arrived, and rebuked them, together with his brother,
for allowing me to be ill-treated. Finding Mohamed
Aul very reasonable and obliging, I begged him to
send Abdullah away as a nuisance, for T could never
permit him to eat any more salt of mine.
Imam now disclosed to me the results of his investigations
at Goriat and Bunder Gori. The Abban, as I
had heard before, was detained there by a creditor to
whom he had contracted debts in Aden, and now, in
part liquidation of them, he had given away all my
salt, the twenty rupees he took for hiring donkeys,
several pieces of cloth, and he had changed my good
rice for bad; and, knowing Farhan to be cognisant
of all his villanies, had tried by bribes to induce
him to desert. The sultan now arrived, and excused
his long absence, saying that he had lost the'
time in fruitless endeavours to induce Sumunter to
come with him. He said he had been remonstrating
with Sumunter, and thought him very culpable in not
obeying me. Hoping the sultan was in earnest in
what he said, I now told him of all I had seen and
heard about Sumunter, and begged he would assist
me in sending him back to Aden, for no reliance could
possibly be placed on a man who had proved himself
so dishonest and unprincipled as he was. The interpreter
also thought this would be a good plan, and
advised my employing the sultan’s brother Hasan as
abban or protector in his stead. However, the sultan
said he could not undo what the English had done in
Aden, but said if I wished he would send for Sumunter
and rebuke him in my presence. I replied that I
thought he could not get Sumunter to leave Bunder
Gori, or he should have done so ere this. This
touched his pride, and he raised his body indignantly,
and said, “ If I command, he must obey.” “ Then,
for goodness’ sake,” said I, “ order him with all—all
my things at once, and lose no more time.”
The following day they all arrived, and Sumunter
with them, riding on a pony. I felt much incensed as
the Abban came cringing up to me, and proclaimed
him, in presence of the sultan and all my men a
traitor and robber, mentioning all his villanies in
detail, and begging he would leave my camp at once,
for I could not travel with him. He appeared very
humble, and denied flatly all the accusations I brought
against him. Upon this I begged the sultan, flattering
him with his great renown for administering justice,
that he would do me justice as his guest. He
said he was willing to do anything for me if I would
direct the way in which I wished him to proceed;
he did not understand the English law, and I must
submit to Somali methods. This was agreed to, and
we all assembled in my tent, and arranged the court
as follows :—I sat at the gable end of the tent with
Imam, Ahmed, and Farhan, with Sumunter facing us.
The sultan mounted on the bales of cloth, and all his
retainers and princes, and my camel-drivers, sat in a
group on the ground at his feet.
In opening the proceedings of the prosecution, I
first said to Sumunter—