I Then Sent A Common Six-Barrelled
Revolver As A Present To The Amir, Explaining Its Use To The Bearer, And
We Prepared To Make Ourselves As Comfortable As Possible.
The interior of
our new house was a clean room, with plain walls, and a floor of tamped
earth; opposite the entrance were two broad steps of masonry, raised about
two feet, and a yard above the ground, and covered with, hard matting.
I
contrived to make upon the higher ledge a bed with the cushions which my
companions used as shabracques, and, after seeing the mules fed and
tethered, lay down to rest worn out by fatigue and profoundly impressed
with the _poesie_ of our position. I was under the roof of a bigoted
prince whose least word was death; amongst a people who detest foreigners;
the only European that had ever passed over their inhospitable threshold,
and the fated instrument of their future downfall.
* * * * *
I now proceed to a description of unknown Harar.
The ancient capital of Hadiyah, called by the citizens "Harar Gay," [5] by
the Somal "Adari," by the Gallas "Adaray" and by the Arabs and ourselves
"Harar," [6] lies, according to my dead reckoning, 220° S.W. of, and 175
statute miles from, Zayla--257° W. of, and 219 miles distant from,
Berberah. This would place it in 9° 20' N. lat. and 42° 17' E. long. The
thermometer showed an altitude of about 5,500 feet above the level of the
sea. [7] Its site is the slope of an hill which falls gently from west to
east. On the eastern side are cultivated fields; westwards a terraced
ridge is laid out in orchards; northwards is a detached eminence covered
with tombs; and to the south, the city declines into a low valley bisected
by a mountain burn. This irregular position is well sheltered from high
winds, especially on the northern side, by the range of which Kondura is
the lofty apex; hence, as the Persian poet sings of a heaven-favoured
city,--
"Its heat is not hot, nor its cold, cold."
During my short residence the air reminded me of Tuscany. On the afternoon
of the 11th January there was thunder accompanied by rain: frequent
showers fell on the 12th, and the morning of the 13th was clear; but, as
we crossed the mountains, black clouds obscured the heavens. The monsoon
is heavy during one summer month; before it begins the crops are planted,
and they are reaped in December and January. At other seasons the air is
dry, mild, and equable.
The province of Hadiyah is mentioned by Makrizi as one of the seven
members of the Zayla Empire [8], founded by Arab invaders, who in the 7th
century of our aera conquered and colonised the low tract between the Red
Sea and the Highlands. Moslem Harar exercised a pernicious influence upon
the fortunes of Christian Abyssinia. [9]
The allegiance claimed by the AEthiopian Emperors from the Adel--the
Dankali and ancient Somal--was evaded at a remote period, and the
intractable Moslems were propitiated with rich presents, when they thought
proper to visit the Christian court. The Abyssinians supplied the Adel
with slaves, the latter returned the value in rock-salt, commercial
intercourse united their interests, and from war resulted injury to both
people. Nevertheless the fanatic lowlanders, propense to pillage and
proselytizing, burned the Christian churches, massacred the infidels, and
tortured the priests, until they provoked a blood feud of uncommon
asperity.
In the 14th century (A.D. 1312-1342) Amda Sion, Emperor of AEthiopia,
taunted by Amano, King of Hadiyah, as a monarch fit only to take care of
women, overran and plundered the Lowlands from Tegulet to the Red Sea. The
Amharas were commanded to spare nothing that drew the breath of life: to
fulfil a prophecy which foretold the fall of El Islam, they perpetrated
every kind of enormity.
Peace followed the death of Amda Sion. In the reign of Zara Yakub [10]
(A.D. 1434-1468), the flame of war was again fanned in Hadiyah by a Zayla
princess who was slighted by the AEthiopian monarch on account of the
length of her fore-teeth: the hostilities which ensued were not, however,
of an important nature. Boeda Mariana, the next occupant of the throne,
passed his life in a constant struggle for supremacy over the Adel: on his
death-bed he caused himself to be so placed that his face looked towards
those lowlands, upon whose subjugation the energies of ten years had been
vainly expended.
At the close of the 15th century, Mahfuz, a bigoted Moslem, inflicted a
deadly blow upon Abyssinia. Vowing that he would annually spend the forty
days of Lent amongst his infidel neighbours, when, weakened by rigorous
fasts, they were less capable of bearing arms, for thirty successive years
he burned churches and monasteries, slew without mercy every male that
fell in his way, and driving off the women and children, he sold some to
strange slavers, and presented others to the Sherifs of Mecca. He bought
over Za Salasah, commander in chief of the Emperor's body guard, and
caused the assassination of Alexander (A.D. 1478-1495) at the ancient
capital Tegulet. Naud, the successor, obtained some transient advantages
over the Moslems. During the earlier reign of the next emperor, David III.
son of Naud [11], who being but eleven years old when called to the
throne, was placed under the guardianship of his mother the Iteghe Helena,
new combatants and new instruments of warfare appeared on both sides in
the field.
After the conquest of Egypt and Arabia by Selim I. (A. D. 1516) [12] the
caravans of Abyssinian pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem were attacked, the
old were butchered and the young were swept into slavery. Many Arabian
merchants fled from Turkish violence and injustice, to the opposite coast
of Africa, whereupon the Ottomans took possession from Aden of Zayla, and
not only laid the Indian trade under heavy contributions by means of their
war-galleys, but threatened the total destruction of Abyssinia.
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