First Footsteps in East AfricaBurton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
First Footsteps in East Africa
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Harar -- Description and travel; Harari language; Horn of Africa -- Description and travel
After the usual troubles and vexations of a first move in Africa, on the
16th of November, 1854, Lieutenant Speke marched about three miles along
the coast, and pitched at a well close to Las Kuray. He was obliged to
leave about a quarter of his baggage behind, finding it impossible with
his means to hire donkeys, the best conveyance across the mountains, where
camels must be very lightly laden. The Sultan could not change, he said,
the route settled by a former Sahib. He appears, though famed for honesty
and justice, to have taken a partial view of Lieutenant Speke's property.
When the traveller complained of his Abban, the reply was, "This is the
custom of the country, I can see no fault; all you bring is the Abban's,
and he can do what he likes with it."
The next day was passed unpleasantly enough in the open air, to force a
march, and the Sultan and his party stuck to the date-bag, demanding to be
fed as servants till rations were served out to them.
_18th November_.--About 2 A.M. the camels (eleven in number) were lightly
loaded, portions of the luggage being sent back to Kurayat till more
carriage could be procured. The caravan crossed the plain southwards, and
after about two miles' march entered a deep stony watercourse winding
through the barren hills. After five miles' progress over rough ground,
Lieutenant Speke unloaded under a tree early in the afternoon near some
pools of sweet rain water collected in natural basins of limestone dotting
the watercourse. The place is called Iskodubuk; the name of the
watercourse is Duktura. The Sultan and the Abban were both left behind to
escort the baggage from Las Kuray to Kurayat. They promised to rejoin
Lieutenant Speke before nightfall; the former appeared after five, the
latter after ten, days. The Sultan sent his son Abdallah, a youth of about
fifteen years old, who proved so troublesome that Lieutenant Speke was
forced repeatedly to dismiss him: still the lad would not leave the
caravan till it reached the Dulbahanta frontier. And the Abban delayed a
Negro servant, Lieutenant Speke's gun-bearer, trying by many offers and
promises to seduce him from service.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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