“That shalt thou see,” and at a sign from him his bearers started forward at a run till they reached the litter in which Job was reposing (with one leg hanging over the side). Apparently, however, he could not make much out of Job, for presently I saw his bearers trot forward to Leo’s litter.
After this, as nothing fresh occurred, I yielded to the pleasant swaying motion of the litter, and went to sleep again. I was dreadfully tired. When I woke I found that we were passing through a rocky defile of a lava formation with precipitous sides, in which grew many beautiful trees and flowering shrubs.
Presently this defile took a turn, and a lovely sight unfolded itself to my eyes. Before us was a vast cup of earth from four to six miles in extent, and moulded to the shape of a Roman amphitheatre. The sides of this great cup were rocky, and clothed with bush, but its centre was of the richest meadow land, studded with single trees of magnificent growth, and watered by meandering brooks. On this rich plain grazed herds of goats and cattle, but I saw no sheep. At first I could not imagine what this strange spot might be, but presently it flashed upon me that it must represent the crater of some long-extinct volcano which afterwards had been a lake, and ultimately was drained in some unexplained fashion. And here I may state that from my subsequent experience of this and a much larger, but otherwise similar, place, which I shall have occasion to describe by-and-by, I have every reason to believe that this conclusion was correct. What puzzled me, however, was, that although there were people moving about herding the goats and cattle, I saw no signs of any human habitation. Where did they all live? I wondered. My curiosity was soon destined to be gratified. Turning to the left the string of litters followed the cliffy sides of the crater for a distance of about half a mile, or perhaps a little less, and then halted. Seeing my adopted “father,” Billali, emerge from his litter, I followed his example, and so did Leo and Job. The first thing I noticed was our wretched Arab companion, Mahomed, lying exhausted on the ground. It appeared that he was not provided with a litter, but had been forced to run the entire distance, and, as he was already quite worn out when we started, his condition now seemed one of great prostration.
On looking round us we saw that the place where we had halted was a platform in front of the mouth of a great cave, and that piled upon this platform were the contents of the whale-boat, even to the oars and sail. Round the cave stood groups of the men who had escorted us, and other men like to them. They were all tall and all handsome, though they varied in their degree of darkness of skin, some being as black as Mahomed, and some as yellow as a Chinese. They were naked, except for the leopard skin round the waist, and each of them carried a huge spear.
There were also some women among them, who, instead of the leopard skin, wore a tanned hide of a small red buck, something like that of the oribé, only rather darker in colour. These women were, as a class, exceedingly good-looking, with large, dark eyes, well-cut features, and a thick bush of curling hair—not crisped like a negro’s—ranging from black to chestnut in hue, with all shades of intermediate colour. Some, but very few of them, wore a yellowish linen garment, such as I have described as worn by Billali; but this, as we afterwards discovered, was a mark of rank, rather than an attempt at clothing. For the rest, their appearance was not quite so terrifying as that of the men, and they smiled sometimes, though rarely. As soon as we had alighted they gathered round us and examined us with curiosity, but without excitement. Leo’s tall, athletic form and clear-cut Grecian face, however, evidently excited their attention, and when he politely lifted his hat to them, and showed his curling yellow hair, there was a slight murmur of admiration. Nor did it stop there; for, after regarding him critically from head to foot, the handsomest of the young women—one wearing a robe, and with hair of a shade between brown and chestnut—deliberately advanced to him, and, in a way that would have been winning had it not been so determined, quietly put her arm round his neck, bent forward, and kissed him on the lips.
I gasped aloud, expecting to see Leo instantly speared; and Job ejaculated, “The hussy!—well, I never!” As for Leo, he looked slightly astonished; and then, remarking that clearly we had reached a country where they followed the customs of the early Christians, he deliberately returned the embrace.
Again I gasped, thinking that something would happen; but, to my surprise, though some of the young women showed traces of vexation, the older ones and the men only smiled faintly. When we came to understand the customs of this extraordinary people the mystery was explained. It then appeared that, in direct opposition to the habits of almost every other savage race in the world, women among the Amahagger live upon conditions of perfect equality with the men, and are not held to them by any binding ties. Descent is traced only through the line of the mother, and while individuals are as proud of a long and superior female ancestry as we are of our families in Europe, they never pay attention to, or even acknowledge, any man as their father, even when their male parentage is perfectly well known. There is but one titular male parent of each tribe, or, as they call it, “Household,” and he is its elected and immediate ruler, with the title of “Father.” For instance, the man Billali was the father of this “household,” which consisted of about seven thousand individuals all told, and no other man was ever called by that name. When a woman chanced to favour a man she signified her preference by advancing and embracing him publicly, in the same way that this handsome and exceedingly prompt young lady, who was called Ustane, had embraced Leo. If he kissed her back it was a token that he accepted her, and the arrangement continued till one of them wearied of it. I am bound, however, to add that the change of husbands was not nearly so frequent as might have been expected. Nor did quarrels arise out of it, at least among the men, who, when their wives deserted them in favour of a rival, accepted the matter much as we accept the income tax or our marriage laws, as something not to be disputed, and as tending to the good of the community, however disagreeable they may prove to the individual in particular instances.
It is very curious to observe how the customs of mankind on this question vary in different countries, making morality an affair of latitude and religion, and what is right in one place wrong and improper in another. It must, however, be understood that, since all civilised nations appear to accept it as an axiom that ceremony is the touchstone of morals, there is, even according to our canons, nothing immoral about this Amahagger custom, since the public interchange of an embrace answers to our ceremony of marriage, which, as we know, justifies most things.
VII
USTANE SINGS
When the kissing coram populo was done—by the way, none of the young ladies offered to pet me in this fashion, though I saw one hovering round Job, to that respectable individual’s evident alarm—the old man Billali advanced, and graciously waved us into the cave, whither we went, followed by Ustane, who did not seem inclined to take the hints I gave her that we liked privacy.
Before we had gone five paces it struck me that the cave which we were entering was none of Nature’s handiwork, but, on the contrary, had been hollowed by the labour of man. So far as we could judge it appeared to be about one hundred feet in length by fifty wide, and very lofty, resembling a cathedral aisle more than anything else. From this main aisle opened passages at a distance of every twelve or fifteen feet, leading, I supposed, to smaller chambers. About fifty feet from the entrance of the cave, just where the light began to fade, a fire was burning, which threw huge shadows upon the gloomy walls around. Here Billali halted, and asked us to be seated, saying that the people would bring us food, and accordingly we sat ourselves down upon the rugs of skins which were spread for us, and waited. Presently the food, consisting of goat’s flesh boiled, fresh milk in an earthenware pot, and roasted cobs of Indian corn, was brought by young girls. We were almost starving, and I do not think that in my life I ever before ate with such satisfaction. Indeed, before we finished we had devoured everything that was set before us.
When we had eaten, ou
r somewhat saturnine host, Billali, who was watching us in absolute silence, rose and addressed us. He said that it was a wonderful thing which had happened. No man had ever known or heard of white strangers arriving in the country of the People of the Rocks. Sometimes, though rarely, black men had come here, and from them they had heard of the existence of men much whiter than themselves, who sailed on the sea in ships, but for the arrival of such there was no precedent. We had, however, been seen dragging the boat up the canal, and he told us frankly that he at once gave orders for our destruction, since it was unlawful for any stranger to enter here, when a message arrived from “She-who-must-be-obeyed,” saying that our lives must be spared, and that we were to be brought hither.
“Pardon me, my father,” I interrupted at this point; “but if, as I understand, ‘She-who-must-be-obeyed’ lives yet farther off, how could she have known of our approach?”
Billali turned, and seeing that we were alone—for the young lady, Ustane, had withdrawn when he began to speak—said, with a curious little laugh—
“Are there none in your land who can see without eyes and hear without ears? Ask no questions; She knew.”
I shrugged my shoulders at this, and he went on to say that no further instructions had been received on the subject of our disposal, and this being so he was about to start to interview “She-who-must-be-obeyed,” generally spoken of, for the sake of brevity, as “Hiya” or She simply, who, he gave us to understand, was the Queen of the Amahagger, and learn her wishes.
I asked him how long he proposed to be absent, and he said that by travelling hard he might be back on the fifth day, but there were many miles of marsh to cross before he came to where She was. He then said that every arrangement would be made for our comfort during his absence, and that, as personally he had taken a fancy to us, he trusted sincerely that the answer he should bring from She would be one favourable to the continuation of our existence. At the same time he did not wish to conceal from us that he thought this doubtful, as every stranger who had ever come into the country during his grandmother’s life, his mother’s life, and his own life, had been put to death without mercy, and in a way which he would not harrow our feelings by describing. This had been done by the order of She herself, at least he supposed that it was by her order. At any rate, she never interfered to save them.
“Why,” I said, “but how can that be? You are an old man, and the time you talk of must reach back three men’s lives. How, therefore, could She have ordered the death of anybody at the beginning of the life of your grandmother, seeing that herself she would not have been born?”
Again Billali smiled—that same peculiar smile—and with a deep bow departed, without making any answer; nor did we see him again for five days.
When he had gone we discussed the situation, which filled me with alarm. I did not at all like the accounts of this mysterious Queen, “She-who-must-be-obeyed,” or more shortly She, who apparently ordered the execution of any unfortunate stranger in a fashion so unmerciful. Leo, too, was depressed about it, but consoled himself by triumphantly pointing out that this She was undoubtedly the person referred to in the writing on the potsherd and in his father’s letter, in proof of which he advanced Billali’s allusions to her age and power. I was by this time so overwhelmed with the course of events that I had not the heart left even to dispute a proposition so absurd, therefore I suggested that we should try to go out to take a bath, of which all of us stood sadly in need.
Accordingly, indicating our wish to a middle-aged individual of an unusually saturnine cast of countenance, even among this saturnine people, who appeared to be deputed to look after us now that the Father of the hamlet had departed, we started in a body—having first lit our pipes. Outside the cave we found quite a crowd of people evidently watching for our appearance, but when they saw us emerge smoking they vanished this way and that, calling out that we were mighty magicians. Indeed, nothing about us created so great a sensation as our tobacco-smoke—not even our firearms.* After this we succeeded in reaching a stream that had its source in a strong ground spring, and taking our bath in peace, though some of the women, not excepting Ustane, showed a decided inclination to follow us even there.
By the time that we had finished this most refreshing bathe the sun was setting; indeed, when we came back to the big cavern it had already set. The cave itself was full of people gathered round fires—for several had now been lighted—who were eating their evening meal by the lurid glare, and by the light of lamps which were set about or hung upon the walls. These lamps were of a rude manufacture of baked earthenware, and of all shapes, some of them graceful enough. The larger ones were formed of big red earthenware pots, filled with clarified melted fat, and having a reed wick let through a wooden disk which fitted the top of the pot. This sort of lamp required the most constant care to prevent its extinction whenever the wick burnt down, as there was no means of turning it up. The smaller hand lamps, however, which were also made of baked clay, were furnished with wicks manufactured from the pith of a palm-tree, or sometimes from the stem of a very handsome variety of fern. This kind of wick was passed through a round hole at the end of the lamp, to which a sharp piece of hard wood was attached wherewith to pierce and draw it up whenever it showed signs of burning low.
For a while we sat down and watched this grim people eating their evening meal in a silence grim as themselves, till at length, growing tired of contemplating them and the dark moving shadows on the rocky walls, I suggested to our new keeper that we should like to go to bed.
Without a word he rose, and, taking me politely by the hand, advanced with a lamp to one of the small passages that I had noticed opening out of the central cave. This we followed for about five paces, when suddenly it widened into a small chamber, about eight feet square, and hewn from the living rock. On one side of this chamber was a stone slab, raised three feet above the ground, and running its entire length like a bunk in a cabin, whereon my guide intimated that I was to sleep. There was no window or air-hole to the chamber, and no furniture; and, on looking at it more closely, I came to the disturbing conclusion—in which, as I afterwards discovered, I was quite right—that it had served originally as a sepulchre for the dead rather than a sleeping-place for the living, the slab being designed to receive the corpse of the departed. This thought made me shudder in spite of myself; but, seeing that I must sleep somewhere, I stifled my feelings as best I might, and returned to the cavern to fetch my blanket, which had been brought from the boat with the other things. There I met Job, who, having been inducted to a similar apartment, had declined flatly to stop in it, saying that the look of the place “gave him the horrors,” and that he might as well be dead and buried in his grandfather’s brick grave at once. Now he expressed his determination of sleeping with me if I would allow him. This, of course, I was only too glad to do.
The night passed very comfortably on the whole. I say on the whole, for personally I experienced a horrible nightmare, wherein I was buried alive, induced, no doubt, by the sepulchral nature of my surroundings. At dawn we were aroused by a loud trumpeting sound, produced, as we discovered afterwards, by a young Amahagger blowing through a hole bored in its side into a hollowed elephant tusk, which was kept for the purpose.
Taking the hint, we rose and went down to the stream to wash, after which the morning meal was served. At breakfast one of the women, no longer quite young, advanced and publicly kissed Job. Putting its impropriety aside for a moment, I think it was in its way the most delightful thing that I ever saw. Never shall I forget the respectable Job’s abject terror and disgust. Job, like myself, is something of a misogynist—owing I fancy to the fact of his having been born one of a family of seventeen—and the feelings expressed upon his countenance when he realised that he was not only being embraced publicly, and without authorisation on his own part, but also in the presence of his masters, were too mixed and painful to admit of accurate description. He sprang to his feet, and pushed the woman, a b
uxom person of about thirty, from him.
“Well, I never!” he gasped, whereupon probably thinking that he was only coy, she embraced him again.
“Be off with you! Get away, you minx!” he shouted, waving the wooden spoon, with which he was eating his breakfast, up and down before the lady’s face. “Beg your pardon, gentlemen, I am sure I haven’t encouraged her. Oh, Lord! she’s coming for me again. Hold her, Mr. Holly! please hold her! I can’t stand it; I can’t, indeed. This has never happened to me before, gentlemen, never. There’s nothing against my character.” Here he broke off, and ran as hard as he could down the cave, and for once I saw the Amahagger laugh. As for the woman, however, she did not laugh. On the contrary, she seemed to bristle with fury, which the mockery of the other women about her only served to intensify. She stood there literally snarling and shaking with indignation, and, seeing her, I wished Job’s scruples had been at Jericho, for I could guess that his admirable behaviour had endangered our throats. Nor, as the sequel shows, was I wrong.
The lady having retreated, Job returned in a state of great nervousness, and looking with an anxious eye upon every woman who came near him. I took an opportunity to explain to our hosts that Job was a married man, who had met with unhappy experiences in his domestic relations, which accounted for his presence here and his terror at the sight of women. My remarks, however, were received in silence, it being evident that our retainer’s behaviour was considered as a slight to the “household” at large, although the women, after the manner of some of their more civilised sisters, made merry at the rebuff of their companion.
After breakfast we took a walk and inspected the Amahagger herds, also their cultivated lands. They have two breeds of cattle, one large and angular, with no horns, but yielding beautiful milk; and the other, a red strain, very small and fat, excellent for meat, but of no value for milking purposes. This last breed closely resembles the Norfolk redpoll stock, only it has horns which generally curve forward over the head, sometimes to such an extent that they must be sawn to prevent them from growing into the bones of the skull. The goats are longhaired, and are used for eating only, at least I never saw them milked. As for the Amahagger cultivation, it is primitive in the extreme, their only implement being a spade made of iron, for these people smelt and work iron. This spade is shaped more like a big spear-head than anything else, and has no shoulder to it on which the foot can be set. As a consequence, the labour of digging is very great. It is, however, all done by the men, the women, contrary to the habits of most savage races, being entirely exempt from manual toil. But then, as I think I have said elsewhere, among the Amahagger the weaker sex has established its rights.
She: A History of Adventure Page 10