NIGHT OF ALAEMS. 



79 



of Centralisation, by an exercise of its peculiar attri- 

 butes, omniscience and omnipresence, decided that the 

 indemnity, which in such cases is customary throughout 

 the East, must not be accepted, because — forsooth ! — it 

 was not deserved by the officers. This is a new plan, a 

 system lately adopted by the nation once called " la plus 

 orgueilleuse et la plus perilleuse " — to win and preserve 

 respect in lands where prestige is its principal power. 

 The Arabs of Yemen have already learned from it to 

 characterise their invaders as Sahib Hilah, — a tricky, 

 peddling manner of folk. They — wiser men than 

 we — will not take upon themselves the pains and 

 penalties of subject-hood, without its sole counter- 

 weight, the protection of their rulers, in cases where 

 protection is required. 



At Madege Madogo, the "little birds," so called in 

 contradistinction to its western and neighbouring; 

 district, Madege Makuba, the " great birds," we 

 pitched tent under a large sycamore ; and the Baloch 

 passed a night of alarms, fancying in every sound the 

 approach of a leopard, a hippopotamus, or a crocodile. 

 On the 13th July, we set out after dawn, and traversing 

 forest, jungle, and bush, chequered with mud and 

 morass, hard by the bending and densely-wooded line of 

 the Kmgaiii River, reached in three hours' march an un- 

 wholesome camping-ground, called from a conspicuous 

 landmark Kiclunda, the " little hill." Here the scenery 

 is effective. The swift, yellow stream, about fifty yards 

 broad, sweeps under tall, stiff earth-works, ever green 

 with tangled vegetation and noble trees. The conical 

 huts of the cultivators are disposed in scattered patches 

 to guard their luxuriant crops, whilst on the northern 

 bank the woody hillock, and on the southern rising 

 ground, apparently the ancient river-terrace, affect the. 



