Ohmed Medina and I were pressed to drink; and the old man turning over on the mat upon which he lay, reached from behind him a very nicely made fedeenah, which he pressed upon my acceptance. His civility, and the remembrance of what was due to him for his attention to Lieut. Barker, induced me to add to my previous present two more dollars, making altogether five, the number I had originally intended to give him, but which I had kept back in the first instance from his son, because of certain misgivings as to his identity, that even Ebin Izaak’s protestations had failed to remove entirely.
Before Ohmed Medina and I came up again with the Kafilah, we found it already halted at a place called Sakeitaban, not much unlike the scene of our previous halt, and but little more than three miles distant from it. The camels were not unloaded, but appeared to be awaiting the decision of a calahm that was going on under a large tree, both the Tajourah people and the Hy Soumaulee taking part in the debate. Ohmed Medina joined them immediately, whilst I sat down until a signal from him intimated that our stay was determined upon. The assembly broke up, several of the parties going to their camels, and commencing to unload them. I now heard that the escort had insisted upon the Kafilah waiting for the one, belonging to their people, we had been expecting for the last four days, and from which fresh messengers had arrived who affirmed that it would be up in a few hours, which, much to my surprise, was really the case.
Ebin Izaak came to my hut very soon after the bustle of unloading had subsided, and as he seemed inclined to remain, I made Zaido enlarge it for our better accommodation. He was anxious to explain how he came to practise upon me the little imposition he had employed as regarded Durtee Ohmed. To occupy himself whilst he remained, he brought with him part of the branch of a myrrh-tree and a small kind of axe, that reminded me of one somewhat of the same kind I have seen represented upon old Egyptian monuments. It consisted of an iron head, the cutting edge of which was about one inch and a-half in extent, whilst the body of it was a socket three or four inches long, which received into it the pointed extremity of the short arm of a trimmed branch, which joined at a very acute angle the longer, or handle proper, about a foot and a-half long, the shorter portion inserted into the axe head not being more than six inches.[[5]]
[5]. Several ancient British celts have been compared with the head of one of these axes I brought home with me, and are in size and shape exactly similar.
With this primitive tool he soon chopped out of the wood a pretty correct form of a spoon which gradually assumed, under the repeated light blows of the axe, a very elegant shape. I was so much pleased with this production of savage genius, that I gave him a small hollow-gouging chisel he had long coveted, to scoop out and finish the bowl. My pocket-knife was also in requisition, to enable him to ornament the handle with an intricate wavy pattern, and by mid-day he produced an article that for elegance might have vied with the most finished of the carved wagers, sung for in the pastorals of some of our classical poets.
Our conversation and occupation were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Hy Soumaulee Kafilah, a numerous body, consisting of several hundred camels, the original party having been joined by a large number from Owssa. Fortunately the new arrivals were anxious to proceed, and as this feeling was participated in by us, a short calahm was followed by our camels being driven into camp and loaded, whilst the Hy Soumaulee proceeded on their march. My mule innocently enough came within arms’ length of me, and I secured a ride to-day; for, with an amusing sagacity, when wanted in a morning at the general hour of starting, she frequently contrived to have made herself scarce, and thus obliged me to walk when I would much rather have ridden.
As the numerous Kafilahs now formed a little army, we moved across the country, not in a single file, but with an extended front. No attack in our present condition therefore, was anticipated, so my escort, with Ohmed Medina and myself, preceded in a body. The road continued for nearly two hours through a park-like country, high mimosa and other trees standing in clumps of three or four together, at considerable distances from each other.
The moomen, or toothbrush-tree,[[6]] abounded at Sakeitaban. Several of the Hy Soumaulee brought me a handful of the berries to eat, but I was soon obliged to call out “Hold, enough!” so warmly aromatic was their flavour. This singular fruit grows in drooping clusters of flesh-coloured mucilaginous berries, the size of our common red currants, each containing a single round seed, about as large as a peppercorn. The taste at first is sweet, and not unpleasant, and by some, I think, would be considered very agreeable indeed. After some little time, if many are eaten, the warmth in the palate increases considerably, and reminded me of the effect of pepper, or of very hot cress. As we approached the river Hawash, I found these trees growing more abundantly.
[6]. Salvadora Persica. The “Peeloo” of India, identified by Dr. Royle with the mustard-tree of Scripture.
The moomen forms a dense bush, some yards in circuit, and as their thick, velvety, round leaves, of a bright green colour, afford an excellent shade, they form the favourite lairs, both of savage men, and of wild beasts. Reposing upon the ground, near the roots, free from underwood and thorns, whoever, or whatever lies there, is entirely concealed from sight; and not unfrequently a leopard or hyæna skulks out of, or a startled antelope bounds from, the very bush that the tired Bedouin has selected for his own retreat from the sun.