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.
Thename 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 beeasily 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 partywho 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 backto 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 anddecorum 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 themuntouched, 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 formedrespecting 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,and 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 ofchevaux de frisein 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 asthey 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 convenientdistance 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 wasgood 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 myapothecary’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 cameto 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.Carmel 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,and 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 splutteringsoughinto 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 thebest 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,when 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 thesepeople, 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 ofteninvited 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 themorning 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.