You Must Believe Me When I Tell You That In The
Shallower Parts The Sun Was Painfully Hot, Even To My Well Tried Feet.
We
picked up a few specimens of fine sponge, and coral, white and red, which,
if collected, might be valuable to Zayla, and, our pic-nic concluded, we
returned home.
On the 14th November we left the town to meet a caravan of the Danakil
[14], and to visit the tomb of the great saint Abu Zarbay. The former
approached in a straggling line of asses, and about fifty camels laiden
with cows' hides, ivories and one Abyssinian slave-girl. The men were wild
as ourang-outangs, and the women fit only to flog cattle: their animals
were small, meagre-looking, and loosely made; the asses of the Bedouins,
however, are far superior to those of Zayla, and the camels are,
comparatively speaking, well bred. [15] In a few minutes the beasts were
unloaded, the Gurgis or wigwams pitched, and all was prepared for repose.
A caravan so extensive being an unusual event,--small parties carrying
only grain come in once or twice a week,--the citizens abandoned even
their favourite game of ball, with an eye to speculation. We stood at
"Government House," over the Ashurbara Gate, to see the Bedouins, and we
quizzed (as Town men might denounce a tie or scoff at a boot) the huge
round shields and the uncouth spears of these provincials. Presently they
entered the streets, where we witnessed their frantic dance in presence of
the Hajj and other authorities. This is the wild men's way of expressing
their satisfaction that Fate has enabled them to convoy the caravan
through all the dangers of the desert.
The Shaykh Ibrahim Abu Zarbay [16] lies under a whitewashed dome close to
the Ashurbara Gate of Zayla: an inscription cut in wood over the doorway
informs us that the building dates from A.H. 1155=AD. 1741-2. It is now
dilapidated, the lintel is falling in, the walls are decaying, and the
cupola, which is rudely built, with primitive gradients,--each step
supported as in Cashmere and other parts of India, by wooden beams,--
threatens the heads of the pious. The building is divided into two
compartments, forming a Mosque and a Mazar or place of pious visitation:
in the latter are five tombs, the two largest covered with common chintz
stuff of glaring colours. Ibrahim was one of the forty-four Hazrami saints
who landed at Berberah, sat in solemn conclave upon Auliya Kumbo or Holy
Hill, and thence dispersed far and wide for the purpose of propagandism.
He travelled to Harar about A.D. 1430 [17], converted many to El Islam,
and left there an honored memory. His name is immortalised in El Yemen by
the introduction of El Kat. [17]
Tired of the town, I persuaded the Hajj to send me with an escort to the
Hissi or well. At daybreak I set out with four Arab matchlock-men, and
taking a direction nearly due west, waded and walked over an alluvial
plain flooded by every high tide.
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