A word or two satisfied the surprised party that we were friends, and they soon found plenty of acquaintances among our Kafilah people. They belonged to the little village of Ambabboo, which it will be recollected, was our first halt after leaving Tajourah. They gave us some news from Shoa, from whence they were returning home. They reported that the members of the Political Mission were all well, and that Dr. Krapf had left Ankobar for Gondah. They confirmed what I had heard at Tajourah from the two Greeks, Demetrius and Joannes, of the death of three servants, who had formerly belonged to the British Embassy, and who, with five others had been discharged very summarily, and, I think, very unwisely, on their arrival in Shoa. These three unfortunate men had endeavoured to return with the same Kafilah which brought down the Greeks. They were attacked on this side of the Hawash by the Takale tribe, who, it was supposed, had killed the servants, and several slave children besides. Subsequently, however, I found that only one of the former was murdered, the other two being protected, and ultimately conveyed safe to Shoa by tribes to which they had fled immediately the attack was made by the Takale.
In return for their information, we gave them all the news from Berberah and Tajourah, besides a detailed account of every march we had made from the latter place. Ohmed Medina was spokesman on this occasion, and went through the long statement as quietly and regularly as if reading it out of a logbook. All this introductory conversation being got over, coffee and general talking came in together. I being very tired, and not understanding a word of what they were saying, soon fell asleep upon the ground, between Ebin Izaak and Ohmed Medina, nor was I disturbed in my long nap until an intimation from the latter, asking me if I were going to join in the assair, or afternoon’s prayer, was a hint for me to retire to my hut.
After prayers, I had a curious application from one of the strangers, who required an amulet or charm of such a nature that would insure him offspring, that he might see sons and daughters rising around him, and that he should not go down childless to the grave. It was no use protesting my inability to give him anything of the sort, or that I possessed no power to effect for him the desires of his heart. He was convinced I could, and as he refused to be satisfied with my advice to pray to Allah to grant him his request, Ohmed Medina, who was interpreter, slyly nudged me to give the man something or other and send him away. I consented very reluctantly to be a party to any such imposition, but scrawling some figures on a bit of paper, and writing down that I thought the bearer a regular simpleton, I told Ohmed Medina to assure him that whilst he wore that round his neck he would never die in child-bed. My bad Arabic, perfectly understood by Ohmed Medina, was sufficiently obscure to lead the man to think I was promising him, if not a quantity of children, at least one son before he died, and perfectly satisfied with this, he thankfully received the potent charm, and went his way rejoicing; I and Ohmed Medina having a good laugh at his folly, and the harmless deception that, in consequence of his importunity, I had been obliged to practise upon him.
A large sand-spout passed over the camp again to-day, accompanied with thunder and some few drops of rain. The usual laughable pursuit on its retreat, made by the Kafilah men after their tobes and mats, which had been carried away and spread over the plain, occasioned considerable merriment, especially as my broad-brimmed hat also took an extraordinary flight, pursued by the whole escort, who, I really believe, were very sorry when they caught it, such a game they had in following it up.
Great numbers of Wahama Bedouins visited us but as all of them were friends and relations of the party who accompanied us from Bundurah, they evinced no feeling of dissatisfaction at our presence. All were plentifully feasted by Ohmed Mahomed, and in the evening received presents of blue sood and tobacco. By a clever stroke of policy, an expectation was raised among these, that an additional escort would be required to travel with safety across the disturbed district for two or three days’ march on this side of the Hawash, which had not been traversed by any Kafilah since the large one of Mahomed Allee had come down from Shoa. Hopes were thus held out that the first comers of the Wahama would be selected to perform this service, and it then became their interest, of course, that we should first pass unmolested through their own country.
They were continually applying to me for something or other, but I had now got pretty well accustomed to their natural expectation, and by a corresponding bestowal of next to nothing, held out a warning intimation, that should they apply again they must not be surprised at having arrived at the very negative point in the diminishing scale of my worthless gifts. One great advantage also, arising from small presents is, that they are not so ostentatiously displayed by the receiver as are large ones, and others have therefore less inducement to apply for similar proofs of the traveller’s generosity.
The woman of last night, occupied part of my hut again to-day. In the afternoon I amused myself copying into my note-book the muslin sprig pattern incised upon the skin of her body; in front from the neck over her breasts to the waist, and on her back from the shoulders to the hips. She seemed proud of the attention this savage kind of ornament attracted, and was very particular in showing me how it was performed. Going out of the hut, she soon came back with a piece of obsidian or volcanic glass, she had found among the sand. From this, the rough blow of another stone splintered off a scale-like fragment, sharp as a razor, and which she proved to me could shave off the hair if required. With this the strange operation of ornamenting the girls’ skins is performed when they are quite young, and it is also used to cut the “Arriah,” or tribe-symbol, upon the breasts or shoulders of the boys. As I looked at the rude instrument, my mind reverted to the fourth chapter of Exodus, where we are told, “Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.” Before this, I had no idea in what manner, the circumcision of the son of Moses could have been effected, for although stone instruments, to separate large substances, were general in the early history of man, it appears difficult to conceive how the delicate operation alluded to in the above verse could be accomplished by such as those. From the admitted volcanic character of the country which is presumed to have been the scene of Moses’s early life, I have been led to suppose, that Zipporah resorted to a splinter of obsidian, as the means of excision in the case of her son, as is done at the present day by the Adal mother, to incise on her children the marks of the tribe to which they belong.
Besides the new blue covering for the head, given to my female acquaintance by Ohmed Mahomed, her only other article of dress was the usual fringed petticoat of soft leather. In a roll of this garment, along its upper edge, she had hid a necklace of red beads and shells, and holding out her hand when she showed them to me, plainly enough asked me to give her some more; but as I had long ago distributed all I possessed of these desired ornaments, I could only add to her stock of valuables, a few needles and some black thread. These she deposited in her curious scrap album, which with a twist of the petticoat, she then replaced behind her, where it rested upon the loins, free from any casual observation.
At sunset, I was desired to fire off my guns, the noise of the reports being intended as a kind of warning voice, to deter any of the Wahama from attacking us. This was rendered the more necessary, for after sunset, great numbers flocked from all quarters, and our camp was full of them.
May 5th.—We could not start this morning, much to the great grief of every man of the Kafilah; the father of Mahomed Allee, and three or four other powerful Wahama chiefs, having come in during the night. Calahm circles, on all sides, covered the ground, with anything but fairy rings, though the spot itself, seemed a little Eden, where things of light and beauty might have been tempted to hold their nocturnal assemblies. The tall henna trees shed a delicious perfume, far and wide, exactly resembling that of our dear little weed, the mignonnette; and out of due reverence for, and remembrance of, the sweets of home, I carried in the bosom of my tobe a small branch of its clustered pale-yellow flowers. Whilst plucking this, I was joined by Carmel Ibrahim, who seemed not unmindful of its delightful odour, and stuck a small sprig in the hair at the back of his head; but I was still more pleased to find, that Ina, my Dankalli patroness, had some idea of the beautiful, having placed in her hair a wreath of the small blue convolvulus. Thus decorated, she looked most interesting, and greatly improved by the absence of her finery, which, as I before stated, for some sufficient reason, she kept packed up in her bustle behind.