From this eventful epoch each sultry day did indeed bring a numerical
accession to the beasts of burthen collected in the town; but they were
owned of many and self-willed proprietors; were, generally speaking, of
the most feeble description, melancholy contrasts to the gigantic and
herculean dromedary of Egypt and Arabia; and no trifling delay was still
in store through their arrival from distant pastures bare-backed, which
involved the necessity of making up new furniture for the march. The
Dankali saddle is fortunately a simple contrivance; a mat composed of
plaited date leaves thrown over the hump, supporting four sticks lashed
together in couples, and kept clear of the spinal process by means of
two rollers as pads, having been proved by centuries of experience to be
not more light than efficient. Accoutrements completed, and camels
ready for the march, other provoking excuses for delay were not wanting,
to fill, even to overflowing, the measure of annoyance. The demise of a
nephew of the Sultan--the protracted funeral obsequies of the deceased--
and the almost nightly abstraction of one or more hired camels by the
lurking Bedouin, all contributed their mite. At length however no
further pretext could be devised, and nine loads being actually in
motion towards Ambabo, the first halting ground on the road to the
kingdom of Shoa, the schooner "Constance," getting under weigh, stood up
the bay of Tajura, and cast anchor off the incipient camp, of which the
position was denoted by a tall cluster of palms.
Endless objections being now provokingly raised to the shape, size, and
weight of the boxes to be transported, it next became requisite to
reduce the dimensions of the greater number, in the progress of which
operation it was discovered that the hurry of transhipment at Aden had
resulted in the substitution of several dozens of choice marasquino, for
a similar number of cases, of equal size, freighted with round shot for
the galloper-guns. The work in hand was one of no ordinary labour and
difficulty; and, after all, its completion proved insufficient to
satisfy the parties. One blockhead complained that his load was heavier
than his neighbour's, who had wisely risen earlier in the morning to
make his selection; another, that his case, although confessedly light,
was not of convenient size; one was too long, another not long enough, a
third too deep, and a fourth too loosely packed. From earliest dawn,
until final close of day, on a sandy beach, under a broiling sun, was
this torment continued without intermission, until the 30th of May,
when, by dint of coaxing, menacing, and bribing, every article had been
removed saving an unwieldy hand-organ, at which every camel-owner had
shaken his wig in turn, and a few stand of arms which had been removed
from wooden cases, and repacked in mats and tarpaulins. A great hulking
savage finally proposed to carry these latter, upon condition of their
being transversely divided with a saw to suit the backs of his wretched
hip-galled camels. "You are a tall man," quoth Aboo Bekr drolly,
"suppose we shorten you by the legs?"
"No, no," cried the barbarian, "I'm flesh and blood, and shall be
spoiled."
"So will the contents of these cases, you offspring of an ass," retorted
the old pilot, "if you divide them."
The almost insurmountable difficulties thus experienced in obtaining
carriage, but now happily overcome, had so far delayed the advance of
the Embassy, as to oblige it to cross the Tehama during the height of
the fiery and unwholesome blast which, during the months of June and
July, sweeps over that waterless tract from the south-west; and had
moreover rendered it impossible to reach Abyssinia before the setting-in
of the annual heavy rains, when the river Hawash becomes impassable for
weeks together. Independently of the natural apathy of the camel-owning
population, the fact of the season of all intercourse with the interior,
by Kafilah, having already passed away, rendered every one averse, under
any consideration of gain, to so hazardous a journey. Grain was to be
carried for the consumption of horses and mules during the passage of
arid regions, where, during the hot season, neither vegetation nor water
exists; and the wells and pools having notoriously failed in every part
of the road, during three consecutive seasons of unusual drought, it was
necessary to entertain a large proportion of transport for a supply of
water sufficient to last both man and beast for two and three days at a
time; whilst, neither grass nor green food remaining near the sea-shore,
the hundred and seventy camels now forming the caravan, had been
individually assembled from various grazing grounds, many miles distant
in the interior.
A sufficient number of water-skins had fortunately been purchased at
exorbitant prices to complete the equipment, together with mules for the
conveyance of the European escort and artillery; and the greedy Sultan,
besides receiving the lion's share of the profits on all, had sold his
own riding beast for three times its worth in solid silver. But the
forage brought over from Aden being long since consumed, the whole were
fed upon dates, and to the latest moment the greatest difficulty
continued to exist in regard to followers. The services of neither
Dankali, Bedouin, nor Somauli, were obtainable at whatever wages; and
the whole of the long train of live stock was consequently to be
attended by a few worthless horse-keepers, enlisted at Aden, aided by a
very limited number of volunteers from the shipping, whose indifferent
characters gave ample promise of their subsequent misdeeds.
On the departure of the last load, a general begging commenced on a
grand scale, on the part of all who flattered themselves that they had
in the most remote manner been so fortunate as to render assistance
during the protracted sojourn of the Kafirs. Many, whose claims were
far from being apparent, after confessing themselves satisfied _in
propriis personis_, modestly urged demands on behalf of their still more
worthless neighbours; and in order to have any chance of passing in
safety to the mountains with so long a line of camels, it was only
prudent to propitiate each and all of this predatory hosts of locusts,
before entering upon their lawless country.
With a feeling of pleasure akin to that experienced by Gil Blas, when he
escaped from the robbers' cave, the party at length bade adieu to
Tajura. Of all the various classes and denominations of men who inhabit
the terrestrial globe, the half-civilised savages peopling this
sea-port, are perhaps the most thoroughly odious and detestable. They
have ingeniously contrived to lose every virtue wherewith the rude
tribes to which they pertain, may once have been adorned; and having
acquired nothing in exchange, save the vices of their more refined
neighbours, the scale of abject degradation to which they are now
reduced, can hardly descend lower. Under this sweeping and very just
condemnation, the impotent Sultan, Mohammad ibn Mohammad, stands
pre-eminently in relief; and the old miser's rapacity continuing unsated
up to the very latest moment, he clutched his long staff betwixt his
skinny fingers, and hobbled forth from his den, resolved to squeeze yet
another hundred dollars as a parting memento from his British victims.
The European escort were in the act of mounting the mules already
harnessed to the galloper-gun, which he had vainly persuaded himself
could never be transported from the coast, since no camel-owner
consented to take it, and repeated attempts that he had witnessed to
yoke a pair of oxen to the limbers had proved unsuccessful, even after
their stubborn noses were pierced. But mule harness had been ably
manufactured to meet the exigency, and when his lustreless eyes beheld
the party in horse artillery order, firmly seated in their saddles, and
moving along the strand towards Ambabo--forgetting the vile errand upon
which he had come, he involuntarily exclaimed, "In the name of Allah and
the holy Prophet, whither are those fellows going?" "_Raheen el
Habesh_," "to Abyssinia," was the laconic reply that fell upon his
astounded ears as the whips cracked merrily in succession; and His
Highness was long after seen, still leaning on his slender crutch, and
staring in idiotic vacancy after the departing cavalcade, as it
disappeared under a cloud of dust from before his leaden gaze.
Volume One, Chapter XI.
INIQUITOUS PROCEEDINGS AT AMBABO, AND UNDERSTANDING WITH THE RAS EL
KAFILAH.
The tall masts of the schooner of war, raking above the belt of dwarf
jungle that skirts the tortuous coast, served as a beacon to the new
camp, the distance of which from the town of Tajura was less than four
miles. A narrow footpath wound along the burning sands, across numerous
water-courses from the impending mountain range of trachyte and
porphyry, whose wooded base, thickly clothed with mimosa and _euphorbia
antiquorum_, harboured swine, pigmy antelope, and guinea-fowl in
abundance. Many large trees, uprooted by the wintry torrent, had been
swept far out to sea, where in derision of the waves that buffet their
dilapidated, stag-horn looking arms, they will long ride safely at
anchor. The pelican of the wilderness soiled through the tossing surf,
and files of Bedouin damsels, in greasy leathern petticoats, bending
beneath a load of fuel from the adjacent hamlets, traversed the sultry
strand; whilst a long train of wretched children, with streaming
elf-like locks, who had been kidnapped in the unexplored interior,
wended their weary way with a slave caravan, towards the sea-port,
whence they were to be sold into foreign bondage.
An avenue through the trees presently revealed the white tent, occupying
a sequestered nook on the course of a mountain stream near its junction
with the shore. Here horses and mules were doing their utmost, by
diligently cropping the scanty tufts of sun-burnt grass, to repair their
recent long abstinence from forage, whilst the abbreviated tails of
those which had been improved by mutilation, formed the jest of a group
of grinning savages. Clumps of lofty fan palms, and date trees loaded
with ripe orange-coloured fruit, still screened from view the village of
Ambabo, the straggling Gothic roofed wigwams composing which have the
same waggon-like appearance as the huts of Tajura,--a similar style of
architecture extending even to the unostentatious mosque, alone
distinguishable from the surrounding edifices, by uncarved minarets of
wood.
Greasy ragamuffins still intruding, here continued their teasing
persecutions, and Mohammad Mohammad, the son, though not the heir to the
throne of the Sultan, having been specially appointed by his
disreputable sire to the important post of reporter and spy,
unceremoniously occupied one of the chairs, to the exclusion of the
lawful proprietor during the entire day. He however proved useful in so
far that he was versed in the chronicle of Ambabo. The Nakhuda of one
of his uncle's buggalows having contrived a quarrel with a member of the
tribe Hassoba, one of the manifold subdivisions of the Danakil, the man
threw the gauntlet of defiance by cutting off the prow of the boat.
Meeting shortly afterwards in deadly conflict, the insulted mariner slew
his antagonist on the spot, and took refuge in the hills, until, tired
of long concealment, and believing the affair to be consigned to
oblivion, he ventured to settle with his family at Ambabo, and thus
founded the present village; but after some years of repose, he was
discovered by the relatives of the slain, and, as usual in all blood
feuds, ultimately assassinated. Occupying a site proverbially
unhealthy, and scourged during the rains by insupportable clouds of
musquitoes, the miserable hamlet is but thinly peopled, and the Sheikh
being on far from amicable terms with the authorities of Tajura, it is
likely soon to be abandoned in favour of some more eligible location.
A red savage, falsely representing himself to be one of the household of
his Christian Majesty of Shoa, arrived during the afternoon from
Ankober, with letters for Aden, and having safely deposited his packet
on board the "Constance," was readily induced to return whence he came,
with the Embassy. Deeni ibn Hamed, a liar of the first magnitude, but
the only Dankali who had voluntarily attached himself to the fortunes of
the party, conceiving the arrival of this courier to afford an opening
for the exercise of his talents which ought on no account to be
neglected, immediately proceeded to tax his lively ingenuity in
disclosing the contents of a document which he pretended had been
received from Sahela Selassie by the old ruffian from whose clutches his
audience had just thankfully escaped; and the mass of gratuitous
falsehoods that he contrived to string together with an unblushing
front, must be admitted to reflect ample credit upon his fertile
invention.
Lying appeared in fact to be the chosen occupation of this youthful
warrior, who, however, unlike the mass of his compatriots, did possess
some redeeming qualities, though they were by no means so conspicuous as
his scars. The insuperable aversion to veracity which he evinced on
every occasion, renders it difficult to determine what degree of credit
may be attached to the tragic tale that he was pleased to connect with a
deep gash over the temple, which distorted his vision; and if not
received in a less honourable _rencontre_ than he pretended, affords
another to the ten thousand instances on record of the savage rancour
with which blood feuds are prosecuted. "My maternal uncle, and a native
of Zeyla," said Deeni, "becoming embroiled, mutually unsheathed their
creeses in mortal strife, fought desperately, and died. The brother of
the latter sought my life in revenge, as being the nearest of kin; but
after receiving this slash upon my forehead, and another on my arm,
which I shall also carry to the grave, I closed, stabbed the Somauli
villain to the heart with this good creese, and, glory be to God I
divided his windpipe with his own sword."
Profiting by the amiable example of the illustrious ruler of Tajura, the
Sheikh of Ambabo, a most notable extortioner, resolved to put his chum
to a sum of ready money beyond a shadow of doubt, placed a strong
Bedouin guard over the only well; and although he had every reason to be
satisfied with the success of his nefarious schemes, he did not possess
sufficient gratitude to prevent the commission of a robbery during the
night, which might have proved more serious than it did. Solace under
all misfortunes and annoyances was, however, found in the arrival of
Mohammad Ali on the 31st, with a welcome accession of camels for the
carriage of water, which rendered certain the prospect of departure on
the morrow, it having been distinctly promised by the Sultan, in return
for a handsome pecuniary consideration, that his brother Izhak, who had
been unanimously appointed Ras el Kafilah, his son, his nephew, and
seven other persons of undoubted influence on the road, should be in
readiness without fail, to escort the Embassy on the 1st of June, and
that the reward of their services should be paid, _ad valorem_, upon
safe arrival within the kingdom of Shoa.
Three hours after midnight, the galloper-gun, fired within the limits of
the British camp as a summons to the drowsy camel-drivers to be up and
doing, was echoed, according to previous agreement, by the long stern
chaser of the "Constance,"--a signal to the "Euphrates," still anchored
off Tajura, to thunder a farewell salute as the day dawned. The work of
loading was merrily commenced--the tent went down--and camel after camel
moved off towards Dullool; when, on the departure of the last string, it
was observed with dismay that the ground was still strewed with baggage,
for which carriage had unquestionably been paid and entertained, but for
which none was forthcoming. The greasy proprietors were, after some
search, discovered below the bushes, engaged in the operation of jerking
mutton,--a process sufficiently nauseous in itself to repel any close
advance; but persuasion and threats proved alike unavailing. Some had
already sent their camels to graze at a distance; others insolently
expressed their intention of doing so after the completion of their
interesting work, and by far the greater number would vouchsafe no
explanation whatever. At length the provoking riddle was solved by the
arrival of a peremptory message from the Sultan, naming the price of the
attendance of his brother with the promised escort, and modestly
requesting that the amount might forthwith be disbursed, or the bargain
must be considered null and void!
In this awkward dilemma, one of the party was immediately despatched to
create a diversion among the Philistines, and to remonstrate against so
gross a breach of good faith; whilst the residue, awaiting his tardy
return, passed the sultry day beneath the mock shelter afforded by a low
date bush, shifting position with the deceitful shadow, which, before
any further tidings were received of the delinquent old Sultan and his
ungovernable myrmidons, was cast full on the eastern side. At length
the anxiously straining eye was relieved by the appearance of the
messenger on his way back. After a world of trouble, he had succeeded
in hunting out some of the elders, who, however, would only consent to
accompany him on the payment of every stuiver of the demand made in the
morning, and, quietly possessed of the dollars, they had thought proper
to detain the escort.
Izhak, backed by Ibrahim Shehem, the most renowned warrior in the next
ten tribes, sat as orator on the occasion. The demeanour of the Ras
bordered closely on the insolent. A heavy load of impudence could be
detected under his broad pudding face; and his desire to be impertinent
was favoured in no small degree by the presence of heaps of valuable
baggage lying at his mercy upon the ground. The deputation was received
quite as coldly as their dishonest and most provoking behaviour
demanded; a silence of several minutes affording to each, leisure to
pick out his curly locks, and cool himself a little, the whole having
walked out in the broiling sun, and become considerably excited withal.
Distant inquiries were at length instituted relative to the august
health of the Sultan and the royal family, which were stiffly responded
to after the current Dankali fashion, "Hamdu-lillah," "thanks be unto
God!"
The conference then opened with a bluster concerning the movement of the
Kafilah from Ambabo without the presence, order, or consent of the Ras,
who, after sneering at the attempt as a most unprecedented proceeding,
and indulging in a very gratuitous _tirade_ against Mohammad Ali, whom
he styled in derision "the supplier of water," and was anxious to make
appear the only culprit on the occasion, added, in conclusion, that his
own being "a house of mourning," he had given up his intention of
proceeding to Abyssinia, and had finally resolved to wash his hands of
the business.
He was gravely answered that the caravan had started upon express orders
given in consequence of a distinct understanding and pledge, purchased
the preceding day of the Sultan and himself. He was reminded that every
hire and remuneration for camels, guides, and escort, exorbitant though
they were, had been paid in full at Tajura; and was distinctly informed
that if the terms of the agreement were not fully complied with, ere the
night fell, the property of the British Government would be left on the
ground, where it then lay, whilst the Embassy proceeded to Dullool, off
which place the "Constance" had already anchored, reshipped all the
baggage that had been sent to the advance camp, and set sail for Aden.
It was further added, that as the consequences of this step would rest
upon the head of those who had entered into an express engagement, upon
receipt of whatever terms they had demanded as the price of their
services, it should be borne in mind that further offensive and
unprincipled demonstrations might terminate in unpleasant results.
As the interpreter proceeded to unfold this high-toned remonstrance,
Izhak was seen to fidget uneasily upon his hams, whilst he sought to
conceal his agitation by tracing figures on the sand; and, as the last
intimation fell upon his ear, seizing his sandal, he relieved his
excited feelings by shovelling a pointed stick through the very centre
of the leather. But the swaggering air which he had assumed had now
entirely disappeared, and, after a hurried whispering consultation with
his confederates, he declared that he had been toiling day and night in
the service of the English; that he was perfectly ready to perform every
thing required of him, and that, notwithstanding the recent calamity
with which his family had been visited, and the dangerous illness of his
mother, he would escort the Embassy in person, with trustworthy
colleagues; that he would be responsible for all the property left at
Ambabo, and only petition for two days' grace to put his house in order
before repairing to Dullool. This point being tardily accorded, he rose
with Ali Shermarki, who had ridden in as mediator during the heat of the
conference, and each offering his hand, in earnest of the matter being
finally and amicably concluded in full accordance with the original
stipulations of the covenant, set out on his return to Tajura.
Volume One, Chapter XII.
DULLOOL--THE RAS UNPLEASANTLY REMINDED OF HIS PLEDGE--SAGALLO AND
WARELISSAN.
Izhak's absent camels, which had been kept close at hand pending the
issue of this stormy debate, being now brought in, the ground was
speedily cleared of the remaining baggage; and satisfied with the
specious assurance of the Ras el Kafilah, that he would on no account
tarry beyond nightfall of the following day, the party, relieved from
their anxiety, mounted after five o'clock, and galloped seven miles
along the sea-beach to the camp at Dullool,--the loose sand being so
perforated and undermined in every part by the hermit crab, as to render
the sieve-like road truly treacherous and unpleasant.
The grassy nook occupied by the tent was situated at the abutment of a
spur from the wooded Jebel Goodah, evidently of volcanic origin, which
gradually diminishes in height, until it terminates, one hundred yards
from the shore, in a thick jungle of tamarisk and acacia, the former
covered with salt crystals. Hornblende, in blocks, was scattered along
the beach, and, wherever decomposed, it yielded fine glittering black
sand, so heated under the noontide sun as to burn the naked foot. The
movable camp of a horde of roving Bedouin shepherds, who, with very
slender habitations, possess no fixed abode, was erected near the wells;
and a quarrel with the followers, respecting the precious element,
having already led to the drawing of creeses, silver was again in
requisition to allay the impending storm.
The heat on the 2nd of June was almost insupportable; but the sultry day
proved one of greater quiet than had fallen to the lot of the Embassy
since its first landing. Late in the evening, when a cool sea-breeze
had set in, Ali Shermarki rode into camp, and delivered a letter which
had been slipped into his hand by the Sultan, appealing against the
hardship of being left without remuneration for his diligent services,
praying that his old heart might be made glad, and hoping that all might
meet again ere death should call them--a wish responded to by no single
individual of the British party.
Neither Izhak nor any of his followers made their appearance,
notwithstanding that the redemption of the solemn promise passed was
anxiously watched until midnight. At gun-fire the next morning,
however, the arrival of the whole being reported, orders were issued to
strike the tent, a measure which was doggedly opposed by the Ras el
Kafilah, whose brow again darkened as he declared his resolution not to
stir from Dullool until three of his camels, which were said to have
strayed, should be recovered; and deaf alike to remonstrance or
entreaty, he finally withdrew to a distance, taking his seat in sullen
mood beneath a tree.
The schooner had meanwhile fished her anchor, and was now getting under
weigh for the purpose of standing up within range of the next halting
ground. The mules were harnessed to the gun, and the tent and baggage
packed. Ali Shermarki was deputed to acquaint Izhak with these facts,
and to intimate firmly, that unless the order to load were given without
another moment's delay, minute guns would be fired as a signal to bring
up the brig from Tajura, when the promise made yesterday by the English
would be found more binding than those of the Danakil had hitherto
proved. This menace had the desired effect, and after three hours of
needless detention, the party commenced its third hot march along the
sea-beach, whence the hills gradually recede. Bedouin goat-herds
occupied many wells of fresh water, which were denoted by clumps of date
trees entwined by flowering convolvuli, whose matted tendrils fix the
movable sands of the shore; and late in the forenoon the camp was formed
at the pool of Sagallo, only three miles from the former ground, but
affording the last supply of water to be obtained for thirty more.
An extensive and beautiful prospect of the western portion of the Bay of
Tajura had now opened, bound in on all sides by a zone of precipitous
mountains, in which the gate leading into Goobut el Kharab was
distinctly marked by a low black point, extending from the northern
shore. The schooner's services were volunteered to admit of a nearer
inspection of the "basin of foulness;" but no sooner had she stood out
to sea than signal guns fired from the camp announced the arrival of
another packet from Shoa. The courier had been forty-four days on the
journey, and the tidings he brought respecting the road, although highly
satisfactory, added yet another instance to the many, of the small
reliance that can be placed on information derived from the Danakil,
who, even when disinterested, can rarely indeed be induced to utter a
word of truth.
The strong party feeling entertained towards Mohammad Ali by the
magnates of Tajura, now vented itself in divers evil-minded and
malicious hints, insinuating the defection of the absentee, who had been
unavoidably detained by business, some hours after the last of the
sea-port heroes had joined. "Where now is your friend Ali Mohammad?"
"Where is the man who was to supply water on the road?" were the
taunting interrogatories from the mouths of many; but come the son of
Ali Abi did, to the confusion of his slanderers, long ere the sun had
set, bringing secret intelligence that he had sent to engage an escort
from his own tribe; and the whole party being now at last assembled, it
was resolved in full conclave, that as not a drop of water could be
procured for three stages in advance, the entire of the next day should
be devoted to filling up the skins, which done, the caravan should
resume its march by night--a manoeuvre that savoured strongly of a
design to favour the clandestine return to Tajura of certain of the
escort, who had still domestic affairs to settle.
Thus far the conduct of the son of the Rookhba chief had formed a
notable contrast to the proceedings of his backbiters. Whilst Izhak and
his stubborn partisans had positively declined to move according to
their agreement, unless a further most extravagant and unconscionable
sum were paid in advance for their anticipated services, and had
altogether assumed a bullying tone, coupled with a most impertinent and
overbearing demeanour, this scion of a savage house that holds in its
hands the avenues betwixt Shoa and Tajura, and could at pleasure cut off
communication with the coast, had never applied for aught save a
trifling sum for the present maintenance of his family, and since the
first _eclaircissement_, had, to the best of his ability, striven to
render himself useful and agreeable to the party about to pass through
his country.
A most unprofitable discussion, which was prolonged until eleven the
following night, had for its object to persuade the transmission of
baggage in advance to the Salt Lake, in consequence of the carried
supply of water being, after all, considered insufficient for three
days' consumption. But the proposal was negatived upon prudent grounds,
the honesty of the intentions by which it had been dictated, seeming at
best, extremely questionable, and no one feeling disposed to trust the
faithless guides further than they could be seen, with property of
value.
Scarcely were the weary eyes of the party closed in sleep, than the long
32-pounder of the "Constance," proclaiming the midnight hour, sounded to
boot and saddle. The Babel-like clamour of loading was at length
succeeded by a lull of voices, and the rumbling of the galloper wheels
over the loose shingle, was alone heard in the still calm of the night,
above the almost noiseless tread of the cushion-footed camels, which
formed an interminable line. The road, lit by the full moon, shining
brightly overhead, lay for the first two or three miles along the beach,
and then, crossing numerous water-courses, struck over the southern
shoulder of Jebel Goodah, the distance from whose lofty peak each march
had reduced.
Blocks and boulders varying in size from an 18 pound shot, to that of
Ossa piled upon Pelion, aided by deep chasms, gullies, and waterways,
rendering the ascent one of equal toil and peril, cost the life of a
camel, which fell over a precipice and dislocated the spine; whereupon
the conscientious proprietor, disdaining to take further heed of the
load, abandoned it unscrupulously by the wayside. Galeylafeo, a
singular and fearful chasm which was navigated in the first twilight,
did not exceed sixty feet in width; its gloomy, perpendicular walls of
columnar lava, towering one hundred and fifty feet overhead, and casting
a deep deceitful shadow over the broken channel, half a mile in extent.
Deeni, in his customary strain of amplification, had represented this
frightful pass to be entered through a trap-door, in order to clear
which it was necessary for a loaded camel to forget its staid demeanour,
and bound from rock to rock like a mountain kid. The devil and all his
angels were represented to hold midnight orgies in one of the most
dismal of the many dark recesses; and the belief was fully confirmed by
the whooping of a colony of baboons, disturbed by the wheels of the
first piece of ordnance that had ever attempted the bumping passage.
Dawn disclosed the artillery mules in such wretched plight from their
fatiguing night's labour, that it was found necessary to unlimber the
gun, and place it with its carriage on the back of an Eesah camel of
Herculean strength, provided for the contingency by the foresight of
Mohammad Ali; and although little pleased during the imposition of its
novel burthen, the animal, rising without difficulty, moved freely along
at a stately gait. The same uninteresting volcanic appearance
characterised the entire country to the table-land of Warelissan, a
distance of twelve miles. Dreary and desolate, without a trace of
vegetation saving a few leafless acacias, there was no object to relieve
the gaze over the whole forbidding expanse. In this barren unsightly
spot the radiation was early felt from the masses of black cindery rock,
which could not be touched with impunity. The sand soil of the desert
reflecting the powerful beams of the sun, lent a fearful intensity to
the heat, whilst on every side the dust rose in clouds that at one
moment veiled the caravan from sight, and at the next left heads of
camels tossing in the inflamed atmosphere among the bright spear-blades
of the escort. But on gaining the highest point, a redeeming prospect
was afforded in an unexpected and most extensive bird's eye view of the
estuary of Tajura, now visible in all its shining glory, from this, its
western boundary. Stretching away for miles in placid beauty, its
figure was that of a gigantic hour-glass; and far below on its glassy
bosom were displayed the white sails of the friendly little schooner,
as, after safely navigating the dangerous and much-dreaded portals of
Scylla and Charybdis, never previously braved by any craft larger than a
jolly boat--bellying to the breeze, she beat gallantly up to the head of
Goobut el Kharab.
Volume One, Chapter XIII.