Moreover He Had Sent Me A Kind Of Ritual Which I Had
Perused In An Hour And Returned To Him:
This prepossessed the Shaykh
strongly against me, lightly "skimming" books being a form of idleness as
yet unknown to the ponderous East.
Our days at Harar were monotonous
enough. In the morning we looked to the mules, drove out the cats--as
great a nuisance here as at Aden--and ate for breakfast lumps of boiled
beef with peppered holcus-scones. We were kindly looked upon by one
Sultan, a sick and decrepid Eunuch, who having served five Amirs, was
allowed to remain in the palace. To appearance he was mad: he wore upon
his poll a motley scratch wig, half white and half black, like Day and
Night in masquerades. But his conduct was sane. At dawn he sent us bad
plantains, wheaten crusts, and cups of unpalatable coffee-tea [40], and,
assisted by a crone more decrepid than himself, prepared for me his water-
pipe, a gourd fitted with two reeds and a tile of baked clay by way of
bowl: now he "knagged" at the slave girls, who were slow to work, then
burst into a fury because some visitor ate Kat without offering it to him,
or crossed the royal threshold in sandal or slipper. The other inmates of
the house were Galla slave-girls, a great nuisance, especially one
Berille, an unlovely maid, whose shrill voice and shameless manners were a
sad scandal to pilgrims and pious Moslems.
About 8 A.M. the Somal sent us gifts of citrons, plantains, sugar-cane,
limes, wheaten bread, and stewed fowls. At the same time the house became
full of visitors, Harari and others, most of them pretexting inquiries
after old Sultan's health. Noon was generally followed by a little
solitude, the people retiring to dinner and siesta: we were then again
provided with bread and beef from the Amir's kitchen. In the afternoon the
house again filled, and the visitors dispersed only for supper. Before
sunset we were careful to visit the mules tethered in the court-yard;
being half starved they often attempted to desert. [41]
It was harvest home at Harar, a circumstance which worked us much annoy.
In the mornings the Amir, attended by forty or fifty guards, rode to a
hill north of the city, where he inspected his Galla reapers and
threshers, and these men were feasted every evening at our quarters with
flesh, beer, and mead. [42] The strong drinks caused many a wordy war, and
we made a point of exhorting the pagans, with poor success I own, to purer
lives.
We spent our _soiree_ alternately bepreaching the Gallas, "chaffing" Mad
Said, who, despite his seventy years, was a hale old Bedouin, with a salt
and sullen repartee, and quarrelling with the slave-girls. Berille the
loud-lunged, or Aminah the pert, would insist upon extinguishing the fat-
fed lamp long ere bed-time, or would enter the room singing, laughing,
dancing, and clapping a measure with their palms, when, stoutly aided by
old Sultan, who shrieked like a hyaena on these occasions, we ejected her
in extreme indignation. All then was silence without: not so--alas!--
within. Mad Said snored fearfully, and Abtidon chatted half the night with
some Bedouin friend, who had dropped in to supper. On our hard couches we
did not enjoy either the _noctes_ or the _coenoe deorum_.
The even tenor of such days was varied by a perpetual reference to the
rosary, consulting soothsayers, and listening to reports and rumours
brought to us by the Somal in such profusion that we all sighed for a
discontinuance. The Gerad Mohammed, excited by the Habr Awal, was curious
in his inquiries concerning me: the astute Senior had heard of our leaving
the End of Time with the Gerad Adan, and his mind fell into the fancy that
we were transacting some business for the Hajj Sharmarkay, the popular
bugbear of Harar. Our fate was probably decided by the arrival of a youth
of the Ayyal Gedid clan, who reported that three brothers had landed in
the Somali country, that two of them were anxiously awaiting at Berberah
the return of the third from Harar, and that, though dressed like Moslems,
they were really Englishmen in government employ. Visions of cutting off
caravans began to assume a hard and palpable form: the Habr Awal ceased
intriguing, and the Gerad Mohammed resolved to adopt the _suaviter in
modo_ whilst dealing with his dangerous guest.
Some days after his first visit, the Shaykh Jami, sending for the Hammal,
informed him of an intended trip from Harar: my follower suggested that we
might well escort him. The good Shaykh at once offered to apply for leave
from the Gerad Mohammed; not, however, finding the minister at home, he
asked us to meet him at the palace on the morrow, about the time of Kat-
eating.
We had so often been disappointed in our hopes of a final "lay-public,"
that on this occasion much was not expected. However, about 6 A.M., we
were all summoned, and entering the Gerad's levee-room were, as usual,
courteously received. I had distinguished his complaint,--chronic
bronchitis,--and resolving to make a final impression, related to him all
its symptoms, and promised, on reaching Aden, to send the different
remedies employed by ourselves. He clung to the hope of escaping his
sufferings, whilst the attendant courtiers looked on approvingly, and
begged me to lose no time. Presently the Gerad was sent for by the Amir,
and after a few minutes I followed him, on this occasion, alone. Ensued a
long conversation about the state of Aden, of Zayla, of Berberah, and of
Stamboul. The chief put a variety of questions about Arabia, and every
object there: the answer was that the necessity of commerce confined us to
the gloomy rock. He used some obliging expressions about desiring our
friendship, and having considerable respect for a people who built, he
understood, large ships.
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