I offer no description of my return route to Berbera, as it was a mere adventure of uncommon hardship. The accident which has for the present terminated our wanderings is deserving of some detail.
On Saturday, the 7th of April, the H. E. I. Company's schooner Mahi (Lieut.King commanding) entered the harbour of Berbera, where her guns roared forth a parting salute to the Somali expedition.
The great emporium of Eastern Africa was, at the time of my second landing, in a state of confusion. But a few hours before the Harar caravan had entered; and purchase, barter, and exchange were being carried on in the utmost hurry. All day and during the greater part of the night the town rang with the loud voices of buyers and sellers. To specify no other valuable articles of traffic, 500 slaves of both sexes were in the market.
On the 9th of April, about 3 P.M., a shower, accompanied by thunder and lightning, came up from the southern hills, where rain had already been falling for some days, and gave notice that the Gugi or Somali monsoon had begun. This was the signal for the Bedouins to leave Berbera: the mats were rapidly stripped off their frameworks of stick and pole, the camels were laden, and thousands of travellers poured out of the town. On the 15th it was wholly deserted; the last craft left the port, and our little party remained in undisputed possession of the place. We awaited the mid-April mail. In their utter security the Abbans or protectors accompanied their families and property to the highlands, leaving with us their sons as an escort. The people were decidedly friendly: the most learned of the Somal, the Shaykh Jami, whom I had met at Harar, called repeatedly upon us, ate with us, and gave us abundant good advice concerning our future movements.
On the l8th April a small craft belonging to the port of Aynterad I entered the deserted creek, and brought from Aden ten Somalis, who desired to accompany us southwards. We objected to taking more than four of these men: fortunately, however, I ordered our people to give dinner to the captain and crew of the craft. That evening we were visited by spies, who deceived not only us, but even their own countrymen: accordingly, the usual two sentries were posted for the night, and we all lay down to sleep.
Between 2 and 3 in the morning of the 19th inst. I was aroused by the cry that the enemy was upon us. My first impulse was to aroused Lieut. Herne to go out with his revolver in the direction of the attack; secondly, I called to Lieuts. Stroyan and Speke that they must arm and be ready; and thirdly, I sent my servant for my sabre. Meanwhile Lieut. Herne returned hurriedly from the rear of the tent, exclaiming that our twelve servants, armed with swords and muskets, had run, and that the enemy amounted to about 150 men. Lieut. Stroyan, who occupied another tent, did not appear: the other two officers and I were compelled to defend ourselves in our own with revolvers, which the darkness of the night rendered uncertain. Presently our fire being exhausted, and the enemy pressing on with spear and javelin, the position became untenable; the tent was nearly battered down by clubs, and had we been entangled in its folds, we should have been killed without the power of resistance. I gave the word for a rush, and sallied out with my sabre, closely followed by Lieut. Herne, with Lieut. Speke in the rear. The former was allowed to pass through the enemy with no severer injury than a few hard blows with a war club. The latter was thrown down by a stone hurled at his chest and taken prisoner, a circumstance which we did not learn till afterwards. On leaving the tent I thought that I perceived the figure of the late Lieut. Stroyan lying upon the ground close to the camels. I was surrounded at the time by about a dozen of the enemy, whose clubs rattled upon me without mercy, and the strokes of my sabre were rendered uncertain by the energetic pushes of an attendant who thus hoped to save me. The blade was raised to cut him down: he cried out in dismay, and at that moment a Somali stepped forward, threw his spear so as to pierce my lace, and retired before he could be punished. I then fell back for assistance, and the enemy feared pursuing us into the darkness. Many of our Somalis and servants were lurking about 100 yards from the fray, but nothing would persuade them to advance. The loss of blood causing me to feel faint, I was obliged to lie down, and, as dawn approached, the craft from Aynterad was seen apparently making sail out of the harbour.
With my little remaining strength I reached the spit at the head of the creek, was carried into the vessel, and persuaded the crew to arm themselves and repair to the scene of our disaster. Presently Lieut. Herne appeared, and closely following him Lieut. Speke, who had escaped from his captors, was supported in badly wounded. Lastly, the body of Lieut. Stroyan was brought on board, speared through the heart, with the mark of a lance piercing the abdomen, and a frightful gash apparent in the forehead. The lamented officer had ceased to exist; his body was stark and cold: we preserved his remains till the morning of the 20th instant, when we were compelled to commit them to the deep, Lieut. Herne reading the funeral service. We were overwhelmed with grief: we had lived together like brothers. Lieut. Stroyan was a universal favourite, and truly melancholy was the contrast between the hour when he lay down to rest full of life and spirits, and the ensuing morning when we saw him a livid corpse.
* * * *
In conclusion, I must remark that a number of little combinations gave rise to our disaster. Our arrangements were hurriedly made. We could not take from Aden the number of well-trained Somali policemen upon which I had originally calculated, and we had to depend upon raw recruits, who fled at the first charge. But we had ever been led to believe that Berbera was as safe as Bombay itself, and we expected after a month's march, that at the men would be educated to fight. Political events at Aden also prevented our detaining the war-schooner Mahi, whose presence would have rendered the coast safe, and once in the interior we should have been secure from the Bedouins, who have a horror of firearms. Had our letters despatched from Aden arrived when expected, we should have been enabled to leave Berbera with the Ogadayn caravan.
Yet my opinion of the Somal is unchanged; nor would I assume the act of a band of brigands - for such was the cause of our disaster - to be the expression of a people's animus. They have learned to respect us: four or five of their number were, it is reported, killed or mortally wounded that fateful night; and if my plans for punishing the outrage be carried out, it will be long before a a similar event occurs again. The officers whom I have had the honour to command profess themselves ready to renew the attempt; and when the ferment has subsided, we would start from Kurrum, a safer though a less interesting route. Should we be deterred by the loss of a single life, however valuable, from prosecuting plans now made public in Africa, we shall not rise in the estimation of the races around us. Briefly, permission to carry out our original projects is the sole recompense we hope for what we have suffered.
* See Report on the Position of Harar, &e., by Lieut. Barker. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society' vol. xii. p. 238.-ED.
6
Richard Burton Trip to Harar