With The End Of The Week's Repose Came Shaykh Jami, The Berteri, Equipped
As A Traveller With Sword, Praying-Skin, And Water-Bottle.
This bustling
little divine, whose hobby it was to make every man's business his own,
was accompanied by his brother, in nowise so prayerful a person, and by
four burly, black-looking Widads, of whose birth, learning, piety, and
virtues he spoke in terms eloquent.
I gave them a supper of rice, ghee,
and dates in my hut, and with much difficulty excused myself on plea of
ill health from a Samrah or night's entertainment--the chaunting some
serious book from evening even to the small hours. The Shaykh informed me
that his peaceful errand on that occasion was to determine a claim of
blood-money amongst the neighbouring Bedouins. The case was rich in Somali
manners. One man gave medicine to another who happened to die about a
month afterwards: the father of the deceased at once charged the mediciner
with poisoning, and demanded the customary fine. Mad Said grumbled certain
disrespectful expressions about the propriety of divines confining
themselves to prayers and the Koran, whilst the Gerad Adan, after
listening to the Shaykh's violent denunciation of the Somali doctrine,
"Fire, but not shame!" [4] conducted his head-scratcher, and with sly
sarcasm declared that he had been Islamized afresh that day.
On Sunday, the 21st of January, our messenger returned from Harar,
bringing with him supplies for the road: my vocabulary was finished, and
as nothing delayed us at Wilensi, I determined to set out the next day.
When the rumour went abroad every inhabitant of the village flocked to our
hut, with the view of seeing what he could beg or borrow:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 335 of 479
Words from 89547 to 89834
of 128411
