An ancient crone of surpassing ugliness, attired in a leathern petticoat flounced with cowrie shells, was busily engaged by the way-side in transferring muddy water to her scrip, and looking up, was perfectly horrified at the appearance of a white face on the opposite border of the puddle. For a few seconds her old yellow teeth chattered audibly, and then, satisfied that there was no deception, she called loudly upon the goddess Atéti, threw herself back upon the ground, and became a prey to abject despair.
Resuming a southerly course from the foot of the crater, our path led at right angles over a tract where broken abysses, lava dykes, and brilliant belts of verdure, were jumbled together in strange confusion. At an early hour in the afternoon we reached Inkóftoo, the principal Karaiyo kraal in the district of Kadécha Dima. Standing beside an extensive pool, screened on all sides by luxuriant trees, it was strongly fortified by stiff thorn-branches against the inroads of the lion; formidable troops of which, roaming almost unmolested, commit great havoc among the cattle, and had only the night before carried off a youth belonging to the village.
It wanted still some miles of the spot in which Habti Mariam had resolved to encamp, near the borders of the Muttahára lake, whose placid surface, not less than two miles across, extended almost to the base of Fantáli. The chief of Inkóftoo had seen a rhinoceros in the morning, among the dense thicket of hook-thorns covering the declivity of a hill on the way; but although one of the governor’s braves, elevating his sheep-skin mantle upon the point of his lance, charged the assembled multitude in the king’s name to abstain from clamour and from interference with the arrangements made for beating up the quarters of the “ouráris,” the clattering hoofs of the advancing cavalcade presently put the animal to flight towards the Háwash. It were difficult to determine whether the fear of the Aroosi or of wild beasts now predominated in the minds of our Amhára escort. In spite of a heavy fall of rain, large watch-fires were kindled in various parts of the lone bivouac, and not a single eye was closed until the day had fairly dawned.
Volume Three—Chapter Thirty.
The Wilderness of Táboo.
Extensive morasses, environing the sedge-grown borders of the Muttahára water, proved it to be far below its wonted boundaries, and precluded all access to Fantáli, even had the timidity of the guides been sufficiently overcome to induce them to acquiesce in a visit; but the non-existence of any active volcano for more than thirty years was confirmed by all. The Kobedémtoo and the Gobakoobee districts form the limit of His Majesty’s Karaiyo possessions, within a few miles of the Háwash, and thither we proceeded in the morning. Arriving near the mountain Sadéka, one of the outposts of the Aroosi, whence the wooded line of the river could be traced for miles through the naked plains, I took the bearings of the conical peak of Serie, and of other conspicuous landmarks. But the appearance of a small party of armed savages in the distance soon induced precipitate retreat on the part of our escort, who by no means relished the delay. A band of treacherous barbarians had only a few weeks previously made a descent upon the Karaiyo cattle, and after putting all the herdsmen to the spear, were hurrying off with the booty, when they were pursued in force, and put to flight with the loss of twelve of their number. Another predatory visit was daily anticipated; and the caution was in every mouth, “If two warriors be perceived upon the same horse, ask no questions, but shoot them without mercy.”
Sáhela Selássie has never yet attempted an expedition in person against these war-hawks, nestled in the lap of the mountains, who fight stark naked, and are besmeared with lard from head to foot. Merciless, and of predatory habits, they are represented as extremely powerful in battle, and are the terror of every surrounding tribe—two warriors usually bestriding the same steed, and aiding each other with barbed lances jagged like the teeth of a saw, and with bucklers manufactured to imitate the shell of the tortoise. Subsisting entirely by plunder, the cultivation of their high cold hills is but little attended to; salt, which forms the principal article of barter with Guráguê, and other inland bordering countries, being obtainable in unlimited quantities from the lake Lághi, two days’ journey from Serie, one of the principal market towns. Noora Hoossain is the capital of the Aroosi Galla, who are all followers of the Prophet; and the principal towns of their adjacent neighbours the Ittoo, a race of mixed Mohammadans and Pagans, are Chercha and Metokóma.
The rhinoceros was said to abound in the Karaiyo neighbourhood; but Habti Mariam would consent to no further sojourn on this dangerous border with so limited an escort, and at noon retraced his steps to the village of Inkóftoo. Here all the braves and principal men of the tribe were gathered to recount their recent exploits with the predatory Aroosi, as well as the particulars attending the slaughter of an elephant’s calf that had fallen under their united lances a few weeks previously. A spear wound having stupified the beast, hundreds of warriors rushed in and overwhelmed it. Every participator in this notable achievement, which is one of extremely rare occurrence, now displayed on his person some distinguishing ornament or feather, whilst the doughty hero who claimed first blood, strutted about under a perfect load of sable and green plumes, brass chains, and massive ivory armlets, precisely similar to those worn by the ancient Egyptians. Not quite satisfied as to the object of the visit, the Karaiyo had collected the whole of their great droves of cattle in the precincts of the hamlet. Amongst them were many splendid sánga, with wide-spreading horns upwards of six feet in length; under which they moved as majestically as the stag “proud of his twelve tynes.”