We remained six days under the roof of the Gerad Adan, one of the most treacherous and dangerous chiefs in this land of treachery and danger. My Somali attendants saw with horror that preparations were being made to enter the city of evil fame. They attempted by all means in their power to deter me from the attempt, but the unfortunates little knew the persistency of a Haji. On the 2nd January, 1855, I mounted my mule, intending to enter Harar alone; the two policemen were shamed into accompanying me, and I left my third servant with the Gerad Adan, in charge of my heavy luggage and a letter of directions to be forwarded to Lieutenants Stroyan and Herne in case of accidents.
We passed on over the hills of Harar by roads so rugged that loads are shifted from camel to donkey back. As I approached the city men turned out of their villages to ask if that was the Turk who was going to his death ? The question made me resolve to appear before the Emir in my own character, an Englishman. In these lands it is a point of honour not to conceal tribe or nation, and, as a general rule, the Ottoman is more hated and feared than the Frank. On the 3rd of January I entered Harar.
The ancient metropolis of the Hadiyah empire - now sadly decayed - is about 175 miles S.W. (220 deg.) from Zayla and 219 S.W. (257 deg.) from Berbera. This position, which I could ascertain only by dead reckoning, gives a latitude of 9 20' and a longitude of 42- 17': it agrees nearly with the traditional site according to the following authorities:-
· Lieutenant Cruttenden, I.N......Lat..9.....22'.......00"
· ..................................................Lon.42....35'.....00"
· Rev. Dr. Krapf .........................Lat..9......22'.....00"
· ..................................................Lon.42...07'......00"
· Capt. Harris ..............................Lat..9...... 24'.....00"
.................................................Lon. 42....22'.....00"
My thermometer showed an altitude of about 5500 feet.* The city lies upon the slope of a hill which falls from W. to E.: in the latter direction are plantations of bananas, citrons, limes, the coffee-tree, the kat - a theine plant well known in Arabia - wars or - "bastard saffron," and sugar-cane. Westward are gardens and orchards on a terraced slope; northward is a hill covered with tombs, and to the S. the city falls into a valley or ravine. It is about 1 mile long, by half that breadth; the streets and alleys are like mountain roads; and the abodes, built of sandstone and granite cemented with a reddish clay, present a dingy appearance, strikingly different from the glaring whitewash of the East. The houses are flat-roofed with small holes for windows and coarse wooden shutters; most of them have large court-yards and separate apartments for women, and almost all, even the Emir's palaces, are single-storied. There are some huts called "Gambisa," shaped like a bell-tent and peculiar to the cultivating Somal; they are equally common in Eastern and in Western Africa. The walls, ignorant of cannon, are defended by irregularly oval turrets whence spearmen and archers might annoy the enemy, and the five large gateways are full of guards armed with daggers and long staves. The climate appeared to me delightful - neither cold nor hot. Of eleven days we had three rainy; the air was fresh, and the sun not oppressive. The people assured me that their monsoon lasted six months, and this would account for the prodigious fertility of the soil.
The city owes its existence to the Emir Nur, who reigned about 316 years ago. In the days of Mohammed Gragne, the Attila of Eastern Africa, it was a mere collection of villages. The history of the place is a series of jihad or crusades against the pagan Gallas, and murder and sudden death of its petty princes. There are few public buildings: the bazaar is a long street; the jami or cathedral mosque is a kind of barn decorated with two queer old minarets, built, it is said, by Turkish architects; and the palaces are single-storied houses with large courts, protected by doors of holcus stalks. The five gates are-
1. The Argob Bari (Eastward)
2. Asum Bari (North)
3. Asmadim Bari (West)
4. Badro Bari (South)
Sukutal Bari (S.E)
Harar contains a population of about 10,000 souls, including about 2500 Somal, and not including a considerable number of Gallas and other Bedouins Women abound, a circumstance arising from the prevalence of slavery. Harar is the great " halfway-house" for the produce of Efat, Gurague, and the Galla countries; slaves are driven thence to Berbera and exported by the subjects of H. H. the Imam of Muscat, in exchange for rice and dates. I did not judge favourably of the morals of the Harari. They drank freely - even in the presence of the Olema and pilgrims - hydlomel and Falshu or Abyssinian beer. The Emir has been compelled to establish night patrols, who punish with the bastinado lovers and robbers. The men are peculiarly unprepossessing in appearance. Shaven heads, coarse features, and clumsy figures muffled in coarse tobes or sheets of dirty cotton cloth, with long thin staves in hand, frowned upon us with mischievous brows and occasionally addressed us with their roughest of voices. The pretty Abyssinian features of the women were novel to me, and their utter ignorance of bashfulness a surprise. The dress is a long cotton robe, indigo-dyed, with two large inverted triangles of scarlet Upon the chest and the shoulders: it is girt with a long zone of Harar manufacture. No veil is used, and sandals are at a discount. The hair, confined in blue muslin or network, is tied in two large bunches or balls below the ears, and the only ornaments are armless of buffalo horn, coral necklaces, gilt hair pins, and Birmingham rings. Their voices are harsh, a phenomenon in Africa, where that organ is the only feature truly feminine; they chew tobacco with effrontery, drink beer, and demean themselves accordingly.
Harar is celebrated for sanctity, erudition, and fanaticism. The Shaykhs Abadir, El Bekri, and Ao Rahmah bequeathed to it a reputation. Of modern celebrities the Kabir Khalil and Kabir Yunis rank foremost. None but the purely religious sciences are studied, books are scarce, and there is no such thing as the wakf or foundation for scholars, which makes men read in the East. Yet Harar sends forth a swarm of widad, freres ignorantins, who, by the power of long prayer and chanting the Koran, live, as such folk mostly aspire to do, in plenty and indolence. Within the city a language is spoken quite different from the Somali and the Galla dialects; like the former, however, it is partly Semitic in grammar and etymology, the Arabic scion being grafted upon an African stock. I collected a vocabulary and the grammatical forms which will afford the learned some idea of the still unknown tongue. The prevailing sound is the ch of the Scotch " loch," consequently the effect is harsh and unpleasant. Men of education always know Arabic, and the stranger hears in the streets Amharic, Galla, Somali, and Dankali.
The city is immediately surrounded by four tribes of Gallas, namely,-
4
Richard Burton Trip to Harar