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, an 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 one, 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
Abisha 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. My 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 occasioned 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 univalve, 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, marks 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 the
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 from 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 mid-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.
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