I Frequeutly Shot Ten Or Twelve Ducks, And As Many Cranes, Before
Breakfast; Among Others The Beautiful Crested Crane, Called
By the Arabs
"garranook." The black velvet head of this crane, surrounded by a golden
crest, was a favourite ornament
Of the Latookas, and they were
immediately arranged as crests for their helmets. The neighbourhood of
my camp would have made a fortune for a feather-dealer; it was literally
strewn with down and plumes. I was always attended every morning by a
number of Latooka boys, who were eager sportsmen, and returned to camp
daily laden with ducks and geese.
No sooner did we arrive in camp than a number of boys volunteered to
pluck the birds, which they did for the sake of the longest feathers,
with which they immediately decked their woolly heads. Crowds of boys
were to be seen with heads like cauliflowers, all dressed with the
feathers of cranes and wild ducks. It appears to be accepted, both by
the savage and civilized, that birds' feathers are specially intended
for ornamenting the human head.
It was fortunate that Nature had thus stocked Latooka with game. It was
impossible to procure any other meat; and not only were the ducks and
geese to us what the quails were to the Israelites in the desert, but
they enabled me to make presents to the natives that assured them of our
good will.
Although the Latookas were far better than other tribes that I had met,
they were sufficiently annoying; they gave me no credit for real good
will, but they attributed my forbearance to weakness. On one occasion
Adda, one of the chiefs, came to ask me to join him in attacking a
village to procure molotes (iron hoes); he said, "Come along with me,
bring your men and guns, and we will attack a village near here, and
take their molotes and cattle; you keep the cattle, and I will have the
molotes." I asked him whether the village was in an enemy's country. "Oh
no!" he replied, "it is close here; but the people are rather
rebellious, and it will do them good to kill a few, and to take their
molotes. If you are afraid, never mind, I will ask the Turks to do it."
Thus forbearance on my part was supposed to be caused from weakness, and
it was difficult to persuade them that it originated in a feeling of
justice. This Adda most coolly proposed that we should plunder one of
his own villages that was rather too "liberal" in its views. Nothing is
more heartbreaking than to be so thoroughly misunderstood, and the
obtuseness of the savages was such, that I never could make them
understand the existence of good principle; - their one idea was
"power," - force that could obtain all - the strong hand that could wrest
from the weak. In disgust I frequently noted the feelings of the moment
in my journal - a memorandum from which I copy as illustrative of the
time.
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