Feasting and amusement wiled away the hours until the appointed day,
when the necessary reinforcements having joined, the entire force moved
hurriedly off towards the unsuspecting object of attack.
On the third morning of their march the hills of Dugodlee were crossed,
and the smiling valley of Aussa was seen peacefully stretched at the
feet of the invaders. Nothing could exceed the beauty of this oasis in
the desert, so strangely expanded between two gigantic mountains; the
crest of the one frowning black, broken, and abrupt, whilst the other
rises in steep but gradual turfy acclivity to the very summit, whence
rich indeed was the wide prospect displayed.
Green fields extended far as the eye could see. Flocks quietly ranged
among the grassy nooks, and four lakes, unruffled by a breeze, reflected
back the Iris rays of the morning sun upon the broken sides of the
wooded lulls. Hemmed in by fantastic ranges, the river Hawash threaded
the upper portion of the long valley like a cord of silver, and rushing
into the broad expanse of Lake Hilloo, at length found rest for its
troubled waters in the deep, mysterious basin, from which no visible
stream adds its tribute to the blue ocean.
The city of Aussa was pleasantly situated on the upper extremity of the
lake, and its low, conical, thatched roofs were half concealed among the
towering verdure of the shadowy trees. As the host crowned the opposite
hill, herds of beasts, and crowds of human beings, streamed from every
side through the stout hedge of thorns that encircled the wall, and the
voice of the muezzin rising faintly from the distant mosque, summoned
the inhabitants to prayer in this most unlooked-for tribulation.
Confident of success, and exulting in their own numbers, and in the
potent fire-arms of five hundred bearded allies, the savage host rushed
whooping down the hill, their spears erect, and their souls hungry for
the prey. But no shout responded from the silent town of the Mudaito,
and no weapon glittered in its defence. Already had the Woema formed in
serried lines, and already were the eyes and the shields of the warriors
agitated by those portentous revolutions which are the prelude to the
fatal rush, when a portion of the thorn fence was quietly drawn aside,
and a band of aged men stepped upon the intermediate plain. A green
branch waved in their unarmed hands, and their venerable white beards
flowed nearly to their girdles. The sages of Aussa, whose wisdom was
"as the depths of the sea," and who engrossed all the learning and
holiness of the land, were there congregated together. The prejudice of
the savage was aroused, and the presence of men acknowledged, to whom
every dispute among the tribes had hitherto been referred, and whose
decisions had been always most implicitly received. The cause of
complaint, and the hope of plunder, were for the moment almost
forgotten, and every spear sank to the ground as sheikhs and akils
advanced to the front to receive the message from the beleaguered city.
Assuming the posture of earnest entreaty, the elders of the Mudaito were
not sparing of their oily words:--"All ancient differences should be
fully adjusted, and the Woema should depart to their own tents, loaded
with the richest produce of Aussa as a free gift of its elders; but the
great conference could not be held until the morrow; the chief, Yoosuf
Ali, was absent, and a swift messenger could scarcely reach him before
nightfall. Would the Woema meanwhile destroy the seat of learning and
of religion? Would the sons brandish the gory spear where their fathers
were wont to fall prostrate in prayer? If camels had been stolen, the
thieves should be delivered over to punishment, and every point of
dispute should be most satisfactorily arranged."
The chiefs of the Woema withdrew in order to deliberate apart, and
divers were the opinions given in the ensuing discussion. The fiery
Arab urged an immediate attack, now that the enemy were unprepared and
fully given into the hand of the spoiler; but the words of mercy at
length prevailed, and the terms having been acceded to, the wily elders,
as they took their departure, displayed features lighted with a grim
smile of inward satisfaction.
High raged the storm in the camp of the invading chiefs. Expressions of
contempt were bandied back upon the term of coward, with which Osman had
taunted the Adel conclave. Swords and creeses were drawn, and stout
adherents were not wanting with spear and matchlock to support their
respective leaders. The veteran Sheikh nevertheless contrived to still
the troubled waters. Commanding his clan to draw back, and be at rest,
he succeeded in convincing the Arab that _he_ was not to be forgotten in
the forthcoming division of the spoil. Finally the parties separated in
sullen mood--the Woema to ascend the hills of Hy Tunkoma, where they had
resolved to rest among the rocky caverns, whereas the fearless sons of
Arabia remained upon the open plain on which the angry dispute had taken
place.
Meanwhile the town was in a state of hot fermentation. The few warriors
who were accidentally at home, inflamed by the speeches of their
respected elders, prepared quietly for the most desperate resistance.
Swift-footed messengers stole out ever and anon through various cuts and
passages in the hedge, with orders to call to the rescue every member of
the tribe; and the most fearful denunciations were prepared for any who
should refuse aid in this the day of national distress. Onwards over
hill and dale sped the untiring scout. At his warning voice the
shepherd left his flock, and the hunter stayed his successful chase.
Sheikhs and akils seized spear and shield, and with all disposable force
obeyed the hasty summons. Every encampment joined its quota to the fast
swelling host, now streaming towards the valley of the deep waters; and
long ere the moon raised her pale disk above the hills, full
communication had been held with the city, and every arrangement was
thoroughly matured for the attack.
Blinded by the feint of abject submission, the doomed body of Arabs had
encamped upon the open plain. Little order or arrangement could be
observed, and not a symptom was there of military vigilance. No
watchful sentry paced his steady beat, nor had any disposition been
attempted for safety or for defence. All had bivouacked on the spot
where they happened to be standing, and after their appetites had been
sufficiently appeased, the lazy partisans lay grouped together with
their long pipes, talking over the pleasant hopes of the morrow, or
uttering the scornful taunt on the coward folly of their infatuated
allies. The song and the keen joke of their distant country occupied
the first hours of the evening, and then the greater portion sank to
rest upon the green sward.
But the slumbers of many were of a disturbed and fitful nature; and at
midnight old Kasim Ali, whose advice, though ungraciously given, was
generally attended to, repaired to the light pall under which reposed
his leader. Osman was still awake, and after listening to the words of
the veteran, who predicted coming evil, the first orders were given.
Guards having collected under arms, matches were lit, and some
preparation attempted for defence. But the warning voice had come too
late. The Mudaito host, crouching warily upon the ground, had glided
like serpents along the dark plain till they had gained the requisite
distance for the onset; and as if starting from the very bowels of the
earth, a countless array showed suddenly a bristling front, not one
hundred yards from the encampment.
Short was the time allowed to awaken the drowsy soldiery. A hurried
exclamation from the chief to stand like men, and a feeble cry from his
followers in reply, was succeeded by the rush of the savages. Forward
they came, carrying their broad spears erect, whilst their black
ferocious eyes gleamed at the thoughts of blood, like the fiery orbs of
the basilisk. A volley from the matchlocks only checked their progress
for a moment; and as the firing ceased, there arose to heaven a wild
unearthly yell, which was closely followed by the fierce shouts of men
in contention, and by all the sounds of terror, confusion, and despair.
No walls or enclosures were there in that naked plain, or the sons of
Ishmael, who well understand their defence, might have fought on more
equal terms; but overwhelmed by masses of the reckless foe, and hemmed
in on every side by ten times their own number, the struggle was but the
effort of individual desperation. Dropping shots had continued for some
time in all quarters of the straggling encampment, and Mudaito spear
still clashed heavily upon Arab scimitar, when the war-cry of the Woema
rose pealing among the cliffs. As the tramp of their footsteps was
heard descending to the plain, a short respite was allowed. The
assailants withdrew from the murderous onslaught, and the fainting
hearts of the survivors again bounded with hopes of life. But transient
indeed were their expectations of succour and assistance. The wary eye
of the Woema had scanned, even in that uncertain light, the overpowering
masses of the foe that crowded the plain; and suddenly wheeling round
the shoulder of the hill, they disappeared like a wreath of the morning
mist.
The Mudaito meanwhile, like hungry wolves, hemming in the devoted party,
awaited only the dawn of day to complete its destruction. But the
remnant of the Arabs who had escaped now first found leisure to close
their ranks; and, taking up a position at the foot of the isolated Jebel
Gurmah, they resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Osman,
wounded and bleeding, was still alive; himself, with Kasim Ali and about
fifty men, being all that survived of the gallant five hundred who had
marched from Zeyla. The excruciating pangs of thirst were added to the
tortures of creese and spear-wound: and in this, their last extremity,
the solemn prayer arose to the Prophet of the Faithful, as of men whose
hours were numbered.
As the day broke, Kasim volunteered to carry a message of capitulation
to the savage army; and reposing full confidence in the white cloth
waving in the hand of the veteran, each anxious eye was strained in the
direction of his footsteps. Received in moody silence by the Mudaito
band, a ferocious savage was about to drive a spear-blade through his
unflinching breast, when the son of the Sheikh bounded suddenly to his
side, and warding off the descending shaft, seized the hand of the old
man, kissed it with every reverence, and addressed a few words to the
tribe. In days gone by the youth Boorhan had been saved under the
creese by the son of Yemen, and gratitude, rarely found in the savage,
now paid her outstanding debt.
The veteran's overtures of surrender having been received, he turned
again towards his comrades, but a fearful sight fell on his sickening
gaze. Two large bodies of the enemy had in the interim stolen round the
hill, and clustering upon the very edge, were already swarming unseen to
the last attack. Vain were his frantic gestures to direct the attention
of his doomed comrades to the coming storm; he was seized and pinioned
in the iron grasp of a multitude, and the succeeding rush was as the
burst of the overcharged thunder-cloud.
And feeble was the defence made by men weary, and thirsty, and
unprepared. With an appalling whoop, the triumphant savages soon joined
the ranks of their sheikh, and not one turbaned head remained visible
above the wide plain. All had found a gory pillow in a far distant
land. Creese and matchlock, mingled together, plentifully strewed the
ground; and clutched in the cold hand of each grim warrior, lay the long
Arab sword, dripping to the hilt in the blood of the assailant.
The acacia still throws her scanty shade over the bones that whiten on
the scene of this conflict. Although of the same persuasion as the
invaders, the men of Aussa could neither forgive their most unprovoked
attack, nor consign to a quiet resting-place the remains of the true
believers. The severe loss they too had sustained, still keeps the
wound festering, for well indeed in that fatal night had been upheld the
character of the sturdy children of Yemen. Taken by surprise and at
every disadvantage, each had fought on fiercely to the last; and
although broken matchlocks and rent shields dangle in the mosques as
trophies of their defeat, many a Mudaito mother long bewailed the loss
of a beloved son, and many a bereaved widow mourned the absence of her
liege lord, who returned not from the valley of the deep waters of
Aussa.
Volume One, Chapter XXV.
FIALU, A DEN OF THIEVES IN THE WOEMA TERRITORIES. BARURUDDA AND
KILLULLOO.
After a march of three miles on the 22nd, over a stony table-land
thickly strewed with the never-ending basaltic boulders, the caravan
entered the territory of the Danakil tribe Woema, under the uncle and
father of Mohammad Ali. A desolate hollow passed on the way, which
appeared in the rainy season to form an extensive pond, was enlivened by
four bee-hive-shaped wigwams, placed as usual on the site where large
hot stones were most abundant, and tenanted by goat-herds, whose
numerous flocks were being driven forth to graze by the Bedouin females.
Their supply of water is derived from a sequestered pool, occupying a
deep narrow precipitous ravine, which abounds in the Hyrax, and boasts
of a few trees not dissimilar from the Casuarina. Bearing the euphonous
title of Korandudda, this gully wound at the foot of the high terrace
selected for the encampment--another right dreary plain, covered with
volcanic pebbles, among which the dry yellow grass peeped out in scanty
tufts.
No traveller through the bleak barren country of the Adaiel can fail to
appreciate the simile of "the shadow of a rock in a weary land;" for a
tree is indeed a rare phenomenon--and when a few leafless branches do
greet the eye, they are studiously shunned, upon the same principle that
induces the savage to eschew the immediate vicinity of water. A few
straggling acacias occupied the valley of Fialoo, half a mile to the
southward, which is the usual encamping ground, and here were large
herds of cattle, eccentrically marked and brindled, and glorying in
superb horns raking gracefully from the brow. A fat ox was purchased
without difficulty, together with a supply of fresh milk, which, if not
improved by confinement in a greasy skin bag, proved nevertheless an
extraordinary luxury.
One of the retainers of Mohammad Ali was now despatched to acquaint Ali
Abi of the arrival of the kafilah. It had all along been promised that
after entering the territories of the old Sheikh, every danger was to
cease, but the goal now gained, the country proved to be a perfect nest
of hornets. The thieving propensities of the Galeyla Mudaito having
been lately exercised upon the Woema, it had been resolved to inflict
summary chastisement, and rag-a-muffins were collecting from all
quarters, preparatory to a "_goom_." From morning till night the camp
and tent were unceasingly thronged with scowling knaves, amongst whom
were several of the Eesah--their heads decorated with white ostrich
plumes in token of having recently slain an antagonist in single combat,
or more probably murdered some sleeping victim.
Towards evening a gang of the Abli, whose chieftain is appropriately
surnamed Jeroaa, or "the thief," made a desperate attempt to carry off
the best horse, upon which they had strongly set their affections; but
the rogues were fortunately observed by the lynx-eyed Kakoo, henchman to
Mohammad Ali, just in time to admit of the animal being recovered. The
war-cry caused all to fly to their arms; blows were exchanged without
any blood being spilled, although one of the Woema shields was
perforated by a well-launched spear; and the ringleader of the
horse-stealing gang, who had thus narrowly escaped a mortal feud, having
been secured to a tree, was by his own tribe severely castigated on the
spot.
A dense cloud of dust rolling along from the north-eastward, closed the
day. Revolving within its own circumference, and advancing on a spiral
axis, it burst in full force in the very centre of the camp. The tent
fell on the first outpouring of its wrath, and the consistency being so
dense as to render it impossible to keep the eyes open, the party were
fain to take refuge beneath tarpaulins, and stretched upon the ground,
to listen with quick and difficult respiration, until the whirlwind had
expended its violence among chairs, tables, and bottles. A few drops of
rain ushered in the night which was passed by a newly-entertained
Bedouin guard in carousing upon the choice dates of the Embassy, a bag
of which had been unceremoniously put in requisition by the Ras, "in
order to keep the savages in good humour," or, in other words, to save
them the trouble of stealing it; and the musket announcing relief of
sentries was discontinued by request of the same authority, lest the
smell of gunpowder might have a prejudicial effect upon the voracious
appetites of the savages.
Before dawn the chief of the nomade tribe Hy Somauli arriving with a
hungry and dissatisfied retinue, a halt was proclaimed, to the end that
they also might be fed, pacified, and propitiated. The potentate was
duly introduced by Izhak as a most particular friend, who had journeyed
a long way for the express purpose of making the acquaintance of his
English charge; and a deep sense of the honour conferred having been
expressed, it was ascertained that the secondary object of the visit was
to inquire by whose authority so formidable a party of foreigners were
being smuggled through the country, and how it happened that they were
suffered to build houses wheresoever they thought proper?--this last
allusion having reference to the tent, which had again been pitched, and
was very sapiently conjectured to be a permanent edifice.
The "Kafir Feringees" therefore continued to be objects of undiminished
curiosity during the whole also of this sultry day; a greasy disorderly
rabble, which occupied the tent from an early hour, being continually
reinforced by parties weary of the debate held immediately outside,
which lasted until the going down of the sun. Each new visitor, after
staring sufficiently at the white faces, invariably exclaimed "Nubeeo,"
"Holy Prophet," a mark of undisguised disapprobation, which was further
elicited by every occurrence that did not exactly coincide with his nice
ideas of propriety, such as eating with a fork, keeping the head cool
under a hat instead of under a pound of sheeps' tail fat, or blowing the
nose with a handkerchief in lieu of with the fingers. Paws were
nevertheless incessantly thrust in at every door, accompanied by
reiterations of the Dankali verb "to give," used in the imperative mood;
the never-ending din of "Ba, Ba," being uncoupled with any noun
designative of the commodity required--a proof that he who demanded was
a ready recipient for any spare article that might be forthcoming.
A long and tedious palaver, in which voices occasionally ran extremely
high, at length terminated in a general uprising of the senators. Izhak
was seen curling his scanty side locks in token of victory. The chief
had become satisfied of the temporary nature of the tenement inhabited
by the "Christian dogs," after one or two of the savages had thrust a
spear-blade through the canvass; and the malcontents having to a man
been sufficiently crammed with dates, coffee, and tobacco, finally took
their departure, chuckling at the success of the foray, and having
ingeniously contrived to turn their time to account by stealing one of
the mules.
Many significant glances had been exchanged over portions of the baggage
that had unavoidably been exposed; but a night of redoubled vigilance
was cut short by a summons to relinquish sleep and bedding at two in the
morning, and a march of sixteen miles over a vast alluvial flat
conducted past the Bedouin station of Ulwulli to Barurudda, on the plain
of Kellali. The road led along the base of the low range of Jebel
Eesah, through abundance of coarse grass concealing lava pieces and
volcanic detritus, the prospect being bounded by distant blue mountains
towering to the peak of Kuffal Ali. A _korhaan_ rose at intervals, wild
and noisy as his chattering kindred in the south, but few other signs of
animated nature enlivened the long sultry march. In the grey of the
morning, a solitary Bedouin horseman ambled past with some message to
the savages at Amadoo, and from him was obtained the disagreeable
intelligence, which subsequently proved too true, that not a drop of
water existed over the whole of the wide plain within a day's journey,
and that the station beyond was thronged with tribes, collected with
their flocks and herds from all the country round, at this, the oasis.
After a hot dusty day the sky was again overcast, and sufficient rain
fell to render every one wet and uncomfortable, without filling the
pools, or checking the dire persecutions of a host of cattle ticks,
which covered every part of the ground. Absence of water led to another
midnight march, and the moon affording little light, the road was for
some time lost, though eventually recovered by the sagacity of a female
slave of Mohammad Ali's, when all the lords of the creation were at
fault. This damsel, who always led the foremost string of camels, was
one of those frolicsome productions of Nature, which the wanton dame
pawns on the world in her most laughing moods, and the appearance of her
daughter could scarcely fail to elicit the mirth of the most sedate
beholder. A small round bullet head, furnished with a well-greased mop,
and a pair of moist brilliant eyes, formed the apex of a figure, which,
in all other respects, was that of the concentrated amazon, exhibiting a
system of globes both before and behind, agitated by a tremulous
vibration as the short fat legs imparted progressive motion. A blue
kerchief tied jauntily over the head--ponderous wooden ear-rings,
fashioned on the model of Chubb's largest lock--a necklace of white
beads, and a greasy leathern apron slung about the unwieldy hips without
any remarkable regard to decency--set off the corpulent charms of the
good-natured Hasseinee, the exhibition of whose monstrous eccentricities
in Europe, must infallibly have ensured a fortune to the showman.
The road continued to skirt the low Eesah range for several miles [see
Note 1] to the termination of the plain, which becomes gradually shut in
by rounded hills enclosing a dell choked with low thorns, and tenanted
by the _galla-fiela_ [i.e. camel-goat], a strange species of antelope,
having a long raking neck, which imparted the appearance of a lama in
miniature. As the day broke, flocks and herds were observed advancing
from every quarter towards a common focus, and on gaining the brow of
the last hill overhanging the halting ground, a confused lowing of
beeves and bleating of sheep arose from the deep ravine below, whilst
the mountain sides were streaked with numberless white lines of cattle
and goats descending towards the water.
Arriving at the Wady Killulloo, a most busy scene presented itself.
Owing to the general want of water elsewhere throughout the country,
vast numbers of flocks and herds had assembled from far and wide, and
they were tended by picturesque members of all the principal tribes of
Danakil composing the Debenik-Woema, as well as from the Eesah, the
Mudaito, and their subordinate subdivisions. Dogs lay basking on the
grassy bank beside their lounging masters; women, screaming to the
utmost of their shrill voices, filled up their water-skins with an
ink-black fluid stirred to the consistency of mire, and redolent of
pollution; thousands of sheep, oxen, and goats, assembled in dense
masses in and around the dark, deep, pools, were undergoing separation
by their respective owners, before being driven to pasture; and, with
the long files that ascended and descended the mountain side in every
direction, imparted the bustling appearance of a great cattle fair.
The temporary mat huts of all these nomade visitors who boasted of
habitations were erected at a distance on the table-land to the
south-westward of this important wady, which occupies a rugged rocky
chasm opening upon the Kellali plain, and, receiving the drainage of all
the southern portion of the Oobnoo range, disembogues during the rainy
season into the lake at Aussa. Even during this, the hottest portion of
the year, when the entire country elsewhere is dry, its rocky pools
embedded in soft limestone, tainted with sulphuretted hydrogen, and
abounding in rushes and crocodiles, afford an inexhaustible supply,
without which the flocks and herds of the entire arid districts by which
it is surrounded, could not exist.
To it the horses and mules of the Embassy were indebted for a new lease
of life, short though it proved to many. Two of the former and eleven
of the latter had already been left to the hyaenas, in addition to the
animal feloniously abstracted by the Hy Somauli, of the recovery of
which Mohammad Ali affected to be sanguine. But although the pleasure
of another meeting with the robber chief, whereupon he rested his
delusive hopes, was shortly realised, and brought with it a train of
concomitant inconvenience, no mule was ever restored. Not one of these
petty Adaiel tribes are subject to that abject despotism which controls
the turbulent spirits of the more powerful African nations, and, bad as
absolute power must ever be acknowledged, often tends to their ultimate
improvement. The influence of a chieftain is here little more than
nominal. All affairs are decided in council by a majority of voices;
and, were it not for the fact, that, save during the existence of a
common danger, no component member of his clan works for other than
individual advantage, the wild and lawless community over whom he
affects to preside, might in all respects be appropriately designated a
republic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. The reader who may not feel thoroughly satiated with miles and
furlongs, as embodied in this narrative, is referred to the Appendix,
where they will be found detailed in a tabular form.
Volume One, Chapter XXVI.