They Begged Us To Visit
Their Village, And Offered A Heifer For Each Lion Shot On Mount Libahlay:
Unhappily We Could Not Afford Time.
These youths were followed by men and
women bringing milk, sheep, and goats, for which, grass being rare, they
asked exorbitant prices,--eighteen cubits of Cutch canvass for a lamb, and
two of blue cotton for a bottle of ghee.
Amongst them was the first really
pretty face seen by me in the Somali country. The head was well formed,
and gracefully placed upon a long thin neck and narrow shoulders; the
hair, brow, and nose were unexceptionable, there was an arch look in the
eyes of jet and pearl, and a suspicion of African protuberance about the
lips, which gave the countenance an exceeding _naivete_. Her skin was a
warm, rich nut-brown, an especial charm in these regions, and her
movements had that grace which suggests perfect symmetry of limb. The poor
girl's costume, a coif for the back hair, a cloth imperfectly covering the
bosom, and a petticoat of hides, made no great mystery of forms: equally
rude were her ornaments; an armlet and pewter earrings, the work of some
blacksmith, a necklace of white porcelain beads, and sundry talismans in
cases of tarnished and blackened leather. As a tribute to her prettiness I
gave her some cloth, tobacco, and a bit of salt, which was rapidly
becoming valuable; her husband stood by, and, although the preference was
marked, he displayed neither anger nor jealousy. She showed her gratitude
by bringing us milk, and by assisting us to start next morning. In the
evening we hired three fresh camels [12] to carry our goods up the ascent,
and killed some antelopes which, in a stew, were not contemptible. The End
of Time insisted upon firing a gun to frighten away the lions, who make
night hideous with their growls, but never put in an appearance.
The morning cold greatly increased, and we did not start till 8 A.M. After
half an hour's march up the bed of a fiumara, leading apparently to a _cul
de sac_ of lofty rocks in the hills, we quitted it for a rude zig-zag
winding along its left side, amongst bushes, thorn trees, and huge rocks.
The walls of the opposite bank were strikingly perpendicular; in some
places stratified, in others solid and polished by the course of stream
and cascade. The principal material was a granite, so coarse, that the
composing mica, quartz, and felspar separated into detached pieces as
large as a man's thumb; micaceous grit, which glittered in the sunbeams,
and various sandstones, abounded. The road caused us some trouble; the
camels' loads were always slipping from their mats; I found it necessary
to dismount from my mule, and, sitting down, we were stung by the large
black ants which infest these hills. [13]
About half way up, we passed two cairns, and added to them our mite like
good Somal. After two hours of hard work the summit of this primitive pass
was attained, and sixty minutes more saw us on the plateau above the
hills,--the second zone of East Africa. Behind us lay the plains, of which
we vainly sought a view: the broken ground at the foot of the mountains is
broad, and mists veiled the reeking expanse of the low country. [14] The
plateau in front of us was a wide extent of rolling ground, rising
slightly towards the west; its colour was brown with a threadbare coat of
verdure, and at the bottom of each rugged slope ran a stony water-course
trending from south-west to north-east. The mass of tangled aloes, ragged
thorn, and prim-looking poison trees, [15] must once have been populous;
tombs and houses of the early Moslems covered with ruins the hills and
ridges.
About noon, we arrived at a spot called the Kafir's Grave. It is a square
enceinte of rude stones about one hundred yards each side; and legends say
that one Misr, a Galla chief, when dying, ordered the place to be filled
seven times with she-camels destined for his Ahan or funeral feast. This
is the fourth stage upon the direct road from Zayla to Harar: we had
wasted ten days, and the want of grass and water made us anxious about our
animals. The camels could scarcely walk, and my mule's spine rose high
beneath the Arab pad:--such are the effects of Jilal [16], the worst of
travelling seasons in Eastern Africa.
At 1 P.M. we unloaded under a sycamore tree, called, after a Galla
chieftain [17], "Halimalah," and giving its name to the surrounding
valley. This ancient of the forest is more than half decayed, several huge
limbs lie stretched upon the ground, whence, for reverence, no one removes
them: upon the trunk, or rather trunks, for its bifurcates, are marks
deeply cut by a former race, and Time has hollowed in the larger stem an
arbour capable of containing half-a-dozen men. This holy tree was,
according to the Somal, a place of prayer for the infidel, and its ancient
honors are not departed. Here, probably to commemorate the westward
progress of the tribe, the Gudabirsi Ugaz or chief has the white canvass
turban bound about his brows, and hence rides forth to witness the
equestrian games in the Harawwah Valley. As everyone who passes by, visits
the Halimalah tree, foraging parties of the Northern Eesa and the Jibril
Abokr (a clan of the Habr Awal) frequently meet, and the traveller wends
his way in fear and trembling.
The thermometer showed an altitude of 3,350 feet: under the tree's cool
shade, the climate reminded me of Southern Italy in winter. I found a
butter-cup, and heard a wood-pecker [18] tapping on the hollow trunk, a
reminiscence of English glades. The Abban and his men urged an advance in
the afternoon. But my health had suffered from the bad water of the coast,
and the camels were faint with fatigue:
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