In this place, as was usual where there was plenty of grass and water, we had constant supplies of milk. We also readily purchased young kids for needles or tobacco, and I generally preferred one of these to the dry venison of the chase, in the pursuit of which I always incurred much trouble and disappointment. Had I been possessed of a good rifle, it would have been very different, but for hunting purposes my short double-barrelled carabine was good for nothing. Presents were also frequently made, in return for medicine consisting, in addition to bags of milk, sometimes of a fine sheep or goat, so that the Hy Soumaulee, whilst we were living here, fared sumptuously at no expense to me, for Ohmed Mahomed was more conscientious, or had began to know me better than to make his every second day demand for a bullock.
Diseases of the eyes I found most prevalent among the Dankalli. Sometimes I was asked to afford assistance in cases of severe sword and spear wounds. One of the men belonging to the kraal where I found the boxes had three large wounds in the side, each one of which looked sufficient to have produced death; and besides these, he had a spear wound completely through the muscles of the thigh.
In treating several of their complaints I had recourse to an infallible water-cure, for having but a small stock of medicine, I was obliged to contrive how to make them go as far as I could. Epsom salts, among other sweet things, was considered quite a bon-bon, and of this article I had but about one pound weight, so I dispensed it generally in tea-spoonsful to each applicant, instructing them, at the same time, that to increase its effect they must drink a great deal of water immediately after taking it. In one case, an anxious mother returned some two or three hours after I had given her son a dose of the salts. As she stooped down to look into my apothecary’s shop, chattering away, she pointed to a large empty water-skin which she held in her hand; I could not understand her, but Zaido came to my assistance, and explained, that the woman wished to know, if her son might relieve himself by making water, “for,” said he, “he has taken three of those water-skinsful already, and he must do so, before he can drink any more, or he will burst most assuredly.” I gave the desired permission, and the woman departed. “Zaido,” said I, when she was gone, “when I say, drink a great deal of water, I do not mean as much as a thirsty camel can take, but only a good sized basket-full.” Zaido, as my assistant dispenser and interpreter, promised attention, and no deaths in consequence of excessive drinking occurred.
During the two last evenings of our stay in this place, several individuals of the Muditu people appeared on the outskirts of our camp, in parties of three or four. They were not received amongst us; generally standing at a distance of thirty or forty yards from the salt loads and stores. They examined us with some degree of interest, and were evidently endeavouring to form some idea of our purposes and movements. Their appearance, however, broke through the reserve that had for the better part of two days been observed between me and the people of the Kafilah, on account of my apparent predilection, for the father of their detested rival, Mahomed Allee. They now came to my hut, telling me in a low voice I must come out to frighten away the Assa-hemerah Muditu, by firing off my guns. This was done with very good effect, for they invariably took the hint, and after a few minutes’ stay, to save their honour, I suppose, they moved off the ground. On one of these warning intimations, a loud laugh was raised at the expense of one of our Muditu visitors, who, in the sudden astonishment occasioned by the report, brought up his spear to the attitude for launching it, but with the butt-end towards me.
One evening, Carmel Ibrahim, the Hy Soumaulee chief, was sitting upon the ground by my side, amusing himself and me by his vain endeavours to count thirty, which proved to be beyond his arithmetical powers, even with the aid of small stones. Counting these by fives, he produced a total of thirty-five, and when I said they were wrong, he added another five to correct the error. At last, with the aid of Allee, who had been taught the Arabic numerals at school in Tajourah, the thirty stones were ranged in a line, and I began my lesson, to learn their names in the Affah or Dankalli tongue.
Whilst thus engaged, Allee caught sight of three men coming in a direction from the north, the country of the Assa-hemerah. They approached the Kafilah very cautiously, and evidently trying to conceal their advance, by covering themselves with the low bushes between us and them. Carmel and Allee sprung to their spears, crying out the usual alarm, “Koo, koo, koo,” whilst I made a dive into my hut for my carabine and pistols. All the Kafilah men rushed to arms, and we were soon sitting, as usual, in a semicircular line, in a direction looking towards the expected foe.
After sitting nearly half an hour, and no enemy appearing, Carmel Ibrahim got up, and beckoning to me to accompany him, we went together for some distance in the front, until it was too dark to discern distant objects, when we returned, and dissipated the apprehensions of the rest as to any body of men being in the neighbourhood. The few first seen were some prowling thieves, quite as likely to have been Wahama as Muditu, and could have no hostile intention upon the Kafilah beyond individual murder, or stealing any trifling thing they might have met with.
The assembly having dispersed upon our report to their several bowers, Zaido and Allee set about slaughtering a sheep, Allee cutting the throat whilst Zaido threw himself upon the struggling animal. Seeing there was every probability of its escaping, I went to their assistance, calling out “Allah achbah! Allah achbah!” to summon some Bedouins I saw over the top of the next bush to give us their aid, conceiving that the common Islam ejaculation over animals being killed, would be the best intimation that could be given them, of what was going forward. One of them understood me properly, and soon came pushing round the bush to this labour of love. Dropping down by the side of Zaido, he caught hold of the head of the sheep by the chin, fixed its shoulders against his knee, and bending the former back, with a furious wrench tore the wound in the throat open by the force, and effected at once the dislocation of the neck, and immediate death. Soon flaying the animal, they dragged asunder the joints, separating the bones from their articulations by many twists, and with as little use of their well-preserved knives as possible. The flesh thus almost torn from the body was put into cooking vessels, whilst the head, with the skin still attached, was placed amidst the wood ashes of the fire, until the brain was well stewed in the bony cavity of the skull. The shank bones, broken between large stones, afforded to their fortunate possessors delicious tit-bits of raw marrow, drawn with a long spluttering sough into the mouth. The entrails, after being taken out, were hastily drawn through the closed hand, to squeeze the contents upon the ground, and without more dressing, transferred to the pots along with the other meat, and which were soon bubbling fast and furious, over the crackling, sparkling brushwood or dried mimosa that formed the fuel. By and by the savage banquet is prepared, and the meat taken from the pots is put upon mats, or into the hollow of an old shield; every one now tries to get first to help himself, all struggling and pushing, but in the best of humour. The circle nearest the meat hesitating to choose, thinking they possess the advantage of position, find hands intruding from behind, that carry off the very pieces, they had just fixed their minds upon.
It was not frequently that I joined these dinners, but whenever I did, I was received with every attention. One after another would push towards me his portion of the meat, or cut off with his knife that which he conceived to be the choicest bit, and which he would hand or toss to me, according as my distance was, from the party who paid me this compliment. Nor were they niggardly in the offerings thus made, and large lumps of fat in quick succession were tempting me to eat from every side. One lucky fellow, happy in the possession of some part of the entrails, would, perhaps, before he presented it for my acceptance, repass it through his pressing fingers, to extract more of its contents, with a kind of instinct, or an acute perception, that the less it contained of the dirty matter the more agreeable it would be to me.
I have had occasion previously to mention, that it is usual among the Dankalli to make but one meal a-day. It is, however, very seldom that this consists of animal food, for the Bedouins never think of slaughtering cattle for their own use. Milk, and occasionally, as a luxury, draughts of the rich fluid butter called ghee, constituting their food all the year round. On the settlement of blood feuds, when it is agreed that the compensation, consisting always of a number of cattle, shall be killed and eaten by the previously contending tribes, or when an animal has received some serious injury, or is about to die from disease, are the only occasions of indulgence in animal food.