Kidnapping has consequently been there carried to an extent so frightful as to impart the name of the unhappy province as a designation for slaves generally. Nearly all of both s.e.xes, however, had already become pa.s.sive converts to the Mohammadan faith, and under the encouraging eye of the bigoted drivers, oaths by the false Prophet resounded through the camp. Nine-tenths were females, varying in age from six to thirteen years, and all were clad alike in dirty cotton smocks of Abyssinian manufacture, adorned in some instances with cuffs of blue calico. Their long dark tresses, elaborately greased, were plaited into thin cords with ta.s.sels at the extremity, and interwoven about the head with a band of coloured thread, to which was suspended a distinguishing cl.u.s.ter of cowrie sh.e.l.ls. Bead necklaces, pewter ear-rings, bracelets, and anklets, decorated the persons of the prettiest; and these ornaments, forming the stock in hand of the trader, are invariably resumed on each bargain effected, in order to be transferred to some victim hereafter to be purchased.
Each slave was provided with a cruse of water, and had walked the entire distance accomplished from the heart of Africa, with an endurance that in children especially of such tender years was truly surprising. A very few only, who had become weary or footsore, had been mounted on mules or camels, or provided with ox-hide sandals, which in some measure protected their tender feet against the sharp lava boulders. The males, chiefly boys, had been entrusted with the charge of camels, and required no compulsion to render themselves useful; and of the females, some, who boasted personal charms, occupied the position of temporary mistresses.
Four large handfuls of parched grain, comprising a mixture of wheat, maize, millet, and gram, formed the daily food of each; and under the charge of the most intelligent, the respective droves slept huddled together on mats spread upon the ground. Some surly old drivers or wanton youths there were, who appeared to prefer the application of the whip to the more gentle persuasion of words; but in the trifling punishment inflicted there was nothing to remind the spectator of the horrors of slavery as witnessed in the western world.
Few caravans ever traverse the deadly Adel plains without losing some slaves at least by the sultriness of the climate, or by the wanton spear of the adjacent hordes. Three of the fat merchant"s children had been murdered shortly after leaving Abyssinia, and at his instigation a foray was now concerting among the united warriors of the two caravans, having for its object the destruction of the neighbouring Wurboro Galla, whose families were to be swept into captivity. In this unprovoked slave-hunt the Emba.s.sy were strongly urged to take part, but positively refusing the aid of British muskets in furtherance of any such object, the project was finally abandoned, more especially when a huge, brawny Shankela, the property of the Kazi"s son, was one morning discovered to have effected his escape during the night, doubtless with the design of carrying to the unsuspecting tribe a timely intimation of the gathering storm.
Ominous _kalams_ meanwhile went on as usual, and fresh reinforcements arrived to take share therein. Villains of every degree continued to slide in as if hung upon wires, to stand cross-legged within the door of the tent until their curiosity was satisfied, and then to a.s.sume a seat in the congress. Hajji Abdallah and Elmi, the nephews of Ali Shermarki, listening by turns, brought hourly reports of the progress making towards final adjustment, and "_Bokra, Inshallah_!" "To-morrow, G.o.d willing!" the now undeviating reply to every interrogatory relative to departure, had become a perfect by-word in every mouth. At length, on the 28th, it was pompously announced by the Ras el Kafilah that every point at issue had _bona fide_ been satisfactorily arranged--that the water-skins were to be filled in the evening before the flocks and herds should return from pasture to trouble the pools--and that the journey was positively to be resumed betimes on the morrow.
Upon this welcome a.s.surance the three potent chieftains already named were again received, though with closed doors at their own request, in order that each might be invested with a turban and an honorary mantle of scarlet broad-cloth, as rewards of their villainy. A most difficult point of etiquette had now to be overcome. The Akil of the Hy Somauli, whose liege subjects had abstracted the mule from Fialoo, was the bosom friend and partisan of Izhak, whilst the ill.u.s.trious personages who sat in regal dignity on either side were near and dear relatives of Mohammad Ali; and the rivals respectively watching with jealous eye every act that could be construed into favour or partiality, would infallibly have fired at any preference shown in the presentation of these enviable distinctions from the British Government. The presents were therefore placed on a table immediately opposite to the respective parties, and thence simultaneously launched with the same arm into the laps of the confronted recipients; when each bundle, even to the envelope, being found the exact counterpart of the others, no grounds for jealousy or heart-burning could be devised.
Misfortune had during this interim overtaken the "Sahib el bayzah," the imp whose acquaintance was formed in the harbour of Tajura. Detected in the mischievous dissemination of evil tales respecting his clansmen, and in circulating others of an equally discreditable tendency, purely the fruit of his own fertile invention, affecting the throng at Killulloo, he had been taken to task by Abroo ibn Aboo Bekr, upon whom he drew his creese without further ado. The bloodthirsty little savage, who had not numbered his fourteenth year, being seized, was tied to a tree, and most severely chastised. His pa.s.sionate cries and shrieks under the lash had reached the tent during the interview now happily terminated, and no sooner was he taken down than he came blubbering to lodge his complaint.
No satisfactory reply being elicited, the precocious youth unsheathed his knife, with which he viciously went through the form of disembowelling a prostrate foe. His feelings thus relieved, he dried his eyes, and, with a significant toss of the head, remarked as he walked away, ""Tis of no consequence, `_maphish_," no importance whatever; but by the grace of G.o.d I shall cut the throat of that cousin of mine, before I am many days older!"
Volume One, Chapter XXVIII.
RENEWAL OF DEBATES BY IBRAHIM SHEHEM ABLI, SURNAMED "THE DEVIL"--FINAL ESCAPE TO WARAMILLI.
Affairs nevertheless began now to a.s.sume a more desperate appearance than ever. The night of this day of good tidings setting-in with a storm of dust, followed by a heavy fall of rain, a party of Bedouins scoured unperceived through the camp, and in spite of every precaution swept off many articles of trifling value. Amongst the booty was a tub of sugar-candy, which, on the hue and cry being raised, the rogues were fain to abandon, together with the bedding of one of the escort. An incessant bombardment of large stones was kept up during the whole night from the thick underwood in the vicinity, directed as well against the sentries on duty, who paced the same weary ground for the ten thousandth time, as against the position occupied by the sleepers, one of whom, having emerged for a moment from the tarpaulin which the rain had rendered indispensable, received a severe contusion.
Mohammad Ali, in a state of evident alarm, came as soon as the shower had abated to say that there existed no prospect of the march being resumed in accordance with the solemn promise of the Ras el Kafilah; and that feeling longer unable to answer for the lives of the party amongst such a congregation of lawless ruffians, he was desirous of conducting to Shoa on horseback all who felt so disposed, leaving the heavy baggage to be secured by his father as far as circ.u.mstances would admit. Should matters unfortunately reach the decided crisis which there seemed every reason to apprehend, the son of Ali Abi was clearly the staff whereon to rely, his intercourse with Europeans having rendered his manners more frank and ingenuous than those of his selfish and shuffling rivals; but although _kalams_ and altercations had again commenced, a sense of duty for the present precluded the adoption of his project.
Morning of the 29th dawned upon no preparations for departure, and a fresh source of detention was indeed found to have arisen from a new claim for precedence put in by Ibrahim Shehem, the litigious member of the tribe Abli, which ranks in the Danakil nation next to that of Adali, to which the brother of the reigning Sultan belongs. Another tedious day of insult and debate ensued; but the question was at length disposed of by the congress, who decided the fiery little warrior to hold place second to Izhak in the conduct of the kafilah, to the exclusion of Mohammad Ali, through whose tribe the party were now to pa.s.s.
Again it was announced with due formality that all matters at issue were peaceably and satisfactorily arranged, and several bales of blue calico, with quant.i.ties of snuff, tobacco, and dates, having been distributed among the weary disputants, they were finally induced to disperse, each carrying his _tobe_ folded in triangular form, and stuck, as if in triumph of his plunder, like a placard, at the end of a slit stick.
Ibrahim ibn Hameido, Akil of the Hy Somauli, left at his departure a clump of twenty bold spearmen to escort the Emba.s.sy to the banks of the Hawash; and, after shaking hands with each of the European party, to the benediction "_Fee aman illah_," bade the whole "_Tarik is sulama_" G.o.d speed upon the road.
Ibrahim Shehem Abli, appropriately surnamed by his compatriots "Shaytan," or "The Evil One," carried a great soul under a very diminutive person; and being a perfect Roostum in his own estimation, was one of those who honoured the humble tent of the Emba.s.sy with a much larger share of his presence than could have been desired. No sooner was it pitched than the consequential little man strutted in as if by previous invitation, and, with an air that left no doubt as to the side on which he considered the obligation to lay, spread his mat in the least convenient position that could have been selected to the lawful proprietors of the interior. By virtue of a claim which it had heretofore been difficult to understand, he considered himself ent.i.tled to the receipt of rations in addition to the handsome pecuniary remuneration extorted at Tajura, and to keep him out of mischief, he had daily obtained in common with the Ras el Kafilah two large handfuls of rice.
Elated by his recent advancement, he this evening, after sleeping some hours on the table, suddenly bounced upon his legs, and a.s.suming an att.i.tude of mortal defiance, which his contemptible presence rendered truly diverting, exclaimed with the most exaggerated want of courtesy, "You Franks don"t know who I am, or you would treat me with more respect. I am Ibrahim Shehem Abli, who slew the chief of the Mudaito in single combat, and"--placing the hand of one of his audience in a frightful chasm of the skull, which afforded ample room for three fingers and a half--"here is the wound I received upon that occasion.
Do you conceive that I can always consent to receive the paltry pittance of rice with which I have hitherto been put off? Double the quant.i.ty immediately, and see that I have my proper share of dates and coffee too, or by the head of the Prophet we shall not long continue on our present friendly terms."
An Arab of desperate fortunes, the ancestor of this pugnacious little hero, is said to have concealed himself, clothed in white robes, among the spreading branches of a tree; and his partisans having induced the simple-minded villagers to repair to the spot in the dusk of evening, the intruder, on being discovered, was accosted deferentially as a spirit. Revealing himself under the character of a great Arabian warrior, who had shun his thousands in the battle, the man of valour was entreated to descend, and become one of the tribe; but to this he would by no means consent until a pledge had been pa.s.sed to recognise him as its chief, and a.s.sign as his own the whole extent of country visible from his elevated perch, which done, he was pleased to alight, and became the father of Braves. "Tis well for his posterity that the experiment had not been made in a later day, or the cotton robe would have been stripped from the shoulder of the warrior, and a lifeless trunk been left beneath the tree to mark the interview.
Throughout the sojourn of the Emba.s.sy at Killulloo, Izhak had peremptorily insisted upon the tent being struck at sunset, lest the display of so much white and blue cloth might excite the cupidity of the Bedouins, and the preparations making to carry this despotic order into effect, may perhaps have been the means of ruffling the never very placid temper of his now second in command. The aversion of the Ras el Kafilah to any thing like a habitable structure being well understood, the unhoused party amused itself at his expense, by the erection of stone walls of considerable extent, as a shelter during the coming night of rain. "In the name of Allah," he exclaimed, bl.u.s.tering up to the spot, and kicking over a portion of the fabric with the pointed toe of the very sandal that had suffered so severely during the disagreeable debate at Ambabo,--"in the name of Allah and his Prophet, what is the meaning of all this? We shall have our throats cut to a man if you people persist in this folly: there will be no rain to-night!"
But the rain did fall in torrents, notwithstanding the a.s.surance of the Ras; and although the ravine was now comparatively clear of ragam.u.f.fins, stones continued to rattle at intervals against the awning erected for the shelter of the European sentries. That portion of the party off duty, steamed, after an hour"s drenching, under thick heavy tarpaulins, whilst the fluid glided unheeded over the sleeping persons of the paid escort, who were well-greased and oiled, like wild ducks prepared for a long flight.
On the last day of the month, after nearly a week"s tedious detention in an insalubrious and soul-depressing spot, surrounded by black basaltic rocks, where little forage could be obtained, where water, although abundant, was extremely bad, and where the persecutions of prying savages, from whom there was no escape, were unceasing, the Emba.s.sy was again permitted to resume its march. Every hour had seemed an age, and "_Galla ga.s.setoi_," the well-known cry to load, had therefore never been listened to with more heartfelt delight. Until after the rear of the string of camels left the ground, and Izhak was fairly seated on his mule, it was scarcely possible to believe that some fresh cause of detention would not be discovered; but the debates were at last over, and the litigants, weary of raising new objections, suffered their victims to advance in peace.
The road wound up the Killulloo Wady, and thence over a barren rise strewed with obsidian, and with stones, the common pest of the country, to Waramilli. An interesting sight was presented in the line of march of a tribe proceeding in quest of water to the northward--a long line of dromedaries, homed cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats, interspersed by women and children, scantily clad in leathern petticoats, and laden with the rude date matting of portable wigwams, or the still ruder implements of household gear. Whilst the females thus bore heavy burdens slung across their b.r.e.a.s.t.s or led the files of camels, upon which rocked the long, raking, ship-like ribs of the dismantled cabin, the lazy lords sauntered ungallantly along, enc.u.mbered with naught save the equipment of spear and buckler, the ferocious aspect of all giving ample presage of the intentions entertained towards any party less formidable than themselves.
Total absence of water on the route usually pursued had determined the Ras el Kafilah, after much discussion and deliberation, to adopt the lower and shorter road, which, in consequence of the frequent forays of the Galla, had been for some years closed to caravans. But notwithstanding that so much invaluable time had been lost at Killulloo under such provoking circ.u.mstances, and that the march finally made thence fell short of seven miles, he again persisted in halting, thus affording to Hajji Ali Mohammad and Wayess ibn Hagaio an opportunity of rejoining with a party of troublesome Bedouins. The renewed discussions, which did not fail to follow this influx of savages, together with the artful a.s.surances given of the danger to be apprehended on the road selected, had nearly prevailed upon the unstable Izhak to take the kafilah back to Killulloo, for the purpose of proceeding by the upper road; but Ibrahim Shehem Abli, stepping forward in his new capacity, drew his creese, and performing sundry not-to-be-mistaken gestures, swore vehemently upon the sacred Koran to rip up the belly of the very first blockhead who should attempt a retrograde step--his object doubtless being to thwart the views of Mohammad Ali, whose tribe, occupying the upper ground, would derive advantage from the transit of the Emba.s.sy by that quarter.
Waramilli is the usual encamping ground of a section of the Gibdosa Adaiel, but their place was fortunately empty. Completely environed by low hills, it proved insufferably hot; and no water was obtainable nearer than Wady Killulloo, now distant more than two miles from the bivouac; but the party were in some measure reconciled to detention in this spot by the arrival from Tajura of a special messenger, bringing letters which bore very recent dates. Nevertheless the Dankali to whose hands the packet had first been consigned had nearly perished from intense heat and want of water in his attempt to pa.s.s the Salt Lake; and being compelled to relinquish the journey, had returned to the sea-port nearer dead than alive.
Petty thefts without end were committed by the lawless rabble who had followed the caravan and located themselves in the immediate neighbourhood. Ibrahim Shehem Abli, totally regardless of the character due to his exaltation, was detected in the very act of drawing a cloth with his foot over a pair of pistols, whilst he cleverly held the proprietor in conversation. His design was to obtain a reward for their rest.i.tution,--a trick in common practice by the camel-drivers and hired escort; and this was by no means the first exhibition of his own knavery. But it was some consolation to perceive that, although the Franks were of course the princ.i.p.al sufferers, depredations were not altogether restricted to their property. Numerous shields and cloths were abstracted from too confident Danakil; the Ras el Kafilah"s sandals were purloined; and at the going down of the sun, a proclamation went forth through Ibrahim Burhanto, the common camp-crier, that Wayess ibn Hagaio, Akil of the Woema, having lost his spear, all parties possessing knowledge of the nefarious transaction were required to give information of the same to the proprietor, as they hoped to prosper!
Volume One, Chapter XXIX.
NAGA KOOMI--MEINHA-TOLLI--MADERA-DUBBA, AND SULTELLI.
Two windy nights, during which it blew a perfect hurricane, were pa.s.sed in unabated vigilance, owing to the number of ruffians lurking about the broken ground, the waters whereof tumble in the rainy season into the rugged chasm of Killulloo. At an early hour on the 2nd of July, a voice went through the camp, summoning the slothful camel-drivers to bestir themselves; and the incessant growling of their disturbed beasts, which arose in various keys of dissatisfaction from every part of the circle, followed by drowsy Danakil imprecations, and by the merciless dismantling of huts, to the destruction of bales and boxes, presently announced that the work of loading had duly commenced.
A march of fifteen miles over a country more level than usual, though sufficiently rough and stony withal, led through the Doomi valley to Naga Koomi. An ab.u.t.ting p.r.o.ng of land, under which the road wound, was adorned with a cl.u.s.ter of bee-hive-shaped huts styled Koriddra, and at its base the _Balsamodendron Myrrha_ grew abundantly, the aromatic branches famishing every savage in the caravan with a new tooth-brush, to be carried in the scabbard of the creese. The encampment occupied a wide, dreary plain, bounded by the high mountain range of Jebel Feeoh; and although water was said to exist in the neighbourhood, it proved too distant to be accessible.
The Ras el Kafilah, at whose hands the Franks experienced about the same amount of respect and tolerance as a rich Jew in the days of Coeur de Lion, here imperiously demanded daily rations of rice and dates for the band of spearmen left as an escort by the Akil of the Hy Somauli; and on being informed that this very unreasonable request could not be complied with, in consequence of the tedious delays on the road having reduced the supplies so low as to be barely sufficient to last to Abyssinia, his brow became suddenly overcast, he relapsed into his wonted ill-humour, rejected a tendered sheep with indignation, and flung out of the tent in a pa.s.sion.
It rained heavily during the greater part of the night, and an early summons to rise found the party again drenched to the skin. The inclement weather had not by any means tended to restore Izhak to smiles; and his mats having proved quite insufficient to preserve him from full partic.i.p.ation in the pleasures of the nocturnal bath, the effect upon his temper was but too manifest. "Don"t whistle, don"t whistle!" he exclaimed with a sneer to one of his charge, who was so amusing himself within hearing; "what are you whistling for? I have loaded the camels under a prayer from the sacred Koran, and you are doing your best to break the spell, and call up gins by your whistling.
`_La illah illallah, wo Mohammad rasul illah_;"" "there is no G.o.d but G.o.d, and Mohammad is the Prophet of G.o.d."
"_Fein tero_? In the name of the three kaliphs where are you going to?"
again vociferated the testy old man, in a terrible pa.s.sion, to the same luckless individual, who, with a loaded rifle in his hand, had now left the road in pursuit of an antelope. "`_Taal henna_!" `Come back, will you!" _Wullah_! you"ll be getting your throat cut presently by the Buddoos, and then I shall be asked what has become of you. Can"t you keep the road? This ugly defile is named `the place of lions," and one of them will be eating you anon."
Another march of fifteen miles brought the caravan to Meinha-tolli, where some hollows had been filled by the recent heavy fall of rain; but large droves of horned cattle having soiled in them, the muddy water was so strongly tainted as to be barely drinkable under any disguise. The country throughout bears signs of violent volcanic eruption of later times, which has covered one portion with lava, and another with ashes and cinders. At the outset the road led over the usual basaltic ground, strewed with fragments of obsidian, but after crossing Arnoot, a deep ravine choked with refreshing green bushes, in which the exhausted beasts obtained a most welcome supply of muddy water, the stony valleys gave place to sandy plains, clothed with short yellow gra.s.s, and intersected by low ranges of hills.
One wide level expanse, termed Azoroo, stretching at the foot of the peaked mountain Aiulloo, was pointed out in the distance as the scene of a signal victory gained about six years since by the Woema over their predatory foes the Mudaito. The bones of upwards of three thousand of the combatants which now whiten the sands, have caused the desertion of the best road by the superst.i.tious Danakil. With the escort were many warriors who had taken part in this engagement, and they described the conflict, which commenced in a night attack, to have raged, spear to spear, and shield to shield, throughout the entire of the following day, towards the close of which the "red house" was routed.
As usual, in the evening we sent for a sheep from our flock, but the Ras el Kafilah stoutly a.s.serted that the whole had been transferred to himself for consumption by the escort of Hy Somauli, and although eventually compelled to relinquish one, he did so with an extremely bad grace. Thunder and lightning, with severe squalls and heavy rain, again closed the day--and great confusion and discomfort was occasioned by a sudden whirl of wind, followed by the fall upon the party, of the saturated tent, from the wet folds of which escape was not easily effected. A dreary night succeeded. The watery moon shed but a dull and flitting light over the drenched camp; and the pacing officer of the watch, after an hour"s exposure to the pitiless hurricane, calling up his relief, threw himself with aching bones upon the inundated bed.
"Did I not tell you what would be the consequence of your abominable whistling," grumbled old Izhak, the first thing in the morning; "old Ali Arab is too sick to be moved, and one of my best camels has strayed, Allah knows where." The rope with which the legs of the lost animal had been fettered, was meanwhile rolled betwixt his hands, and sundry cabalistic words having been muttered whilst the Devil was dislodged by the process of spitting upon the cord at the termination of each spell, it was finally delivered over to the Dankali about to be sent on the quest, and he presently returned successful.
Ahmed Mohammad, the messenger who had been despatched from Tajura with an Arabic letter for Sahela Sela.s.sie, requesting a.s.sistance on the road, returned during this delay. He had pa.s.sed the night in a Bedouin encampment, the proximity of which had been betrayed by the barking of dogs at each discharge of the musket when the sentinel was relieved.
The courier brought advices to the Emba.s.sy, and native letters for Izhak and Mohammad Ali. Owing to the jealousy of the frontier officers of Efat, he had been subjected to many days of needless detention, during which the king had led a distant military expedition; and although compliments and a.s.surances of welcome were not wanting, they were coupled with the unsatisfactory intelligence that the party must trust entirely to its own resources, as in the absence of His Majesty, no a.s.sistance whatever could be rendered.
The rainy season having now fairly set in, it was believed that the pools on the upper road would furnish a sufficient supply of water, and the course was accordingly shaped towards it. Emerging upon the extensive plain of Merihan, bounded to the westward by the lofty peaked range of Feeoh, the route skirted the Bundoora hills, thickly clothed with gra.s.s, and varying in height from six hundred to a thousand feet.
Wayess, the chief of the Woema, formerly held his head-quarters in this neighbourhood, at Hagaio-dera-dubba; but the Eesah Somauli making frequent inroads, and at last sweeping off all the cattle of the tribe, it was abandoned. The hill ranges on both sides have sent lava streams almost to the middle of the plain, but generally it is covered with a fine light-coloured soil, strewn with volcanic ashes and small fragments of obsidian--the gra.s.s, improved by the recent showers, having partially acquired a greenish tint. A singular detached hill composed of fresh-water limestone, contained a few impressions of small spiral sh.e.l.ls, whilst the surrounding rocks exhibit the usual cellular basalt.
No one could conceive that the rugged arid wastes whereon he trod, had ever in themselves been either productive or populous. Saving the labours of the termites, exhibited in endless mounds of vast dimensions, no monument of industry redeems the inhospitable landscape; yet these measureless plains, no less than the barren mountain ranges so lately traversed, did formerly, as now they might, afford hordes of hardy soldiers, that under a bold leader, such as the mighty Graan, who in the sixteenth century unfurled the banner of the impostor, and at the head of a countless army overran and nearly destroyed the Ethiopic empire, were admirably adapted to possess themselves of the more fertile plains and provinces adjoining. Whatever may have been the virtues and endowments of these olden warriors, their posterity, like the dwellings they inhabit, are sufficiently rude and degenerate.
Wady Bundoora, clothed in a thicket of verdant bushes, had been selected as the halting ground, and its appearance promised a copious supply of water; but every pool proved dry, and the march was therefore continued to Madera-dubba--a second and similar ravine, which was confidently expected to afford the desired element. Disappointment was however again in store, and the rain not having extended thus far, the usual reservoirs were referred to in vain. Worse than all, information was here received that not a drop of water would be found at the next station; whilst, owing to the wear and tear of skins, added to the too confident antic.i.p.ations indulged, barely a sufficient supply for even one day accompanied the kafilah.
It had been determined under these untoward circ.u.mstances, to move on at midnight; but after an insufferably hot day, rain again interfered.
Unfortunately it did not fall in sufficient quant.i.ties to be of much utility; a few pints caught in tarpaulins, which, with all available utensils, were placed for the reception of the precious fluid, proving very inadequate to the wants of the thirsty party. At 3 a.m. the caravan advanced down the valley, with cool refreshing weather, and a fine moon shining brightly overhead. From the summit of a tumulus of black lava, marking the point where the undulations of the Bundoora hills trend towards the mountains of the Ittoo Galla, an extensive view was obtained with the dawning day, over a country bearing the most extraordinary volcanic character--huge craters on the one hand towering to the clouds, whilst on the other sank the wide valley of Kordeite, through which lay the high road to the desolate plains of Errur.
A few pools of muddy rain-water by the wayside were eagerly drained by the sinking cattle, but a deep ravine, bordered with green trees and bushes, was explored to no purpose; and after crossing the fine open plain of Eyroluf, abounding in gazelles and swine, the road led round the base of a remarkable cone, styled Jebel Helmund, which had long been in view. Isolated, and four hundred feet in height, with a crater opening to the north-eastward, which would seem at no very remote period to have discontinued its eruption, it is surrounded by a broad belt of lava, some three miles in diameter. This has formed towards the plain a black scarped wall, rising from fifteen to twenty feet, of which the wooded crevices teemed with quail, partridges, and guinea-fowl, and were said to be so many great dens of lions.
The sultry afternoon was already far advanced, when the weary eye was refreshed by a glimpse of the verdant plain of Sultelli, a perfectly level expanse, so ingeniously overgrown with pale green vegetation as to furnish an exact representation of a wide lake covered with floating duckweed, around which numerous camels were busily browsing on the rank herbage. During the greater part of the year, this plain presents one vast and delightful sheet of water; but the fairy form of the light-footed gazelle was presently seen bounding over the delusive surface, and although clothed throughout with the most tantalising verdure, it yet proved perfectly dry. The camels were milch females, capable of subsisting for days, and even for weeks together, without drinking, whilst their milk serves to quench the thirst of their unwashed Bedouin attendants. Beedur, the chief of a section of the Debeni, who resides in this spot during the rainy season, had long since decamped with his clan to more distant pastures.
Every hollow in the rich black soil abounding with sh.e.l.ls, was vainly explored; and after a seventeen mile march, the party, weary and thirsty, were fain to encamp on the opposite side, and giving up the search as fruitless, to rest satisfied with the nauseous contents of water-skins filled at the putrid pools of Meinha-tolli--a second, and if possible, a worse edition of the impurities brewed at the Salt Lake.
Both amongst men and cattle the utmost distress prevailed. A suffocating blast blew incessantly, heat the most intense was reflected from the adjacent black rocks; and nearly all of the horses and mules were so completely exhausted that there appeared no prospect of dragging them other sixteen miles to the nearest reservoir.
But towards midnight the beneficent flood-gates of Heaven were providentially opened, and a violent storm bursting over the camp, in less than half an hour filled every ravine and hollow to overflowing, and afforded a plentiful and truly seasonable, although transient, supply. Tearing up their pickets from the saturated soil, the dying animals thrust into the turbid stream that rolled through the encampment their hot noses, which for two entire days and nights had been strangers to moisture, and filled their sunken flanks almost to bursting.
Cackling troops of guinea-fowl flocked to the pools from the adjacent heights. Embankments were thrown up, and wells excavated; and European, Danakil, and camp-follower--Christian, Moslem, and Hindoo--all drenched to the skin, falling together upon their knees in the posture of thanksgiving, sucked down the first copious draught of palatable water that had been enjoyed since leaving Fialoo.
Volume One, Chapter x.x.x.
FIELD OF EXTINCT VOLCANOES. OASIS OF YOOR ERAIN MAROO.
Singular and interesting indeed is the wild scenery in the vicinity of the treacherous oasis of Sultelli. A field of extinct volcanic cones, vomited forth out of the entrails, of the earth, and encircled each by a black belt of vitrified lava, environs it on three sides; and of these, Mount Abida, three thousand feet in height, whose yawning cup, enveloped in clouds, stretches some two and half miles in diameter, would seem to be the parent. Beyond, the still loftier crater of Aiulloo, the ancient landmark of the now decayed empire of Ethiopia, is visible in dim perspective; and looming hazily in the extreme distance, the great blue Abyssinian range towards which the steps of the toil-worn wayfarers were directed--now for the first time visible--arose in towering grandeur to the skies.