Towards The End Of November, Four Camels Were Procured, An Abban Was
Engaged, We Hired Two Women Cooks And A
Fourth servant; my baggage was
reformed, the cloth and tobacco being sewn up in matting, and made to fit
the
Camels' sides [32]; sandals were cut out for walking, letters were
written, messages of dreary length,--too important to be set down in black
and white,--were solemnly entrusted to us, palavers were held, and affairs
began to wear the semblance of departure. The Hajj strongly recommended us
to one of the principal families of the Gudabirsi tribe, who would pass us
on to their brother-in-law Adan, the Gerad or prince of the Girhi; and he,
in due time, to his kinsman the Amir of Harar. The chain was commenced by
placing us under the protection of one Raghe, a petty Eesa chief of the
Mummasan clan. By the good aid of the Hajj and our sweetmeats, he was
persuaded, for the moderate consideration of ten Tobes [33], to accompany
us to the frontier of his clan, distant about fifty miles, to introduce us
to the Gudabirsi, and to provide us with three men as servants, and a
suitable escort, a score or so, in dangerous places. He began, with us in
an extravagant manner, declaring that nothing but "name" induced him to
undertake the perilous task; that he had left his flocks and herds at a
season of uncommon risk, and that all his relations must receive a certain
honorarium. But having paid at least three pounds for a few days of his
society, we declined such liberality, and my companions, I believe,
declared that it would be "next time:"--on all such occasions I make a
point of leaving the room, since for one thing given at least five are
promised on oath. Raghe warned us seriously to prepare for dangers and
disasters, and this seemed to be the general opinion of Zayla, whose timid
citizens determined that we were tired of our lives. The cold had driven
the Nomads from the hills to the warm maritime Plains [34], we should
therefore traverse a populous region; and, as the End of Time aptly
observed, "Man eats you up, the Desert does not." Moreover this year the
Ayyal Nuh Ismail, a clan of the Habr Awal tribe, is "out," and has been
successful against the Eesa, who generally are the better men. They sweep
the country in Kaum or Commandos [35], numbering from twenty to two
hundred troopers, armed with assegai, dagger, and shield, and carrying a
water skin and dried meat for a three days' ride, sufficient to scour the
length of the low land. The honest fellows are not so anxious to plunder
as to ennoble themselves by taking life: every man hangs to his saddle bow
an ostrich [36] feather,--emblem of truth,--and the moment his javelin has
drawn blood, he sticks it into his tufty pole with as much satisfaction as
we feel when attaching a medal to our shell-jackets.
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