Distinguished like the houses of York and Lancaster by their respective
colours, "the white house" of Debenik-Woema, composed of various Adaiel
clans, who in time of need rally under one standard, is banded against
the Assa-himera, "the red house" of the Mudaito, with the same bitter
feud and animosity which spread desolation through the fair domains of
England, and poured out the best blood of her heroic sons. Well would
it be for the cause of humanity were these savage combatants animated
also with the same noble and chivalrous feelings which in days of yore
reigned paramount in the breast of the British knight, and met together
only in the open field of honourable contest. But the case is widely
different indeed; and under whatever circumstances the hated and
hereditary foe may here be discovered, the unarmed bosom of the lone,
sleeping, or unsuspecting wanderer, rarely fails to prove a sheath for
the murderous knife of the assassin.
Aussa, formerly an important town, was, less than a century ago, the
capital and principal seat of the united tribes of Mudaito, who extend
thence to Ras Billool, and are represented to be countless as the hairs
of a Danakil head. Regarded as the seat of wisdom and learning, and
governed in the latter days of its strength by Yoosuf Ali ibn Ajdahis, a
brave and martial sultan, whose armoury boasted of many matchlocks, and
of several small pieces of cannon, it long flourished in powerful
independence--a bright spot of beauty in a waste of barrenness. But the
sun of its prosperity at length set; and the predatory hostilities long
exercised towards the various united tribes of Adaiel, leading to a
general invasion on the part of the Ado-himera, the prince was slain,
the stronghold of the "red house" sacked, and its garrison put to the
sword: nor in these degenerate days is this once important place more
than an extensive encampment, whereat is held a perpetual fair,
frequented by all the tribes of Danakil, Eesah, Somauli, and Mudaito.
The site of Aussa, a wide-stretching valley, described to be from eight
to ten days' journey across for a caravan, is hemmed in by lofty
mountains, and fertilised in all its extended quarters by the Lakes
Guraaid, Abhibbab, Hilloo, and Dugod--the first situated a little to the
eastward of the town, and the last by far the largest of the four.
These vast stagnant basins in the plain receive the Abyssinian waters of
the Hawash and its tributaries, in addition to the contributions of all
the streams from Jebel Oobnoo and other collateral ranges--the abundance
of fluid thus lost upon volcanic formation, so enriching the soil as to
enable this district to produce wheat, juwarree, barley, Indian com,
pepper, and tobacco, in quantities sufficient for the supply of the
entire coast.
The Hawash may be conjectured to have experienced interruption in its
course to the Bahr Assal and Bay of Tajura, at the same period that
volcanic agency divided the waters of the great Salt Lake from Goobut el
Kharab. Miles around the wonted boundaries of each lagoon now become
annually inundated during the spreading of the great freshes; and, as
the floods, carried off by absorption and evaporation, again recede, the
soil is covered with a fertilising sediment--a fat alluvial deposit,
which with little labour yields an ample return. Even the lazy and
listless Danakil, who neither sows nor reaps elsewhere, is here induced
to turn agriculturist; but not a single acre of ground in any direction
is to be found under the plough from the sea even to the mountains of
Abyssinia--a distance exceeding three hundred and fifty miles.
Pastoral as well as agricultural pursuits engage the population of
Aussa; but whilst the cultivating portion of the inhabitants are
permanent residents on the soil, the shepherds are annually driven away
by the gad-fly, which attacks the flocks from the setting-in of the
rainy season until the termination of the fast of Ramzan, when the
waters have again subsided, and the herdsman, descending from the
mountains, returns to his occupation in the valley. An extensive
commercial intercourse is moreover carried on with Tajura. Salt from
the Bahr Assal, blue calico, which is in high demand for the caps
universally worn by the married Bedouin females, zinc, pewter, and brass
or copper wire, used both for personal ornament, and for the decoration
of weapons, are bartered for the produce of the luxuriant soil--some few
caravans crossing the Hawash, and pursuing their journey along the
western bank to Dowwe, on the frontier of the Wollo Galla, in order to
purchase slaves; or striking into the main road at Amadoo, and so
prosecuting their way to Shoa for a similar purpose.
Mudaito tribes occupy the entire plain of Aussa, but they are now
divided into five distinct nations. The Assa-himera are under the rule
of Humferi, a descendant of the ancient house of Ajdahis, who preserves
the empty title of Sultan, and resides at the decayed capital. Eastward
are the Isse-hiraba, governed by Das Ali, an independent chief, and the
Galeyla, under Daamer Ibrahim; south are the Dar, who own allegiance to
Akil Digger Myargi; and west are the ferocious Koorha, under the sway of
Yoosuf Aboo Bekr, who, also with the title of Akil, resides at Alta, and
wages war indiscriminately on both Assa-himera and Debenik-Woema.
South-westward of the valley of Aussa are the independent Adaiel tribes
Hurruk Bodaito, over whom presides Gobuz Elincha, a powerful chieftain,
who has espoused Leni, daughter of Birru Lubo, the Prince of Argobba,
and through whose territories lies the high caravan route to Dowwe, with
which the traffic is considerable. On the north, the Mudaito are
bounded by the distinct nation styled Hirto, under the rule of Yingool
Ali--Mohammadans, deriving their origin from the Arab invaders of the
seventh century, and speaking a language not very dissimilar from the
Adaiel, who claim the same descent.
Aussa is still the abode of all the Uleemas, Aukal, and learned doctors,
for whom the Mudaito have ever been renowned, but the present government
is singularly constituted. The aged Sultan Humferi, son of Yoosuf Ali
ibn Ajdahis, has retained with his high-sounding title the mere shadow
of authority, which is in truth vested in Mohammad Ali, the vicegerent
of the Debenik-Woema, appointed by general suffrage from Tajura.
Residing at Kulloo, and ruling with an iron hand, he admits of little
interference; and, in all cases where disputes between the "red" and
"white" houses of the proprietors of the soil and their invaders,
terminate fatally to the latter, takes two lives for one, according to
the immemorial observance in blood feuds.
Ameer Sulaam, the Wuzir of the Mudaito, is head of all the sages, and he
is aided in the administration of justice by Hurrur Hassan, Teeoh, and
Berbera or "Pepper" Ali, the latter so styled from the volubility of his
sarcastic tongue. This triumvirate of venerable sheikhs, whose wisdom
and learning is reputed to be _kum el bahr_, "profound as the sea," is
referred to on all occasions where knotty points are at issue, whether
amongst the Ado-himera or Mudaito; and even the Sultan of Tajura was on
a late occasion held bound to abide by their arbitration, relative to
the projected marriage of his son to a bride from another clan of the
"white house," a measure which was resisted, and which he was desirous
of enforcing. Yet a transit duty of fifty per cent, is levied by
Mohammad ibn Mohammad upon all exports made by the Mudaito, whereas ten
per cent, only is exacted from the numerous Danakil tribes.
"A large Arab force from Zeyla," observed Ibrahim Shehem Abli, who was
well versed in the chronicles of Aussa, "was induced to join the
Debenik-Woema in their invasion of the predatory Mudaito hordes; and
overtures of capitulation having been made by Yoosuf Ali ibn Ajdahis,
they were thrown off their guard. During the night the Woema, who knew
with what villains they had to deal, bivouacked upon the heights of
Dugodlee and Hy Tunkoma, where they rested safely enough. But the
blockheads of Arabs choosing to sleep in the plain, the garrison took
advantage of their folly to make a _goom_: and so cleverly was it
managed, that by Allah! they succeeded in drawing their creeses across
the throats of all save one."
Nothing intimidated by this reverse, and joined by fresh allies from the
coast, the Woema were not long in renewing the attack; and the whole of
the Adaiel tribes who rally under the standard of "the white house,"
making common cause, the Mudaito sustained a murderous defeat, when
their stronghold, which had maintained its integrity unimpaired for so
many centuries, fell at last into the hands of their hereditary foe.
A long term of years elapsed, but the hearts of the scions of the "red
house" still rankled under this disaster; and, bent upon retaliation,
the assembled clans, designing to plunder the now decayed sea-port
whence their Arab invaders had been furnished, made a rapid inroad into
the country of the Eesah Somauli. Unprepared, the tribe fled before the
host in dismay, but presently recovering from the panic created by the
sudden burst of war, rallied in great numbers, fell furiously upon the
foe, and left not one marauding Mudaito alive to tell the issue of the
disastrous day. The "great battle," as this signal rout is still
termed, was about three years ago fought within sight of Zeyla, on the
plains of Takoosha, now white with the skeletons of a tribe.
"Brave men are these Mudaito," continued the old warrior, playing
carelessly with the hilt of his creese, which was seldom suffered to
repose quietly in his girdle; "but they are not to be compared with us.
_Hamdu-lillah_, `Praise be unto the Lord,' I slew their sheikh with my
own hand; and here is the identical scratch that I received in the
scuffle. As for the Eesah," he concluded, "with their childish bows and
arrows, they are sad cowards. One Dankali spear is an over-match for
fifty of their best marksmen in a fair fight; and I have myself dealt
single-handed with six, although the villains came like thieves in the
dark."
Ibrahim Shehem was requested to reconcile this character with the issue
of the great battle just recounted, wherein the despised tribe had so
signalised itself. "That," quoth he of Tajura, "was a dastardly
surprise; and _Wullah_, had I been the invader with a handful of Danakil
spearmen, there would have been another tale to tell."
Bas Ali, late sheikh of the cultivating portion of the Aussa population,
some years since made an attempt to restore the exclusive rule to the
Mudaito, and to this end headed a conspiracy sworn upon the Koran to
plough the field no more until the head of the Woema vicegerent should
be exalted upon a pole at the city gate, and his body have been cast out
to the hyaenas. He was however waylaid and assassinated by Ibrahim
Shehem Abli, who received a wound in the cheek. The numerous scars
which adorned the diminutive person of this hero proclaimed him to have
made one in many an affray; and, if his own account might be believed,
all were honourably gained. Nevertheless the singular aversion that he
displayed to passing certain watering-places in brood daylight, and his
skulking port at Amadoo more especially, had tended not a little to
confirm the disparaging anecdotes maliciously narrated by his
compatriots, relative to the mode in which some of these much-prized
distinctions had been acquired.
The veteran Ali Arab had sat in gloomy silence during the early part of
the conversation, but his light wicker cap started to the apex of his
bald crown as he rose in wrath at the last vaunting words of the son of
the Debeni. "Heed not the empty boast of that braggart," he exclaimed,
with boiling indignation, forgetting his wonted taciturnity--"Brave as
the lion's whelp are the hardy children of Yemen, and but for the
cowardly desertion of their false allies there would have been a
different issue to the fell night at Aussa. Do the Woema to this hour
not pay tribute to Zeyla in acknowledgment of the assistance rendered?
The event was written in the sealed volume of Fate. The decree of the
Almighty was fulfilled. But lest you should have believed the
disparaging statements of this vain-glorious scorner, I will even
recount the misfortunes of a campaign fraught with sad disaster to my
kindred."
Uttering these words, he led the way to his enclosure, reared of bales
of the most costly wares which had been committed to his tried
integrity; and there, seated upon the rich shawls of Cachemire, or upon
the choicest manufactures of the British loom, the party, provided each
with a tiny cup of most potent coffee, gave ear in silence to the old
man's tale, which in the two ensuing chapters shall be presented in the
form that would appear best calculated to afford a picture of warfare in
the Desert.
Volume One, Chapter XXIII.