Zeila

“ I) to perpetuate the name of Obal, son of Joktan (Gen. IV) whose name is almost unknown in Arabia; thus indicating a very early migration of this tribe to the Somali coast. This name seems also to survive in Obollah at the Euphrates mouth on the Persian Gulf; which was the Ubulu of the Assyrian inscriptions and the Apologus of § 35.
Of Zeila, Ibn Batuta, writing in the 14th century, said: "I then went from Aden by sea, and after four days came to the city of Zeila. This is a settlement of the Berbers, a people of Sudan, of the Safia sect. Their country is a desert of two months' extent ”

“ This tent was of brocade and Mekkah velvet, lined inside with fine stuffs of Chaul; so that the tent would have been a splendid one if it had been new, and it was still good. They said that four years ago the Prester had taken it in the camp of the King of Adel, who is the Moorish King, lord of Zeila and Barbara; and so the Prester sent to say that we should bless the tent before saying mass in it, lest there should have been any sin of Moors in it. ”

“ The Abyssinian horse also made many sallies, seeking to impress us; the Captain-General of the camp, by name Azemache Cafilao, did marvels with his horse on these days, for nothing could show outside the King of Zeila's camp without being raided by this Captain; in this the Moors always had the worst, losing both their flocks and their lives. When the Moor saw how brave our Captain was, he determined to make a great effort to kill him by treachery. ”

“ Though some supplies are brought in by caravan from the country round, yet Aden could not exist without the regular shipments from Berbera and Zeila on the coast of Somaliland. There is also considerable traffic in coffee, ivory, feathers and skins from this coast, while native Somalis swarm in Aden. So that Aden, by the necessities of its existence, is closely linked with the neighbouring Horn of Africa. With no products of its own, it is a collecting centre for the trade of the coasts of Arabia and the Persian Gulf ”

“ All are equally ready to resort to a bloody appeal upon the least cause of dispute, so that every day is marked by some fatal quarrel, and every night by some robbery and violent death. Even the murdering Danakil shakes his head when he speaks of the Fair of Berberah, denouncing it as being “shatan, shatan;” whilst the wisest and the best men of every nation or tribe, who are here assembled, speak openly their desire, that some powerful Islam, or even Feringee Government, should take actual possession, both of this port and of Zeila also. ”

“ One day he saw a young girl so beautiful that, being always accustomed to have his own way, he immediately determined to espouse her. He never doubted that she would be only too glad to be made a queen, for she was very poor. But Zelia—that was her name—answered, to his great astonishment, that she would rather not marry him.
"Do I displease you?" asked the Prince, into whose mind it had never entered that he could displease anybody.
"Not at all, my Prince," said the honest peasant maiden. "You are very handsome, very charming; but you are not like your father the Good King. ”

“ At the same time, the hermit stood up, his flowing hair changed to shining gold, and his face became a lovely woman's face; it was the Fairy Candide. "Zelia has broken your spell," she said to the Prince, "as I meant she should, when you were worthy of her love."
Zelia and Prince Cherry fell at the fairy's feet. But with a beautiful smile she bade them come to their kingdom. In a trice, they were transported to the Prince's palace, where King Suliman greeted them with tears of joy. He gave back the throne, with all his heart, and King Cherry ruled again, with Zelia for his queen. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I will let thee go, that thou mayst bring to Magura the tidings of the prince’s sad fate. Of a ransom speak no word. Perchance later I shall desire the blood of this youth; perchance his death will be more precious to me than gold.
Runa.—Now thou speakest as a king and a man! Why should we bargain over that slave?
Radúz.—Who is a slave here? Tell us, queen!
Runa.—Thou, thou! For I will cast thee into iron fetters and will torture thee to death with the heaviest toil! O, like a wolf thou wilt tear at thy chain and despairingly gnaw it with thy teeth!
Radovid.—Thou viper! ”

“ As the Jewess closed the Book of Moïzes, Zelida appeared, accompanied by a whole train of slaves and her old nurse. At her entrance Hassan, beside himself with joy, flung himself on his knees and kissed her hand.
'My lord,' he said to the Bassa, 'pardon me these transports. No elixir of love was needed to inflame my heart! Let the marriage rite make us speedily one.'
'My son, are you mad?' asked the Bassa. 'As long as the misfortunes of your brothers last, shall you alone be happy. And whoever heard of a bridegroom with a black hand? ”

“ How cruel men are!
Runa.—Confess that thou didst that evil deed. Is this thy sword?
Radúz.—It is my sword. If I had held it when you came upon me I should have sold my life dearly. That I killed the poor beast I reckon as one of my sins. But I did not know that it was yours and that it was consecrated.
Runa.—But, believe me, thou wilt rue that sin bitterly. But thy greatest sin is that thou art the prince of Magura. Thou art silent? So thou wishest to deny that? Look, I will believe thee, that thou art not the son of Queen Nyola, if without delay thou wilt curse her! ”

“ He gave orders to his guards to convey Zelia to a prison near the palace, and then took counsel with his foster-brother, the one of all his ill companions who most incited him to do wrong.
“Sir,” said this man, “if I were in Your Majesty’s place, I would never vex myself about a poor silly girl. Feed her on bread and water till she comes to her senses; and if she still refuses you, let her die in torment, as a warning to your other subjects should they venture to dispute your will. You will be disgraced should you suffer yourself to be conquered by a simple girl.” ”

“ Zelica then called one of her women, who ran to her from amidst some cypress trees where she was concealed, and I perceived that she was the slave whom I supposed to be the princess of Persia.
"Aswad," said the princess to me, "you now see the true Cale-Cairi; I give her back her name and take my own: I have no wish to disguise myself any longer. Although your love is greater than your ambition, I am certain that it will be a source of new pleasure to you to know that the lady who loves you is a princess." ”

“ Zelie, the unfortunate child: and there, distorting himself in gallant gesture, offering tribute, that foul ambassador! The glow of fallen embers in the fire smudged him with infernal fantasy—it lent her the softest flush, making her young beauty to quicken and to kindle. As if a guilty angel should stoop from the lower step of heaven to take a bribe of hell. ”

“ Wouldst thou overthrow the ancient custom of thy forefathers? Is a child greater than a mother?
Radúz.—Before thee I bow my head, mother mine . . . Yet this tree I will protect with mine own life.
Nyola.—And I will rather give up mine own life than yield in this. Radovid, do what I have commanded.
Radúz.—But I place myself in the way, and woe to him, I say, who as an enemy draws near that tree!
Nyola (Taking the axe from Radovid) .—Then woe to me, thy mother! I see that thou hast no weapon. Here is my dagger . . . Well, take it, how else wouldst thou forbid my advance to yonder poplar? ”

“ Wait yet a little longer, till the black pig is drowned in the sea.’
‘Yes! dear Hassan,’ said Zelida, ‘our happiness will be increased tenfold when my sisters have regained their proper shapes. And here is the elixir which I have brought with me, so that their joy may equal ours.’ And she held out the flask to the Bassa, who had it closed in his presence.
Zambac was filled with joy at the sight of Zelida, and embraced her with delight. Then she led the way into the garden, and invited all her friends to seat themselves under the thick overhanging branches of a splendid jessamine tree. ”

“ Like the salute they had once given to Prince Sandor, the Tzigani began proudly the heroic march of free Hungary, their music sending a fast farewell to the dead as the sun gave her its last kiss.
Then, as the hymn died slowly away in the distance, soft as a sigh, with one last, low, heart-breaking note, Andras Zilah laid the light form of the Tzigana upon the couch; and, winding his arms about her, with his head pillowed upon her breast, he murmured, in a voice broken with sobs: "I will love only, now, what you loved so much, my poor Tzigana. I will love only the land where you lie asleep." ”

“ Understanding nothing of the reason of Zilah’s disappearance, the General listened in childish alarm to Marsa, wildly imploring mercy and pity of some invisible person. The unhappy old man would have faced a battalion of honveds or a charge of bashi-bazouks rather than remain there in the solitary house, with the delirious girl whose sobs and despairing appeals made the tears stream down the face of this soldier, whose brain was now weakened by drink, but who had once contemplated with a dry eye, whole ditches full of corpses, which some priest, dressed in mourning, blessed in one mass. ”

“ And now it was Sheila’s turn to look a bit embarrassed and color, and appear uncertain whether to be vexed or pleased, when her husband himself broke in in his usual impetuous fashion: “I say, Ingram, don’t be a fool! Of course you must call her Sheila—unless when there are people here, and then you must please yourself. Why, the poor girl has enough of strange things and names about her already. ”

“ Framed in the slightest and most sylph-like mould, yet of proportions exquisitely true, of symmetry most rare, of roundness most voluptuous, of grace unrivalled, Zelica was in sooth a creature, formed not so much for mortal love as for ideal adoration. Her coal-black hair, profuse almost unto redundancy, waving in natural ringlets, glossy and soft as silk—her wild, full, liquid eyes, now blazing with intolerable lustre, now melting into the veriest luxury of languor; her high, pale, intellectual brow ”

“ She lay there, a mass of white satin and lace, her loosened hair falling upon the carpet, where the pale bridal flowers withered beneath her husband's heel; and Zilah, motionless, his glance wandering from the prostrate woman to the package of letters which burned his fingers, seemed ready to strike, with these proofs of her infamy, the distracted Tzigana, a wolf to threaten, a slave to supplicate.
Suddenly he leaned over, seized her by the wrists, and raised her almost roughly.
"Do you know," he said, in low, quivering tones, "that the lowest of women is less culpable than you? ”

“ But the woman he knew at once to be the nurse of Zelida.
He started eagerly forward, but before he had time to speak the slave turned to the soldier she was conducting. ‘My lord,’ she said, ‘those are the men; I have tracked them from the house of the Cadi to this palace. They are the same; I am not mistaken, strike and avenge yourself.’
As he listened the face of the stranger grew scarlet with anger. He drew his sword and in another moment would have rushed on the Jews, when Neangir and the slaves of the Bassa seized hold of him. ”

“ Zeyla is the emporium of Habesh to the south; the natives of which are a powerful people. Islamism prevails among them, and integrity in doing what is right.
"Boja, or Bujja. [1] —These people are the merchants of Habesh to the north, their country lying between Habesh and Nuba; and they are black, naked, and worshippers of idols. Their land is divided into many petty districts. They are sociable, good, and kind to merchants: and in their country is a mine of gold. They have no towns, nor crops of corn; but their land is an extensive desert. ”

“ The Zilahs, in trying to free their country, had freed themselves from all littleness; and proud, but not vain, they bore but slight resemblance to those Magyars of whom Szechenyi, the great count, who died of despair in 1849, said: "The overweening haughtiness of my people will be their ruin."
The last of the Zilahs did not consider his pride humiliated by loving and wedding a Tzigana. Frankly, in accents of the deepest love and the most sincere devotion, Andras asked Marsa Laszlo if she would consent to become his wife. ”

“ Then the two sisters emptied the vials of their wrath on Zelinda. "Just see," they said, "that affected, capricious girl! She shall go to the Monster! She who wanted roses at this season. No, indeed! Papa must stay with us. The stupid creature!" At all these taunts Zelinda, without growing angry, simply said: "It is right that the one who has caused the misfortune should pay for it. I will go to the Monster's. Yes, Papa, take me to the garden, and the Lord's will be done."
The next day Zelinda and her sorrowful father began their journey and at nightfall arrived at the garden gate. ”