When the word was given for us to start after the camels, I mounted my mule, and travelled at a pace that suited her exactly, being about seven hours marching fourteen miles. We soon ascended from the valley of Hasanderah, and passing over the ridge, emerged into a very extensive treeless plain, where were numerous denuded bases of small volcanic cones, the remains of which consisted of stratified concentric circles of black lava, just appearing above the surface of the ground. The diameters of the numerous instances of this peculiar geological structure, I passed during the day, varied from fifteen to thirty yards. Grass was everywhere abundant. Numerous sand-pillars moved along before and behind us; sometimes, as many as twenty, or even thirty, appearing in sight at once. They varied considerably in form, from that of an upright exact column to that of an inverted trumpet, sustained at an angle of 50° from the horizon.
On our march we were overtaken by four men, whom, Ohmed Medina, on seeing, instantly pointed out to me as being Issah Soumaulee. That they differed in some respects from the Dankalli, was obvious, at first sight; but this was most strikingly apparent in the character of their arms. In the first place, they carried neither spears nor shields, instead of these, having light bows and rather bulky quivers, which hung under the left arm, from the shoulder of the same side, by broad leathern bands. In the belt of untanned hide, which secured the fotah, or cloth, around the waist, they had each an old rusty knife in a worn-out scabbard, and scarcely eight inches long. The rude hilts of these weapons were merely round bits of wood, hollowed between the ends for the grasp of the hand.
In the long frizzly character of their hair, and in the colour of their skin, they resembled the Dankalli, with whom their stature, and the general character of their features, also accorded. At the present day, the Dankalli and Soumaulee are distinct, as nations; but, the great similarity of their language, of their customs, and their indistinct separation, in the various tribes that border on this road to Abyssinia, and which made it therefore a most interesting one, prove them to have descended from one common origin, the Avalites of ancient geographers.
Some modification in the character of these ancient people, has been occasioned by intermixture with other nations, which has produced a difference in personal appearance. In the north, acted upon by the Grecian and Egyptian colonists, who made that part of the country of the Avalites, a rich and populous kingdom. Their representatives at the present day, the Dankalli, have assumed, or retained, the Circassian type; whilst in the south and west, their long intercourse with Shankalli tribes, have given somewhat of the character of the Negro to the more southern Soumaulee and the inland Galla.
The bows of the Soumaulee are of the most classical shape, having a central depression, between two curved arms, at the extremities of which, the strong catgut string is fastened. Instead, as in the bows best known to us, the middle portion of the string being at the greatest distance from the centre, in those used by the Soumaulee, this part of the string actually rests upon the wood in that situation, and each time the arrow is discharged, strikes the back of the left thumb of the archer, with great force. Thinking I should not be aware of this, Ohmed Medina, as a practical joke, put one of the bows into my hand, and requested me to bend it; with a very great effort I effected this, but took care to let the string down gently, with a knowing kind of wink, which made them all laugh at seeing me up to the little trick intended. The quivers were made of a long cucumber-kind of gourd-shell, but quite straight, with a parchment cover, which fitted like the top of a large pill-box. Inside were contained ten or twelve arrows, about a foot long, made of a thin hollow reed. These were each armed with a broad head of blue steel, the shape and size of the ace of spades, attached to a nail-like spike, one inch and a-half long, which, when the arrow was to be used, was thrust into a deep hole, down one extremity. The lower end of the shaft was feathered, as usual, for the purpose of steadying it in its flight. When such a weapon is discharged, and strikes the game, the endeavours which are made, by the animal to escape, occasion the head to become detached from the reed, which falls to the ground, whilst the former remains in the wound; and as it is loaded with a black mass of vegetable poison, the absorption of this into the system, soon terminates the life of the animal. I had no opportunity, nor has any other traveller, I believe, of identifying the plant, which supplies this poison, with the “Euphorbia Antiquorum,” of botanists. I do not think it inhabits the low country of the basin of the Hawash; for the Soumaulee told me, they obtained it from the South of Hurrah; and as this city stands upon the highland, where commences the water-shed of the river Whabbee, to the south, I should suppose, that the poison plants of the Soumaulee will not be determined, until some traveller has visited that locality.
The party who joined us on the road, had just before succeeded in killing an ostrich, and each possessed a small parcel of the feathers. These were preserved in portions of the gut of the bird, cleaned and dried in the sun, through which, the feathers were carefully drawn, in the direction of the plumage, so as not to disarrange it. Besides these, contained in the parcels, they had others tied in a bunch, which they freely distributed among my escort, all of whom in a very short time were decorated, with one stuck at the back of their coarse, black, frizzly hair, over which curled the light, white, dancing feather, with very good effect, and in excellent keeping with the rest of the picture of savage life, our road presented.
One was given to me, but as I could not conveniently carry it in my hat, I secured it for the present, in the head-stall of my mule’s bridle; and the toilet of the whole party being finished, and our introduction to the Soumaulee concluded, we parted, and proceeded on our different ways; we, in the direction that the Kafilah had taken, whilst the strangers continued on their way in the direction of Owssa.
We were moving on, Ohmed Medina, by the side of my mule, talking all the way about the wars of the several tribes of the Dankalli, between themselves, and the Galla living on the banks of the Hawash. The Hy Soumaulee, in lines of six or seven, kept pacing away after us; each extended party listening to one of their number who was giving a very energetic relation of some late personal rencontres, in which he had been engaged. So occupied, were all, with the conversations of each other, that none but myself heard a distant shout from the rear, and turning, on my mule, I made out the running figure of a man, whose spear-head, even at the distance he was, glanced brightly in the sun’s light, and enabled me to decide that the approaching object was really a native, and on my directing attention, we all stopt for him to come up. He turned out to be an old acquaintance, Garahmee, whom I had begun to think had deserted us altogether. He had been two days on the journey, to overtake the Kafilah, travelling principally in the night; and had intended to have halted this day at Hasanderah. Finding, on his arrival there, traces of our departure very recent, he determined to push on at once, and our staying to converse with the Issah Soumaulee, had enabled him to come up with us, before half the day’s march had been performed. Although I had no great love for the cunning old rascal, I thought it would be prudent to be polite to him, so I dismounted, and proposed, that as he must be very tired, he should ride; at the same time pointing to the head of the mule, directed his attention to the feather placed there, as if it had been saved only for him.
After a little delay, we were again on our march, and soon overtook the rearmost camels, but as we walked much faster, gradually left them all behind. As I came up, the conductor of every fresh string, or the owner, walking by the side of his own beast, vociferated, “Ahkeem,” “Ahkeem,” as if our long separation, two hours before, must have obliterated all remembrance of them out of my memory, and they wished to receive some comfort and an assurance to the contrary, by my bawling out, in reply, their respective names, with an affectionate inquiry after their health. One good thing was, that among them Mahomed seemed to be a part of every master’s name, for if it were not Ohmed Mahomed it was almost sure to be Mahomed Ohmed, whilst the slaves all answered either to Allee or Zaido, so there was not much chance of being wrong. They were also a good-humoured set, for they were sure to laugh if I hit upon the right name, and a great deal more so, if I were wrong; but as remembering a man is as little attention as we possibly can pay to any one who acts courteously to us, I took care to flatter them when I could, by saluting my companions by their proper names.
We halted at a place called Bundurah, the elevated apex of a large triangular plain, the base of which to the south was formed by the Oburah range of hills, inhabited by the Alla Galla. Bundurah appeared to have been the central point of some extensive elevatory movement of the surface of the earth in this situation, as several long low ridges of lava radiated from it, especially to the north. To the west were also a great number of small volcanic cones, some of which looked like craters, but too distant for me to examine them. The plain was bare of trees, but abounded in grass and a plant of the mint species, like bergamot, which diffused a very fragrant odour.