MY PRESENT TO HIM. 211 



on purpose to add to the boasted numbers of slain, 

 the grand total of which, constitute the only claim 

 to individual eminence among the Dankalli tribes. 



On the march to-day I gave Lohitu a ring, 

 which I had put on my finger the first morning- 

 after our arrival at Ramudalee, for the purpose of 

 presenting to this noted chieftain. It consisted of 

 one large red cornelian, which had been cut by an 

 Indian mechanic in Calcutta, where I purchased it, 

 into a thick, showy ring, one well suited to the 

 taste of such people of eminence among the savage 

 tribes with whom I was now sojourning. Lohitu 

 was exceedingly pleased with it, and wore it for 

 that day, but whether he was really superior to the 

 common feeling in such matters of adornment, or 

 preferred the convenience of a little cash which 

 Ohmed Mahomed offered to him for it, I do not 

 know ; but I heard after he had left us, that Ohmed 

 Mahomed had the ring in his possession, and that 

 he had given to Lohitu in exchange for it four 

 dollars, or eight cubits of the blue Surat cloth. 

 This latter is the only money current in Adal, one 

 cubit in length of this Surat cloth, the full width 

 of the piece, being in value half a dollar. It is 

 neatly folded into a three-cornered packet, and the 

 outer extremity is tucked into the middle, in such 

 a manner as to secure the whole in that form. 



Our halting-place was bare of everything but 

 large flat stones of lava, that had evidently formed 

 originally one thin but entire stratum, which, on 



p 2 



