Leading Our Mules Leisurely, In Spite Of The Guide's Wrath, We
Entered The Gate, Strode Down The Yard, And Were Placed Under A Tree In
Its Left Corner, Close To A Low Building Of Rough Stone, Which The
Clanking Of Frequent Fetters Argued To Be A State-Prison.
This part of the court was crowded with Gallas, some lounging about,
others squatting in the shade under the palace walls.
The chiefs were
known by their zinc armlets, composed of thin spiral circlets, closely
joined, and extending in mass from the wrist almost to the elbow: all
appeared to enjoy peculiar privileges,--they carried their long spears,
wore their sandals, and walked leisurely about the royal precincts. A
delay of half an hour, during which state-affairs were being transacted
within, gave me time to inspect a place of which so many and such
different accounts are current. The palace itself is, as Clapperton
describes the Fellatah Sultan's state-hall, a mere shed, a long, single-
storied, windowless barn of rough stone and reddish clay, with no other
insignia but a thin coat of whitewash over the door. This is the royal and
vizierial distinction at Harar, where no lesser man may stucco the walls
of his house. The courtyard was about eighty yards long by thirty in
breadth, irregularly shaped, and surrounded by low buildings: in the
centre, opposite the outer entrance, was a circle of masonry against which
were propped divers doors. [2]
Presently the blear-eyed guide with the angry voice returned from within,
released us from the importunities of certain forward and inquisitive
youth, and motioned us to doff our slippers at a stone step, or rather
line, about twelve feet distant from the palace-wall.
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