The Murderer Is
Placed In The Market Street, Blindfolded, And Bound Hand And Foot; The
Nearest Of Kin To The Deceased Then Strikes His Neck With A Sharp And
Heavy Butcher's Knife, And The Corpse Is Given Over To The Relations For
Moslem Burial.
If the blow prove ineffectual a pardon is generally
granted.
When a citizen draws dagger upon another or commits any petty
offence, he is bastinadoed in a peculiar manner: two men ply their
horsewhips upon his back and breast, and the prince, in whose presence the
punishment is carried out, gives the order to stop. Theft is visited with
amputation of the hand. The prison is the award of state offenders: it is
terrible, because the captive is heavily ironed, lies in a filthy dungeon,
and receives no food but what he can obtain from his own family,--seldom
liberal under such circumstances,--buy or beg from his guards. Fines and
confiscations, as usual in the East, are favourite punishments with the
ruler. I met at Wilensi an old Harari, whose gardens and property had all
been escheated, because his son fled from justice, after slaying a man.
The Amir is said to have large hoards of silver, coffee, and ivory: my
attendant the Hammal was once admitted into the inner palace, where he saw
huge boxes of ancient fashion supposed to contain dollars. The only specie
current in Harar is a diminutive brass piece called Mahallak [31]--hand-
worked and almost as artless a medium as a modern Italian coin.
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