Two saddle-bags of cowskin dressed with the hair on, were made also by the blacksmith; they had no pretensions to elegance, certainly, but as they were capacious enough for me to stow in them all the wardrobe I had selected for the journey, and also several pounds of biscuit, and a small cheese, I did not mind their not being of a make that would have commanded the entire approbation of a bagsman accustomed to travel only on English roads. 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.
Mr. Cruttenden and myself were hard at work with our needles for two days previous to the start, he kindly undertaking to manufacture a skin-case for my watch, pocket-compass, and ammunition; whilst I attempted to vie with him in his workmanship by stitching together two strips of ox-hide into a belt, which, for want of the necessary buckles, was made to button in front. To this the sheath of my Adal knife, or dagger, was secured, as also a little bag for caps and bullets. When finished, the Sultaun very graciously pronounced the belt to be a very creditable effort of genius, with which encomium I felt highly flattered.
March 27th, the last day in Tajourah.—The night before, all the boxes were taken to the open place beyond the little stone mosque in the rear of the Sultaun’s house, preparatory for the grand start to our first halt this day, which I was positively informed would be at the distance of at least seven miles. It was not until late in the afternoon, that I was called to witness the camels loaded for the first time, and to count them, as they one by one proceeded on their march. Mr. Cruttenden was present to take farewell; and a whole circle of the principal hukells of the town, who here held their last calahm, to place me particularly under the care of Ohmed Mahomed, the brother of Cassim and Mahomed, or as he was commonly called Ebin Izaak, the son of Izaak, upon whom jointly now devolved the charge of the Kafilah and myself. Cassim, one of the chief men of the town, and Ibrahim Shaitan, “the devil,” (a very appropriate name,) had agreed to accompany us for three days, and see us fairly started on our journey.
The camels having already got out of sight, the Fahtah was recited by all present, and a general leave-taking followed. I shook hands with Mr. Cruttenden, and after sincerely thanking him for his kindness and the trouble he had taken in providing everything necessary for my journey, mounted my mule, and went on my way rejoicing at having at last turned my back upon Tajourah, a town I was most heartily tired of.
CHAPTER V.
Journey to Ambabboo, distance three miles, general direction south-west, along the sea-shore.—Halt for the night.—Journey to Dulhull, distance seven miles, general direction nearly south-west.—Staying at Dulhull.
We first passed a small stream which a shower among the hills during the preceding night had produced, and which was now running directly into the sea: then the well, with the usual crowd of laughing water-bearers, who in groups were commenting upon the Feringee Kafilah, and as I passed saluted me with an abundance of salaams (peace). Cassim was the only one of the group of five natives that accompanied me who was mounted, and he was unarmed, except with the common dagger of his countrymen. The remainder, excepting Ibrahim Shaitan, who had made himself particularly disagreeable in Tajourah, were strangers to me. I was given to understand they formed a part of the escort of ten men who were engaged to accompany me on the journey. They were certainly the most cut-throat looking individuals I had ever seen; their suspicious glances, low whispers, and rumoured characters, for they were some Bedouins of the interior, made me feel rather uncomfortable at first, and I almost felt inclined to get off my mule, and go to prayers with Cassim, when I saw him dismount as we rode along the beach and commence his ablutions for that purpose. As, however, he made no signal for me to halt, I proceeded quietly along with the rest of the party till we passed a broad current, some feet wide, of small hermit crabs, that were marching along, at a great pace, from the sea, towards the north, in which direction, it must be observed, Mecca lay. I pulled up my mule to observe what could possibly be the reason of such an array passing along, and my wild-looking friends coming up, Ibrahim, whose knowledge of Arabic rivalled mine, looked in my face inquiringly, and pointing to the crabs, remarked, “fennah rah?” (where go) to which I replied in equally good Arabic, “hadge” (pilgrimage), at which he raised a loud laugh, and telling his friends in their language, they seemed to enjoy the joke exceedingly. After this incident I got a little more confidence, and was just going to ask Ibrahim some question relative to the time we should be on the journey, when a sudden turn brought us to a little savannah, surrounded with date and mimosa trees, whilst beyond, rising high above the bright green foliage, was a pretty regular amphitheatre of high conical hills. As we had been scarcely an hour reaching this place, and I saw by the boxes being piled up that a halt was intended, I was rather astonished at finding our first day’s march so very short, and Cassim riding up, I put the question to him if it were intended to start again in the night, as is frequently the case with Kafilahs to avoid the heat of the day. Cassim, however, told me that we should not start again until the next morning very early, a number of camels and men not having joined who intended to accompany us to Abasha. My new servant Zaido, a slave of Ohmed Mahomed, was here introduced to me. He had been engaged to attend me on the road for twenty dollars, to be paid on our arrival in Shoa. He was a tall good-natured sort of a fellow, but the greatest coward I ever met among these brave people, and the very reverse in this respect to his much shorter fellow-slave, Allee Ohmed, who also had been ordered by his master to look after my mule, and who was ever ready to perform other services for me in the expectation of a few gilt buttons, and a boxeish, or present, at parting. Neither of them was much more than twenty years old, but Allee had proved himself a man of some courage in a battle with the Issah Soumaulee, in which he had killed his opponent.
Immediately on arriving at the halting-place, Allee took my mule, and Zaido brought me my carpet, with my Scotch plaid and Arab cloak, which were rolled up in it, and arranged my bed for the night in an open part of the savannah, placing my saddle under my head to serve for a pillow. Cassim took up his position on one side of me, and Ibrahim on the other side of Cassim, whilst during the night Alee and Zaido lay, one at my feet, and the other at my head, to guard against any attempt to assassinate me during the night, it being known that many of the Debenee tribe had declared that no white man should pass again through their country, owing to a dispute about the division of five or six thousand dollars they asserted the Sultaun had received from the English, in payment for the purchase of some small islands in the Bay of Tajourah. The murder of three of Capt. Harris’s European escort, eight or nine days’ journey inland, was a painful evidence of the vindictive spirit thus excited. From the Debenee I was afterwards told I had more to fear than from any other tribe I should have to pass through.
During the night, I received a note from Mr. Cruttenden, which I read and answered by the light of the moon. A slight shower of rain gave promise of an abundant supply of water during our journey, and was hailed by all as a very propitious omen.