Here The End Of Time Conceived The Jocose Idea Of Crowning Me King
Of The Country.
With loud cries of Buh!
Buh! Buh! he showered leaves of a
gum tree and a little water from a prayer bottle over my head, and then
with all solemnity bound on the turban. [35] It is perhaps fortunate that
this facetiousness was not witnessed: a crowd of Bedouins assembled below
the hill, suspecting as usual some magical practices, and, had they known
the truth, our journey might have ended abruptly. Descending, I found
porcupines' quills in abundance [36], and shot a rock pigeon called Elal-
jog--the "Dweller at wells." At the foot a "Baune" or Hyrax Abyssinicus,
resembling the Coney of Palestine [37], was observed at its favourite
pastime of sunning itself upon the rocks.
On the evening of the 20th December the mounted messenger returned, after
a six hours' hard ride, bringing back unopened the letter addressed by me
to the Gerad, and a private message from their sister to the sons of White
Ali, advising them not to advance. Ensued terrible palavers. It appeared
that the Gerad was upon the point of mounting horse, when his subjects
swore him to remain and settle a dispute with the Amir of Harar. Our
Abbans, however, withdrew their hired camels, positively refuse to
accompany us, and Beuh privily informed the End of Time that I had
acquired through the land the evil reputation of killing everything, from
an elephant to a bird in the air. One of the younger brethren, indeed,
declared that we were forerunners of good, and that if the Gerad harmed a
hair of our heads, he would slaughter every Girhi under the sun. We had,
however, learned properly to appreciate such vaunts, and the End of Time
drily answered that their sayings were honey but their doings myrrh. Being
a low-caste and a shameless tribe, they did not reply to our reproaches.
At last, a manoeuvre was successful: Beuh and his brethren, who squatted
like sulky children in different places, were dismissed with thanks,--we
proposed placing ourselves under the safeguard of Gerad Hirsi, the Berteri
chief. This would have thrown the protection-price, originally intended
for their brother-in-law, into the hands of a rival, and had the effect of
altering their resolve. Presently we were visited by two Widad or hedge-
priests, Ao Samattar and Ao Nur [38], both half-witted fellows, but active
and kindhearted. The former wore a dirty turban, the latter a Zebid cap, a
wicker-work calotte, composed of the palm leaf's mid-rib: they carried
dressed goatskins, as prayer carpets, over their right shoulders dangled
huge wooden ink bottles with Lauh or wooden tablets for writing talismans
[39], and from the left hung a greasy bag, containing a tattered copy of
the Koran and a small MS. of prayers. They read tolerably, but did not
understand Arabic, and I presented them with cheap Bombay lithographs of
the Holy Book. The number of these idlers increased as we approached
Harar, the Alma Mater of Somali land:--the people seldom listen to their
advice, but on this occasion Ao Samattar succeeded in persuading the
valiant Beuh that the danger was visionary. Soon afterwards rode up to our
kraal three cavaliers, who proved to be sons of Adam, the future Ugaz of
the Gudabirsi tribe: this chief had fully recognized the benefits of
reopening to commerce a highway closed by their petty feuds, and sent to
say that, in consequence of his esteem for the Hajj Sharmarkay, if the
sons of White Ali feared to escort us, he in person would do the deed.
Thereupon Beuh became a "Gesi" or hero, as the End of Time ironically
called him: he sent back his brethren with their horses and camels, and
valorously prepared to act as our escort. I tauntingly asked him what he
now thought of the danger. For all reply he repeated the words, with which
the Bedouins--who, like the Arabs, have a holy horror of towns--had been
dinning daily into my ears, "They will spoil that white skin of thine at
Harar!"
At 3 P.M., on the 21st December, we started in a westerly direction
through a gap in the hills, and presently turned to the south-west, over
rapidly rising ground, thickly inhabited, and covered with flocks and
herds. About 5 P.M., after marching two miles, we raised our wigwam
outside a populous kraal, a sheep was provided by the hospitality of Ao
Samattar, and we sat deep into the night enjoying a genial blaze.
Early the next morning we had hoped to advance: water, however, was
wanting, and a small caravan was slowly gathering;--these details delayed
us till 4 P.M. Our line lay westward, over rising ground, towards a
conspicuous conical hill called Konti. Nothing could be worse for camels
than the rough ridges at the foot of the mountain, full of thickets, cut
by deep Fiumaras, and abounding in dangerous watercourses: the burdens
slipped now backwards then forwards, sometimes the load was almost dragged
off by thorns, and at last we were obliged to leave one animal to follow
slowly in the rear. After creeping on two miles, we bivouacked in a
deserted cow-kraal,--_sub dio_, as it was warm under the hills. That
evening our party was increased by a Gudabirsi maiden in search of a
husband: she was surlily received by Shehrazade and Deenarzade, but we
insisted upon her being fed, and superintended the operation. Her style of
eating was peculiar; she licked up the rice from the hollow of her hand.
Next morning she was carried away in our absence, greatly against her
will, by some kinsmen who had followed her.
And now, bidding adieu to the Gudabirsi, I will briefly sketch the tribe.
The Gudabirsi, or Gudabursi, derive themselves from Dir and Aydur, thus
claiming affinity with the Eesa: others declare their tribe to be an
offshoot from the Bahgoba clan of the Habr Awal, originally settled near
Jebel Almis, and Bulhar, on the sea-shore.
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