What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile | Page 9

portion of
the expedition, I took rifles, guns, muskets, pistols, sabres, ammunition
in great quantity, large commodious camel-boxes for carrying
specimens of natural history, one sextant and artificial horizon, three

boiling-point and common atmospheric thermometers, and one
primitive kind of camera obscure, which I had made at Aden under the
ingenious supervision of Herne.

Chapter II
.
The Voyage--An Akil--The Somali Shore--Sultan (Gerad) Mahamed
Ali--Hidden Treasure--The Warsingali--A Royal Reception--Somali
Appetites--Difficulties and Impediments--Sultan Tries My Abban or
Protector.

On the 18th October 1854, having got all my preparations completed, I
embarked in an Arab vessel, attired in my Oriental costume, with my
retinue and kit complete, and set sail that same evening at 6 P.M.
The voyage, owing to light and varying breezes, was very slow and
tedious. Instead of performing the whole voyage in three days, the
ordinary time, it took us nine. According to the method of Arab
navigation, instead of going from port to port direct, we first tracked
eastward along the Arabian shore three successive days, setting sail at
sunrise, and anchoring regularly at sundown. By this time we were
supposed to be opposite Bunder Héis, on the Somali coast, and the
Nahkoda (captain) thought it time for crossing over the Gulf. We
therefore put out to sea at sunrise on the morning of the 21st, and
arrived the same evening, by mistake, assisted with a stiffish easterly
breeze, at a small place called Rakodah, which, by report, contained a
small fort, three mat huts, and many burnt ones, a little to the westward
of Bunder Héis. My Abban accounted for the destruction of this place
by saying it had been occupied surreptitiously for a long period by a
people called Rheer Dud, who sprang from a man called
Sambur-bin-Ishak; but about four years ago, the Musa Abokr--a
sub-tribe of the Habr Teljala, who were the former and rightful owners
of the place--suddenly returned, took the usurpers by surprise, and
drove them off by setting fire to the village. The next day, by hard work,
tacking up the wind, which still continued easterly, we succeeded in
reaching Bunder Héis, which, like the last place, was occupied by the

Musa Abokr. There were four small craft lying here, waiting for
cargoes, under lee of a spur of low hills which constituted the harbour;
in which, fortunately, there was very good fishing to be obtained. We
were detained here by adverse and light winds two days, during which
time I went on shore and paid my respects to the Akil (chief) of the
place, who lived in a small box-shaped stone fort, on the west flank of
the village of Héis, which was very small, composed, as usual, of
square mat huts, all built together, and occupied only by a few women,
who made mats, collected gums, and stored the produce of the interior,
as sheep, cows, and ghee, which their men constantly brought down to
them, for shipping off to Arabia.[9] The Akil's reception was very
warm and polite. He offered me everything at his disposal, and gave as
an honorary present a Dumba sheep and a bowl of sour camel's milk,
which I thought at the time the most delicious thing I ever drank. It is
sharp and rough, like labourers' cider, and, drunk in the heat of the day,
is most refreshing. When first taken, and until the stomach becomes
accustomed to it, it operates like medicine, and I on this occasion was
fairly taken in. The fish we caught were not very good, but comical in
appearance, and of a great variety of the most beautiful prismatic
colours, changing in tint as different lights and shades struck upon
them.
We left Héis on the 25th, with very light and unfavourable winds, and
tracked along shore to the eastward, making very little way. The
weather continuing the same, on the 26th I forced the Nahkoda, much
against his will, on at night, as during the darker hours the winds were
much stronger, and by this means we arrived at our destination, Bunder
Gori on the Warsingali frontier, at sundown on the 27th of October. I
had now seen the Somali shore, and must confess I was much
disappointed. All that was visible, besides the village mentioned, was a
sandy tract of ground, the maritime plain, which extended in breadth
from the sea-shore to some brown-looking hills in the background,
from a few hundred yards to one or two miles distant; and hills and
plains--for I could, by my close approximation to them, only see the
brown folds of the hills near the base--were alike almost destitute of
any vegetation; whilst not one animal or any other living creature could
be seen.
28th October.--The Abban would not allow anybody to go on shore

until certain parties came off