When The Moment For Delivery Is Come, The Head Man Inquires, "What Is The News?" The Informant Would Communicate The Important Fact That He Has Been To The Well:

He proceeds as follows, noting emphasis by raising his voice, at times about six notes, and often violently striking at the ground in front.

"It is good news, if Allah please!"

"Wa Sidda!"--Even so! respond the listeners, intoning or rather groaning the response.

"I mounted mule this morning:"

"Even so!"

"I departed from ye riding."

"Even so!"

"_There_" (with a scream and pointing out the direction with a stick).

"Even so!"

"_There_ I went."

"Even so!"

"I threaded the wood."

"Even so!"

"I traversed the sands."

"Even so!"

"I feared nothing."

"Even so!"

"At last I came upon cattle tracks."

"Hoo! hoo!! hoo!!!" (an ominous pause follows this exclamation of astonishment.)

"They were fresh."

"Even so!"

"So were the earths."

"Even so!"

"I distinguished the feet of women."

"Even so!"

"But there were no camels."

"Even so!"

"At last I saw sticks"--

"Even so!"

"Stones"--

"Even so!"

"Water"--

"Even so!"

"A well!!!"

Then follows the palaver, wherein, as occasionally happens further West, he distinguishes himself who can rivet the attention of the audience for at least an hour without saying anything in particular. The advantage of _their_ circumlocution, however, is that by considering a subject in every possible light and phase as regards its cause and effect, antecedents, actualities, and consequences, they are prepared for any emergency which, without the palaver, might come upon them unawares.

Although the thermometer showed summer heat, the air was cloudy and raw blasts poured down from the mountains. At half past 3 P.M. our camels were lazily loaded, and we followed the course of the Fiumara, which runs to the W. and S. W. After half an hour's progress, we arrived at the gully in which are the wells, and the guides halted because they descried half-a- dozen youths and boys bathing and washing their Tobes. All, cattle as well as men, were sadly thirsty: many of us had been chewing pebbles during the morning, yet, afraid of demands for tobacco, the Bedouins would have pursued the march without water had I not forced them to halt. We found three holes in the sand; one was dry, a second foul, and the third contained a scanty supply of the pure element from twenty to twenty-five feet below the surface. A youth stood in the water and filled a wicker- pail, which he tossed to a companion perched against the side half way up: the latter in his turn hove it to a third, who catching it at the brink, threw the contents, by this time half wasted, into the skin cattle trough. We halted about half an hour to refresh man and beast, and then resumed our way up the Wady, quitting it where a short cut avoids the frequent windings of the bed. This operation saved but little time; the ground was stony, the rough ascents fatigued the camels, and our legs and feet were lacerated by the spear-like thorns. Here, the ground was overgrown with aloes [7], sometimes six feet high with pink and "pale Pomona green" leaves, bending in the line of beauty towards the ground, graceful in form as the capitals of Corinthian columns, and crowned with gay-coloured bells, but barbarously supplied with woody thorns and strong serrated edges. There the Hig, an aloetic plant with a point so hard and sharp that horses cannot cross ground where it grows, stood in bunches like the largest and stiffest of rushes. [8] Senna sprang spontaneously on the banks, and the gigantic Ushr or Asclepias shed its bloom upon the stones and pebbles of the bed. My attendants occupied themselves with gathering the edible pod of an Acacia called Kura [9], whilst I observed the view. Frequent ant-hills gave an appearance of habitation to a desert still covered with the mosques and tombs of old Adel; and the shape of the country had gradually changed, basins and broad slopes now replacing the thickly crowded conoid peaks of the lower regions.

As the sun sank towards the west, Long Guled complained bitterly of the raw breeze from the hills. We passed many villages, distinguished by the barking of dogs and the bleating of flocks, on their way to the field: the unhappy Raghe, however, who had now become our _protege_, would neither venture into a settlement, nor bivouac amongst the lions. He hurried us forwards till we arrived at a hollow called Gud, "the Hole," which supplied us with the protection of a deserted kraal, where our camels, half-starved and knocked-up by an eight miles' march, were speedily unloaded. Whilst pitching the tent, we were visited by some Gudabirsi, who attempted to seize our Abban, alleging that he owed them a cow. We replied doughtily, that he was under our sandals: as they continued to speak in a high tone, a pistol was discharged over their heads, after which they cringed like dogs. A blazing fire, a warm supper, dry beds, broad jests, and funny stories, soon restored the flagging spirits of our party. Towards night the moon dispersed the thick mists which, gathering into clouds, threatened rain, and the cold sensibly diminished: there was little dew, and we should have slept comfortably had not our hungry mules, hobbled as they were, hopped about the kraal and fought till dawn.

On the 6th December, we arose late to avoid the cold morning air, and at 7 A.M. set out over rough ground, hoping to ascend the Ghauts that day. After creeping about two miles, the camels, unable to proceed, threw themselves upon the earth, and we unwillingly called a halt at Jiyaf, a basin below the Dobo [10] fiumara. Here, white flocks dotting the hills, and the scavengers of the air warned us that we were in the vicinity of villages. Our wigwam was soon full of fair-faced Gudabirsi, mostly Loajira [11] or cow-herd boys, who, according to the custom of their class, wore their Tobes bound scarf-like round their necks.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 50 of 127
Words from 49956 to 50985 of 128411