Many and tragic were the tales narrated of the prowess of the Ogre when
the hot blood of youth boiled in his warrior veins. The first feat of
his early days, ascribed to the year of the great comet, is still green
in every recollection; and as it was recounted by Ibrahim Shehem, so was
it vouched for by those of the Danakil braves, who during the recital
crowded around the watch-fire at Gobaad.
The grey-bearded elders had sate for many nights in deep consultation,
and the chicken-hearted of the Debeni had exhausted all the usual
epithets upon the countless number of the foe, and the consequences of
rash and fool-hardy adventure, when the youthful chief raised his manly
form in the circle, and his brawny proportions seemed to dilate into
colossal stature in the dimness of the evening mist.
"Listen to my words," he exclaimed, "for they are the sentiments of my
heart. Children of Loheita, hearken to the voice of your leader! Has
the spirit of the foul hare entered into the breast of the warrior? Is
the shield no longer to clash, nor the broad spear to glitter in the
valley of Gobaad? Are the Debeni tamely to suffer their wives and their
daughters to be carried into captivity, their flocks and their herds to
be swept off, their wells to be taken possession of, and their very name
made the scorn and the laughing-stock of the dastardly Mudaito, without
one struggle to prevent it? Dust be upon my head if the brave sons of
the desert should thus root themselves in a quiet spot, like the
withered and dying acacia, without a single thorn to avenge an insult!
Rouse ye, my children, for in the name of the most holy Prophet I will
even dare the danger of the war; and ignominy sully the fame of him who
shall suffer his chief to mingle singly in the strife."
Reseating his sinewy form upon the rock, Loheita covered his face in the
folds of his garment, and in anxious silence awaited the result of this
appeal. But the chord of feeling had been struck by a master hand. A
low murmur of voices was quickly followed by the deep hum of approbation
accompanying the confused clatter of the bucklers, and the elders,
rising simultaneously, proclaimed, "It is the voice and the will of the
Most High. Even so let it be!" The erect spears sank with one accord
to the ground, and the stern "Ameen" of the assembled tribe, rolled
ominously amongst the surrounding cliffs.
For some days after this harangue, the Debeni maintained a peaceable
demeanour: but it was now the still, treacherous calm which precedes the
hurricane. The Galeyla Mudaito, who had already possessed themselves of
all the choicest grazing grounds in the neighbourhood, and completely
closed the caravan route from Abyssinia to the sea-coast, meanwhile
continued their depredations with impunity; one subdivision of the tribe
settling in the small valley of Gootabella, where they erected permanent
habitations, and boasted of their unmolested vicinity to the graves of
the ancestors of Loheita.
The Galeyla subdivision of the great nation of Mudaito had rendered
itself more particularly obnoxious by its aggressions. Many were the
young men of Gobaad who had fallen under their sharp knives. Scornful
taunts were ever rife upon the tips of their insulting tongues; and few
indeed of the huts in the valley had not at some period sent forth the
voice of wailing and lamentation for captive maids or for harried
flocks. But the day of dire retribution was fast speeding on. The wane
of the moon was the appointed signal of rendezvous to the heretofore
slothful tribe; and as the darkness of the unlit night shrouded the
valley and the hill, all those members of the clan whose spirit had not
been utterly quelled by the frequent disasters experienced at the hand
of the sanguinary invader, mustered around their youthful chief.
Silently, like the descending wreath of snow, the files of warriors
poured in from every quarter of his extensive though distracted domain.
The nation had responded to the call of its leader; and the wrinkled
brow, and the full oily cheek: the thin sinewy shank of the veteran, and
the graceful form of the untried but aspiring stripling, were soon
mingled together. The sun set upon a busy scene in the lone valley of
Gobaad. Two thousand savages, enjoying the rude feast that had been
amply provided for their wants, were engaged in close whispering
consultation on the coming strife; and wrought to a pitch of frenzy by
the spirit-stirring words of their warlike chief, no less than by the
exhortations of his wily emissaries, who ever and anon mixed with the
carousing groups, to feed their panting passions against the hereditary
foe, each warrior firmly clenched his teeth in dread determination,
whilst he whetted his sharp weapon to the keenest edge upon the nearest
stone.
As the fire blazed brightly upon shield, and spear, and stalwart frame,
Loheita moved forth in front of his enclosure, buckled for the fray.
His active form was fully revealed by the fitful flame; and a dark smile
played for the moment over his stern visage, as his followers, rising
with one accord, unsheathed their murderous creeses, and, bursting into
a loud murmur of applause, swore by the Sacred volume that the steel
should that night reek in the hot blood of the accursed Mudaito.
Placing himself at the head of his animated retainers, the chief now led
the advancing van, and the tramp of the eager savage fell light over the
steep mountain and the boundless plain. Deep darkness was esteemed of
small account by these children of the desert, who, like the course of
the falling thunderbolt, held on their progress in the true direction.
Starting as the dense phalanx advanced, the timid gazelle scoured in
terror over the valley, and the prowling lion yielded the path to men
who were now in a mood not less desperate than his own.
The last rocky defile gained, a deep impenetrable gloom pervaded the
scene. The very stars were hid under a partial mist, and naught gave
token of the habitation or the presence of man, save at intervals the
disturbed bleat of captive Debeni flocks. "They were ours once,"
scornfully muttered the chief betwixt his closed teeth, "and Wullah! if
there be faith in the sharp steel of a true believer, they shall this
night return to their pastures."
"All know the valley of Gootabella," observed the narrator, "closely
hemmed in on three sides by towering cliffs, over one perpendicular rock
at the neck of which, the river Chekaito, leaping, extends its sandy bed
throughout the entire centre, so that ten resolute spirits might defend
the only outlet against countless legions. None save the sons of asses
would have pitched their tents in that spot; but the Galeyla were
overweeningly conceited and vain of their exploits, and held in utter
contempt the dispossessed proprietors of the soil, whom they had
hitherto so easily despoiled."
No timely note of alarm announced the approach of danger; and the
noiseless step of the foe gliding unheard round the devoted hamlet, it
was encompassed on every side. Infuriate warriors in appalling silence
beleaguered the narrow aperture of each matted wigwam. The recollection
of captive and murdered relatives, of burning huts and harried flocks,
entered deep into the stern soul of each grim assailant; and as the edge
of the naked creese was passed cautiously along the finger, a prayer was
breathed on high to the throne of the Eternal Avenger.
The unsuspecting inmates of every abode were hushed in deep repose. The
spear lay entangled in the folds of the scattered garments, the shield
had been cast idly in the corner, and the warrior, surrounded by his
wives and little ones, was wrapped in peaceful rest, such as he was wont
to enjoy when lulled by the gentle murmur of the breaking waves of the
Bahr el Shub, in his own far distant land.
The suffocating fumes of smoke soon stole upon the sense of the drowsy
slumberers; the crackling of flames aroused all abruptly from their
dreams of security, and the lurid glare that enveloped the blazing
hamlet caused each affrighted inmate to rush to the door, where the
crooked steel, driven by the hand of desperate revenge, was sheathed in
many a bare bosom.
Sudden, electric, and complete was the surprise, and vain were the
efforts of the unarmed warrior. Loheita raged through the scene like
the demon of the angry element, and each follower ruthlessly strove to
emulate his example. A dozen spear-blades transfixed the body of every
fugitive. Two thousand of the foe fell during the murderous onslaught;
and in that fearful night all ancient injuries were well washed out in
the warm blood of the Mudaito.
The pent-up wrath of the savage, like the checked waters of an impetuous
mountain torrent, bursting all bounds, careered along without restraint.
Mockery and insult were bandied back to the frantic screams of the
women, as their tender babes were barbarously pitched into the hissing
flame; and the red sun rose above the beetling crags to witness a
frightful scene of carnage and desolation.
Flocks and herds had burst from their folds, and betaken themselves to
the wilderness. Scorched and mangled bodies thickly strewed the ground,
or lay half consumed among the smouldering embers of the pile. The
groans of the dying mingled with the bitter wailing of captive females
bereft of husband and offspring; and the chief surrounded by his
exulting host sat in grim triumph beside the dense column of smoke,
which with an eddying flame ascended high into the vault of heaven from
the black and burning monument to Debeni vengeance.
A deep fissure in the bowels of the hill had given refuge to a
determined few who had sought safety within its rocky sides: but the
keen eye was not long in discovering the track of the fugitives; and the
insatiate chieftain, speeding upon the trail, tore from the aperture the
thorns and overhanging shrubs, and dashed into the cave with spear and
buckler. The only resistance made during the foray was in this last
stronghold; and Loheita received a deep wound on the breast, the scar of
which will be borne to his grave. Desperation nerved the limbs of the
surviving Galeyla, who, well knowing that no quarter would be granted,
sullenly fought on with the few weapons they had snatched up in their
hurried flight; but all died in the unequal strife upon the spot where
they had taken their last stand.
Crowned with brilliant success, the return of the dauntless young chief
from his first expedition was swelled by troops of captive maids and by
the pillaged herds of years. But the triumph had been achieved with no
trifling loss to his clan. The bodies of thirteen braves, borne by
their comrades upon green branches of the palm, closed the order of
march, and the war-chorus pealed wildly among the rocks as the
victorious host poured back through the valley of Gobaad.
A burst of savage acclamation, which rose shrill and high in the
noontide heat from the assembled population, was succeeded by a solemn
pause as the dread tidings were imparted to the relatives of the fallen.
A path was cleared through the now hushed and silent phalanx, whilst
muffled females, beating their bare breasts, passed towards the biers
between the open ranks. The boldest and the bravest had been untimely
cut off; and their widows, throwing themselves upon the lifeless bodies,
indulged for a season in the most piercing shrieks and extravagant
grief. But the deep loud chaunt of the elders, "It is the decree of the
Most High," drowned the hysterical sobs of the bereaved; and the host
again moved on in boisterous mirth to indulge, after the successful
foray, according to the bent of their inclinations, and prepare for a
series of achievements, which have since cleared the surrounding plains.
To this day none but the boldest dare, after nightfall, to enter the
valley of skulls. The moans of the Galeyla warriors who fell in the
affray are heard amidst the funereal sighing of the wind; the plaintive
song of the Bedouin maid still chronicles the event; and long will be
remembered in the red house of Mudaito the night of the massacre of
Gootabella.
Volume One, Chapter XXI.
SANKUL, AND SUGGAGEDAN. DAWAYLAKA AND AMADOO IN THE LIMITS OF THE
GALEYLA MUDAITO.
Ascending by an extremely bad road the broken range to the southward,
which commands a fine prospect over the valley of Gobaad, the kafilah
reached Sankul on the 17th. It forms the focus of several small dales
converging from the table-land, and shut in from all breeze by the
surrounding steep black cliffs of basalt, passing into hornblende. A
small cave near the encamping ground was occupied by a colony of
industrious bees, and at the only well, flocks of the diminutive
black-faced Berbera sheep were drinking from a trough formed of an
ox-hide stretched between four stakes, to which the water was
transferred in gourds by greasy Bedouin shepherdesses. The evening was
passed in perpetual wrangling with these matrons during the operation of
filling up the water-skins; and sad presage was afforded of a coming day
of drought, which the exhausted and sinking cattle of the caravan were
hourly waxing less able to endure.
The next march led over the high table-land of Hood Ali, a stony level
thickly studded with dry grass, and extending in one monotonous plateau
far as the eye could reach. The fetid carrion-flower here presented its
globular purple blossoms among the crevices, and a singular medicinal
plant, termed Lab-lubba, was detected by the keen eye of a savage who
had before evinced a latent taste for botanical studies. The usual
encamping ground at Arabdera was found to be pre-occupied by a nomade
tribe of Bedouin goat-herds, who monopolised the scanty water.
Descending the range, therefore, the bluff brow of which commanded an
extensive prospect over the wide level valley of Dullool, the kafilah
halted at Suggagedan. This arid spot in the strand-like waste was
covered with masses of lava and with blocks of basalt from the adjacent
hills. It was parched by a burning atmosphere, and afforded no water
whatever--calamities which resulted in the abandonment of a horse and
two of the mules that were no longer able to bear up against thirst and
fatigue; whilst many others now dragged their weary limbs with
difficulty, and seemed but too well disposed to follow the example.
Dullool is one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight feet above the
level of the sea--a perfect flat, covered with alluvial deposit, and
studded with extensive tracts of coarse dry grass in tufts, among which,
as the almost interminable string of camels crossed the following
morning, both ostriches and gazelles were descried. It is bounded by a
bold mountain range, and the further extremity of the plain, towards the
foot of Jebel Marie, is perfectly bare, stretching away to the westward,
in one uninterrupted sheet of hard compact mud, which imparts the aspect
of the Runn of Cutch. A herd of wild asses, precisely similar to those
found on the Indian salt desert, materially enhanced the resemblance;
and the sun, which had now attained considerable altitude, casting his
rays in a full blaze over the naked plain, called up the dancing mirage
that was alone wanting to complete the picture.
On this level expanse, which terminates in a _cul-de-sac_, shut in by
high basaltic walls, inaccessible either to man or beast, the Adaiel
affect to ride down the wild ass, upon lean mules forsooth, and to rip
up the quarry with their creeses. There had been much vain-glorious
talking upon this head, but it ended, like every Danakil boast, in
nothing. The hawk-eye of the Ogre detected an out-lying mare among the
ravines at the foot of the range, and he dashed off the road with such
lightning speed, that the animal narrowly escaped being hemmed into a
corner; but once on the broad desert, and she tossed her arched neck,
kicked up her wanton heels, and laughed at the absurd efforts of her
impotent pursuers.
Loose stones again strewed the approach to the Marie range, which is of
trap formation, of a slaty texture, stained with red iron oxide, and
intersected by veins of iron clay. A breach in the hills, here about a
thousand or twelve hundred feet high, formed a steep sloping ridge of
lava rocks, containing quantities of carbonate of lime, disposed in
rhomboids and hexagonal sheets. In this nook, surrounded by a thick
jungle of acacia, were sundry basins filled with clear water, to which
the solar rays had not penetrated. They afforded most refreshing
draughts; and the skins having been replenished, the encampment was
formed at Dawaylaka, a full mile beyond. Marie is not a word of either
Arabic or Dankali derivation; whence it seems not improbable that this
bold range of hills may in days of yore have been named by some wanderer
from the West.
A fine fresh morning succeeded to a very sultry night, passed upon the
hard hot stones; and at break of day, the cattle having been taken to
the pools, where, at so early an hour, they would drink but little, the
skins were again replenished, and the caravan pursued its march to
Oomergooloof, which can boast of no water at any season. Of two roads,
the lower, but more level, was adopted, in consequence of the exhaustion
of the beasts of burthen. It led across a dry desert plain of six
miles, over which the delusion of mirage was complete. Covering the
valley far as the eye could reach, to the foot of the hills which rise
abruptly on all sides, it imparted the appearance of an extensive bay,
shut in by projecting headlands--a still calm lake, so unmoved by the
wind that every cliff was most distinctly reflected on the mirror of its
glassy bosom.
Approaching from a higher level, a ripple played upon the surface of the
visionary water; and the vapour being too subtle to screen
irregularities of the ground, the aqueous expanse soon became gradually
disunited, until it ultimately vanished altogether. The scene, cool and
pleasant whilst it endured, formed a striking contrast to the baked
alluvial desert under foot, destitute of even a vestige of vegetation,
but over which was wafted a zephyr as unlooked-for as refreshing.
Thrown in a particular way, and on certain atoms, rays of light produce
illusions to the vision which are often embodied after the likeness of
objects most deeply dwelling in the imagination. Thus it was that the
character of the headlands of Dullool, square and perpendicular,
together with an islet riding like a ship at her cable in the centre of
the molten basin, aided the striking similarity of names in the
respective neighbourhoods, to bring vividly before the eyes of all, the
apparition of the bay of Goobut el Kharab.
Immediately opposite to Oomergooloof is a projecting spur from Jebel
Oobnoo, a lofty range visible to the westward; and this divides the
plain into two valleys, whereof the southern-most is denominated Wady
Arfa. The Marie range here towers overhead, steep and precipitous, to
the height of about nine hundred feet; stupendous masses of rock which
have been detached from the summit, and strew the entire base,
corroborating the assertion of the Danakil that earthquakes are
frequently felt in the vicinity. Nomade tribes with their families and
flocks, having settled at the wells which exist at a distance, had
compelled the gentler portion of the Libyan creation to resort to
regions more blest with water; and not even a desert-loving gazelle was
espied during the march of twelve miles.
Ibrahim Shehem Abli had long viewed with the eye of bigoted disapproval,
the attentions paid by one of the Mohammadan followers to two canine
companions of the party, pets that had survived the passage of the fiery
Tehama, but whose feet had become so lacerated by the hot lava boulders
as to incapacitate them from walking. Quilp--for so the offending
Moslem was styled from his striking resemblance to that notable
character--was in the act of extricating his wire-haired charge from the
panniers wherein they travelled, when the irascible little warrior
approached, and, drawing his trenchant blade, swore with a dreadful
anathema to exterminate him on the spot. "Dog, and father of dogs," he
exclaimed, seizing the dismayed mortal by the throat, "beware how thou
again defilest thy fingers with those accursed curs, or by the beard of
the Prophet I will sever thy gullet as one who has brought foul
discredit upon the faith." Then relaxing his grasp, and sheathing his
creese with a horizontal flourish, he threw himself into the attitude of
a slaughtered victim, and closed the significant lecture by mimicry of
the gurgle heard in a divided windpipe, whence the tide of life is
welling.
Several herds of cattle pertaining to the Issehiraba Mudaito, grazed in
the neighbourhood; and these were said to derive their supply of water
from pools formed by a cluster of hot sulphureous springs at the further
extremity of the plain, which, with a loud noise, rise bubbling from the
earth at a boiling temperature. Possessing marvellous medicinal
properties, they are believed to be a panacea for every malady: but the
tribe not being on terms with the Danakil, these thermal wells could not
be visited, neither could water be obtained either for man or beast. A
few Mudaito females, with their children, strolled into the camp to sell
sheep, and stare at the Feringees; but the Ras el Kafilah would scarcely
permit them to be spoken to, and was in a nervous fidget until they
departed. Avowing that these greasy dames had come for no other purpose
than to spy out the nakedness of the land, and that the creeses of their
liege lords would prove troublesome during the night, he strictly
interdicted all wandering beyond camp limits, and insisted upon the
discharge of several volleys of musketry in addition to the cartridge
expended at guard-mounting, and at every relief of sentries.
The sky having become gradually overcast towards evening, a deluge,
equally to be desired and dreaded, was deemed close at hand, but the
threatening appearance passed off with the hot blast of the Shimal,
accompanied by a cloud of dust, and followed by a close oppressive
night. Skirting the Marie range to a tract thickly strewed with rounded
masses of lava and basalt, the detritus from the adjacent hills, the
road now wound over a volcanic ridge which divides the valley of Dullool
from that of Amadoo, running exactly parallel to it. In this latter the
caravan halted on the 21st, about a mile from a large pool of
rain-water, occupying a rocky nook formed by huge blocks of basalt. The
stagnant green fluid was far more palatable than it looked, although
troubled by a legion of homed cattle, asses, goats, and sheep, the
property of the Galeyla Mudaito, who were encamped in great force in the
neighbourhood, and looked what they are said to be--most desperate
villains.
Altogether it was a bustling scene. Herdsmen shouted in every direction
to their kine, whose sinister glances and lowered heads proclaimed their
dislike of the white intruders; flocks of Somauli sheep, with
incommodiously overgrown tails, swam about like otters to cool their
heated skins; numbers of Bedouin damsels, after laving their own greasy
persons, replenished their dirty water-skins; and one wrinkled old hag,
in direct breach of the Moslem prejudice against "man's friend," was
absolutely detected in the act of cleansing the rough coat of her own
pet-dog.
This pastoral scene of savage life, where the peaceful occupation of the
shepherd contrasted strangely with the presence of spear and buckler,
was about mid-day exchanged for the tent. A crowd of listless, tattooed
savages, bearing very indifferent characters for honesty, soon swaggered
in to see what they could pick up, and presently waxed so passing
insolent that it was deemed prudent to intimidate them by a display of
rifle-practice. Emboldened by numbers, they had begun to question old
Izhak regarding his right to conduct strangers through the country
without the permission, first duly obtained, of the "lords of the soil;"
but seeing the stones fly about in splinters at two hundred and fifty
yards they were not long in decamping, and gave no further annoyance.
The Galeyla tribe of Mudaito, which still boasts of the most expert and
notorious thieves in the country, is, as might be conjectured, on no
very amicable terms with the Danakil; and the very severe chastisement
it received at the hands of Loheita ibn Ibrahim sufficiently accounted
for the sudden desertion of the unattended Ogre, who donned his
seven-league boots, and strode back to his castle from Dawaylaka, after
he had pledged himself to accompany the party to the borders of the
territory occupied by Mohammad Ali's clan.
From Amadoo, Aussa was represented to be only one day's journey for a
swift mule, and two for a caravan of laden camels, the road branching
off across Wady Arfa, and over the Jebel Oobnoo range, by which the
extensive valley is bounded. At this point, moreover, had ceased the
pretended influence of Mohammad ibn Mohammad, Sultan of Tajura, the
utter futility of propitiating whom had long been sufficiently apparent.
Although in the eyes of the uninitiated it was no difficult matter to
invest this avaricious imbecile with supreme authority over a fiery
desolate tract, in most parts obviously unfitted for human location, his
own immediate retainers did not now conceal that Mirsa Dukhan, and the
Gollo mountains near the Salt Lake, bound even his nominal jurisdiction.
He is in fact Sultan of the sultry strand whereon his frail tenement is
erected; for the few lawless wanderers beyond, over whom he would assert
supremacy, are universally thieves and murderers, who disdain all fixed
abode, disclaim all mortal control, and acknowledge their own unbridled
inclinations as their only master.
Volume One, Chapter XXII.