CHAPTER VIII.
The Salt Lake.—Journey to Gunguntur, distance from Aleex’ Shaitan, ten miles, general direction, W. S. W.—Scene of the murder of three Soldiers of the British Mission, in 1840.—Halt for the Night.—Journey to Alulee, distance seven miles, general direction, S. S. W.—Stay at Alulee.—Attack of the Muditu tribe.
Bahr Assal, by observations made by Dr. Beke in the first instance, and afterwards confirmed by the observations of Lieut. Barker and Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Kirk, officers connected with the Shoan mission, is from four to five hundred feet below the level of the sea. It is surrounded by very lofty mountains, excepting in the direction corresponding with the termination of the Bay of Tajourah, where the ground is one fissured slope of sheets of lava which have been poured out from the neighbourhood of Goobat ul Khhrab.
Considerable evaporation of the salt water of the original sea, which I conceive must have once extended to the lake, has taken place since its separation; and as this operation is favoured considerably by the great depression of its surface, the fresh water supplied by the numerous small streams that flow into it on all sides during the wet season, is not allowed to collect in sufficient quantity to re-dissolve the crystals formed during the hot dry summer before. The northern extremity of the lake is, however, free from salt in mass; but the water is such a concentrated solution of it, that when tasted, it almost blisters the tongue by its intensity. In extent it cannot be more than twenty miles around, being longer in one direction than another, in the proportion, I thought, of about five to three miles. We were about twenty minutes in passing across the salt crust of that extremity over which our march lay, and then crossing an extensive deposit of a large hard crystalline rock (sulphate of soda), we entered a narrow dark ravine along the bed of a small stream of brackish water, which was but a few inches deep, and ran very gently into the lake. As we proceeded the water became sweeter, till at length, when we reached Gunguntur, our halting-place for the day, we found it quite fresh and in little connected pools, that admitted the luxury of a bath, which I very soon took advantage of. The brackish taste of the stream at the gorge of the ravine was owing to its impregnation by the atmosphere, which bears considerable quantities of salt particles for some miles inland, and which had also very unpleasant effects upon the skin of my face and lips whilst I stayed in the neighbourhood.
The camels now coming up, I had my house built with greater speed than it used to be, as I assisted at its erection myself, not wishing any more invitations to leave the Kafilah on pretext of superior accommodations. On the occasion of the British Mission going up to Shoa, this was the place where the murder of the two sergeants of the——Regiment of Queen’s infantry and a Portuguese cook was effected by the natives, insufficient watch being kept by the party during the night. I heard twenty different relations of this atrocious act; the perpetrators of it being well-known to the people of Tajourah, and belonged to the Debenee tribe. In the course of the day, I took an opportunity of mentioning to Ohmed Mahomed my rencontre with Garahmee; and he told me, that if I left the Kafilah and accompanied the Bedouins, I should always be exposed to the same attempts; “for I have my enemies,” he added, “and they will (drawing his hand across his throat) kill you, merely because you are my friend.” The Ras felt that his boxeish at the end of the journey was in jeopardy, so instead of going away to his own house of salt-bags, which had been constructed for him, he placed his mat alongside of mine, remained in my hut nearly all day, and slept there during the night. We had a long conversation upon the division of the country we were passing through among the Dankalli tribes, and I found that the Muditu and the Assobah tribes laid claim to equal portions of the salt lake, with liberty to take up salt on their respective shores. He added, they were constantly fighting either between themselves, or with the Issah Soumaulee tribes, who in strong parties sometimes came down and loaded great numbers of camels with the salt. Gunguntur, our present halting-place, belonged to the Muditu; on one side of the valley they had some huts, but the other was not frequented by them, as no food could be found for their flocks. I rather suppose it was the contiguity of the Issah Soumaulee, who on the opposite side held them in check, and would not allow them to cross over the ravine.
In the evening I accompanied Ohmed Mahomed to the scene of the murder of the soldiers. It was a little open space surrounded by high red precipitous hills, where two or three small streams joined the one running into Bahr Assal. A triangular plain of loose angular debris of several feet thick had been channelled by water, and seemed as if traversed by a wide road having flat-topped banks of three or four feet high. 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.
It appears that the members of the Mission lay in a long line beneath one of the low banks. In the middle of the night, Allee Chous, the Arab sentinel, being probably asleep, two natives cautiously approached along the level plain, descended the bank, and striking together, each having selected his victim, the soft parts of the necks were divided almost to the vertebre, and the two soldiers died without a struggle. The Portuguese cook, who lay next to them, was disturbed, and seeing the assassins, he gave a cry of alarm, and the heavy knife of one of them, whilst retreating, was plunged into his abdomen. He died on the following day. Some attempt was made to pursue the murderers, but the darkness and the number of huge boulders around the base of the hills amongst which they retreated, favoured their escape. As I felt quite sure of the intentions of Garahmee and Moosa to serve me in the same way, if they could get the opportunity, I felt no little anxiety on turning in to-night, when on the level tops of the sides of my box house, I saw these two rascals busily arranging their mats, as if solicitous to convince me they did not wish any recurrence of the tragedy, which had formed the only topic of conversation to-day; Ohmed Mahomed, however, soon dislodged them, on the plea, that they ran the risk of upsetting the boxes upon me, and as these wooden walls were really rather shaky, they could not object to his request, that they would make their place of rest somewhere else. To prevent, still farther, any attempt during the night, that should not awaken me, he placed a chevaux de frize of camel saddles over the whole, so that the removal of them must have made considerable noise.
April 6th.—The camels were loaded, and we were on the road a little before sunrise. Ohmed Mahomed took me to see a cave, made of some large boulders, three of which sustained a fourth on their summit, as a roof. They were of exceedingly large dimensions, the cave being at least twenty feet high, which may give some idea of the size of these rocks which had fallen from the sides of the adjoining cliffs.
We followed the course of the little river towards its source between high steep cliffs of a porphyritic rock, generally of a bright red colour. Here our path was rugged in the extreme, winding around huge detached rocks that lay in the bed of the stream, and the tortuous course and irregular surface of the road now rendered walking very difficult. Sometimes, in more favoured spots, we snatched a passing glimpse of small verdure-covered spots, where a solitary clump of the doom palm-tree, or a sweetly-smelling mimosa, connected the traveller with the earth of beauty he otherwise would have seemed to have been leaving, as he traversed the deep, dark gully or cleft in the volcanic plain of the country above and around him. Underneath the shade of one of the doom palms, a rude cairn of stones marked the grave of the Portuguese belonging to the escort of the Mission, who died near this spot, from the wound he received at Gunguntur.
We were four hours marching before we reached Allulee, where it was designed we should halt; and here I certainly was surprised to find several broad sheets of water, clear and sweet, in which grew a great quantity of bright green excellent grass. Considerable numbers of the doom palm-tree fanned the air with their large leaves, and widely-spreading umbrella-like mimosa-trees afforded a grateful shade. The ravine here widened into a hilly but open country, a mile or so in diameter, and we seemed to have come to a place where there was room enough to breathe, and to feel happy in our escape from the narrow confines of the ravine we had just passed. Several of the rocks were encrusted with a saline deposit from the atmosphere, and a promise of an abundance of game was held out by the quantity of antelopes that resorted here for the sake of water. The salt, also, I expect, was no little inducement, as in common with most herbivorous animals, they are exceedingly fond of it. A little slope of gravelly soil, rising from the edge of one of the ponds, and resting upon a steep lava-bank in the rear, was the spot chosen for our encampment; and my quarters being arranged as usual, I gladly retreated into it, to prepare, by a good night’s rest, for the following day’s hunting which I had promised myself, as Ohmed Mahomed had told me, we should take advantage of this favourable spot to rest and recruit the camels, who were nearly worn out by their tiresome journey so far.