Boo Bekr Sumbhool and Datah Mohammad, co-chiefs of that section of the
Debeni styled Sidi Habroo, shortly sneaked into the camp at the head of
an appropriate retinue of ruffians, and having been duly propitiated
with tobacco and blue calico, deputed a son of the latter to represent
the tribe, as an earnest of the black mail having been levied. Mohammad
Ali proposed under these circumstances to halt a day, both in order to
profit by the first opportunity enjoyed of purifying raiment, and, which
was of still higher importance, to refresh the way-worn beasts. But the
Ras was in such dire alarm of the Bedouins and Galla, that he had been
with the utmost difficulty prevailed upon to encamp near the water, and
no persuasion could now elicit his consent to tarry. Columns of smoke
which arose high and dense from the country in advance, did not tend to
diminish his apprehensions. A shadowy human figure stealing along the
summit of the gloomy cliffs which overhung the camp, redoubled his
mental perturbation; and anathematising Moolu as the most dangerous nest
of thieves and cut-throats along the entire road, he would that minute
have resumed the march in the dead of night, had not heavy rain
compelled him to bite his nails until a late hour the following
forenoon, by which time the camel furniture had become dry.
But the event proved that there were on this occasion some grounds for
uneasiness. During the process of loading, three mounted Mudaito
scouts, wild-looking beings, rode into camp in a suspicious manner; and
immediately after moving out of the bed of the hollow, whence the road
led over an extensive plain covered with low shrubby undergrowth, the
Ras el Kafilah, who momentarily waxed more fidgety and excited, called a
general halt, and assumed his shield and brass-mounted spear.
"Look well to your weapons," he observed with a truly
commander-in-chief-like delivery, "and let all the proprietors of
fire-arms lead the van with myself. Two thousand of the Dar Mudaito are
out on a foray against the Galla of the neighbouring hills, and I have
received certain intelligence that they purpose this day to fall upon
the caravan. May Allah protect his servants in the coming strife!"
Suitable defensive preparations were made without delay, and the camels
formed ten deep to admit of the whole line being enfiladed by rifle
balls; whilst the Danakil and Hy Somauli escort, with loins girded for
the fight, brought up the rear. Scarcely had these arrangements been
completed, when a band of fifty warriors were descried advancing in a
compact body over the brow of an adjacent eminence. Carrying their
round bucklers on the left arm, and bristling their bright spears, they
pressed rapidly towards the front of the line, "on hostile deeds
intent." Out to meet them sprang the fiery little champion Ibrahim
Shehem, who panted to flesh his creese in the body of another Mudaito,
and twenty stout warriors, casting off their upper garments to give
freedom to their limbs, were not far behind him. The caravan remained
motionless to watch the event, and the formidable line of rifles fronted
the foe, who no sooner perceived the muzzles bearing directly on their
phalanx, than they lowered their spears to demand a parley, and
described themselves to be _en route_ from Jebel Abida to join their
clansmen, who were gathering at the waters of Maroo, preparatory to a
"_goom_" or onslaught, upon their hereditary enemies, the Alla and Ittoo
Galla.
The march was resumed immediately upon this banditti passing quietly to
the rear, and Ibrahim Shehem Abli relapsed into his wonted composure;
but the foot-prints of several other parties being shortly afterwards
discovered, the beaten track was abandoned altogether, in order, if
possible, to avoid meeting the marauders in number, when the plunder of
so rich a caravan would doubtless have been essayed. An advance guard
reconnoitred the country round from the summits of trees and termite
cones, which alone admitted of an uninterrupted view over the thick
verdant bushes that clothed the entire face of the plain. These were
interspersed with rich yellow grass, swarming with antelope, hares,
bustard, and florikin; whilst fine cedar-like camel-thorns stretched
their long arms over troops of pintadoes, coveys of partridges, and
spur-fowl. Not a trigger was suffered to be drawn, lest the report
should attract to the spot the much-dreaded Mudaito; but although
hundreds of warriors might have been ambushed in the dense covert
unperceived, it was safely traversed without further hostile
demonstration; and the country becoming gradually more and more open,
the view extended to the fine peaked range near Afrubba, inhabited by
the Ittoo Galla--war-hawks of the mountains, who are distinguished for
their sanguinary ferocity.
A cloud of dust in the extreme distance being believed to prognosticate
a rush of these wild horsemen, the caravan was again halted ere it had
proceeded far over the open plain; but the magnifying powers of a pocket
telescope converting the objects of alarm into a troop of scudding
ostriches, Izhak's confidence once more returned. The residue of the
march lay over cracked and blackened soil, from which the vegetation had
been burnt the preceding day, the embers still smouldering in various
directions, although the columns of smoke had ceased to ascend.
Neither fuel nor water could be discovered at the ground selected for
the bivouac, but a small supply of the latter requisite was obtained on
the way, from a muddy brook trickling over the charred surface of the
soil, and filling the gaping cracks and crevices on its progress towards
the lower ground. This strange phenomenon arose from the wady at Moolu
Zughir, near Afrubba, some miles to the southward, having been filled to
overflowing by the recent heavy rain. Moolu Tani, or "the other Moolu,"
afforded a most alluring spot of bright green vegetation just sprouting
from the rich soil which here abounds, and among it the cattle
luxuriated until dark. Sundry invocations were now performed with
horrid yells, to enable one of the savages to divine the coming of rain;
but a night passed in vigilance by sentinels posted on ant-hills, which
afforded an uninterrupted view over the surrounding plain, gave place to
dawn without any molestation from thunder-storm, Galla, or Mudaito.
Betimes in the morning the march was resumed across an alluvial plain,
which a few days later in the season would probably have presented a
swamp impassable to camels; but no difficulties were now experienced,
and the caravan passed merrily on towards a conspicuous barn-shaped
hill, which had been visible for many miles. At its base, among sundry
other cairns, stood a mound of loose stones encircled by a thorn fence,
and almost concealed under the forest of withered boughs that decked
every part. Beneath this grotto reposed the sainted bones of Othman, a
celebrated Tukhaiel sheikh of days long gone. Amidst prayers and
ejaculations in honour of the departed, according to the custom still
prevalent in the southern parts of continental Europe, each warrior of
the Bedouin escort first in order, and then the drivers as they passed,
having previously plucked from some adjacent tree a branch of verdant
mistletoe, adorned the venerated pile; and long ere the arrival of the
last camel, it had exchanged its sober autumnal garb for the bright
green mantle of spring.
Picturesque clumps of magnificent camel-thorns of ancient growth here
studded the face of the landscape, and, covered with golden blossoms,
perfumed the entire atmosphere. The myrrh tree flourished on the
hill-side, and the "_garsee_" was first found under a load of fruit
resembling the "_leechee_." The bright crimson pulp possesses an
agreeable acidity, and the kernel that it envelopes pleases the Danakil
in a mess of sheep's-tail fat. No wood had hitherto been seen
sufficiently dense to invite the elephant; but in this covert the giant
evidently existed; and the oryx, appropriately styled "_Aboo el
kuroon_," "the father of horns," ranged in considerable numbers; the
half-devoured carcase of one which had been slain the preceding night,
attesting the presence also of the "king of beasts."
The agility of the Adaiel in reclaiming a refractory camel, although
often witnessed with admiration, had never been more prominently
exhibited than during this march. One of the most skittish and
unmanageable animals of the whole hundred and seventy, had very
judiciously been selected by Izhak for a large chest containing medical
stores, and the halter was usually held by a gentle slave girl, whom it
was the delight of the Sahib el Bayzah to cuff and maltreat. Taking a
sudden whim into its head, the restive beast, after the performance of
sundry preliminary plunges to ascertain if the load were firm, dashed
off the road, galloped over the feeble maid, and, smashing her
water-gourd into a thousand fragments, roaring and bellowing, pursued
its headlong career across the stony plain. Phials and bottles were
undergoing a most destructive discipline, when a fleet-footed savage,
who was in hot pursuit, and had already twice turned the fugitive,
darting across its orbit, abruptly terminated these gratuitous and
uncouth gambols by a sudden twitch of the nose-rope, which brought
owner, dromedary, and medicine-chest simultaneously to the earth, with a
crash that sounded ominously enough, although not the slightest injury
was sustained by either.
Meanwhile the caravan had reached Burdudda, where a large pool of dirty
rain-water extended strong inducements to encamp, and again led to a
violent altercation between the authorities. Apprehensive of
misunderstandings with the Bedouin shepherds in the vicinity, Izhak had
sapiently resolved to proceed some miles further to a waterless station,
whilst Mohammad Ali, insisting that the kafilah should halt, commenced
the work of unloading. The camels of either party were for some time
divided; but the Ras, after trying the stratagem of advance without
shaking his rival's resolution, finally yielded up the point with a bad
grace, and all set up their staff.
The outline of the highlands of Abyssinia, which had been first
indistinctly visible from Sultelli, now stood out in bold relief; and to
the southward the view was bounded by the lofty hills of the Afrubba,
Farsa, and Azboti Galla, where coffee grows wild in abundance. An
intermediate extensive prospect is obtained over the thickly-wooded
Moolu plain, stretching some thirty miles in the direction of Errur.
This latter is the residence of the old sheikh Hajji Ali Mohammad, and
the head-quarters of the Debeni, who take hereditary share in the waters
of the valley with their brethren the Woema. It forms, moreover, a
place of resort for every wandering vagabond in the surrounding country
who possesses a sheep, a goat, or an ox, or has the ability and the
inclination to assert his privilege of erecting a temporary cabin; and
thus the recurrence of each season of drought, compelling the
abandonment of less favoured pastures, pours in its migratory swarm to
swell the more permanent muster upon the sultry plains of Errur, and to
create the strife inseparable from a gathering of these lawless hordes.
Volume One, Chapter XXXII.