like flowers, covered the surface. Many a splashing duck, and diving waterfowl, scared by us now left their previously quiet retreat. The white ibis flew to the opposite side of the lake, whilst screaming jays of many-coloured plumage passed over our heads, seeking some home more retired than the disturbed wood, through which our camels were then passing.

On our road to Azbotee, I observed that the country to the west of Lee Adu, assumes a very different aspect to that in the opposite direction, 467towards the Hawash. The neighbourhood of the lake marks the commencement of a more open district, very much resembling the plains of Southern Africa, being devoid of trees, and a not very thick jungle of low bushes and shrubs, admitting a clear view over them. Among other plants in this situation, I noticed immense quantities of the Socotrine aloe plant, with its long variegated fleshy leaves, whip-like flower stalk, and bright orange-coloured corollas depending like small bells from its summit.

At Azbotee, the country to the north and east is marked by several volcanic craters, of some elevation; and a ridge occupies the tract we had just passed over, of slight elevation certainly, but sufficient to shut out from sight the opposite slope to the Hawash, except in the immediate neighbourhood of Lee Adu, which extends to the left, or south, where its waters still were seen gleaming through the tall trees, growing upon its banks. Before us were clumps of mimosa-trees, at first “few and far between,” that prepared us gradually for a thickly-wooded belt, that could be perceived at the bottom of the gentle slope from Azbotee to Kokki, and which marked the channel of a stream flowing to the south and east, probably into Lee Adu. Beyond, was the valley of Kokki, so called from the number of guinea-fowl found there. A succession of low hills, gradually increasing in elevation, now leads the eye towards the north-west 468until it rests upon the town of Farree, which, plainly visible, occupies the summits of some hills, that overtopped the intervening heights, and is distant about fifteen miles from Azbotee, in a straight line.

In the neighbourhood of Farree, coronets of smoke surmounting many a hilltop, told of villages and human life, and dotted with small white clouds the amphitheatre behind.

Ohmed Medina, with an obliging interest in my being amused, pointed out the situation of succeeding towns, to the distant centre of the highest ridge, where he placed Ankobar, the capital of Shoa; whilst Ohmed Mahomed and Ebin Izaak, with the same instinctive participation in the pleasure I felt, as a stranger, upon first witnessing the splendid prospect that lay before me, assisted in explaining the natural panorama; the former sitting upon the half-detached branch of an elephant-torn mimosa, under which we were standing, and Ebin Izaak, with outstretched hand, the other resting on my shoulder, followed the direction of Ohmed Medina’s spear, to aid me in letting fall my observation upon the exact spot, by directing me to look at white patches of smoke, to the dark shadow of a cloud, to red-coloured earth, or to anything of a prominent character, by which I could distinguish each locality as it was named by Ohmed Medina. Thus was my eye conducted, and thus my view travelled, until the diminishing effects of distance gradually confounded particulars, and 469the strained sight was glad to find a bound to farther vision in the nearly level line, encroaching upon the sky, that characterizes the bluff termination to the east of the table-land of Abyssinia. All the time I was thus occupied, it never occurred to me, that this long slope of about thirty miles, and rising gradually from the elevation of two thousand feet to that of nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, that this gently-inclined plane covered with thousands of little hills, and as many little valleys, was the district of the so-called Abyssinian Alps. Of course, I had quite a different idea of such a character of country, which required, I thought, the high, towering, romantic rocks of mountain limestone, or of granite, that form the chief features of the Alps of Switzerland, or the equally wild scenery of the mountains of Sweden and Norway. I expected that I had yet to travel a long, long distance to obtain a view of those, which I supposed to be stupendous hills, and never dreamt that such a sacrifice of truth for effect could be made, or such an erroneous judgment formed, as to call these little eminences the Abyssinian Alps. It is ridiculous so to name a succession of low, denuded hills; the top of almost every one of them being the perching-place of a little hamlet or town, whilst their sides are most beautifully cultivated to their very summits, and exhibit, on the lower portions of the inclined plane, fields of cotton, of teff, or of maize; whilst the ascent, on the journey to Shoa, 470admits of wheat, barley, and linseed being produced. Little rivulets, whose constant course have deepened their channels into valleys, and formed these hills out of the once level slope, trickle down until, by combining, they form streams which sometimes do, and sometimes do not, reach the Hawash. This river is, in fact, entirely formed of the waters of this slope, which is the prominent feature of the intermediate country between its stream and the terminating edge of the table-land above. A concluding remark upon this subject is, that it would be difficult to find one of these Abyssinian Alps that, from its own base, independent of its position upon the slope, would measure seven hundred feet high.

I sat with my companions some time, asking and receiving information, now the more interesting, from the vicinity I was in to the first stage, as I considered it, of my contemplated African journey; and where I had purposed to myself a stay of some months, to prepare me for future endeavours to penetrate farther into the continent. The change of feeling too, on again becoming the denizen of a country where at least social order was maintained, was exciting in its way, for I had learnt to value civil rule as it ought to be, and I should have but little hesitation in giving my vote, if the question were the extreme absolutism of Shoa, or the equally extreme of liberty possessed by the Dankalli tribes. For my part, I never thought myself so 471much of a slave before, for I certainly felt grateful at having come scathless through the country of the freest and most lawless set of men on the face of the earth; and happy in getting to Shoa, where the first thing that happened to me was being confined seven or eight days in a house, with a sentinel over me, upon no other excuse but that my disposition and character should be submitted to such testing ordeal. But I am anticipating. Of this kind is the education a traveller gets, and I fully agree with de Montbron, (the quotation appended to the first canto of Childe Harold,) who, in his “Cosmopolite,” remarks:—

“L’univers est une espèce de livre dont on n’a lu que la première page, quand on n’a vu que son pays. J’en ai feuilleté un assez grand nombre que j’ai trouvé également mauvaises cet examen ne m’a point été infructueux. Je haïssais ma patrie. Toutes les impertinences des peuples divers, parmi lesquels j’ai vécu m’ont reconcilié avec elle. Quand je n’aurais tiré d’autre bénéfice de mes voyages que celui-là je n’eu regretterais ni les frais ne les fatigues.”

I looked upon the lovely scene so long, and felt so strongly my return to civilized life, that, like a worthy friend of mine relating to me his feelings on reaching the self-same spot, I could have found relief in a good flow of tears, so sincere was my joy. Numerous residences of man were in sight, snug straw-thatched hives they looked, but houses of any sort were as old friends to me, and my heart rejoiced when I beheld them. I always connect 472happiness with homes; and “smiling villages,” is I am sure, one of those beautiful expressions of instinct we naturally make when the full heart adds by reflection its own gladness to the landscape.

On our return to the camp, I thought it necessary to make such change in my garments as should add a little more of a civilized character to my own appearance, to harmonize somewhat with the state of society, for which I was going to exchange my present gipsey life. I accordingly got out, during the night, the only shirt I had left of the number I had reserved for the journey whilst in Tajourah; all of which, with this exception, in the course of two or three weeks, had been worn, taken off, and given to Zaido, in the vain hope of getting them washed; but which, in every case, were obliged to be divided amongst the importunate beggars who happened to be near at the moment. One would want one of the skirts for his child, a second would want the other for his wife, then the sleeves were found to be excellent dusters, with which the Dankalli are perpetually cleaning and brightening up their shields, so that among them all, every succeeding shirt was soon made old rags of, until I found it equally convenient to go without as with one, and for the last month of my journey my clothing was almost as scanty as my companions, and had I parted with anything more, I should certainly have required some of their clothes in return.

473I now also exchanged my old Arab frock for a French blouse, donned a clean pair of white trowsers, and the black silk handkerchief I had previously worn round my waist was transferred to my neck. Having finished my toilette, I again visited the rent mimosa-tree, taking with me a small telescope, to assist me in examining places the names of which were familiar, from having with me a part of the journal of the Rev. Messrs. Isenberg and Krapf, on the occasion of their first visit to Shoa by the Adal road.

I was now surrounded by crowds of the Kafilah people, several of whom seizing the glass, as they could get it, took a moment’s peep, not unfrequently with the closed eye, at the country before them; but all vociferated “Whallah,” that what they had seen was most extraordinary.

A short interval of darkness before the moon rose occasioned us to retire to the camp, but not long after her yellow light shed a rich softness upon everything that could be seen, I found myself sitting against the boxes that formed my hut, with my face turned towards the promised land, which I anticipated was so fraught with opportunities of enterprise, and of every circumstance favourable for exploring the unknown countries of intra-tropical Africa.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Journey from Azbotee to Dinnomalee, general direction, W.N.W., time marching, seven hours.—Start with escort in the night.—Pass Sheik’s tomb.—Reach Kokki.—Short halt.—Wahama town.—Proceed to Dinnomalee.—Arrive.—Detained by Custom-house officers.—Get to Farree, W.N.W., two miles from Dinnomalee.—Accommodations.—Hospitable receptions.

May 22d.—Famous in my history for being the last day’s journey before reaching the first frontier station of the kingdom of Shoa. In a calahm the evening before it had been arranged that Ohmed Medina, Ohmed Mahomed, Ebin Izaak, and all the Hy Soumaulee, except their Chief, Carmel Ibrahim, and two others who had stayed with their countrymen at Mulkukuyu, should accompany me during the night, leaving the Kafilah to come on by sunrise. The object to be gained by this was to enable us to reach Dinnomalee, where Kafilahs are received and duties paid to the Governor of Efat, so early that there might be time to send a messenger to Guancho, where that functionary resided, informing him of our arrival, and that he might come down the same day, without obliging us to remain unnecessarily another night at Dinnomalee. 475Himyah and a Tajourah merchant were put in charge of the Kafilah, the latter, who had a mule, lending it to Ohmed Medina, so that four of us were mounted. We all looked very gay in our new or clean clothing, and the mules pranced along, shaking their heads like a band of animal performers delighting in sweet sounds, for, fastened around their necks were some pounds of music in the shape of large iron bells, suspended from tinkling brass chains, which occasioned together a very harmonious jingle, not so soft, perhaps, as an Æolian harp, but which, considering our situation, was quite as striking in effect.

We proceeded at a quick rate, for the escort, with some followers from the Kafilahs, like a lot of boys just broke loose from school, were racing and shouting nearly the whole way, tearing through the low bushes and shrubs like water rushing over a noisy fall. In this manner we travelled along for some distance, by sunrise reaching the gently sloping banks of the small stream running along the bottom of the valley of Kokki, its channel cut through a stratum of very coarse pebbly gravel, and strewn with large rolled stones.

About half way between Azbotee and Kokki we passed a small kairn of stones, nearly five feet high, covered with decayed branches of several kinds of trees. This was the grave of a greatly revered sheik, and all of my companions supplied themselves with a little of the foliage of any tree that 476was near to them. I and the others who were mounted had each a small branch given to us, which, like those of the others, we threw upon the kairn as we passed. Some few of the “mollums,” or best learned of the party, recited a short prayer from the Koran, whilst I and the shamefully ignorant satisfied ourselves by calling out two or three times, “Myhisee tymbeeda!” (“Good morning, I hope you sleep well!”) The successive repetitions of this expression, as each careless Bedouin deposited his natural wreath and then ran on, was most amusing, and I thought of a lot of children performing some ceremony they had been taught was right, but cared very little how or why it was done.

The trees in the valley of Kokki more nearly approached the size of English oaks or pines than any I had yet seen, but I disappointed my friends by not alluding to their height or thick trunks. Ebin Izaak at last remarked that I had never seen any like them in my country. I replied, that except whilst young, the trees of England were never less than these, nor did they strike me as being astonishingly large, although I supposed they would appear so to him, accustomed only to the dwarf mimosa-trees of Adal.

We halted here for two hours, during which time a large herd of cattle, conducted by a few men, were brought to the stream to drink. Both men and cattle had every appearance of being 477Dankalli, and inquiring, I found that they belonged to some members of the Wahama tribe, who by permission of the Negoos, or King of Shoa, Sahale Selassee, occupied the country between the Hawash and Dinnomalee. They paid as a tribute annually one ox for every hundred head of cattle in their herds, and were also accustomed to give to the King what little ivory they chanced to pick up from the heads of elephants, naturally deceased. The King, as on every other occasion, we spoke about him, either among ourselves, or with others, was the subject of the warmest commendation. His liberality and justice were the theme of every one so far, and here some arms and clothes, recently bestowed by him upon this tribe, were brought to us for our inspection and admiration. Although some portion of these people still lived in the wigwams of their own country, surrounded by a low hedge of dry mimosa branches, and enclosed their cattle for safety during the night in stone kraals; others, who had married Abyssinian women, had assumed more civilized habits. These observed more strictly the laws and ceremonies of the Mahomedan religion, being particularly observant of the stated times and forms of prayer. They inhabited a village that stood on the edge of the opposite bank of Kokki, embosomed amidst high trees, among which the conical thatched roofs of their houses were visible, and the loud crowing of a cock told also, that they had 478surmounted the prejudices of their Bedouin ancestors against keeping fowls.

The leading camels of the caravan coming into sight, we learnt from some of the faster walkers who preceded it, that one of the Hy Soumaulee Kafilahs, having travelled during the night from Mulkukuyu, had arrived at Azbotee, just as our camels were moving off, and rather than remain alone at that place, had determined to continue their march with us, at least, as far as the present spot, which I could see was sometimes made a halting-place for Kafilahs.

Again starting on our march, we followed the bed of a small stream, flowing into the valley of Kokki; and which, after leading us a short distance through some beautiful forest scenery, entered a ravine, having high precipitous cliffs on either side of a very light coloured trachytic rock. In huge fissures, that traversed the faces of these perpendicular walls of stone, large trees, among which I noticed the tamarind, flourished in great luxuriance, projecting from their singular habitats, over the passing traveller. Every twenty yards, the stream, in its serpentine course, presented a new picture, and it will be very long before I forget the series of little romantic landscapes I cast my eye over, during our too hasty passage. The bottom of this water-cut chasm was not wider than a common road in England, and nearly as level. It was covered with a beautiful green turf of the softest and 479finest young grass. The meandering thread of the gently rippling brook that passed along, now crossing our path, and now expanding into little pools of the clearest water, was all that represented the powerful agent that had effected the denudation of this deep and extensive, though narrow defile; and the triumph of easy, gentle persuasion, found no bad type in the effects of this little stream upon the rocky walls that bounded its deeply-cut channel.

We opened, at length, upon some narrow valleys, that seemed each to contribute in the rainy season its quota, to the swollen river that then joins the Kokki. Across these we passed, plucking, as we went, an unctuous, gelatinous, berry; not unlike in taste and character to our yew berry; and which grew upon a shrub that appeared to belong to the honey-suckle tribe, without depending, however, upon any other but its own short strong stem for support. Its fruit appears to be a great favourite with the Dankalli, who dry the berries in the sun, and carry down considerable quantities with them on their return to Tajourah, for their friends at home.

We now entered a jungly district, the height of the shrubs and bushes preventing any extensive view; besides, I was too much occupied in taking care of my eyes and face, from the lashing recoil of the impatient branches, at being disturbed by the spears of the wild Bedouins dashing by. 480After a march of about six miles from Kokki, we came to a more sparingly-wooded spot, and on an adjoining height, we discerned some men sitting in very white tobes, who appeared to be waiting for, or watching, our approach. As soon as we saw them, there was a general cry out for me to fire, and I scarcely knew what to think of it; but the oft-repeated word, “Abshee,” “Abshee,” soon told me that the men were Abyssinians, and I understood that I was to give them a salute. Ohmed Medina being among the most importunate for this display, I laughingly proposed, he should fire my carabine off himself, to which, much to my surprise, he readily acquiesced; and, after I had cocked both barrels, banged away without any hesitation, securing the applause of all around for his unflinching courage. He was not satisfied with this, but turned to ask me also, if he were not a brave soldier? to which I, of course, assented. A few moments more brought us on to a small open place of green-sward, surrounded by high mimosa-trees, beneath one of which we dismounted, and walked towards the men in the clean tobes, who had also risen, and were now coming to receive us. This was the station of Dinnomalee, where the assair, or tythe, of all articles of merchandise introduced into the Mangust, or kingdom of Shoa, is paid to the King as duty.

After some moments of very ceremonious greeting, we were conducted beneath the convenient 481canopy of a flat-topped mimosa which threw, some distance from the trunk, a circular shade, where we squatted down; and an animated conversation was carried on between my Tajourah friends and the representatives, as our new acquaintances turned out to be, of the Wallasmah, or Governor of the province of Efat, named Mahomed, who is also chief of the customs upon this frontier. A large bag of dollars, was also produced from somewhere on our side, and with a splendid affectation of disregard, was slapped down with a loud ring upon the ground, between Ohmed Mahomed and Ohmed Medina. The jingling music had its effect upon our Abyssinian friends, lighting up their countenances, as their dark faces assumed a smiling expression, that said out plainly, “Oh! how glad we are to see you.”

Two or three hours passed away, and I began to tire of such a long calahm, in which I could take no part, so I asked Ohmed Medina if the town of Farree was in this neighbourhood, that I might go and take up my residence there at once. He asked me not to go until the Kafilah came up, which would not now be long; so I reseated myself and commenced again my examination of the surrounding country. Numerous towns and villages were in sight, all occupying the tops of small hills, which formed the limits of observation, at the distance of not more than three miles. The little savannah where we were seated appeared surrounded by a 482narrow, well-wooded belt, beyond which, on the rising slopes of the hills, could be seen fields of cotton-bushes, and of the high jowaree maize, cultivated nearly to the summits; where a few green trees overhung conical straw-thatched roofs, resting upon low wattled walls, which is the general character, differing only in size, of all Abyssinian houses.

The Kafilah did not make its appearance till almost sunset, and I got still more tired and vexed at such a compulsatory stay, for nothing would induce the principal of the party who received us to allow our proceeding farther until the messenger had returned from Guancho, the seat of the Wallasmah Mahomed, some six or seven miles off to the west. After the sun had set, the man returned bearing commands for all parties; but that which interested me most, was the order given to take me to Farree, and provide me with a house, and my escort with a dinner of bread and ale at Dinnomalee. He also announced the coming of the Wallasmah the next day to examine the salt and other merchandise of the several Kafilahs. Ohmed Medina and Ohmed Mahomed were to remain with the escort, and not to be allowed to accompany me to Farree, but as I looked with some suspicion upon such peremptory orders, I did not like being separated from those I could trust; especially as, from several hints given me by Ohmed Medina, I was led to suspect 483that the members of the embassy were all in prison. I insisted therefore remaining where I was, or that the Hy Soumaulee should go to Farree with me; and as these untamed gentlemen had already taken offence, and sat in the usual threatening manner, determined to force their way if any attempt were made to prevent them, it was at length, after a long debate, agreed that they should occupy the garden, or enclosure, around the house to which I was to be taken; I becoming responsible to the negoos, or king, whose name they appeared to look upon as sacred, for this breach of the particular command that had been issued respecting any more English that might come up to Shoa. During the discussion, I could not help laughing at one of the Abyssinians, who had taken my carabine as it lay upon the ground, and seemed unwilling to give it up to me on my request, calling out as he held it away, “Y’ negoos, Y’ negoos, Sahale Selassee,” as if he had been a constable, and that these words were an inviolable authority. Moosa, who saw the whole affair, and heard me telling the man to put the gun down, now interfered, and saying something in a threatening tone, the fat burly citizen, who I could see was no fighting character, quickly did as he was commanded, but still repeating, “Sahale Selassee, Sahale Selassee.”

My mule being brought, I mounted for a long ride, as I expected, and proceeded with the Hy Soumaulee, who, having gained their point of 484accompanying me, were in great glee, shouting to each other as they darted among the trees, or raced through the more cultivated parts, running and leaping as they went over the low cotton-bushes that stood in their way. Much to my astonishment, on rounding the shoulder of a projecting ridge, we came in sight of the town of Farree, situated not a quarter of an hour’s walk to the west of Dinnomalee. We threaded our way across the few fields that intervened by a narrow path that reminded me of the narrow church-ways across cultivated lands in England. Then ascending a steep elevation, of about two hundred feet high, by a rough stony road, entered an open depressed space, between four or five pap-like elevations into which the summit of the hill was divided, each of which was surmounted by a little group of houses, whilst the concavity in the midst formed a kind of green, or market-place, in the centre of which was a low enclosure of loose stones surrounding a few young mimosa-trees. Suspended from several of the branches I saw the tail, and a long slip of the skin, of a hyæna, with some similar remains of wild cats, hung up as trophies, and as an instructive lesson to the wild animals in the neighbourhood of the evil results of pilfering hen-roosts or folds.

I rested myself awhile against the “madubbah,” or stone fence, upon which sat several Hy Soumaulee perched as if upon a roost, until our guide returned, he having gone to select a house and 485garden for the accommodation of myself and suite. At last we were taken to the same house in which I was informed all previous travellers had stayed, and where also poor Mr. Airston died.^[7] The goodman was absent at Aliu Amba market, but his two wives (he was a Mahomedan) shewed me every attention, spreading a large ox-skin upon the raised earth or platform, two feet high, which occupied half the apartment. The women made signs to me to take off my boots, lay aside my arms, and lie down whilst they prepared some bread for my evening meal. The Hy Soumaulee sat on their heels very patiently, in the little compound, surrounded by a high stick fence, in which the house stood. The entrance-gate, by the by, was of a very singular kind, its upper edge being attached by hide hinges to the lintel. When 486opened it required to be lifted up, and a stick prop was placed under the lower edge to support it. It shut down something like a trap door.

Some of the best known of my escort I called into the house to converse with, whilst, in the meantime, proclamation was being made through the village for the food to be prepared, with which to supply the strangers; each householder being called upon to bring in two large round crumpets, a foot and a-half in diameter, as the contribution for that purpose. I was much pleased with this evidence of the hospitable character of my new friends, it being an invariable custom, on the arrival of any traveller in Abyssinian towns, to supply him with food at the public expense for the first few days, or until the pleasure of the King can be known, who then generally takes upon himself the maintenance of his visitor, during the remainder of his stay in the country. It added to my gratification, also, to observe that this duty was attended to promptly, and with apparent good will, by the inhabitants. Had it been otherwise, I should certainly have refused such a kind of supply; but not the least evidence of disinclination afforded me the opportunity of offering to pay for our entertainment.

In less than an hour I saw realized the picture of Abyssinian peace and plenty, which had been frequently described in the Adal country, by the admiring Bedouins and Kafilah men, who used to enact the carrying of bread on their head, and large 487jars of ale upon their shoulders, to give me an idea of what I might expect in that happy land. Laughing girls in dark red gowns, and staid married women similarly attired, but, to mark the difference, with a guftah, or three-cornered double kerchief cap of the same colour, firmly fastened close under the point of the chin, came trooping down, each with a shallow saucer-like basket of variegated red and yellow straw balanced upon her head. The high conical covers being taken off as the baskets were placed at the feet of the misselannee, or steward of the governor of the town, they were found to contain the two required cakes of a very light bread, yet warm and steaming, and which were, only much larger, exactly like the crumpet or pikelit of England. These were made of the flour of teff, the small seeds of a grass, which makes much lighter bread than wheat.

Sufficient of these for the supply of nearly forty men were soon heaped high in two large receiving baskets; but as meat did not seem to be forthcoming, I gave a dollar privately to Adam Burrah, who came and whispered the name and that of bullock in my ear, a sufficient hint, which I readily took. He and Moosa were absent but a short time before they returned with a young cow, which was killed, and a requisition for wood being made to the misselannee, that functionary gave orders for a quantity immediately to be brought to cook the meat. Everything seemed to be conducted with the greatest quiet and order, even 488the wild Dankalli themselves appeared to be affected by example, and in Farree endeavoured to assume civilized airs and conduct.

Just as supper was ready, the Wallasmah Mahomed sent down to me, from his residence at Gauncho, six miles distant, three large jars, each containing about five gallons of fine strong ale, so that a regular banquet closed the first day of my arrival in Shoa. Before it was concluded a numerous and very jovial party had collected, for, contrary to the strict orders that had been issued, after sunset nearly all the men of the Kafilah at Dinnomalee came stealing in, in parties of two and three, until not half a dozen, I should think, remained to take care of the camels and stores. Several came to me begging for sheep, and as I found that I could purchase five of the animals fully grown, for a dollar, I was glad to be able, at such a reasonable rate, to add to the pleasures of my companions, who seemed determined to make themselves happy and comfortable.

The moon shone upon a splendid scene of enjoyment that night. Every village-capped height in the neighbourhood had its bonfire. All around resounded with the quick sharp clapping of hands, the measured accompaniment of song and dance. No learned commentator was needed here. Circumstances themselves aptly enough illustrated the Psalmist’s situation and feelings, for “Clap your hands, O ye little hills,” personifies and expresses the gladness and praise of a people 489situated like the Amhara, whose language and whose customs identify their origin with that of the Jews.

Long before the revels ended I had laid myself down on the ox-skin which had served me as a couch during the day, and soon fell fast asleep. In the same apartment lay the wives of the owner of the house, two or three slave-girls, and some young children. Fowls also were roosting upon a kind of shelf made of jowaree stalks, bound together and placed against the wall, and had I not occupied the whole of the raised platform of clay and stones, I expect the family would have slept upon it, and two oxen, unceremoniously shut out to sleep with the Hy Soumaulee in the garden, would have occupied that part of the house where now, huddled together, the women and children were sleeping.

Having arrived in Abyssinia, I shall conclude my account of the journey through Adal with a few remarks upon the character of the Dankalli, which, upon a review of what I have written, seem necessary to explain the opinion I hold of the great capabilities possessed by this family of man.

In the first place, I am bound to add my testimony to that of every other traveller, to the proneness of the Dankalli to shed human blood, and the little value they seem to attach to human life. By a distortion of moral and natural ideas of right and wrong, unparalleled in the history of 490any other people, murder is considered by them to be highly honourable. Every fresh assassination is rewarded by an additional personal ornament, and the destruction of a sleeping guest, or of a fighting foe, contribute alike to the credit and reputation of the brave. The well dissembled bearing by which they lure the most suspicious into a fatal confidence, and the firm bravery with which they attack a more powerful enemy, can only be referred to the operation of mental powers of the very first order, and, according to my own ideas of the nature of man, they present the extreme of moral degradation that the caste to which they belong can fall into. I am not a willing evidence against a people among whom I spent some not unpleasant days, and received much instruction from the opportunities afforded me of studying their character, and the circumstances under which they are placed, and which convinced me that, if properly educated and directed, they would take a very high rank among civilized nations. I feel assured that in a more favourable situation, and under another social economy, those intellectual capabilities now only developed in evil, would fast progress to the most enlightened civilization.

I must be allowed, in justice, to notice the honesty and good faith that marked the care of the boxes and packages I found at Errur. The interference of the Tajourah people in that matter does not affect the principle I contend for, 491they being, as are all inhabitants of the towns on the sea-coast of Adal, descended from Abyssinian mothers, and not of the pure Affah blood. This act of trustworthiness, where great temptation existed, may be only singular, from the few opportunities the Dankalli have of exercising their natural good qualities.

I have, also, made no mention that several times during my journey attempts were made by the Dankalli to teach me the game of gubertah, something similar to our backgammon, played with dry camels’ dung, and a number of holes in the ground. These attempts failed entirely, through my want of capacity, whilst any little trick of legerdemain, with which I sometimes amused them, was soon learnt, and in many instances they themselves detected the manner in which the trick was performed. One instance of this quickness of perception struck me particularly. It was a game I showed to them, in which seven small stones represented two thieves and five horses, the deception in which consists of picking up one of the representatives alternately with each hand, yet at the conclusion to shew the horses and thieves still in the unequal numbers of two and five in either hand. This, after a little observation, was performed by several of my companions, and I recorded it among many other evidences of what their Circassian physiognomy betokened, a much higher mental capability than the conceited Arab, 492and as superior as ourselves to their negro neighbours the Shankalli. These three very different people, represent three grades of intellectual power, which may be expressed as genius, cunning, and simplicity, of which the Dankalli constitute the type of the superior rank.

When I reflect upon the striking contrast exhibited in the very different characters of the Dankalli and Shankalli people, the pressure from without of observed facts incline me to a system of mankind-lore different entirely from any yet advanced, but which it would be presumption in me to put forward, until increasing years and further observation give weight to the opinions of one who at present is merely an humble, but zealous, inquirer after truth. Adapting myself therefore, as much as possible to the generally received ideas upon the national divisions of man at an early period, I am led to suppose that the Dankalli are the remains of a once great and powerful people, the vices of whom have outlived the period of their decline as a nation, and now characterize their descendants in a situation where they are reduced to a state of nature corresponding, except in these resulting consequences of previous civilization, to that of the real child of uncultivated nature, the happy, contented, good-natured Shankalli.