Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 1.djvu/52

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First Footsteps in East Africa.

perpetrate some peculiar villany. He is a pleasant companion, and piques himself upon that power of quotation which in the East makes a polite man. If we be disposed to hurry, he insinuates that "Patience is of Heaven, Haste of Hell." When roughly addressed, he remarks,—

"There are cures for the hurts of lead and steel,
But the wounds of the tongue they never heal."

If a grain of rice adhere to our beards, he says, smilingly, "the gazelle is in the garden"; to which we reply "we will hunt her with the five.^[1]" Despite these merits, I hesitated to engage him, till assured by the governor of Zayla that he was to be looked upon as a son, and, moreover, that he would bear with him one of those state secrets to an influential chief which in this country are never committed to paper. I found him an admirable buffoon, skilful in filling pipes and smoking them; au reste, an individual of "many words and little work," infinite intrigue, cowardice, cupidity, and endowed with a truly evil tongue.

The morning sun rose hot upon us, showing Mayyum and Zubah, the giant staples of the "Gate under the Pleiades.^[2]" Shortly afterwards, we came in sight of the Barr al-'Ajam (barbarian land), as the Somal call their country,^[3] a low glaring flat of yellow sand, desert and

↑ That is to say, "we will remove it with the five fingers." These are euphuisms to avoid speaking broadly and openly of that venerable feature, the beard.
↑ Bab al-Mandab is called as above by Humayd from its astronomical position. Jabal Mayyum is in Africa, Jabal Zubah or Muayyin, celebrated as the last resting-place of a great saint, Shaykh Sa'id, is in Arabia.
↑ 'Ajam probably means all nations not Arab. In Egypt and Central Asia it is now confined to Persians. On the west of the Red Sea, it is invariably used to denote the Somali country: thence Bruce draws the Greek and Latin name of the coast, Azamia, and De Sacy derives the word "Ajan," which in our maps is applied to the inner regions of the Eastern Horn, So in Africa, Al-Sham, which probably means Damascus and Syria, is applied to Al-Hijaz.

[1] That is to say, "we will remove it with the five fingers." These are euphuisms to avoid speaking broadly and openly of that venerable feature, the beard.

[2] Bab al-Mandab is called as above by Humayd from its astronomical position. Jabal Mayyum is in Africa, Jabal Zubah or Muayyin, celebrated as the last resting-place of a great saint, Shaykh Sa'id, is in Arabia.

[3] 'Ajam probably means all nations not Arab. In Egypt and Central Asia it is now confined to Persians. On the west of the Red Sea, it is invariably used to denote the Somali country: thence Bruce draws the Greek and Latin name of the coast, Azamia, and De Sacy derives the word "Ajan," which in our maps is applied to the inner regions of the Eastern Horn, So in Africa, Al-Sham, which probably means Damascus and Syria, is applied to Al-Hijaz.

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