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.
We 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 abundant 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 idea, 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 curious 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 form, 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, which 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 and 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 time 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 to 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 naked 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 consisting 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 sands 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 from
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 can 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 people, 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 rather 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 water 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.
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