Next morning our troublesome guide sought me out to complain of symptoms of dyspepsia. He remarked that he was incessantly spitting—a circumstance which I had already noticed with disgust. I told him that if he swallowed the water which Allah gave him in his mouth, it would make his food move from the place where he had the pain, which was a punishment from Providence for his wastefulness. He asked many questions to make sure that I knew what I was talking about, and then left me, much impressed. My “prescription” had the desired effect, and he gave up his objectionable habit.
The morning of December 11 was very cold for these low latitudes. Just before sunrise the thermometer sank to 43° F. When we were ready to start, we found that the head baggage-man was drunk. He had been tippling “marissa,” which the villagers brew from fermented barley. The man leered vacantly and was incapable of work. Considering the thirst and the opportunities there was little drunkenness among our boys in the Soudan, and we had no further trouble from this source. But the precepts of the Prophet did not keep those who accompanied us into Abyssinia from the vile beer of the country.
Blewitt Bey, on his pony, met us just after we had mounted our camels, and rode five miles with us. He gave us most valuable information about the land in which our road lay, and we were sorry when he said good-bye with best of wishes for our success.
We were in the saddle nearly eight hours and travelled about twenty-three miles. We reached our camping-ground at Abou Harras at five o’clock. The sun set almost immediately, and we, who were in advance, pitched our three tents by moonlight. The last of the baggage train did not arrive till an hour and a half later, and the drunken “Sheik of the Afsh”[6] was not with it.
The country through which we passed was similar to that which we had seen on the previous day. It is perfectly fertile. We had left the sand and mimosa scrub behind us, and were in a well-wooded region, with abundant undergrowth of bushes. The open ground is covered by grass which grows to a height of nine feet in the rainy season, but was now dried and matted under foot. It supplies pasturage for cattle, and I saw a herd of kine grazing on it. They were in fine condition. I handed my mug to the herdsman and asked him for some milk. He gave it to me willingly, and I thought it the best I had tasted since I left England in 1899. It seemed to me that this district offered a valuable field to British capital and enterprise.
I extract from my diary the following unsystematic notes, with an apology to the reader:—The butterflies which I saw most frequently on the journey were the clouded yellow and the red tip. The brimstone and painted yellow are seen occasionally. The familiar cabbage white is found on the banks of the river. I heard no singing bird except the chaffinch, but I saw a pair of blackbirds, tits of many kinds, and fly-catchers. A long-tailed species, which is a little smaller than a ring-dove, is very common. It was called “albicora” by our black boys.
THE WELCOME AT ABOU HARRAS.
See [p. 13.]