Two other mosques, the only stone buildings in Tajourah, were much inferior in size to the one I have just described, being but a foot or two higher than the devotees; the roofs were flat, and a white lime-wash, prepared from the roasted shell coral reef behind the town, slacked with water, had been freely applied to the walls outside, but having no windows, the interiors looked like open sepulchres. One of these stood at a short distance behind the house of the Sultaun, the other flanked the sea front of the town, at the opposite extremity of which was a ruined stone building, of a square form, standing close to the water’s edge, and which, I suppose, was meant originally for a protecting tower, but nothing except the remains of the walls were left to enable us to form any idea of its original character. The mosque on the sea-shore was much frequented at the time of the morning prayers, immediately before and after sunrise, great numbers of the inhabitants taking advantage of the sea to indulge in a more extensive ablution than they could conveniently perform during the rest of the day.
Although I always professed to be of the same religion as Mahomed, that we both could have worshipped God together, and as regarded the stated number of times, I might also have been an advocate for the first proposal made to him by the angel Gabriel, of at least five hundred prayers per day being necessary, still I objected to the laws and regulations he had established, and preferred, with all deference to the opinions of my Dankalli friends the institutes of Jesus; and as they admitted he was a prophet sent from God, I contended that I could not be much in error in following his instructions, even if judged by the Koran. I did not find it necessary, therefore, to become, a convert to Islamism, or I might, as the enterprising Burckhardt has done, dilate upon their belief and form of worship.
I noticed, that they prayed very regularly five times a-day, with their faces turned towards Mecca; once immediately before and again after sunrise; then came the Assair, or afternoon prayer, between three and four o’clock; and again before and after sunset. Each service is preceded by carefully washing all parts of the body that are not covered by the clothes. The ceremony commences by several devotees standing up in one long row in front of the mosque, which is always so built as to have a proper regard to the situation of Mecca. Their open hands are first brought closely up to the ears, whilst they repeat some short ejaculations respecting the greatness of God, the compassionate, the only one; then stooping in the attitude of a low bow, the hands resting on the knees, something of the same sort is again repeated, and down they all sit together, in the Arab fashion, on the bent legs, not crossed in front, like the Turks, but turned under them the contrary way. After sundry satisfactory looks about them, and stroking their beards, if they have any, all bend their heads to the earth, pressing the forehead hard upon the ground two or three times successively; then, after a little more sitting, turning to their right and left hands, they repeat, in each position, protestations of peace with all the world, and rising up, depart to their several avocations, meeting again at the next stated hour of prayer, to repeat exactly the same devout ceremonial.
On one occasion, I had a good laugh at the little play of some boys of the Sultaun’s household, who pretended to go through the ceremony of circumcision, and in which they performed their parts with great gravity, and all attention, no doubt, to the details of that, to them, very interesting operation. It must be observed, that circumcision among the Dankalli, as among other Mahomedans, is frequently deferred to a very late period, the boys, or young men rather, being sometimes sixteen or eighteen years old before they are thus made eligible for reception into the paradise of the faithful. To proceed, however, with a description of the ceremony, as it was acted in the little court before our house. The door being thrown open by the attendants, a boy, representing the grave old Kadee, with the operator, entered side by side, followed by the father and the candidate for circumcision, and these by a crowd of friends who, when the operation began, formed a circle before the Kadee and the father, who sat very sedately upon a couch. The operator, with a piece of stick, then commenced acting his part, whilst the boy laid upon his back on the ground, kicking and shrieking, pretended to suffer great pain, which, as in our pantomimes, was, of course, the fun of the whole thing. He, unfortunately, overdid his part, at least did it so naturally and with so much noise, that some of the neighbours came rushing in to see what accident had happened. Their appearance put to flight the whole company of juvenile actors, who got off, however, with some tumbles over each other through the narrow doorway, except the circumcised one, who being caught by Shurmalkee’s slave, Abdullah, got a few cuffs upon the head, and a kick or two behind, with a polite request that he should convey them to the mock Kadee, as part payment of his expenses on the occasion. I took a note of this as it afforded me an opportunity of completing the account of the ceremonials of the Mahomedan religion by Burckhardt, all of which, excepting the circumcision, and which, by the by, he must have submitted to, he has so admirably described. Without compromising myself, I had an opportunity in this farce of witnessing the principal features of the first necessary step of Mahomedan proselytism, as performed according to law.
I frequently observed a religious ceremony that seemed to be a spontaneous outbreak of religious fervour on the part of individuals, rather than a generally recognised portion of their devotions. Towards evening, a large circle of some twenty or thirty men would commence a loud and long-continued repetition of the word Allah, for nearly a quarter of an hour; and then being served, each drank a small cup of coffee, whilst one of their number, with an open Koran on the ground before him, read a portion of one of the chapters, at the termination of which would commence again the calling upon the name of Allah, rocking themselves backwards and forwards in the most violent manner until nearly exhausted, when another supply of coffee being ready, and a portion of the Koran read as before, they prepared themselves for another bout of the vociferation. This they called a zekar, and would sometimes keep it up the whole night, much to the disturbance of their less devout neighbours.
The Dankalli women are greater apparent devotees of Islamism than those of any other eastern country I visited. Continually, whilst at work, they chant some sacred passages of the Koran, or assemble in each other’s houses to join in domestic zekars; and here I must observe, that though somewhat attempted on the part of the Sultaun’s family, from an affectation of Arab customs, the women are not precluded, except by their own feelings of propriety, from the freest intercourse with the men.
In their judicial proceedings, they affect to be directed entirely by the law of the Koran, and have a very quiet fat old Kadee, who superintends marriages, circumcisions, and other civil and religious ceremonies; but from what I could learn from a conversation held by Mr. Cruttenden with Cassim, very summary proceedings sometimes characterize their administration of justice.
Ohmed, the eldest son of the Sultaun, had with real Eastern cunning, obtained a present from us on the plea of his going to Abasha with me. On the near approach of our departure he intimated, in reply to our asking him if he were ready, that when he said he was going to Abasha he meant to Gondah, and not with me to Shoa; and seemed highly pleased at having thus outwitted Mr. Cruttenden. who supposed that by Abasha, Ohmed meant to say that he was to accompany me to Shoa. Of course, under our circumstances, Mr. Cruttenden could only take this deception in good part; but in the evening, Ohmed and a good number of the principal men being in our place, Mr. Cruttenden commenced the conversation by asking Cassim, if there were justice to be procured in Tajourah? “Of course; certainly. Do we not profess Islamism?” was the prompt and almost offended reply. “Then how do you punish theft?” asked Mr. Cruttenden. “Oh,” replied Cassim, “we drag the thief down to the beach, and haul him about in the sea-water till his stomach is quite full, we then drag him along the sand till he throws it up again; after that, we kill an ox, eat him, and make the thief pay for it; and he then is received into society again.” This was too amusing a relation not to be interpreted to me by the kindness of Mr. Cruttenden, who postponed the application of the reason of his inquiry, to the deceit practised upon him by Ohmed, for the purpose of enjoying with me this account of the wild justice of the Dankalli.