FOOTNOTES [1] The Ashantees At Customs' Time Run Across The Royal Threshold To Escape Being Seized And Sacrificed; Possibly The Trace Of The Pagan Rite Is Still Preserved By Moslem Harar, Where It Is Now Held A Mark Of Respect And Always Exacted From The Citizens.

[2] I afterwards learned that when a man neglects a summons his door is removed to the royal court-yard on the first day; on the second, it is confiscated.

The door is a valuable and venerable article in this part of Africa. According to Bruce, Ptolemy Euergetes engraved it upon the Axum Obelisk for the benefit of his newly conquered AEthiopian subjects, to whom it had been unknown.

[3] In Abyssinia, according to the Lord of Geesh, this is a mark of royal familiarity and confidence.

[4] About seven years ago the Hajj Sharmarkay of Zayla chose as his agent at Harar, one of the Amir's officers, a certain Hajj Jamitay. When this man died Sharmarkay demanded an account from his sons; at Berberah they promised to give it, but returning to Harar they were persuaded, it is believed, by the Gerad Mohammed, to forget their word. Upon this Sharmarkay's friends and relations, incited by one Husayn, a Somali who had lived many years at Harar in the Amir's favour, wrote an insulting letter to the Gerad, beginning with, "No peace be upon thee, and no blessings of Allah, thou butcher! son of a butcher &c. &c.!" and concluding with a threat to pinion him in the market-place as a warning to men.

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