My Three Followers Armed Themselves, And I Was Summoned To
The Fray.
Some declared that the Bedouins were "doing" [28] the town;
others that they were the van of a giant host coming to ravish, sack, and
slay:
It turned out that these Bedouins had preceded their comrades, who
were bringing in, as the price of blood [29], an Abyssinian slave, seven
camels, seven cows, a white mule, and a small black mare. The prisoner was
visited by his brother, who volunteered to share his confinement, and the
meeting was described as most pathetic: partly from mental organisation
and partly from the peculiarities of society, the only real tie
acknowledged by these people is that which connects male kinsmen. The
Hajj, after speaking big, had the weakness to let the murderer depart
alive: this measure, like peace-policy in general, is the best and surest
way to encourage bloodshed and mutilation. But a few months before, an
Eesa Bedouin enticed out of the gates a boy about fifteen, and slaughtered
him for the sake of wearing the feather. His relations were directed to
receive the Diyat or blood fine, and the wretch was allowed to depart
unhurt--a silly clemency!
You must not suppose, dear L., that I yielded myself willingly to the
weary necessity of a month at Zayla. But how explain to you the obstacles
thrown in our way by African indolence, petty intrigue, and interminable
suspicion? Four months before leaving Aden I had taken the precaution of
meeting the Hajj, requesting him to select for us an Abban [30], or
protector, and to provide camels and mules; two months before starting I
had advanced to him the money required in a country where nothing can be
done without a whole or partial prepayment. The protector was to be
procured anywhere, the cattle at Tajurrah, scarcely a day's sail from
Zayla: when I arrived nothing was forthcoming. I at once begged the
governor to exert himself: he politely promised to start a messenger that
hour, and he delayed doing so for ten days. An easterly wind set in and
gave the crew an excuse for wasting another fortnight. [31] Travellers are
an irritable genus: I stormed and fretted at the delays to show
earnestness of purpose. All the effect was a paroxysm of talking. The Hajj
and his son treated me, like a spoilt child, to a double allowance of food
and milk: they warned me that the small-pox was depopulating Harar, that
the road swarmed with brigands, and that the Amir or prince was certain
destruction,--I contented myself with determining that both were true
Oriental hyperbolists, and fell into more frequent fits of passion. The
old man could not comprehend my secret. "If the English," he privately
remarked, "wish to take Harar, let them send me 500 soldiers; if not, I
can give all information concerning it." When convinced of my
determination to travel, he applied his mind to calculating the benefit
which might be derived from the event, and, as the following pages will
show, he was not without success.
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