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
valley 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, and 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 know 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 Suis 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 I 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 knees, 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 we 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 their 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 room 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 firearms; 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 was 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 purpose, 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 resisting 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 with 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 of 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. The 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 the 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 surface, 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.
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