This appears to compose the village, and suggests a convent or a
monastery. To the west, and about fifty yards distant, are ruins of stone
and good white mortar, probably procured by burning the limestone rock.
The annexed ground plan will give an idea of these interesting remains,
which are said to be those of a Christian house of worship. In some parts
the walls are still 10 feet high, and they show an extent of civilisation
now completely beyond the Warsingali. It may be remarked of them that the
direction of the niche, as well as the disposition of the building, would
denote a Moslem mosque. At the same time it must be remembered that the
churches of the Eastern Christians are almost always made to front
Jerusalem, and the Gallas being a Moslem and Christian race, the sects
would borrow their architecture from each other. The people assert these
ruins to be those of Nazarenes. Yet in the Jid Ali valley of the
Dulbahantas Lieutenant Speke found similar remains, which the natives
declared to be one of their forefathers' mosques; the plan and the
direction were the same as those now described. Nothing, however, is
easier than to convert St. Sophia into the Aya Sufiyyah mosque. Moreover,
at Jid Ali, the traveller found it still the custom of the people to erect
a Mala, or cross of stone or wood covered with plaster, at the head and
foot of every tomb.
[Illustration]
The Dulbahantas, when asked about these crosses, said it was their custom,
derived from sire and grandsire. This again would argue that a Christian
people once inhabited these now benighted lands.
North of the building now described is a cemetery, in which the Somal
still bury their dead. Here Lieutenant Speke also observed crosses, but he
was prevented by the superstition of the people from examining them.
On an eminence S.W. of, and about seventy yards from the main building,
are the isolated remains of another erection, said by the people to be a
fort. The foundation is level with the ground, and shows two compartments
opening into each other.
[Illustration]
Rhat was the most southerly point reached by Lieutenant Speke. He places
it about thirty miles distant from the coast, and at the entrance of the
Great Plateau. Here he was obliged to turn westward, because at that
season of the year the country to the southward is desolate for want of
rain--a warning to future visitors. During the monsoon this part of the
land is preferred by the people: grass grows, and there would be no
obstacle to travellers.
Before quitting Rhat, the Abban and the interpreter went to the length of
ordering Lieutenant Speke not to fire a gun. This detained him a whole
day.
_11th December_.--Early in the morning, Lieutenant Speke started in a
westerly direction, still within sight of the mountains, where not
obstructed by the inequalities of the ground.
