The Highlands of EthiopiaHarris, William Cornwallis, Sir
History
The Highlands of Ethiopia
Harris, William Cornwallis, Sir
Ethiopia -- Description and travel
Before dawn the chief of the nomade tribe Hy Somauli arriving with a
hungry and dissatisfied retinue, a halt was proclaimed, to the end that
they also might be fed, pacified, and propitiated. The potentate was
duly introduced by Izhak as a most particular friend, who had journeyed
a long way for the express purpose of making the acquaintance of his
English charge; and a deep sense of the honour conferred having been
expressed, it was ascertained that the secondary object of the visit was
to inquire by whose authority so formidable a party of foreigners were
being smuggled through the country, and how it happened that they were
suffered to build houses wheresoever they thought proper?--this last
allusion having reference to the tent, which had again been pitched, and
was very sapiently conjectured to be a permanent edifice.
The "Kafir Feringees" therefore continued to be objects of undiminished
curiosity during the whole also of this sultry day; a greasy disorderly
rabble, which occupied the tent from an early hour, being continually
reinforced by parties weary of the debate held immediately outside,
which lasted until the going down of the sun. Each new visitor, after
staring sufficiently at the white faces, invariably exclaimed "Nubeeo,"
"Holy Prophet," a mark of undisguised disapprobation, which was further
elicited by every occurrence that did not exactly coincide with his nice
ideas of propriety, such as eating with a fork, keeping the head cool
under a hat instead of under a pound of sheeps' tail fat, or blowing the
nose with a handkerchief in lieu of with the fingers. Paws were
nevertheless incessantly thrust in at every door, accompanied by
reiterations of the Dankali verb "to give," used in the imperative mood;
the never-ending din of "Ba, Ba," being uncoupled with any noun
designative of the commodity required--a proof that he who demanded was
a ready recipient for any spare article that might be forthcoming.
A long and tedious palaver, in which voices occasionally ran extremely
high, at length terminated in a general uprising of the senators. Izhak
was seen curling his scanty side locks in token of victory. The chief
had become satisfied of the temporary nature of the tenement inhabited
by the "Christian dogs," after one or two of the savages had thrust a
spear-blade through the canvass; and the malcontents having to a man
been sufficiently crammed with dates, coffee, and tobacco, finally took
their departure, chuckling at the success of the foray, and having
ingeniously contrived to turn their time to account by stealing one of
the mules.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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