A Narrative Of Captivity In Abyssinia With Some Account Of The Late Emperor Theodore, His Country And People By Henry Blanc
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A Serious Altercation Then Took Place Between
The Governor Of Wochnee And The Cameleers.
They declined to proceed
any further, and after a short consultation between themselves,
each man seized his camel and walked away.
But the governor and the
officer's servant had also been consulting together: seeing the
cameleers departing, they went to the village, and, as it happened
to be market-day, soon collected a good number of soldiers and
peasants. As the cameleers were passing close to the village, on
a given signal, the whole of the camels were seized. I regret to
say, for the honour of the Arabs and Takruries, that, though well
armed, they did not show fight, but on the contrary, ran away in
every direction. Unwilling to lose their precious beasts of burden,
the owners returned by twos and threes. More consultations followed:
at last, on the promise of an extra dollar for each, and a cow for
all, peace and harmony were satisfactorily restored. After a couple
of hours' march, we reached Balwaha. I can understand the difficulties
the cameleers raised, as the road is exceedingly bad for camels,
passing as it does over two high and steep mountains and across two
narrow ravines densely overgrown with tall bamboos.
At Balwaha we encamped in a small natural enclosure, formed by
beautiful foliaged trees. Three days after our arrival, two of the
officers sent by Theodore to meet us at last made their appearance,
but no bearers. We had unfortunately arrived during the last days
of the long feast before Christmas, and we must, said the chief of
the escort, have patience till the feast was over.
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