Charles Johnston

“ Nature’s last daily care, the star-spangled curtain of night, was drawn around her tumultuous children, and we all retired from the scene of strife; my injured hand paining me much less than I could have anticipated. Ohmed Medina, Ebin Izaak, and fifteen or sixteen others, were now engaged in chanting a noisy zekar, whilst Ohmed Mahomed, supported by Moosa, sat in a large calahm of the Kafilah men and Hy Soumaulee until long after midnight, arranging the offerings or presents intended to be given as compensation to the injured in the late conflict. ”

“ When I reflect upon the striking contrast exhibited in the very different characters of the Dankalli and Shankalli people, the pressure from without of observed facts incline me to a system of mankind-lore different entirely from any yet advanced, but which it would be presumption in me to put forward, until increasing years and further observation give weight to the opinions of one who at present is merely an humble, but zealous, inquirer after truth. ”

“ The moomen forms a dense bush, some yards in circuit, and as their thick, velvety, round leaves, of a bright green colour, afford an excellent shade, they form the favourite lairs, both of savage men, and of wild beasts. Reposing upon the ground, near the roots, free from underwood and thorns, whoever, or whatever lies there, is entirely concealed from sight; and not unfrequently a leopard or hyæna skulks out of, or a startled antelope bounds from, the very bush that the tired Bedouin has selected for his own retreat from the sun. ”

“ One good effect was produced by a long march; that was the freedom from importunity I enjoyed, for all the Bedouins and Kafilah men seemed determined to take, immediate advantage of the shady accommodations of this “hotel verte,” or in plain English, this extensive “bush inn.” I obliged myself, tired as I was, to build my own hut rather than seek a bower, where others would throng, greatly to my discomfort; and something of a conscience told me that Zaido and the Allees, after unloading the two-and-twenty camels belonging to their master, Ohmed Mahomed, would require rest as well as myself. ”

“ Ohmed Medina, Zaido, and Allee, with their spears and shields, accompanied Himyah and myself with our guns, and we proceeded down the face of the declivity, from our camp to the edge of the winding watercourse in front. Here, on the stiff clay of the not yet quite dried up pools which resulted from this morning’s rain, we found the large footprints of a hyæna, that had been prowling round the camp, and we immediately set about following the traces, in the hopes of meeting a nobler object of attack, than the fearful and provokingly shy antelope. ”

“ A mule was also purchased for my use, a good old Shabah, as my Dankalli servant Allee used to delight in calling her. She was a remarkably staid steady-going animal of a sober grey colour, and had been so accustomed to travel up and down the road we were going, that I really believe she could have taken me to Shoa without a guide, and had become so used to the regular slow two miles an hour pace of the camels, that she never could be induced to go on any faster, and always seemed most happy when she was at the very end of the line walking close under the tail of the last camel. ”

“ In the time of Abyssinian supremacy over all this part of Africa, the communication with Gondah and the sea-coast, was through the populous and fertile oasis of Owssa, along the valley of the Gobard to Zeilah; and tradition still preserves, the memory of the once lucrative commerce, that was carried on with the then rich provinces through which the road lay. I was frequently told by Ohmed Medina, that gold and silks were the burdens of camels in years gone by, instead of the salt and blue calico, which is the only merchandise, excepting slaves, of Kafilahs at the present day. ”

“ April 12th.—Left Khrabtu at sunrise, and three hours after, we reached the halting-place of Saggadarah, situated in the wide bed of a small stream called Korree. Its banks were composed of low hills of different coloured, irregularly stratified rock, that if not volcanic, had been greatly altered from their original character of deposited formations, by the agency of fire. The whole valley abounded with vegetation; wide-spreading sweetly-scented mimosas, and clumps of luxuriantly growing doom palm, made travelling beneath their shade delightfully agreeable. ”

“ As one or two, which were but slightly wounded, succeeded in getting away, I sprang forward to pick up the rest, a task in which I was assisted by Zaido, Allee, and Himyah, who, with their long knives unsheathed, seemed as if rushing to an attack upon the Muditu, or Issah Soumaulee. I soon found that all this hurry, was to secure the performance of the rites of religion over the dying birds; each being taken up, the head turned towards Mecca, and the throat cut, whilst the usual short prayer of Ul’ Allah, or Allah Achbah, was hurriedly pronounced. ”

“ Young introduced me to the Sultaun of Tajourah. He was a man at least sixty years of age; round his closely shaven head was wrapped a dirty 7white muslin turban, beneath which was a very light Arab skull cap of open wicker-work, made of the mid rib of the palm leaf. Naked to his waist, over the right shoulder and across his chest, was slung a broad belt of amulets, consisting of numerous packages the size of a small cartouche-box, alternately of red cloth and of leather, each of which contained some written charm against every evil that he feared, or for every desirable good. ”

“ Adapting myself therefore, as much as possible to the generally received ideas upon the national divisions of man at an early period, I am led to suppose that the Dankalli are the remains of a once great and powerful people, the vices of whom have outlived the period of their decline as a nation, and now characterize their descendants in a situation where they are reduced to a state of nature corresponding, except in these resulting consequences of previous civilization, to that of the real child of uncultivated nature, the happy, contented, good-natured Shankalli. ”

“ After a few words amongst ourselves, Himyah got out of the little circle, and first moving off towards the camp, until well out of sight of the hyæna, he made a sudden turn to the right, and stealing among the detached portions of rock, which abounded along the edges of the plain, he, in a short time, made his appearance again far in the rear of the animal, who was still sitting, like ourselves, on its haunches, and not in the least aware of the dangerous proximity of the ugly Dankalli, with his still more ugly matchlock. ”

“ Birds, of every hue, made this Adal forest their home, and displayed all that enjoyment of life, 425which appears to be the one general feeling that animates these happy denizens of air. Their shrill piping songs, their joyous freedom, and quick sportive movements, as chasing each other, or challenging to the flight, they dart from tree to tree, excite corresponding feelings of buoyancy and happiness in the delighted traveller, glad to have escaped from the stony deserts, or the burning plains of the arid country he has previously passed through. ”

“ My mule being brought, I mounted for a long ride, as I expected, and proceeded with the Hy Soumaulee, who, having gained their point of 484accompanying me, were in great glee, shouting to each other as they darted among the trees, or raced through the more cultivated parts, running and leaping as they went over the low cotton-bushes that stood in their way. Much to my astonishment, on rounding the shoulder of a projecting ridge, we came in sight of the town of Farree, situated not a quarter of an hour’s walk to the west of Dinnomalee. ”

“ April 22d.—Ebin Izaak, Ohmed Mahomed, Ohmed Medina, and myself, all rode our mules during this morning’s march so that we outstript the pedestrians very soon. Passing out of the plain we ascended a steep acclivity of loose stones, which led us over one extremity of the ridge of Mahree, covered with large blocks of lava. After half an hour’s ride along this, we descended the opposite side, the road being down the tortuous and often precipitous bed of an occasional torrent. My mule having placed her feet upon an easily detached stone, came down upon her side with great violence. ”

“ We proceeded at a quick rate, for the escort, with some followers from the Kafilahs, like a lot of boys just broke loose from school, were racing and shouting nearly the whole way, tearing through the low bushes and shrubs like water rushing over a noisy fall. In this manner we travelled along for some distance, by sunrise reaching the gently sloping banks of the small stream running along the bottom of the valley of Kokki, its channel cut through a stratum of very coarse pebbly gravel, and strewn with large rolled stones. ”

“ Grass there certainly was, in large and dispersed tufts of a coarse wire-like hay, rather than of the bright green, yielding blades, we so generally associate with the idea of turf. We remained here only one day and night, and I slept without any disturbance beyond the pealing laughter of the whole Kafilah, from a conversation kept up at the extreme ends of the camp by two of the merriest fellows in it, Adam Burrah and Omer Suis. ”

“ However, I am not now sitting on the top of some piled up boxes, pistols around my waist, and a dagger ready to my hand, nor am I surrounded by the mummy-like forms of sleeping savages wrapt closely up in their tobes, whilst champing ruminating camels, with large goggle eyes, and goose looks, appear almost as contemplative as myself. I am not now the half-Bedouin, half-moss-trooper of the time I spent in Adal, and incidents will be more interesting to my reader, than any account of the dreamy castles that 439reared their airy turrets to amuse me in my solitude. ”

“ We soon descended into the bed of a small stream running into the Gobard, along the bottom of which the heavily-laden camels were now slowly winding their way, among numerous sweetly-smelling, white-blossomed mimosas, which scented the whole valley, and afforded a delicious banquet to the busy inhabitants of a natural bee-hive, so situated that to all honey-eating animals, save man, it was inaccessible. ”

“ During this morning’s march, Ohmed Medina, in a joking manner, said, that the English were not a nation of men like themselves, but a nation of women, because they allowed themselves to be governed by a Queen. I retorted by saying, that the fact was, “that the English women were as strong as the Dankalli men.” A remark which Ohmed Medina immediately translated into their language, much to the amusement of the Hy Soumaulee around, who did not seem in the least annoyed by the freedom of the comparison. ”

“ A long life of trial must produce, therefore, that memory of experience, and that penetration of judgment, which is so characteristic of the chiefs we meet with, on our road through Adal. After all, the axiom that knowledge is power, is the secret of the great influence possessed by the elders, among this people as among all others. Every old man here is a sage, and must be well versed in the philosophy of human nature, taught by an education of many years’ exposure, to the fatal consequences attendant upon unrestrained anger, or unprepared valour. ”

“ The sombre hue of its high embosoming rocks, the bare surface of the stone-covered plain, with the absence of all vegetation, formed a scene well suited for a deed of blood, especially if it can be pictured upon a night when the moon, sometimes obscured by clouds, cast occasional shadows of a pitchy darkness upon the earth. ”

“ I was anxiously watching the progress of events; for being some hundreds of yards from the men of the Kafilah I expected for a certainty being cut off by some rush of the whooping Bedouins, who, fast advancing, I could now see with my glass, from the inglorious position assigned to me; their bright spear-heads glistening in the sun, over the tops of the low jungle through which they were passing. At length they approached far too near to be pleasant to the 102feelings of Ohmed Mahomed, who had depended upon the mere rumour of my firearms deterring them from making an attack upon the Kafilah. ”

“ To aid reminiscences of other days, not from any want of thought, I began to whistle a favourite air, but being overheard by Moosa, he sat upon his mat, and tried, by calling out, “Ahkeem,” two or three times, to intimate that it was not exactly proper; but as I still continued, Zaido also awakened, and supposing I did not understand Moosa, put his hand up from where he lay by the side of the hut, and shook me by the foot, saying, “Ahkeem, that is very bad; all the Jinn in this country will seize the camels, if you whistle in that manner.” ”

“ April 5th.—We were on the march this morning by sunrise, our road continuing over broad fields of a thin stratum of black lava, overlaying a light-coloured and very finely-grained sandstone, beneath which was the same cretaceous formation with shells I had observed in several places yesterday. Dykes of a hard rock stood like high fences in a direction from east to west, and on one occasion we passed some distance actually along the interior of one, the centre of softer material having been denuded, leaving two thin walls of the outer and much harder stone. ”