A PEARL DIVER AT HOME
Adan Abdallah and his story--Another story in which I play a
part.
Adan Abdallah was born somewhere in the Soudan, and belongs to
the class formed from mixed tribes belonging to that country, and
known in North and East Africa as Soudanese. This means that he is
Mahomedan, and has severed all connection with his mother tribe,
whatever it may have been. Many years ago a rich Arab, making the
holy pilgrimage from Khartoum to Mecca, was accompanied by Adan in
the capacity of servant. On the return journey the Arab succumbed
to smallpox at Jeddah, and Adan, being without a penny in the
world, and having had some experience on the large sailing boats
of the Nile, shipped as a sailor on a dhow trading between the
Arabian coast and Zeila. At Zeila he left the Arab boat and joined
a pearler. In the course of time he did so well that he was able to
purchase a dhow of his own, marry a Somal girl and make a little
home for himself and wife in the town.
That is many years ago, and nowadays there are as many young
Adans running about as years have passed since he married. Once he
changed his place of residence from Zeila to Djibouti, but left the
latter place in disgust for the following reason. He had sailed
his dhow from the French port down the British coast to Wakderia,
beyond Berbera ing and fired off their rifles as a sign they were
returning to the rescue. Hearing this the Arabs ran for their dhow,
but not before they had killed the small boy, and a couple of their
own number were lying prostrate in the bottom of the boat.
Adan returned to Djibouti, calling in at Zeila on his way to report
the occurrence.
Some time after his arrival at Djibouti the same Arab dhow put in
there, and Adan, thinking Allah had delivered the murderers into his
hands, went quickly to the French officer and laid a charge against
them. He was informed, as the occurrence took place off the British
coast, the French authorities could do nothing. Adan felt very sore
and was under the impression that his story was not believed.
"All right," said he, using the expression that comes so handy to
greater men than he when they are up against a stone wall, "wait and
see!"
As the Arabs hung around Djibouti for some time Adan was convinced
they were waiting for him to put to sea, in order that they might
attack him, and so avenge themselves for the loss of a couple of
their number, whom he now learned had died from wounds received at
his hands.
Again he repaired to the French authorities to report his
suspicions, but they, having no corroborative evidence, would take
no action.
"All right," said he again, "wait and see!"
Whether the Arabs were tired of waiting for Adan, or had no actual
designs upon him at all, and had finished their business, they, at
any rate, put to sea at last. Only a few miles outside the harbour
they attacked a French dhow, killing five of the crew of eight. Of
the remaining three two were too old to be of any use, so they were
run ashore on a small island, with their dhow, and abandoned. The
two old men got safely back to Djibouti, where they reported what
had happened. The third was carried off to Arabia as a slave.
Then the French Hakim sent for Adan and asked, "What's this story
you have been telling concerning these piratical Arabs?"
Said Adan, "As you would not believe me when you had a chance to lay
these fellows by the heels, what's the use of troubling me now that
they have gone?"
The French Hakim smiled--Adan claims that smile was a graceful
admission of the mistake he had made--and pointed out how hard it
was for him to act on a vague opinion formed by Adan that some,
seemingly harmless, Arabs were going to kill him.
Adan replied that if men in his trade did not take strict heed of
what their wits tell them may happen, that thing is sure to happen,
as bad men do not write letters to the people they wish to kill,
but just kill them, and when they least expect it. He concluded this
piece of wisdom by asking the French Hakim, "What about the fight at
Wakderia?"
"Yes, what about it?" said the Hakim, "it took place in British
waters, and, in any case, we could take no action on your evidence.
Why, you admit yourself, you killed two Arabs."
"If that is the case," said Adan, "I am going back to Zeila, and if
ever those Arabs come there I'll have them punished. Should I stay
here you'll let them come and kill me before you raise a hand."
And at Zeila he has made his home ever since.
Fitting out from there he proceeded to the Arabian coast, and, at a
point between Sheikh Sa'eed and Khor Omeira, the dhow ran short of
water. Adan, with half a dozen sailors, put off in a boat for the
mainland, and having filled the goat-skins they had brought with
them at a well, they were about to look for firewood when a party of
Arabs armed with guns appeared, and asked who the devil had given
them permission to land there.
"We are getting water and collecting firewood," explained Adan, "and
have no intention of staying here or of doing any harm."
"Well, we want to collect something from you," said the Arab Sheikh
in charge. "Thirty riales you'll pay us, and a good supply of jowari
grain must be landed for us from yonder dhow ere you ever set foot
aboard her again."
"Ya, Sheikh," said poor Adan, "I have only three riales in the
world. Here they are. Tie them up in your cloth like a good man,
and in the name of God let us go in peace. We can do without the
firewood to-day!"
"You pay us thirty riales, oh, sailor," said the Sheikh, "and you
land the grain, or you die, together with these men who accompany
you."
Well, Adan had no grain aboard his dhow, and would have been only
too glad to get out of the position he found himself in by paying
thirty riales had he had them.
"I was explaining this," he told me, "to the Sheikh, a very
quick-tempered man, when without a word of warning, CHAP! he fired
off his gun and hit me in the leg with the pieces of iron he'd
loaded it with. I fell to the ground and lay like a log whilst my
men took to their heels and made a run for the boat, with the Arab
party hot on their tracks. Thinking I was dead the Sheikh paid no
further attention to me. Aboard the dhow we had some Gras rifles,
with which the sailors, who had not come ashore, opened fire, and
easily drove off the Arabs, who were armed with old muzzle loaders.
In the excitement that ensued I crawled the short distance to the
beach, and the sailors seeing me, sent off a boat and I got away.
But when I came back to Zeila the doctor cut off my leg, and Gyyed
the carpenter made me this wooden one, which I can get about on
quite comfortably. Thank God, I can still dive!"
"Do you mean to tell me," I exclaimed in astonishment, "that you
still dive?"
"What else do you think I could do?" replied Adan. "It is my bread
and butter."
I should say Adan is a very shrewd man and knows how to look after
his money, even though he no longer possesses a dhow of his own.
A few days since I had an opportunity of observing that his wife and
children were as well dressed as any in the town.
As next-door neighbour he has a blind Arab, who lodged a complaint
that Adan made a door through his compound. There was a lengthy
argument in the court, which, in spite of the fact that of the
two disputants one was blind and the other was minus a leg, led
me to fear, unless the matter was settled, it might develop into
something serious. I told both men to go away and keep quiet until
the evening, when I should come myself to their houses and see for
myself what was the matter. On arriving there later I found that
these two men lived in houses of the same size, built side by side
and so close together that I could neither walk nor see between
them. In front, as well as behind, was a street. From the centre of
the Arab's house a grass and wood fence ran onto the street fence,
dividing the space between the two houses and the street into two
compounds. When Adan walked out of his door he was in a compound,
one side of which was walled in by his own house and half the Arab's
house. The width of the Arab's compound on the other side was
only equal to half that of his own house; obviously a very unfair
arrangement. Opening out of Adan's compound onto the street was a
wooden door.
I was inclined to decide against Adan, but he pointed out that on
the other side of the houses the arrangement was reversed, and that
half his house-back was in the Arab's compound. This I found to be
the case, and, pointing out to the Arab that what was sauce for the
goose was sauce for the gander, said that he could not have matters
changed on one side of the houses to suit his convenience, unless he
conformed to similar changes on the other.
The old man did not like this idea, and then the true cause
of complaint was revealed. He loves his afternoon nap, but is
unfortunately a very light sleeper. Just at the time when his head
touches the pillow it appears to be the busiest time of the day for
Adan's thirteen children, who seem to be perpetually passing through
that wooden gate. Like all gates in Zeila it is latched on the
inside, and every time a youngster comes to it from the outside he
bangs it with a stick, until someone from the inside opens. Now, as
bad luck will have it, the gate is in front of the Arab's half of
the house that is in Adan's compound, and very near to the old man's
head. So that with the everlasting procession of kiddies--sheitans
he calls them, which means devils--passing to and fro, plus the
banging of the gate, an afternoon siesta is out of the question.
It was all right until Adan, but two weeks before, had bought the
unlucky wooden door.
"But now," said the old man, pounding viciously on the ground with
his long stick, "it is all wrong."
Adan agreed it was trying. He had noticed the nuisance himself, and
if the old man had told him before, he would have had it remedied.
He was quite prepared to have a muster now, and thirteen young imps
of mischief--they were all there, every mother's son and daughter
of them--were paraded and informed that, between the hours of two
and four p.m. daily, the wooden door on side number one was barred
to all children under pain of being flayed alive, cut to pieces, or
sent to jail, or all three. There was a grass door on side number
two, which no one could bang, and which was at their service. By
which order and threats, I am sure, Adan made the wooden door near
the old Arab's head, when he is lying down, the most irresistible
spot in the world to bang. There'll be more to come of it. "Wait and
see!"
What with Arab pirates, Arab robbers, truculent Arab neighbours, a
livelihood that requires diving for with only one leg--not to speak
of sharks, and thirteen young sheitans requiring a strong right arm
to keep them in order--I shall surely not be accused of exaggeration
when I describe the life of Adan Abdallah, the Soudanese, as being
an eventful one.