As It Shone They Suspected
Silver, And The End Of Time Whispered A Sacrilegious Plan For Purloining
It.
Inside the vault were three graves apparently empty, and upon the dark
sunken floor lay several rounded stones, resembling cannon balls, and used
as weights by the more civilised Somal.
Thence we proceeded to the battle-
field, a broad sheet of sandstone, apparently dinted by the hoofs of mules
and horses: on this ground, which, according to my guides, was in olden
days soft and yielding, took place the great action between Aububah and
Darbiyah Kola. A second mosque was found with walls in tolerable repair,
but, like the rest of the place, roofless. Long Guled ascended the broken
staircase of a small square minaret, and delivered a most ignorant and
Bedouin-like Azan or call to prayer. Passing by the shells of houses, we
concluded our morning's work with a visit to the large graveyard.
Apparently it did not contain the bones of Moslems: long lines of stones
pointed westward, and one tomb was covered with a coating of hard mortar,
in whose sculptured edge my benighted friends detected magical
inscriptions. I heard of another city called Ahammed in the neighbouring
hills, but did not visit it. These are all remains of Galla settlements,
which the ignorance and exaggeration of the Somal fill with "writings" and
splendid edifices.
Returning home we found that our Gudabirsi Bedouins had at length obeyed
the summons. The six sons of a noted chief, Ali Addah or White Ali, by
three different mothers, Beuh, Igah, Khayri, Nur, Ismail and Yunis, all
advanced towards me as I dismounted, gave the hand of friendship, and
welcomed me to their homes.
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