our mules, we set out, followed for at least a mile by a long tail of
howling boys, who, ignorant of clothing, except a string of white beads
round the neck, but armed with dwarf spears, bows, and arrows, showed all
the impudence of baboons. They derided the End of Time's equitation till I
feared a scene;--sailor-like, he prided himself upon graceful
horsemanship, and the imps were touching his tenderest point.

Hitherto, for the Abban's convenience, we had skirted the sea, far out of
the direct road: now we were to strike south-westwards into the interior.
At 6 P. M. we started across a "Goban" [35] which eternal summer gilds
with a dull ochreish yellow, towards a thin blue strip of hill on the far
horizon. The Somal have no superstitious dread of night and its horrors,
like Arabs and Abyssinians: our Abban, however, showed a wholesome mundane
fear of plundering parties, scorpions, and snakes. [36] I had been careful
to fasten round my ankles the twists of black wool called by the Arabs
Zaal [37], and universally used in Yemen; a stock of garlic and opium,
here held to be specifics, fortified the courage of the party, whose fears
were not wholly ideal, for, in the course of the night, Shehrazade nearly
trod upon a viper.

At first the plain was a network of holes, the habitations of the Jir Ad
[38], a field rat with ruddy back and white belly, the Mullah or Parson, a
smooth-skinned lizard, and the Dabagalla, a ground squirrel with a
brilliant and glossy coat. As it became dark arose a cheerful moon,
exciting the howlings of the hyenas, the barkings of their attendant
jackals [39], and the chattered oaths of the Hidinhitu bird. [40] Dotted
here and there over the misty landscape, appeared dark clumps of a tree
called "Kullan," a thorn with an edible berry not unlike the jujube, and
banks of silvery mist veiled the far horizon from the sight.