168 



SABIA* GRAVES. 



take the bearings of our progress, as I determined 

 it always by the position of the graves, which I 

 could do with much greater deliberation and cor- 

 rectness than by the hasty, stealthy look at a vibrat- 

 ing needle, agitated by my movements as I walked 

 along. These graves the Dankalli refer to a period 

 antecedent to their occupation of the country, when 

 the Kafirs, as they call the previous possessors, had 

 no knowledge of the Koran, and placed the head 

 of the corpse, when they buried it, in the direction 

 of the rising sun, and not towards the Kaaba at 

 Mecca. The fact was, that these graves were those 

 of Sabian Affahs, the common ancestors both of the 

 Soumaulee and the Dankalli, and who, as the 

 Avalites of the ancients, occupied the whole of the 

 eastern horn of Africa. The introduction of the 

 Mahomedan faith has effected the separation of the 

 two people in modern times, and now 7 many of the 

 professors of Islamism are ashamed to own their 

 Pagan ancestors. 



In about two hours, we passed the deserted village 

 seen by the very worthy Missionaries, Messieurs 

 Isenberg and Krapf ; and I could not resist laughing 

 in my heart, at the idea suggested by a comparison 

 of the ruined stone kraals, so designated, that 

 pointed out an occasional station of the Bedouins, 

 during the rains in this now herbless wilderness, 

 with the idea suggested by the beautifully told tale, 

 bearing the same title, and beginning — 



" Sweet Auburn ! loveliest village of the plain ! " 



We proceeded with a skating-like step, very fatiguing 



