Not many weeks had elapsed since certain substantial merchants of
Hurrur, after visiting the shrine at Medina, and making a long and
profitable sojourn in Alio Amba, had returned to their native land to
enjoy the honours attaching to their religious pilgrimage. Slaves,
ivory, and precious gums had been disposed of to great advantage in
Arabia, and the proceeds invested in beads, berilles, and broad-cloth,
with which the enterprising traders landed at the maritime town of
Tajura. Proceeding thence to Efat, they embarked their gains in slaves,
mules, and cotton cloths; and designing to pass the residue of their
days in ease and affluence, set out by way of Hurrur for the great
annual fair at Berbera.
In advance of the time, however, these luckless individuals had ventured
to speculate to their envious countrymen upon the advantage to be
derived from foreign traffic and the presence of the white man. The
incautious word had caught the ear of Abdel Yonag, the wily chief of the
Hurrurhi, and letters were secretly despatched to his master the Ameer,
representing the wealthy hajjis to be men of turbulent and ambitious
views, who had devised dangerous innovations, and were plotting, with
the Adaiel, the monopoly of the commerce in slaves. With hearts
bounding at the sight of their native minarets, and utterly unconscious
of the slander that had preceded them, the pilgrims entered the
_Isma-deen_ gate of the city; but ere return had been welcomed by wife
or child, they were hurried by the soldiery to the presence of the
despot, and, without even the mockery of a trial, were beaten to death
with huge maces of iron.
The independent principality of Hurrur is a spot yet unvisited by any
European, and is remarkable for its isolated position among the Pagan
and Mohammadan Galla, against whose continual inroads it has hitherto
contrived, with the aid of two hundred matchlock-men and a few archers,
to maintain its integrity. The Alla, the Nooli, the Geeri, the Tarsoo,
the Babili, the Bursoo, the Burteera, and the Gooti, compass it on every
side, and making sudden descents, sweep the ripe crops from off the face
of the smiling land; but their efforts against the town have uniformly
proved unsuccessful, and caravans continue, in spite of hostilities, to
carry on a very considerable traffic through the Ittoo and Aroosi
tribes, with Shoa and the Somauli coast.
Originally founded and peopled by a colony of the sons of Yemen, the
town is described to be situated in a pleasant and well-watered valley,
surrounded by hills, and enjoying a cool and salubrious climate. A wall
of mud and stone, six miles in circumference, with five fortified gates,
affords security to the entire population, whose houses, many of them
two-storied, are constructed of stone, whitewashed, and terraced.
Mosques and minarets are conspicuous in every street. The matin voice
of the muezzin is regularly heard, and the Jama el Musjid is believed to
be the abode of guardian angels, who stretch the strong pinion of
protection over the heads of the Faithful. "How could Hurrur have
triumphed thus long over the unbelievers," inquire the devout citizens,
"had Allah not extended his right arm to succour the followers of his
Prophet?"
Aboo Bekr, the reigning Ameer, has wielded the sceptre during the last
seven years, and pursuing the barbarous custom of Shoa, his brothers and
family are permanent inmates of subterranean dungeons, which for better
security are constructed immediately below the foundations of his own
palace. Although cruel and vindictive, he is reputed a brave prince,
heading the foray in person, and taking the front in the battle field;
but suspicion of the stranger would seem to form the ruling feature of
his character, nor is this to be wondered at, since bloodshed and
aggression are known to have once marked the footstep of the intruder.
During the reign of Abd el Kurreem, uncle to the present Ameer, a large
body of Arabs from Mocha, instigated by a disgraced member of the
blood-royal, who had fled thither for safety, laid siege to the town,
and assisted by guns of small calibre, which are now mounted on the
walls, had nearly prevailed. Again the guardian angels stretched their
white wings over the beleaguered city. The magazine blew up and
destroyed numbers of the enemy, and their traitorous leader, who had
induced the attack by representing his countrymen to be infidels and
apostates from the true religion, falling into the hands of the
garrison, had his head exalted on a pole in the market-place, after the
brains had been dashed out with an iron club. Death is now the portion
of every fool-hardy wanderer from the shores of Araby, and whilst the
Galla is compelled to relinquish his arms at the gate, every precaution
is taken to exclude from the land the foreigner of whatever nation.
In the features of the Hurrurhi is to be traced a strong resemblance to
those of the parent stock. The costume consists of a checked kilt, a
creese, and a cotton toga; the display of a turban being restricted to
the Ameer, to the moolahs, and to those who have performed the
pilgrimage to the shrine of the Prophet. Although distinct in itself,
the language bears a singular affinity to that of the Amhara, but Arabic
forms the written character. Barter is the most usual system of
commerce, but the _mahaluk_, a small copper coin resembling the _dewani_
of Jiddah, is current in the realm. Twenty-two of these go to a nominal
coin styled _ashrafi_, whereof forty are equivalent to the German crown.
It bears on the reverse the name of the reigning Prince, and on the
obverse the quotation from the Koran, "La _illah, illilah_!" "there is
none other God but Allah."
Around Hurrur the soil is rich, and extensively cultivated, especially
in coffee. Two thousand bales of the finest quality are annually
exported into India and Arabia by the ports of Zeyla and Berbera, which
are visited thrice during the year by large caravans laden with ivory,
ostrich feathers, ghee, saffron, gums, and myrrh, which latter is
produced in great abundance. Blue and white calico, Indian piece goods,
English prints, silks, and shawls, red cotton yam, silk thread, beads,
frankincense, copper wire, and zinc, are received in exchange, and a
transit duty of one _frazil_ of the latter metal is levied by the Ameer
on every slave passing through his dominions from the cold hills of his
brother of Shoa, where these commodities are bartered.
[The distance of Hurrur from Zeyla may be assumed at 150 miles
south-south-west and from Ankober, 190 miles East.]
Between Aboo Bekr and the Christian monarch the most friendly
intercourse subsists. Letters continually pass and repass, and scarcely
a month elapses without the arrival of a caravan. The chief of the Wurj
or merchants of Hurrur, standing specially appointed by the Ameer,
possesses absolute power to punish all offences, and adjust all disputes
amongst his own countrymen, who are not less fond of drawing the creese
than their Adaiel brethren. Tullah, an inferior description of beer,
being brewed and swallowed in alarming quantities, brawls and scuffles
too frequently terminate the debauch in blood. Should a Christian
subject of Shoa be slain, the offence is passed over in politic silence,
but when the reverse is the case, the worldly wealth of the sinning
Abyssinian is confiscated by the crown, and his person handed over to
the tender mercies of the Moslem savages.
The continual change of inhabitants, the excessive cheapness of
provisions, and the prevalent custom of hand-fasting for the visit, tend
little to improve the morality of the market-town. The chains of the
convenient alliances formed, are by no means binding on either party,
and the sum of twopence-halfpenny is perfectly sufficient to support
during the week the trader and his temporary mate. One hundred pieces
of salt are considered a large dowry; the nuptials are celebrated by
feasting and routing alone, and whilst the utmost indifference prevails
on the part of the husband, he loosens the matrimonial knot at pleasure,
by carrying his partner before the kazi, and thrice repeating the words,
"Woman, I thee divorce."
One fourth of the entire population of Alio Amba are Hurrurhi and
Danakil. Of the worthies who accompanied the Embassy from Tajura, the
majority continued to reside at Farri and Channoo for the convenience of
foraging their camels, but flocking every Friday to the market, they
never failed to confer the pleasure of their society for a few hours.
Gubaiyo, the deputy-governor of the town, had been specially appointed
to the service of the foreigners, and whilst discharging his office of
spy with the most creditable diligence, he exercised with strict
impartiality his functions as door-keeper, enforcing, greatly to the
amazement of the independent Adaiel, the Abyssinian usage, which
precludes the invasion of visitors unless duly introduced. The
obnoxious red man, whose iniquities had well nigh cost the lives of the
whole party at the Great Salt Lake, and who had now the impudence to
seek a reward for his services on the road, was the first who came under
the remorseless lash of the despotic bully; and it was a not less
cheering and delightful sight to behold the warm-blooded little warrior,
Ibrahim Shehem Abli, flying like a football down the steps leading from
the court-yard into the muddy lane, before the propulsive impetus of a
Christian toe, which presently sent the tyrannical Izhak bounding after
his colleague, with many a severe thwack from the wand of office,
ringing across his Moslem shoulders, as he vainly proclaimed himself own
brother to the reigning Sultan of Tajura.
Volume One, Chapter XLIV.