"The Robi is _not_ dead," was the first falsehood that greeted the ear
when daylight had returned. To have told the truth on this occasion
must have redounded to the personal advantage of the informant, but he
had nobly upheld the national character at the sacrifice of a handful of
his much-loved tobacco. Repairing to the margin of the lake, the
freckled pink sides of a defunct hippopotamus were to be seen high above
the surface, as the distended carcass floated like a monstrous buoy at
anchor. It had become entangled among the tall tamarisks that rose
through the shallow water near the brink, but hawsers were carried out
with all diligence, and with the aid of the rudder-like tail, the
Colossus was towed to shore, and landed among the mud under the
acclamations of the assembled caravan.
"Where the carcase is, there shall the eagles be gathered together." A
formidable band of "Bones" were already squatted at a respectful
distance, to watch the progress of events, and no sooner had the teeth
been hewn out than they laid aside their bows and quivers, and having
stripped the thick hide from off the ribs, attacked the mountain of
flesh with the vigour of a South African horde. Donkeys and women were
laden with incredible despatch, and staggering under huge flaps of meat,
the archers had soon left the scene of operations. Two reservoirs, each
lying at the distance of a musket shot, had meanwhile been visited--the
one a sulphuric basin of considerable extent, the other a vast sheet of
water, embosomed in trees, dotted over with wood-clothed islets, and
teeming with hippopotami. But this was neutral ground; and the fears of
the Danakil conjuring into existence a host of lurking foes, the period
allowed for investigation was brief.
Bidding adieu with light hearts to the muddy Hawash, the party resumed
its march so soon as the camel furniture had become sufficiently dry;
and skirting the Dubbelli lake, from the waters of which Behemoth blew a
parting salute, passed the Bedouin hamlet of Mulku-kuyu in the Dofah
district, to a fourth pond bearing the euphonous title of Ailabello.
Prettily situated in a secluded green hollow, and presenting about the
same circumference as its neighbour, below which it is considerably
depressed, this pool resembles a circular walled cistern, and is
obviously the basin of an old crater. Its waters, alkaline, bitter, and
strongly sulphureous even to the smell, receive constant accessions from
a hot mineral well at the brink, and possessing the singular detergent
property of bleaching the filthiest cloth, many of the Danakil were for
once to be seen in flaunting white togas. Thence the road lay over a
grassy plain, covered with volcanic sand and ashes, and shut in by cones
of trivial altitude, forming another field of extinct craters, many very
perfect, and each environed by its individual zone--whilst the
circumjacent country, embracing a diameter of eight miles, exhibited
through the superincumbent soil, tracts of jet black lava.
Apprehensions being entertained of the non-existence of pools at the
station suited for the encampment, still some miles in advance, a detour
was made from the main road to Ado, "the White Water," a very extensive
lake, at which the skins were replenished and the thirst of the animals
slaked. A belt of high acacia jungle embosomed this noble expanse,
which exceeded two miles in diameter, the glassy surface in parts
verdant with sheets of the lotus in full flower, and literally covered
with aquatic fowls. Geese, mallard, whistling teal, herons, and
flamingoes, with a new species of the _parra_, were screaming in all
directions as they winged their flight from the point invaded, where a
party of Bedouin shepherdesses deposed to having seen a troop of
elephants bathing not half an hour before--the numerous prints of their
colossal feet remaining in testimony, sunk fresh and heavy on the moist
sands.
Prior to crossing the Hawash, the only sheep observed were the _Ovis
aries laticaudata_, or Hejaz lamb, with sable head and neck, thick fatty
tail, and fleece composed of hair instead of wool. This species had
now, to the westward of the river, given place to the larger Abyssinian
breed, with huge pendulous appendages of truly preposterous size,
encumbered with fat, and vibrating to the animal's progress.
Parti-coloured goats, armed with long wrinkled horns, still diversified
the flocks, which were uniformly attended by small dogs with foxlike
heads, spotted yellow and white, and evidently high in favour with their
dark mistresses.
Several of these females wore around the neck large tinkling brazen
bells, borrowed from the collar of an Abyssinian mule, and forming a
very suitable accompaniment to the massive fabrications of pewter and
copper which loaded their ears. Their long black tresses were braided
into an infinity of streamers, each resembling the lash of a schoolboy's
whip, and various most ingenious tattooed devices scarred their arms,
temples, and bosoms. By the beaux of the caravan, unqualified homage
was paid to certain coquettes, who carried milk jars curiously wrought
of palm leaves, and studded with manifold cowrie shells. To the backs
of sundry weird harridans were strapped skins containing sour curds,
which attracted flies in the tens of millions usually seen around the
molasses at a Banian's stall. No attempt was made to disturb those that
clustered in their blear-inflamed eyes; and the swarms collected about
the wrinkled comers of the mouth, were only put to flight when the hand
was applied to second the wonted exclamation of surprise at the
appearance of a white face, "_Nubbee Mohammadoo_!"
Numerous wigwams peeped through the extensive forest of aged
camel-thorns, which borders on Le Ado, and eventually debouches upon a
succession of barren plains covered with herds of antelope. Two rough
stone enclosures by the wayside were surmounted by poles, from which
dangled the heads of as many lions, dilapidated by time, although still
enveloped in the skin, and said to have been speared on this spot many
years before by the Bedouins, who exalted these trophies in
commemoration of the deed.
Immediately beyond this point lay the encamping ground at Wady Azboti,
where numerous shallow pools had been filled by the recent rain, but
where the ill-starred cattle were compelled to content themselves with
water only, not a vestige of grass or green herb remaining in the
vicinity. It had, in feet, now become a proverb, that these two
essential materials to existence could never be found in the Adel
wilderness in one and the same place. Vast flights of locusts, which
had assisted to lay the country bare, still carrying desolation in their
progress, were shaping their destructive course towards Abyssinia. They
quite darkened the air at the moment that the caravan halted; and a host
of voracious adjutants wheeled high above the dense cloud, at one moment
bursting with meteor-like velocity through the serried phalanx, and at
the next stalking over the field to fill their capacious maws with the
victims which their long scythe-fashioned pinions had swept
incontinently from the sky.
The groves around Azboti afforded a welcome supply of bustard,
partridges, and guinea-fowl, together with the mhorr, and pigmy
antelope; and on the return of the heavily-loaded Nimrods to the tent,
infinite diversion was found in the horror depicted on the physiognomy
of the warlike leader of the Hy Somauli band, whose old fashioned bob
wig, quaint gait, and antiquated comicalities, had justly invested him
with the sobriquet of "Doctor Syntax." The professor of natural history
was as usual busily engaged in the preparation of cabinet specimens,
when the old oddity advanced to see what was going on; and as the bodies
of beetles and locusts were subjected to the process of toasting over
the fire, his droll features were distorted by lines which revealed
plainly enough an inward conviction entertained, that the operation was
none other than culinary, and that the hideous insects were to be eaten.
But the war-whoop, without which few days ever drew to a close, had
aroused the doctor from his cogitations; and at the head of his men he
was presently in hot pursuit of a band of ruffians, who had cleverly
contrived to drive off a camel pertaining to the kafilah. Returning
with the booty after a long chase, the exploit was celebrated by the
war-dance, which for an hour kept the camp in a fierce uproar. Formed
in a circle, the excited warriors crouched low to the ground as they
stomped _vis-a-vis_, and howled with the utmost fury. Then rising with
one accord, they brandished their spears aloft, and vaulted frantically
in the air through a maze of intricate figures. Next arrayed in line, a
brave sprung ever and anon to the front, and striding up and down with
mincing gait, went through strange gesticulations and contortions, as he
recited the prowess of the dan, and urged it to future deeds of valour--
the clash of spear and shield responding at every pause, whilst the wild
chorus pealed along the ranks. Confusion now ensued: the band was
engaged in a pantomimic conflict. Savage after savage, rolling his
eyeballs, sprang panther-like across the loins of his nearest neighbour,
and clinging fast with his beds, tightly clasped his erect opponent with
the muscles of his legs. Creeses flashed brightly in the air; mock
wounds were inflicted, and the form of dividing the windpipe having been
duly gone through, long and loud arose, with the renewed dance,
triumphant strains of "_Awey birooah! awey birooah_!" "I have slain my
foe! I have slain my foe!"
Towards the close of the day, which was hot and muggy under the steam
that arose from the saturated soil, a Bedouin rode consequentially into
camp, and, after making his observations, departed even as he had come,
without deigning an explanation of any sort. Attention was particularly
attracted to this prying stranger, from the circumstance of his grey
steed being branded on flank and wither with the Ethiopian sign of the
cross. Delivering no message, although he was conjectured to be a
retainer of Wulasma Mohammad, the Abogaz or _custos_ of the frontier of
Efat, whose post was now not distant more than twenty miles, the
mysterious demeanour of this spy did not fail to strengthen a report,
which had long been in circulation among the mischievous Danakil that at
the court of Shoa, the British were far from being regarded in the light
of welcome visitors, and further, that an armed party was in readiness
to oppose entrance into the kingdom--a rumour which, however improbable,
was unfortunately further supported by the extraordinary and
unaccountable fact of no sort of recognition having, up to this period,
been vouchsafed by His Most Gracious Majesty the King.
Rising tier above tier to the supremely soaring peak of Mamrat, "the
Mother of Grace," with her domed head ever canopied in clouds, the lofty
mountains which fortify the royal dominions now shot like giant castles
from the sandy plain, the most conspicuous features in the landscape.
Volcanic impediments, such as had beset the heretofore weary path, had
at length finally ceased, but the glowing sulphur lulls of Sullala
reared their fantastic spires on the verge of the monotonous expanse;
and high among the more venerable witnesses to the history of the
troubled lowlands, the position of Ankober was discernible to the naked
eye, with the steep Chaka range stretching beyond at still greater
elevation. The luxuriant verdure which clothed the rugged sides of the
nearer slopes, whilst it contrasted strongly with the aridity of the
barren tracts at their base, indicated the presence of the autumnal
rains; and hereof further evidence was afforded in the low grumbling of
frequent thunder, echoing like distant artillery among the serrated
summits, as the heavy black clouds at intervals drew their smoky mantle
across the scene, and veiled the monsters from sight.
The departure of the silent spy was followed by the arrival of a most
boisterous visitor from the highlands. The hazy sun, shorn of his
bright beams, and looming a dull fiery globe in the dense mist, had no
sooner disappeared in wrath, than a furious whirlwind tore along the
desert plain, and during the gloomy twilight, the storm, which had been
cradled amid the mighty mountains, descended in desolation, like an
angry giant from his keep.
Black masses of cloud, rolling impetuously along the steep acclivities,
settled at length over the face of the waste, for a time shrouding the
very earth in its dark dank embrace, only to render more striking the
contrast to the dazzling light which in another moment had succeeded.
Brilliant corruscations blazed and scintillated in every quarter of the
fervid heavens, hissing and spluttering through the heavy fog, or
darting like fiery serpents along the surface of the ground--at one
instant awfully revealing the towering peaks that frowned far in the
distance--at the next flashing in a hot sulphury flame through the
centre of the encampment.
Meanwhile the deep roll of thunder continued without a moment's
intermission, the prolonged growl of each startling clap varying ever as
it receded in a fitful change of intonation; whilst the walling of the
blast, accompanied by the sharp rattle of hail, and the impetuous
descent of torrents of rain, completed the horrors of a tempest which,
now at its height, careered madly over the unbroken plain. The soil had
soon swallowed the deluge to overflowing. Muddy rivulets poured through
every quarter of the flooded bivouac; and the heavy tarpaulins, which
had afforded some temporary shelter, proving of little further avail,
the shivering but still watchful party were exposed during many dismal
hours that ensued to all the merciless fury of this unappeasable
hurricane.
Volume One, Chapter XXXVI.