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Golah, with his family, rode in the advance, and seemed not to give himself any concern whether he was followed by others or not. His two relatives brought up the rear of the kafila, and any of the slaves exhibiting a disposition to lag behind was admonished to move on with blows administered by a thick stick.
Our kafila came up, and I rode to my husband and told him I was sure we were being led out of our way. We were guided down a rocky slope into a valley not more than 200 feet wide, with thick woods up each side, and a sandy bottom. Here we were stopped by a good many shots from each side, and retreated a little, without turning our backs, and then looked about for the four sons.
The sand was at length heaped up so as to completely cover his body, when by an order from the old sheik his followers turned away from the spot and the kafila moved on. Sailor Bill's conjecture that they were not far from the sea proved correct.
As they had arrived during the dry season, they were unable to commence their journey, and some time was spent in visiting different parts of the coast. Their intention was to proceed to Ujiji, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, which was then supposed to be the southern end of the great central lake. They engaged as their kafila bashi, or head of their caravan, a well-disposed man, Sheikh Said.
They halted about an hour under the shade of the date trees, waiting for the coming up of the camels. They then mounted, and in the afternoon entered the date groves of Oubari, where they halted. Hateeta joined them in the evening. They had numerous Tuarick visitors, some residents of the town, and others belonging to a kafila about to depart for the Tuarick country.
The thought rose unbidden that the remaining half must be undertaken in daylight, with wornout camels, while the Hadendowa kafila was presumably in fresh condition. Something of the sort must have been in Abdur Kad'r's mind when, he said: "The misbegotten thieves who follow, Effendi, will count on overtaking us soon after daybreak. We must keep the water-bags fastened until the dawn.
The great stretch of basalt which runs for fully fifteen miles along the coast, with Kosseir in the middle, caused us to mount on to the rocks some little distance before reaching Kosseir, and when we got quite near we sat on a rocky hillock, contemplating the town and awaiting our kafila, that we might arrive with all the dignity due to the governor.
The kafila-bashi is the head man of the kafila, or company of merchants, who travel in a body for mutual safety, and compose what is commonly called a caravan, properly a karwan; the richest and most respectable merchant of the party is generally elected bashi; all the rest obey his orders, and he directs the movements, &c., of the whole company, and moreover, acts, in all cases of dispute, as judge and magistrate.
According to the sheikh's calculations, they were ten miles from the Well of Moses at four o'clock, and sunset would take place at half-past six. The road was a bad one, and their camels were beginning to lag, but they counted on reaching the ancient camping-ground about half past five. Abdullah was the first to discover recent signs of a large kafila having passed that way.
A sheep that accompanied the kafila, the last of their stock, lay down in the road, and they were obliged to kill him and throw the carcass on a camel; a parching thirst oppressed them, which nothing alleviated. They had made but little way by three o'clock in the afternoon, when the wind got round to the eastward, and imparted to them a little refreshment.
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