At 4 P.M., After Accomplishing Fifteen Miles On Rough Ground, We Sighted
Sagharrah, A Snug High-Fenced Village Of
Eight or nine huts nestling
against a hill side with trees above, and below a fertile grain-valley.
Presently Mad
Said pointed out to us the Gerad Adan, who, attended by a
little party, was returning homewards: we fired our guns as a salute, he
however hurried on to receive us with due ceremony in his cottage.
Dismounting at the door we shook hands with him, were led through the idle
mob into a smoky closet contrived against the inside wall, and were
regaled with wheaten bread steeped in honey and rancid butter. The host
left us to eat, and soon afterwards returned:--I looked with attention at
a man upon whom so much then depended.
Adan bin Kaushan was in appearance a strong wiry Bedouin,--before
obtaining from me a turban he wore his bushy hair dyed dun,--about forty-
five years old, at least six feet high, with decided features, a tricky
smile, and an uncertain eye. In character he proved to be one of those
cunning idiots so peculiarly difficult to deal with. Ambitious and wild
with greed of gain, he was withal so fickle that his head appeared ever
changing its contents; he could not sit quiet for half an hour, and this
physical restlessness was an outward sign of the uneasy inner man. Though
reputed brave, his treachery has won him a permanent ill fame. Some years
ago he betrothed a daughter to the eldest son of Gerad Hirsi of the
Berteri tribe, and then, contrary to Somali laws of honor, married her to
Mahommed Waiz of the Jibril Abokr. This led to a feud, in which the
disappointed suitor was slain. Adan was celebrated for polygamy even in
Eastern Africa: by means of his five sons and dozen daughters, he has
succeeded in making extensive connexions [23], and his sister, the Gisti
[24] Fatimah, was married to Abubakr, father of the present Amir. Yet the
Gerad would walk into a crocodile's mouth as willingly as within the walls
of Harar. His main reason for receiving us politely was an ephemeral fancy
for building a fort, to control the country's trade, and rival or overawe
the city. Still did he not neglect the main chance: whatever he saw he
asked for; and, after receiving a sword, a Koran, a turban, an Arab
waistcoat of gaudy satin, about seventy Tobes, and a similar proportion of
indigo-dyed stuff, he privily complained to me that the Hammal had given
him but twelve cloths. A list of his wants will best explain the man. He
begged me to bring him from Berberah a silver-hilted sword and some soap,
1000 dollars, two sets of silver bracelets, twenty guns with powder and
shot, snuff, a scarlet cloth coat embroidered with gold, some poison that
would not fail, and any other little article of luxury which might be
supposed to suit him.
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