The
Extreme End Of The Short Harpoon Is Fixed In The Point Of A
Bamboo About Ten Feet Long, Around Which The Rope Is Twisted,
While The Buoy End Is Carried In The Left Hand.
The old Abou Do being resolved upon work, had divested himself of
his tope or toga before starting, according
To the general custom
of the aggageers, who usually wear a simple piece of leather
wound round the loins when hunting, but, I believe in respect for
our party, they had provided themselves with a garment resembling
bathing drawers, such as are worn in France, Germany, and other
civilized countries; but the old Abou Do, like the English, had
resisted any such innovation, and he accordingly appeared with
nothing on but his harpoon; and a more superb old Neptune I never
beheld. He carried this weapon in his hand, as the trident with
which the old sea-god ruled the monsters of the deep; and as the
tall Arab patriarch of threescore years and ten, with his long
grey locks flowing over his brawny shoulders, stepped as lightly
as a goat from rock to rock along the rough margin of the river,
I followed him in admiration.
The country was very beautiful; we were within twenty miles of
lofty mountains, while at a distance of about thirty-five or
forty miles were the high peaks of the Abyssinian Alps. The
entire land was richly wooded, although open, and adapted for
hunting upon horseback. Through this wild and lovely country the
river Settite flowed in an ever-changing course.
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