We Halted That Day At Kuranyali, Preparing Water And Milk For Two Long
Marches Over The Desert To The Hills.
Being near the shore, the air was
cloudy, although men prayed for a shower in vain:
About midday the
pleasant seabreeze fanned our cheeks, and the plain was thronged with tall
pillars of white sand. [31]
The heat forbade egress, and our Wigwam was crowded with hungry visitors.
Raghe, urged thereto by his tribe, became importunate, now for tobacco,
then for rice, now for dates, then for provisions in general. No wonder
that the Prophet made his Paradise for the Poor a mere place of eating and
drinking. The half-famished Bedouins, Somal or Arab, think of nothing
beyond the stomach,--their dreams know no higher vision of bliss than mere
repletion. A single article of diet, milk or flesh, palling upon man's
palate, they will greedily suck the stones of eaten dates: yet, Abyssinian
like, they are squeamish and fastidious as regards food. They despise the
excellent fish with which Nature has so plentifully stocked their seas.
[32] "Speak not to me with that mouth which eateth fish!" is a favourite
insult amongst the Bedouins. If you touch a bird or a fowl of any
description, you will be despised even by the starving beggar. You must
not eat marrow or the flesh about the sheep's thigh-bone, especially when
travelling, and the kidneys are called a woman's dish. None but the
Northern Somal will touch the hares which abound in the country, and many
refuse the sand antelope and other kinds of game, not asserting that the
meat is unlawful, but simply alleging a disgust. Those who chew coffee
berries are careful not to place an even number in their mouths, and
camel's milk is never heated, for fear of bewitching the animal. [33] The
Somali, however, differs in one point from his kinsman the Arab: the
latter prides himself upon his temperance; the former, like the North
American Indian, measures manhood by appetite. A "Son of the Somal" is
taught, as soon as his teeth are cut, to devour two pounds of the toughest
mutton, and ask for more: if his powers of deglutition fail, he is derided
as degenerate.
On the next day (Friday, 1st Dec.) we informed the Abban that we intended
starting early in the afternoon, and therefore warned him to hold himself
and his escort, together with the water and milk necessary for our march,
in readiness. He promised compliance and disappeared. About 3 P.M. the
Bedouins, armed as usual with spear and shield, began to gather round the
hut, and--nothing in this country can be done without that terrible
"palaver!"--the speechifying presently commenced. Raghe, in a lengthy
harangue hoped that the tribe would afford us all the necessary supplies
and assist us in the arduous undertaking. His words elicited no hear!
hear!--there was an evident unwillingness on the part of the wild men to
let us, or rather our cloth and tobacco, depart. One remarked, with surly
emphasis, that he had "seen no good and eaten no Bori [34] from that
caravan, why should he aid it?" When we asked the applauding hearers what
they had done for us, they rejoined by inquiring whose the land was?
Another, smitten by the fair Shehrazade's bulky charms, had proposed
matrimony, and offered as dowry a milch camel: she "temporised," not
daring to return a positive refusal, and the suitor betrayed a certain
Hibernian _velleite_ to consider consent an unimportant part of the
ceremony. The mules had been sent to the well, with orders to return
before noon: at 4 P.M. they were not visible. I then left the hut, and,
sitting on a cow's-hide in the sun, ordered my men to begin loading,
despite the remonstrances of the Abban and the interference of about fifty
Bedouins. As we persisted, they waxed surlier, and declared that all which
was ours became theirs, to whom the land belonged: we did not deny the
claim, but simply threatened sorcery-death, by wild beasts and foraging
parties, to their "camels, children, and women." This brought them to
their senses, the usual effect of such threats; and presently arose the
senior who had spat upon us for luck's sake. With his toothless jaws he
mumbled a vehement speech, and warned the tribe that it was not good to
detain such strangers: they lent ready ears to the words of Nestor,
saying, "Let us obey him, he is near his end!" The mules arrived, but when
I looked for the escort, none was forthcoming. At Zayla it was agreed that
twenty men should protect us across the desert, which is the very passage
of plunder; now, however, five or six paupers offered to accompany us for
a few miles. We politely declined troubling them, but insisted upon the
attendance of our Abban and three of his kindred: as some of the Bedouins
still opposed us, our aged friend once more arose, and by copious abuse
finally silenced them. We took leave of him with many thanks and handfuls
of tobacco, in return for which he blessed us with fervour. Then, mounting
our mules, we set out, followed for at least a mile by a long tail of
howling boys, who, ignorant of clothing, except a string of white beads
round the neck, but armed with dwarf spears, bows, and arrows, showed all
the impudence of baboons. They derided the End of Time's equitation till I
feared a scene;--sailor-like, he prided himself upon graceful
horsemanship, and the imps were touching his tenderest point.
Hitherto, for the Abban's convenience, we had skirted the sea, far out of
the direct road: now we were to strike south-westwards into the interior.
At 6 P. M. we started across a "Goban" [35] which eternal summer gilds
with a dull ochreish yellow, towards a thin blue strip of hill on the far
horizon. The Somal have no superstitious dread of night and its horrors,
like Arabs and Abyssinians:
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