United States or Israel ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The Hamran Arabs persuaded me to discontinue this kind of exploration, and my Tokrooris having taken the same view of the performance, I gave up the practice, as I did not succeed in actually bagging a lion by the attempt.
The fire travelled quicker than I had expected, and, by the time I had hastened to the tent, I found the entire party working frantically; the Arabs were slashing down the grass with their swords, and sweeping it away with their shields, while my Tokrooris were beating it down with long sticks and tearing it from its withered and fortunately tinder-rotten roots, in desperate haste.
His friends began to wipe the blood from his face and clothes, and at this juncture the sheik of the village appeared for the first time. To my astonishment he was extremely civil; a sudden reaction had taken place, the Tokrooris had had their row, and were apparently satisfied.
These men, being newly engaged and entirely strange, were of little service; but, having joined in the quarrel like true Tokrooris, who are always ready for a row, the altercation grew so hot that it became rather serious.
The collection of people is exceedingly interesting upon a market day, as Arabs of all tribes, Tokrooris, and some few Abyssinians, concentrate from distant points. Many of the Arab women would be exceedingly pretty were their beauty not destroyed by their custom of gashing the cheeks in three wounds upon either side; this is inflicted during infancy.
We formed a regular procession through the market, our Tokrooris feeling quite at home among so many of their brethren. Upon our arrival at the extremity of the valley, we were horribly disgusted at the appearance of the water. A trifling stream of about two inches in depth trickled over a bed of sand, shaded by a grove of trees.
The spare camel was now brought up, and with great difficulty my three Tokrooris, the Hamran Arab, and myself succeeded in placing the lioness across the saddle, having first opened and cleaned the body to reduce the weight. Blood trickled from the carcase, and dropped upon the ground, thus forming a trace throughout the route until we reached the camp.
Fortunately, as we halted, I observed a herd of tetel, and three ostriches: the latter made off immediately, but I succeeded in stalking the tetel, and shot two, right and left, one of which escaped, but the other became the prize of my Tokrooris. "March 29.
ABOU DO and Suleiman had lately given me some trouble, especially the former, whose covetous nature had induced him to take much more than his share of the hides of buffaloes and other animals that I had shot; all of which I had given to my head camel-man and tracker, Taher Noor, to divide among his people and the Tokrooris.
We travelled for upwards of a hundred miles along the river, through the unvarying scene of flat alluvial soil; the south bank was generally covered with low jungle. The Arabs were always civil, and formed a marked contrast to the Tokrooris; they were mostly of the Roofar tribe.
Word Of The Day