The Highlands of EthiopiaHarris, William Cornwallis, Sir
History
The Highlands of Ethiopia
Harris, William Cornwallis, Sir
Ethiopia -- Description and travel
Bigoted Mohammadans, punctual to the call of the Muezzin, praying three
times in excess of the exactions of the Prophet, often passing the
entire night in the mosque, or sitting in council at its threshold;
sedulously attentive to the outward forms of their creed, though few
have sufficient energy to undertake a pilgrimage to the Kaaba, and
content, like other hypocrites, with a rigid observance of externals--
the Danakil rise from their devotions well primed with Moslem
intolerance, and are perfectly ready to lie and cheat as occasion may
offer. Unoccupied, and at a loss for honest employment, idlers without
number sauntered about the pavilion at all times and seasons, entering
at pleasure, and monopolising chairs and tables with the insolent
independence which forms one of their most prominent features.
Supported by a long staff, the ruffians gazed for hours together at the
novel splendour of the equipage; and invariably disfigured by a large
quid of tobacco adulterated with ashes, squirted the redundant saliva
over the carpet, although squatted on the outside of the door, with
ample space at command. But although thieves by profession on a grand
scale, they fortunately contrived to keep their hands from picking and
stealing; and notwithstanding that the tents were thus thronged from
morning till night, and the sea-beach for many weary days was strewed
with boxes and bales of truly tempting exterior, nothing whatever was
abstracted.
The classic costume of the people of this sea-port consists of a white
cotton robe, thrown carelessly over the shoulder, in the manner of the
old Roman toga; a blue-checked kilt reaching to the knees, simply
buckled about the waist by a leathern belt, which supports a most
formidable creese, and a pair of rude undressed sandals to protect the
feet of such as can afford the luxury. The plain round buckler and the
broad-headed spear, without which few ever cross their threshold,
renders the naturally graceful and manly figure of almost every
individual a subject for the artist's pencil; but the population are to
a man filthy in the extreme, and the accumulated dirt upon their persons
and apparel leaves a taint behind, that might readily be traced without
the intervention of a bloodhound. Rancid mutton fat, an inch thick,
frosts a bushy wig of cauliflower growth, which harbours myriads of
vermin. Under the melting rays of a tropical sun, the grease pours
copiously over the skin; and the use of water, except as a beverage,
being a thing absolutely unheard-of, a Dankali pollutes the atmosphere
with an effluvium, such as is only to be encountered elsewhere in the
purlieus of a tallow-chandler's shop.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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