Delay in giving up the recovered stores.—Interview with father of
Mahomed Allee.—Accompany him to a kraal.—Entertainment
there.—Condition of the stores.—Murder in our camp.—Occupation of
Kafilah people during long halts.—Game of gubertah.—Muditu
visitors.—Expected attack.—Bedouins feasting.—Portion of entrail
around the neck of a Bedouin, not for ornament, but use.—Amusements.
THE name of our present halting-place was Hiero Murroo; and the third
day of our stay there arrived, but no signs of any more boxes coming,
nor could Ohmed Mahomed, when applied to, account for their
non-appearance. Generally, the answer to my inquiries was—in the
morning, he would promise that they would arrive before evening; and in
the evening, he would be quite certain they would come in during the
night. I thought, at last, there was no intention of giving up the boxes
at all; and as I saw Ohmed Mahomed very friendly indeed with the
principal man of the Bedouin kraal, where the property lay, accompanying
him backwards and forwards several times, I at length suspected that he
was endeavouring to get the boxes and their contents for his own use.
The blame of such a dishonest action when discovered, he was well aware
could be easily transferred to the shoulders of others, from whom it was
impossible to look for restitution or redress. So convinced was I by his
conduct of his intending this robbery, that I left our Kafilah, and
walked to that of the Wahama, who were encamped about one hundred yards
to the west of us. Having walked about a little, looking into every bush
for Abu Mahomed Allee, or for his son Ibrahim, I at length found the
former, hard at work, studying the Koran, which lay open upon the ground
before him. He was reading away with very evident interest, some of the
well-told relations of past, present, and future life contained in that
volume.
I pushed aside the mat that hung from the top of the thick-leaved
moomen-bush, under which he had retreated from the sun, and, without any
ceremony, sat down by his side. He closed his book, took off the large,
round German spectacles that, compressed across the bridge of his nose,
secured themselves, without farther aid, in the required position. My
business was soon told. Ohmed Mahomed was a great thief, and something
worse; and I wanted the boxes to be with me, or I with them, and
required his assistance, for I was determined not to leave Hiero Murroo
without obtaining possession of the property thus left, and which I had
no doubt, I told him, that Ohmed Mahomed wanted to steal, and then to
lay the blame on the Wahama. The old man replied, that the party who had
possession of the boxes, was only a half-blood Wahama, and he had but
little influence over him, which was one reason that his son, Mahomed
Allee, could not induce him to go on to Shoa with himself. Since he had
seen the boxes last, he added, they had every one been opened, either by
the Tajourah people, or the Bedouins of the kraal, but as they had, to
his knowledge, remained four months among the latter, without exciting
the least curiosity to know their contents, he had no doubt the outrage
had been committed by the people of our Kafilah. This was a confirmation
of my fears, and a good ground of complaint, which I did not hesitate to
make after my return to camp. Before I left Abu Mahomed, the old
gentleman promised that he would take me to see the boxes, if he could
do so without offending my Ras ul Kafilah.
After a deal of trouble with Ebin Izaak, and Ohmed Mahomed, each
asserting on my charging them with the deed, that he did not know of the
breaking open of the boxes, I asked them, if they would go with me the
following morning to the kraal, where they were kept, to examine the
state they were in, but neither seeming inclined to indulge me, I walked
back to my hut. I was soon after followed, however, by the father of
Mahomed Allee, who asking me to accompany him, I buckled on my belt
again, replaced my pistols, took up my carabine, and went off with him,
without once looking back to see if any volunteers from the Kafilah
would follow me. I could hear several of the principal people of
Tajourah addressing me in rather an equivocal manner, as I passed them,
muttering “Tihebe,” “Tihebe,” “Good,” “Good,” in a tone, anything but
expressive of being pleased at my proceedings.
It was a longer walk than I expected, continuing for two hours at a very
sharp pace over the plain, until we came in sight of several kraals, at
distances of about half a mile from each other. Towards one of these we
directed our steps, and as soon as we were observed, some half-dozen
men, and a crowd of women, and naked children, issued out of the low
wigwams, that were clustered upon a little eminence. On one side of this
portable village was a large circle of loose stones, in which sheep,
goats, and cattle were kept; and near to it another, formed of boughs of
the long white-thorned mimosa, which was considered a sufficient defence
for the security of the camels.
The evening’s milking was about to commence; the flocks arriving just at
the moment we did; and their bleating made a terrible din. On our
approach, the men came up to Abu Mahomed, and after each had saluted him
with the open hand, sliding it over his, as he extended it for that
purpose, they very civilly came and proffered the same kind of welcome
to me. I was rather taken by surprise, but removing my carabine to the
other hand, I presented my right, with all the gravity and decorum
proper on the occasion. This reception was so flattering, that I began
to conclude my appearance, as a civilized being, must be a good deal
worn off, and that my life in the desert had given me somewhat of the
savage air of one of these roving family of man. They invited us into
one of the huts, and a large bundle of split palm-leaves, ready for the
women to plait into mats, was placed for me to sit down upon. Scarcely
had I taken the offered seat, than a woman brought in a large basket of
milk, which was fairly divided between Abu Mahomed and myself; and after
it was finished, we proceeded to view the stores.
I found them carefully enough heaped up between two of the huts, above
which they stood some feet in height, and were covered with three or
four covers of tarpaulin, the remains of a large tent, which being worn
out and useless, had been also left with the boxes. They consisted
principally, of the trunks of Dr. Roth and Mr. Scott, some boxes of
ammunition, as also others containing a very small seed bead, a
favourite with the Christians of Shoa, but of no value to the Dankalli
people, two corn-mills, and two boxes of silks, and valuables. All
these, with the exception of the latter, had been opened. But as Abu
Mahomed had told me not to notice this circumstance, I did not ask for
any explanation, being satisfied with what he had informed me upon the
road, that seven days ago, he had seen them untouched, and that it must
have been the instigation of some of my Kafilah, that had induced the
man to allow them to be forced open. The injury done to some of the
boxes, where a deal of violence had been used to open them, the man did
attempt to account for, by stating, that they had been broken during the
journey, by the knocking about consequent upon the numerous loadings,
and unloadings of the camels, whilst the holes in the ammunition and
other boxes, he attributed to the curiosity of the children of the
kraal. One box containing beads was so much damaged, that I was obliged
to have the parcels placed in skin bags. How all the things that had
been left here so long, failed to excite the cupidity of the people, is
beyond my comprehension. Paper, printed ginghams, and actually, some
thirteen or fourteen dollars, in a box belonging to Mr. Scott, were left
untouched. The beads, whatever may be said of their not being the kind,
most in demand among the Dankalli, must still have been thought of some
value. In this short review of the facts, it must be understood, that
the inhabitants of Tajourah surpass in unprincipled cunning, the
Bedouins of the interior, as they are on the other hand inferior to them
in courage; so that the disgraceful conduct of Ohmed Mahomed, and Ebin
Izaak, in the clandestine search they made, for dollars supposed to be
contained in some of the packages, must not influence any opinion, that
may be formed respecting 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 of _chevaux de frise_ in front, I slept very
comfortably during the heat of the day. At night I took the precaution
of building up the entrance of my hut with stones, whilst, over the
region of my stomach I placed a shield, and curled one of my arms around
my neck, so that any attempt upon my life would have been almost sure to
have awakened me.
Though I was spared, an unfortunate slave of my friend Himyah was
murdered by one of my Hy Soumaulee escort, for some offence committed by
the unfortunate man during the preceding day. Although in the scuffle
that immediately ensued he had been severely wounded in the face, this
did not satisfy his opponent, who, unobserved, stole upon him during the
night, and struck his dagger into the chest above the breast bone,
killing him at one blow. The murderer next morning paraded with a large
black feather in his hair, and was the coolest of the whole party as
they sat alone, during the deliberations which ensued upon this deed of
blood. Five bullocks was the fine imposed, which was paid by his friends
collectively, who applied to me, to authorize Ohmed Mahomed to advance
the money for that purpose. At first I insisted upon the Ras ul Kafilah
discharging this man, but Ohmed Medina corroborating the statement that
this was impossible in our situation, I had no other course but to
resolve not to have any communication with the murderer. Even this I was
only able to do for a few days, as the fellow would still come and sit
down at the entrance of my hut, and converse with as much ease, as if
conscious only of having done a most meritorious act. My last resort,
therefore, to express my own abhorrence of his dastardly conduct, was to
address him always as Cain, and by that name he very soon became known
to the whole Kafilah, but of course, no one had any idea of the allusion
contained in the appellation.
Our stay in Hiero Murroo being so long, and the place abounding with
shrubby clumps of the moomen or tooth-brush-tree, nearly all the Kafilah
people formed for themselves, with their knives, rude bowers, by cutting
out some of the underwood, and scattering it over the top to increase
the shade. In this manner sometimes three or four tenants would occupy
one bush. The moomen, or woomen, as I have heard it also called, grew at
the convenient distance of not more than five yards from each other, and
towards evening I often took a walk, along the naturally formed lanes,
to pick up some trait of character, by observing the inmates and their
occupation in these human nests. If they were not sleeping, which was
most frequently the case, they would perhaps be mending a tobe, or
making their ox-skin sandals. Sometimes two idle rascals, lying upon
their stomachs, would be passing away the time by a game called
gubahtah, played with thirty-two pieces of dried camel’s dung, which
were to be duly apportioned, according to certain laws, into sixteen
holes, and depends, somewhat like backgammon, upon the choice of
position and chance of number.
Many of the bushes were festooned inside and out, with strings of meat
drying in the sun, upon which the circling falcon, which in great
numbers always accompany a Kafilah, would make frequent stoops, scarcely
scared, by the yell and often-hurled stones of the watching slave-boy.
In this place, as was usual where there was plenty of grass and water,
we had constant supplies of milk. We also readily purchased young kids
for needles or tobacco, and I generally preferred one of these to the
dry venison of the chase, in the pursuit of which I always incurred much
trouble and disappointment. Had I been possessed of a good rifle, it
would have been very different, but for hunting purposes my short
double-barrelled carabine was good for nothing. Presents were also
frequently made, in return for medicine consisting, in addition to bags
of milk, sometimes of a fine sheep or goat, so that the Hy Soumaulee,
whilst we were living here, fared sumptuously at no expense to me, for
Ohmed Mahomed was more conscientious, or had began to know me better
than to make his every second day demand for a bullock.
Diseases of the eyes I found most prevalent among the Dankalli.
Sometimes I was asked to afford assistance in cases of severe sword and
spear wounds. One of the men belonging to the kraal where I found the
boxes had three large wounds in the side, each one of which looked
sufficient to have produced death; and besides these, he had a spear
wound completely through the muscles of the thigh.
In treating several of their complaints I had recourse to an infallible
water-cure, for having but a small stock of medicine, I was obliged to
contrive how to make them go as far as I could. Epsom salts, among other
sweet things, was considered quite a bon-bon, and of this article I had
but about one pound weight, so I dispensed it generally in tea-spoonsful
to each applicant, instructing them, at the same time, that to increase
its effect they must drink a great deal of water immediately after
taking it. In one case, an anxious mother returned some two or three
hours after I had given her son a dose of the salts. As she stooped down
to look into my apothecary’s shop, chattering away, she pointed to a
large empty water-skin which she held in her hand; I could not
understand her, but Zaido came to my assistance, and explained, that the
woman wished to know, if her son might relieve himself by making water,
“for,” said he, “he has taken three of those water-skinsful already, and
he must do so, before he can drink any more, or he will burst most
assuredly.” I gave the desired permission, and the woman departed.
“Zaido,” said I, when she was gone, “when I say, drink a great deal of
water, I do not mean as much as a thirsty camel can take, but only a
good sized basket-full.” Zaido, as my assistant dispenser and
interpreter, promised attention, and no deaths in consequence of
excessive drinking occurred.
During the two last evenings of our stay in this place, several
individuals of the Muditu people appeared on the outskirts of our camp,
in parties of three or four. They were not received amongst us;
generally standing at a distance of thirty or forty yards from the salt
loads and stores. They examined us with some degree of interest, and
were evidently endeavouring to form some idea of our purposes and
movements. Their appearance, however, broke through the reserve that had
for the better part of two days been observed between me and the people
of the Kafilah, on account of my apparent predilection, for the father
of their detested rival, Mahomed Allee. They now came to 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 spluttering _sough_ into the mouth. The
entrails, after being taken out, were hastily drawn through the closed
hand, to squeeze the contents upon the ground, and without more
dressing, transferred to the pots along with the other meat, and which
were soon bubbling fast and furious, over the crackling, sparkling
brushwood or dried mimosa that formed the fuel. By and by the savage
banquet is prepared, and the meat taken from the pots is put upon mats,
or into the hollow of an old shield; every one now tries to get first to
help himself, all struggling and pushing, but in the best 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 these people, but for the relief and comfort the skin receives
from unctuous substances, when liable to exposure under a burning sun,
and which has dictated the employment, of this natural and constant
supply of grease, in the manner I have described.
One afternoon I was again treated with an extempore song, a method of
expressing their feelings which appears to afford great pleasure to the
Dankalli. I was sitting on the ground at the entrance of my hut,
thinking upon past scenes and pleasures, at the same time humming a
favourite old tune. This attracted the attention of Moosa, who, with the
large wooden packing-needle they use for sewing the palm-leaf salt-bags,
was mending my mule’s head-gear, two straps of which had got broken.
Ejecting, with averted head, a great quantity of tobacco juice from his
mouth far upon the sand, he began a low muttering song, which was soon
joined in by Carmel Ibrahim, who lay in a neighbouring bush, Carmel, as
usual, introducing my name, and exciting considerable mirth among the
listeners who gathered around, but their merriment was as far as
possible from being of a disrespectful character.
Every evening ball-playing amused the greater part of the Kafilah
people, and the loud shouts on the Wahama side told of their being also
engaged in the same noisy busy game. It was rather too boisterous for me
to join, though I was often invited by our party, but I showed off by
balancing some heavy sheets of pewter, Ohmed Medina was taking up to the
Shoan market. All these I could lift with the greatest ease, and project
them from one shoulder a considerable distance. None of my Dankalli
companions could do this, and although I was very weak from my recent
illness, they all acknowledged my superior strength. This was admitted
on more than one occasion; but I recollect once particularly, at
Arabderah, being requested to heave away, a large stone half buried in
the soil. Garahmee, on going to prayers, there being no water, was
necessitated to go through the performance in sand, and the cavity in
which the stone was embedded was to represent the bathing vessel. Moosa,
Carmel Ibrahim, Ohmed Medina, all tried to remove the stone without the
least effect, but I rolled it out with comparative ease. From this
circumstance, which was corroborated by other opportunities of
observation, I do not consider bodily strength to be a characteristic of
the Dankalli, although for agility and endurance under fatigue, I think
they are unequalled by any people, not excepting even the North American
Indians. That they would incur voluntarily this exercise of their
physical and moral endurance is another thing, and from what little I
know of them I do not think they would.
After remaining at Hiero Murroo five days, I was not sorry to find that
we were to start on the morning 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.
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