The next morning by sunrise, Ibrahim, a younger brother of Mahomed Allee, according to promise, brought in the first instalment of the valuables, consisting of two small square boxes, packed in cloth, and containing shot. With him were upwards of forty men and women and a large Kafilah of salt which had been detained here nearly two months in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, for some days’ journey on both sides of the Hawash. A Galla tribe, called Hittoo, on the south of our route, and an Affah people, the Assa-hemerah Muditu, to the north of it, seemed to divide between them the attention of the rich and the fearful among my friends. The Hy Soumaulee, on the contrary, were in great glee, and often would amuse themselves when they saw me, by calling out the names of the hostile tribes, and then with an action as if striking with their daggers, or imitating the report of my firearms, intimate how they intended to serve them, should any attempt be made upon the Kafilah.
The two boxes just brought in, I looked upon as earnest of the arrival of the rest, and congratulated Ohmed Mahomed, in my own mind, for having once in the course of our journey, not deceived me in the information he had given. I was a little too hasty, however, in this conclusion, for another day passed over us, without any more being brought into camp.
The new comers of the Wahama Kafilah, men and women, annoyed me terribly to-day, blocking up, with a dense mass of squatting human nature, all the avenues to my hut, and begging for whatever they could see. The worst was, I could not encourage any of the female relatives of Abu Bukeree to come and live with me as a keeper, they were such a bad set. Had I done so, it would have raised a great scandal, and my character as a medical practitioner would have suffered, as it was now usual to ascribe all my extraordinary cures to excessive morality, as also, by the bye, all good and fortunate shots that I happened to make.
I distributed needles, and paper, and tobacco until I wished myself anywhere, even in a stall at the Pantheon, to have got out of my present huxtering business, with such a lot of gratis customers as I had; and had it not been for Ibrahim, the brother of Mahomed Allee, who went and brought his father to my assistance, I should not have got rid of them, even to take my usual siesta in the afternoon. A few words from him soon dispersed the crowd, who, like a lot of children, without a word or look to the contrary, obeyed the old man in a way I could wish to see, the younger members of civilized society pay attention, to the expressed wishes of their seniors.
The government of the Dankalli tribes is strictly patriarchal. Power concentrates naturally to elders distinguished for valour and wisdom, in a state of society where the fools and cowards are sure to be cut off in the earlier part of life. The daily occurrence of quarrels between themselves and other tribes, tends to cultivate caution and policy in naturally clever minds, to avoid the violent and fatal results of giving way to sudden passion. A long life of trial must produce, therefore, that memory of experience, and that penetration of judgment, which is so characteristic of the chiefs we meet with, on our road through Adal. After all, the axiom that knowledge is power, is the secret of the great influence possessed by the elders, among this people as among all others. Every old man here is a sage, and must be well versed in the philosophy of human nature, taught by an education of many years’ exposure, to the fatal consequences attendant upon unrestrained anger, or unprepared valour.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Delay in giving up the recovered stores.—Interview with father of Mahomed Allee.—Accompany him to a kraal.—Entertainment there.—Condition of the stores.—Murder in our camp.—Occupation of Kafilah people during long halts.—Game of gubertah.—Muditu visitors.—Expected attack.—Bedouins feasting.—Portion of entrail around the neck of a Bedouin, not for ornament, but use.—Amusements.
The name of our present halting-place was Hiero Murroo; and the third day of our stay there arrived, but no signs of any more boxes coming, nor could Ohmed Mahomed, when applied to, account for their non-appearance. Generally, the answer to my inquiries was—in the morning, he would promise that they would arrive before evening; and in the evening, he would be quite certain they would come in during the night. I thought, at last, there was no intention of giving up the boxes at all; and as I saw Ohmed Mahomed very friendly indeed with the principal man of the Bedouin kraal, where the property lay, accompanying him backwards and forwards several times, I at length suspected that he was endeavouring to get the boxes and their contents for his own use. The blame of such a dishonest action when discovered, he was well aware could be easily transferred to the shoulders of others, from whom it was impossible to look for restitution or redress. So convinced was I by his conduct of his intending this robbery, that I left our Kafilah, and walked to that of the Wahama, who were encamped about one hundred yards to the west of us. Having walked about a little, looking into every bush for Abu Mahomed Allee, or for his son Ibrahim, I at length found the former, hard at work, studying the Koran, which lay open upon the ground before him. He was reading away with very evident interest, some of the well-told relations of past, present, and future life contained in that volume.
I pushed aside the mat that hung from the top of the thick-leaved moomen-bush, under which he had retreated from the sun, and, without any ceremony, sat down by his side. He closed his book, took off the large, round German spectacles that, compressed across the bridge of his nose, secured themselves, without farther aid, in the required position. My business was soon told. Ohmed Mahomed was a great thief, and something worse; and I wanted the boxes to be with me, or I with them, and required his assistance, for I was determined not to leave Hiero Murroo without obtaining possession of the property thus left, and which I had no doubt, I told him, that Ohmed Mahomed wanted to steal, and then to lay the blame on the Wahama. The old man replied, that the party who had possession of the boxes, was only a half-blood Wahama, and he had but little influence over him, which was one reason that his son, Mahomed Allee, could not induce him to go on to Shoa with himself. Since he had seen the boxes last, he added, they had every one been opened, either by the Tajourah people, or the Bedouins of the kraal, but as they had, to his knowledge, remained four months among the latter, without exciting the least curiosity to know their contents, he had no doubt the outrage had been committed by the people of our Kafilah. This was a confirmation of my fears, and a good ground of complaint, which I did not hesitate to make after my return to camp. Before I left Abu Mahomed, the old gentleman promised that he would take me to see the boxes, if he could do so without offending my Ras ul Kafilah.