Harar, from the Coffe Stream
Map of Berberah
Route to Harar
The Hammal
Costume of Harar
H. H. Ahmed Bin Abibakr, Amir of Harar


[Illustration]




CHAPTER I.

DEPARTURE FROM ADEN.


I doubt not there are many who ignore the fact that in Eastern Africa,
scarcely three hundred miles distant from Aden, there is a counterpart of
ill-famed Timbuctoo in the Far West. The more adventurous Abyssinian
travellers, Salt and Stuart, Krapf and Isenberg, Barker and Rochet,--not
to mention divers Roman Catholic Missioners,--attempted Harar, but
attempted it in vain. The bigoted ruler and barbarous people threatened
death to the Infidel who ventured within their walls; some negro Merlin
having, it is said, read Decline and Fall in the first footsteps of the
Frank. [1] Of all foreigners the English were, of course, the most hated
and dreaded; at Harar slavery still holds its head-quarters, and the old
Dragon well knows what to expect from the hand of St. George. Thus the