1. The Nola to the E. and N.E.
2. The Alo on the W.
3. The Babuli Southwards.
The Jarsa to the E. and S.E.
It is impossible to see this people without remarking its consanguinity to the Somal. These Gallas are Christian, Moslem, and Pagan adoring Wak (the Creator), all living together without religious animosity. They might annihilate the city in a day, but it is not their interest to do so. The Emir pays them 600 to 700 tobes per anum; they carry their lances into the palace-court, never run across H.H.'s gateway, as all others must do, and drink gratis strong drinks which they have not the art to brew. In return they are plundered by the citizens, and the Emir has made it penal to buy by weight and scale.
The Government may briefly be described as the Emir. This petty prince, whose signet bears the grandiose title of "Sultan son of Sultan," is by origin a Galla, by pretension a descendant from the Caliph Abubekr. He is a beardless youth, 23 or 24 years old, short, thin, and apparently consumptive; his wrinkled brow and protruding eyes give him an appearance truly unprepossessing. Men say that he was poisoned by one of his wives; others declare that his ill- health is the effect of a fall from his horse. He has four wives and two young children; during his three years' reign he has imprisoned a selection from his fifty cousins, and as, in this city, political offenders are buried in a dark dungeon, confinement and death are nearly synonymous. The Emir preserves all the dignity of empire. Those presented to him must kiss the back and the palm of his hand. He must not be stared at. When his cough affects him, an attendant presents the hem of his robe. Rosaries are not allowed at the levee, and those presented are dragged by the arms to the foot of the throne, a common Cutch couch. Running footmen precede the prince in the streets, flogging the people out of the way, and at mosque two or three matchlock men stand over him, for he fears internal treachery as much as external violence. His wazir, the Gerad Mohammed, and his mother, the Gisti Fatimah, dare not address him without permission; he is, however, punctilious in administering justice. Imprisonment, fines, and the confiscation of property, punish political offences. Murderers are given up to the nearest of kin, and their throats are publicly cut with a butcher's knife. Petty offenders are beaten in front and rear by two executioners armed with large horsewhips. Usually, the Emir allows his subjects to seek the benefits of the religious law as propounded by the Cazi Abd el Rahman. They prefer, however, the prince's prompt decisions. Generally in the East a man expects to be defrauded by the civil power, but he is morally certain of being stripped by the ministers of religion.
Harar is an essentially commercial town. Three caravans yearly convey to Berbera the rich spoils of the Galla country; those of January and February are small, that which leaves in the month of March consists of at least 3000 souls and an equal number of camels. Ivory is a royal monopoly; the Emir buys it, and his subjects are forbidden to sell it. The best coffee comes from Jarjar, a Galla district about 7 days W. of Harar. The tobes of this city are celebrated throughout Eastern Africa; bandwoven, they far surpass the produce of our manufactures in beauty and durability. It is also the grand depot for the coffee, the wars-dye, the admirable cotton, the gums, the tobacco, and the grain of the Galla country. An idea of its cheapness may be formed from the fact that a dollar will purchase 120 fowls, and the same sum suffices to provide a man with bread for a year. The only coin is a bit of brass coarsely stamped; this "Mahallak" is the 66th part of a dollar, and the Emir imprisons all subjects who pass or possess any other money. Nothing can be more simple than the system of taxation; the cultivators pay 10 per cent. taken in kind, and traders are charged 16 cubits of cotton cloth per donkey load; the consequence is that the animal is supported through the gates by four or five porters.
After sitting for an hour at the eastern gate, waiting the permission of the Emir to enter his walls, we were ordered by a grim guard to follow. Arrived at the prince's court-yard, we were told to dismount and run, as the subjects of H.H. must never cross the gateway or approach the palace but at a long trot. I obeyed the former and resisted the latter order. Then, leading our mules, we stood under a tree close to the state prison, whence resounded the ominous clank of fetters, and turned deaf cars to the eager questions of the crowd. It was a levee-day, and troops of Galla chieftain, known by their heavy spears and zinc armlets, passed in and out of the palace prolonging our anxious delay. At last, after being ordered to take off my slippers and to give up my weapons, a mandate to which I again objected, we were escorted by the grim guard to the palace-door. The curtain was raised. 1 entered with a loud salam, which was courteously returned by a small yellow man, not unlike an Indian Rajah, dressed in a conical turban and a red robe trimmed with white fur. As I advanced towards the throne, four or five chamberlains seizing my arms, according to custom, hurried me on till I bent over the Emir Ahmed bin Abubekr's extended fingers. Leading me back, they then seated me in front of the presence, while my two Somali attendants were kissing the palm and the back of the thin yellow hand. Looking around the room 1 remarked the significant decorations of its walls - bright fetters and rusty matchlocks. The courtiers stool in double file extended at right angles from the throne; all had their right arms and heads bared in token of respect, and whoever approached the Emir saluted his hand with exceeding reverence. At the end of my survey I was called upon by the wazir or prime minister, who sat upon a rug at the right of and below the throne, to answer a variety of questions concerning my name, nation, and business at Harar. The replies proving, it is presumed, satisfactory, I was invited to become the prince's guest during my ten days' residence, and received every day three dishes of bread and beef from his own kitchen. At subsequent visits I was admitted to the honour of a seat next to the wazir, and the Emir did not disdain to be indoctrinated with the principles of free trade in coffee and cotton. Slavery was a more delicate topic, and not being authorized to treat upon the subject officially, I contented myself with observing its operations and with preparing a scheme which will easily aud surely remove this curse upon the country's industry. During my residence at Harar, the two Somal who had been sent with me from Aden behaved admirably. As small-pox was raging in the town, 1 found an easy pretext for hurrying my departure. These African cities are all prisons on a large scale. "You enter at your own bidding - you leave at another's" - is the native proverb, true and significant. My speedy dismissal was perhaps owing to a report that three brothers had been sent by the Government of India to Eastern Africa. Visions of cutting off caravans induced the Emir to get rid of me, he being, it is said, much puzzled how to treat so uncommon a case. Yet I had no reason to complain of him; and as a proof that my modest endeavours to establish friendly relations were not unsuccessful, the Prince wrote, immediately after my departure to Aden, requesting to be furnished with a "Frank physician." He finally dismissed me with a mule for myself and a letter addressed to our Political Resident in Arabia.
5
Richard Burton Trip to Harar