I Need Scarcely Say
That Commerce Would Thrive On The Decline Of Slavery:
Whilst the Felateas
or man-razzias are allowed to continue, it is vain to expect industry in
the land.
Ivory at Harar amongst the Kafirs is a royal monopoly, and the Amir
carries on the one-sided system of trade, common to African monarchs.
Elephants abound in Jarjar, the Erar forest, and in the Harirah and other
valleys, where they resort during the hot season, in cold descending to
the lower regions. The Gallas hunt the animals and receive for the spoil a
little cloth: the Amir sends his ivory to Berberah, and sells it by means
of a Wakil or agent. The smallest kind is called "Ruba Aj"(Quarter Ivory),
the better description "Nuss Aj"(Half Ivory), whilst" Aj," the best kind,
fetches from thirty-two to forty dollars per Farasilah of 27 Arab pounds.
[36]
The coffee of Harar is too well known in the markets of Europe to require
description: it grows in the gardens about the town, in greater quantities
amongst the Western Gallas, and in perfection at Jarjar, a district of
about seven days' journey from Harar on the Efat road. It is said that the
Amir withholds this valuable article, fearing to glut the Berberah market:
he has also forbidden the Harash, or coffee cultivators, to travel lest
the art of tending the tree be lost. When I visited Harar, the price per
parcel of twenty-seven pounds was a quarter of a dollar, and the hire of a
camel carrying twelve parcels to Berberah was five dollars:
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