I was very much amused, when the sheep was slaughtered, by the contest which took place for the intestines and fat. It was of the usual Adal kind, covered with short hair, entirely white, except the small black head. The tail was large and heavy, consisting principally of a huge deposit of suet overhanging from the rump. Two or three applicants were almost fighting about the possession of this, which I at length settled by dividing between Garahmee and Moosa, who retired with it, borrowing my copper cooking-pot and a large wooden bowl from Zaido, for some purpose or other I could not make out, but which determined me to watch their proceedings to satisfy my curiosity. Having melted the fat over a low fire they soon prepared with camels’ dung and dry sticks, they poured the oily liquid into the bowl; Moosa then took his seat upon the ground, sitting between Garahmee’s legs, who commenced, with a long skewer-like comb of one prong, to comb out and arrange the rather tangled mass of long stiff curly hair, which was the pride and chiefest care of Moosa. Having tastefully adjusted the ends of the hair, behind and over the ears, in one regular line, and brought it to a level surface all over the head, Garahmee then took a large mouthful of the melted fat from the bowl, and suddenly applying his lips to the surface of the hair, continued to send it in spirts, so as fairly to spread it over every part, and to do it effectually and properly, taking several fresh pulls at the bowl, until he thought a just half was expended, when he got up and exchanged places with Moosa, who did for him the same friendly office. Garahmee, however, was quite bald in front, so all his share of the grease was not only blown over the hair on the back part of his head, but also well rubbed in with the hands. After this operation had been duly performed, the character of their hair was completely changed, and at a distance seemed, Moosa’s more especially, as if each had on a skull-cap of frosted silver.
It is not necessary, whilst staying in this place, to record daily occurrences, which were now beginning to lose all novelty, and circumstances of different kinds detained us here for four days, now being deterred by the condition of the country, which was reported to have been flooded by the late rains, and now staying for the arrival of the tardy Kafilah, which, for many very good reasons that Ohmed Mahomed took care to enumerate to me, was especially wanted to assist in the protection of the whole. The road also from Allulee to the Hawash was in the most disturbed state, from the jealousy with which the Wahama, the tribe of Mahomed Allee, the favourite Ras ul Kafilah of the British Mission, viewed the present patronage of the people of Tajourah; and what with the same spirit engendered also in the Debenee tribe, and the avowed hostility of the Muditu, I saw little chance of any but the most disastrous results occurring to the Kafilah and myself.
During my stay at Allulee, an affaletah (kid-skin bag), full of palm wine, was brought me by Zaido every morning, he having suspended it below an orifice made near the top of the tree each preceding evening. Before sunrise he again ascended the tree, and taking the bag down, conveyed it beneath his robe, with a deal of caution, to my hut. His religion (Islamism) rendered this proceeding illegal, and he wished to enhance the favour by the great appearance of difficulty in procuring it; but a circumstance that happened one day proved to me that there were other wine-drinkers besides myself in the camp. I was busy writing, when, all at once, I heard loud sounds of merriment raised at no great distance from my hut, and removed one of the side boxes, so that, without exposing myself to the sun, I could see all that was going on. A poor fellow, evidently too tipsy to walk, was standing stark naked, with his hands tied behind his back by a long cord, the other end of which was fastened to a large stone; whilst two or three men kept discharging skins of water over him, that all the boys of the camp, in great glee, were busy supplying from the neighbouring pools, raising a loud shout of laughter as each skinful seemed to rouse the drunken man for a moment, who staggered along, pulling after him the large stone, until he had completed the circuit of the camp, when he was allowed to lie down in quiet, and, covered with mats piled high above him, was left to recover from his debauch.
Palm wine is a very thin, light liquor, tasting like excellent ginger-beer, and, like it, effervescing every time the bag which contains it is opened. I always could drink three or four pints a-day, and Ohmed Mahomed would frequently steal into my hut, and help me in finishing my large leathern bottle, which a skin bag may certainly be called.
One afternoon I more attentively observed a very active game, in which the Dankalli appear to take great delight. It is played with a hard, elastic ball, and seemed to require more bodily exertion than our game at cricket. The players divest themselves of their tobes and knives, securing their fotah around the body by simply tucking the ends under a fold of the upper edge. One of them then takes the ball, which he strikes against the ground, and after two or three preliminary bounds with it high into the air, he tries to catch it as it falls on the back of his hand, then rolling it into his palm, he strikes it with force a second time on to the ground, and again tries to catch it while falling from the rebound. At this moment the other players rush towards the ball, and attempt to keep it bounding up and down at a short distance from the ground, by hitting it with their open hands thick and fast. It certainly appears astonishing when some one more dexterous than the others does manage, after many trials, to bring the ball into such a position that admits of his being able to catch it on the back of his hand, to run clear of the players, followed fast by them, strike the ball fairly on the ground, catch it as it rises, and, with a triumphant shout, throw it towards the party most distant from him. The new possessor of the ball now endeavours, before the rest can reach him, to go through the same required moves, and send the ball back in the direction from which he received it. A good deal of laughing, shouting, and wrestling accompanies this boisterous game, and sometimes heavy falls are given, in endeavouring to trip up the controller of the ball’s movements before he can effect his desired object of bearing it away and performing the requisite ceremonial.
There is something in this game that deserves attention, it being of a character so unusual among the people of very hot countries. I believe it to be peculiar to the Dankalli tribes, neither the Arabs, nor the Galla, nor the Abyssinians, their very near neighbours, knowing anything about it, and never, as far as I could observe, indulging in such energetic exercise. The only parallel case of a similar systematic exertion employed for recreation among the inhabitants of a warm country, is the amusement of cricketing among the English residents in India, where that game is kept up with great spirit, and will most likely be a favourite game with their half-caste descendants. Ultimately it may become naturalized, like, I think, this Dankalli game has been in the country of Adal.
CHAPTER IX.
Staying at Allulee.—Amusements.—More camels join our Kafilah.—Introduced to a new-comer, Ohmed Medina.—Journey to Gurguddee, time marching one hour and a-half, direction S. W.—Halt for the night.—Murder of a slave.—March to Khrabtu, time occupied, seven hours.—General direction, south.—Proceed to Saggadarah, time marching three hours.—General direction, south-west.
As I had not seen my mule for some days, on the fourth morning of my stay at Allulee, I sent Allee to bring her up to my quarters; I found that she was bleeding profusely at the mouth, and on examination, discovered five or six large leeches adhering to the under surface of the tongue. It was a job to detach them, so difficult was it to retain the slimy, blood-distended monsters in the grasp, and so tenaciously they clung to their prey. Allee pulled, Zaido tried, and then Ebin Izaak affirmed he knew how to effect their removal, but still the leeches were of a different opinion, and held on proof against all efforts to dislodge them, until I brought to bear the results of my professional education, and by the secret application of a little salt, overcame all objection, and the leeches dropt out one after the other, as if mesmerized by my touch. My Dankalli friends stared, as well they might, at this striking illustration of knowledge being power, especially as the modus operandi was a mystery they could not fathom, and they took themselves and the mule off, with an idea that I must be a mighty magician, like Moses of old, and that my knowledge must indeed be, as they expressed it, “as extensive as the sea.”